4/5
Hi VOLTAge
Every calendar, we get a song of the year. Whether a Grammy Award, or a Spotify tries to tell us, what it is, or not. But every time another 365 days passes, we take stock on our own playlist picks and what our favourite tracks of the year were. Last year, for me, it belonged to 'If I'm Gonna Go Anywhere' by EELS off the 'Novocaine For The Soul' and 'Susan's House' band's 'Eels Time!' comeback special. Especially when it came to the "love, what else is there but love" refrain from Mark Oliver Everett, recovering from almost losing his life. In 2022, it belonged to the 'Vigil' of The Mars Volta, returning themselves with their self-titled comeback classic that was like a debut of sorts. The moment that snake charmer beat came into black and white play, over a music video swaying to the new style and compelling dancer. Since then, The Mars Volta have attacked the back with more releases. A year later came the silver lining of, 'Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón', which was an acoustic reworking of their previous year's and aforementioned album. And now, on the same New Music Friday that Justin Vernon and Bon Iver turn their 'Sable EP' from October into a 'SABLE fABLE' LP, Volta give us 'Lucro Sucio: Los Ojos Del Vacio'.
Translated as just your "dirty luck", "the eyes of emptiness" have it. This album is a trip. Especially when you listen to it whilst burning the reverie of the midnite oil. Long-leaked like that sink you should fix, 'Lucro Sucio' confirms that the red planet band is well and truly back. Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala revisit their roots once again on an atmospheric album that surely sets the mood off right. The innovative pair continues to rip out of envelopes with their elemental electronic mixes with classic jazz standards. The fall calls for a North American tour to support this set too, but after performing this amazing album in its entirety whilst supporting Deftones on their own US gig, you might wonder to why it has already been shared so much. It may have something to do with the fact that Cedric graciously gifted an early press of this album to a delivery driver who brought food to their hotel, by burning a CD-R like the good old days. But seriously, we're not insinuating this driver Uber ate this album, door-to-door around town, but what a special delivery.
From the 'Fin' beginning, to the self-titled close of this eighteen track day, this is a powerful psychedelic prog rock progression. The grey concrete of this CD lined jewel case gifts us with the earth grow of 'The Iron Rose' and the new day of 'Cue The Sun' and its lovely reprise. There are dedications for better or worse ('Morgana', 'Reina Tormenta'), deep cuts ('Voice In My Knives') and epics like 'Enlazan las Tineblas' and 'Possedora de Mi Sombra'. On 'Mictlán' Bixler-Zavala sings "Tell me when I'm gone/Tell me all the things you thought you could not say/From now until doomsday/I'll be the albatross that hangs/So let it hang/Ten thousand phantoms underneath/Can you feel my hands?/They're keepin' me safe when I can't see/Through a dead parliament of watchful eyes." Whereas on 'Alba Del Orate' he harmonizes, "A lake of love can wash it all/Unread notes in floatin' bottles/I fix the breaks, but blame myself/These numbing pools have lost their touch."
This week, if Bon Iver give us the most beautiful and deepest lyrics, The Mars Volta give us the most outstanding and otherworldly. 'Celaje' ("Sipping, fading, hating that the sun would shine/It's cold/Will sell my weight in gold/Like an unsuspecting death/Shifting, hoarding, holding pattern stains of glass") and 'Vociferó' take us higher. 'Mito de lios Trece Cielos' is the myth of the thirteen heavens and the Spanish of 'Un Disparo al Vacío' translates to "A Vacuum Shot" and you can feel God through this gunned filter. The instrumental 'Detrás de la Puerta Dorada' produced perfectly, like this LP, by Omar Rodríguez-López inspires further. Yet it's the 'Maullidos' that bears the most fruit. Such a cry from these cats, "Can you hear her? Not plagiarizing symptoms/Tell her the angels that you needed never gave up on you/Exposin' all the wires cut, she sinks it in the current's trap/Teardrops in the voltage turn to me/Turn to me and sing", as The Volta turn up the voltage on this track. Nothing is empty about this lucky day that hits pay dirt. All eyes can see that. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Reina Tormenta', 'The Iron Rose', 'Cue The Sun'.
Spin This: The Mars Volta - 'The Mars Volta'
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