Staff pick of the week...
This week...Bill picks it!

Artist: Mars Volta Title: De-Loused In the Comatorium Price: $12.25	Tracks on this CD:
	Son et Lumiere
	Inertiatic ESP
	Roulettes Dares (The Haunt Of)
	Tira Me a Las Aranas
	Drunkship Of Lanterns
	Eriatarka
	Cicatriz ESP
	This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed
	Televators
	Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt

I’ll admit I was a bit put-off by the “features ex-members of At-The Drive In” tag. I thought they were OK and appreciated the energy they put into their live performances, but the whole thing was just a bit too Rage Against The Machine for me. For that reason, I hadn’t really considered listening to The Mars Volta “De-Loused in the Comatorium.” But I was recently hanging out with my old bandmate/roommate Jeff Dimpsey who taught me much about music in my formative years (and later played with National Skyline, Hum, Honcho Overload, Poster Children, and Bad Flannel) and we were shooting the breeze, talking about life and old friends, and the typical catching up done by folks who haven’t seen each other in a while when Jeff asks, “Have you heard The Mars Volta’s ‘De-Loused in the Comatorium’? You’ve got to give it a listen. It’s the most fun, adventurous album I’ve heard in a long time.”

I’ll be damned if he isn’t right. I popped on the disc when I came into work the next day and found myself listening to an album as indebted to Rush and Yes as Tool, Shudder To Think, and Tears For Fears, as intricate, thoughtful, and deep as wholly understandable and easily swallowed. For me, it’s like Radiohead’s “Kid A” or Slint’s “Spiderland” where the music makes me feel smarter than I actually am. Perhaps that’s the brilliance of an album like “Spiderland” you don’t need a Ph.D. to understand what’s going on, but it definitely makes you feel that something outside the norm, something a bit more academic is at hand.

My grin stretched from ear to ear as I heard this band playing proggy music (not my typical interest) that relentlessesly charges forward while staying straight-faced. They keep chugging along and suddenly a new part will pop up here, and then more earcandy there, and what with the element of surprise I can’t contain my glee. It’s like a rollerscoaster ride that refuses to end and you see after every peak, yet other turn… You don’t need to subscribe to The Wire or own all the Jean Luc Ponty records to connect the dots, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

If Radiohead can sell Neu to the mass market, then why not The Mars Volta? They are ambitious, creative, indulgent, exciting, bombastic, and beautiful! The album is gorgeously recorded and produced (by Rick Rubin) and, while very adventurous, it is also very listenable.

Maybe I need to give those At The Drive-In Records another chance…

That this is a record I might not have listened to otherwise just reminds me what a delicate balance lies between a new found favorite and an undiscovered gem.