Earlier this year, Cedric Bixler-Zavala announced via Twitter that the band he had fronted for over ten years The Mars Volta would be parting ways (one of the saddest moments of my life to be honest), forming two separate projects: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez/Deantoni Parks now in a band called Bosnian Rainbows; Cedric Bixler-Zavala and bassist Juan Alderete in Zavalaz. Volta had created six studio albums, a live album, and two EPs.
Guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is known for his vast collection of solo releases, many of which were the foundations for later Volta songs, so I could only assume that there were a good amount of songs that had not surfaced. Fifteen of those songs were leaked recently by an unknown user on Volta fan forum The Comatorium.
The songs come from a range of Volta eras, going as far back as Amputechture with a take of “Vicarious Atonement”. Speculation surrounds what period each song comes from, and who exactly is playing on each song. There’s some work from all three previous Mars Volta drummers in this collection of songs; Thomas Pridgen officially stated that he had drummed on six of the songs via his Facebook page. Also included are demos from various solo works from Omar Rodriguez-Lopez.
So, what do I think of this whole situation? I think it’s like Christmas in the summertime. The feeling of listening to a new Volta song was something I thought I would never experience again. I was heartbroken when the band broke up. I was one of the guys that never got to see the band live, adding to my sorrow, but a little of that feeling returned yesterday when I downloaded and preceded to listen to “,14”. (“,14” is not a typo, literally every song on the leak is randomly typed out gibberish. The tracks had no particular order, therefore many have put the songs in alphabetical order.)
“,14” sounds like an outtake from the band’s most recent LP Noctourniquet, prominently displaying late Volta drummer Deantoni Parks’ heavy hi-hat/snare playing style, Rodriguez-Lopez’s Noctourniquet era chorus effect, pianist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez’s light, effect heavy keys, and of course Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s vocals feathering over the whole thing. Though it doesn’t sound completely done, boy is it satisfying. I can’t get the chorus of this song out of my head, the melody at least (I don’t really know the lyrics since none of the songs came with lyrics).
More Noctourniquet material shows it’s face, with “98d87”. Here we have an earlier, voiceless take on Noctourniquet’s “Molochwalker”, most likely recorded in the Octahedron sessions, as this track features former Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen. I was particularly intrigued with this track; it was neat hearing a different drummer’s style on this track because Pridgen’s playing style is noticeably different from Parks’ style.
“y2g” is most definitely a take on Amputechture‘s “Vicarious Atonement” with an extended outro, and “xv8” is an instrumental version of Rodriguez-Lopez’s “Asco Que Conmueve los Puntos Erógenos”, a track from his twelfth solo album “Xenophanes”. These barely scratch the surface of all the gems on this leak, so go download the songs here. (the link is dead)
With the band breaking up seven months ago, I was eager to hear anything from “the vault”. There’s plenty of good stuff here to hold me over until the next leak, or, fingers crossed, Volta album in the somewhat foreseeable future.
Bixler-Zavala tweeted about the leak shortly after it surfaced, poking fun at the whole situation.
The recent TMV leaks are from a session we did w/ @davidguetta during our residency at Ibiza hot spot RAMROD
— Cedric Bixler Zavala (@cedricbixler_) August 16, 2013
In case you don’t happen to follow Bixler-Zavala on Twitter and witness his frequent comedic tweeting sessions and didn’t pick up on the sarcasm here, no, The Mars Volta did not record with multi-million dollar DJ David Guetta, contrary to popular internet belief.
Thanks to The Antiquet and fans on The Comatorium for the track explanations!