[peb]

Originally Posted by remixor

Well, I'm a music student in a fairly conservative music department, so I listen to a lot of classical/romantic/baroque music because of that. Outside of that, I mainly listen to rock. I don't listen to "everything" (nor does anyone else), but I have fairly broad taste. Next week I'm seeing The Pixies, then in a month I'm seeing The Mars Volta open for The Pixies (holy crap). Should be fun.

I was lucky enough to see the Pixies the first time around (although it was during the lackluster Bossanova tour) so I'm not that motivated to see them this time (not that they're coming to my town on this tour). Still, they're one of my favorite bands so your taste is to be commended.

I can't get into the Mars Volta's songs too much, but you're in for a treat when you see them live because their drummer, Jon Theodore, is unbelievably great.

[Mattsius]

Originally Posted by deadworm222

Thou art hopeless.

Thou art welcome.

[Pappapisshu]

Helios. Arovane. Karate. John Frusciante. Looptroop. Ani DiFranco. Cressida. Spiritualized. Spacemen 3. Captain Beefheart. Can. Faust. Godspeed You Black Emperor. The JB's. Lamb. DNTEL. Caravan. Bola. I'm Not A Gun. Boards of Canada. The Beatles. Yann Tiersen. Anathema. The Hellacopters. Led Zeppelin. Herbie Hancock. John Cale. Gene Clark. Camel. The Shins. Edgar Broughton Band. Ataxia.


At the moment.

[remixor]

Originally Posted by peb

I was lucky enough to see the Pixies the first time around (although it was during the lackluster Bossanova tour) so I'm not that motivated to see them this time (not that they're coming to my town on this tour). Still, they're one of my favorite bands so your taste is to be commended.

I can't get into the Mars Volta's songs too much, but you're in for a treat when you see them live because their drummer, Jon Theodore, is unbelievably great.

Yeah, no matter how much I listen to them, their drummer continues to blow me away. He's pretty unbelievable.

[Captain Blondebeard]

Originally Posted by Egarthen

Oh, MDMaster. I'm dissappointed. I'm afraid you just lost all bonus points you achieved for listening to Gravity Kills by insulting Mars Volta. It's a pity

Mars Volta sounds good but they are one of the talentless bands out there. Not only are they an exact rip off of At the Drive in but they were one day away from being a label drop because they cant play the instruments and the vocals took litteraly thousands of takes. That record was so far over budget its sickening.

[Captain Blondebeard]

Originally Posted by peb

I was lucky enough to see the Pixies the first time around (although it was during the lackluster Bossanova tour) so I'm not that motivated to see them this time (not that they're coming to my town on this tour). Still, they're one of my favorite bands so your taste is to be commended.

I can't get into the Mars Volta's songs too much, but you're in for a treat when you see them live because their drummer, Jon Theodore, is unbelievably great.

The Pixies played with Dashboard Confessional yesterday. What an incredable show. Both bands are ground breaking and incredibly talented. Chris Carraba of DC is the most talented artist in the business. Not only is he a great guitarist that makes his own chords but his songwriting ability and lyrics are earth shattering. All of that and many people think he has the best live and recorded voice since Elvis.

[remixor]

Originally Posted by Captain Blondebeard

Chris Carraba of DC is the most talented artist in the business.

More reason for me not to take your opinion seriously at all.

[Egarthen]

Originally Posted by Captain Blondebeard

Mars Volta sounds good but they are one of the talentless bands out there. Not only are they an exact rip off of At the Drive in but they were one day away from being a label drop because they cant play the instruments and the vocals took litteraly thousands of takes. That record was so far over budget its sickening.

Somebody here has obviously never seen TMV live. If you had, you wouldn't talk about them being talentless or unable to play their instruments. They do better improv material than most bands can write. And as far as them being a "rip off" of At the Drive-in, that's just stupid. They're an evolution. Listen to ATDI from Acrobatic Tenement up through Relationship of Command - TMV is where they were headed before the split. And you DO know that TMV is composed of half the members of ATDI, right?

Oh, and I agree with Remixor regarding your discrediting of yourself.

[Captain Blondebeard]

I'm just giving you guys inside information. This is what I do for a living. I really dont want to list my resume to justify my opinion but I am well respected throughout the rock community. See my post on the first page to get an idea of where I come from.

Just because you dont agree that Chris carraba may be the most talented artist in the business doesnt make me wrong. Unfortunately Emo gets hazed for any and every reason.

Also, I have seen TMV and they are wicked good live. They put on a good show but take a couple things into consideration. The style music they play is impossible to tell if they are good musicians or not. Most bands out there play entire songs out of tune while muffling chords. The only thing that doesnt lie is the amount of hours spent in a recording studio.

I am a big fan of TMV and ATDI. I booked a TMV show at the glass house last year and have been hooked since. My opinions are professional and never biased.

[remixor]

Hours spent in a recording studio can also mean that musicians are simply perfectionists. Many of the greatest bands of all time have spent ludicrously long periods of time in the studio despite being top-notch musicians. And I think it's silly to say that the style of music that the Mars Volta plays masks their technical proficiency. If we're going to be busting out credentials here, I'm a univeristy-level student of music composition and while there are frequently atonal sections within Mars Volta songs, their overall conventions and structures are in fact very harmonic and orderly, it's just that the level of complexity is so high compared to almost any other rock group out there that the music can often sound chaotic or scattershot. Now, complexity of course does not equal quality, but it's rare to see this kind of compositional skill in a rock band and I think they pull it off remarkably well.

[Egarthen]

Originally Posted by Captain Blondebeard

Unfortunately Emo gets hazed for any and every reason.

A bit of a tangent from our earlier mini-debate, but I actually only have one reason for disliking emo music - emo kids. If "emo" is short for "emotion," than emo fans need to realize that there's a wider spectrum to human emotion than "I am sad, so shall wear Drew Carrey glasses and write a LiveJournal entry about how nobody understands me."

[remixor]

No man, the only thing that happens to people is that some girl doesn't like them and nobody relates to them (except every single other person who listens to emo music). Other weightier forms of suffering or happiness aren't worth writing songs about.

[Captain Blondebeard]

I respect your opinion and again I am letting you all in on how the recording process went. Like I said they were very close to being a label drop due to the inability to lay down tracks. Perfectionist or not when you have a record label paying 60-100 grand just to lay tracks you sure as hell listen to the producer.

I worked with Jimmy Eat World and if you ever met a perfetionist band it would be them. They are brilliant and remarkably talented but even they had to listen to who's paying the bills.

Off track here but what are your aspirations remixor? What are your musical passions?

[Captain Blondebeard]

Most emo is just copy cat junk but unfortunately this is what punk has evolved to. Music will always evolve. I personally am a fan of emo but not the stuff that frequents the air waves now days.

DC truly is a quality band. Everything Chris has touched has turned to gold from Vacant Andies, to Further Seems Forever to DC. The thing I respect most is the fact that Chris left a very succesful band in Further Seems Forever and tried something completely out of nowhere. He was laughed out of punk shows for 6 months but he kept at it and is now one of the most respected names in the business.

Chris is not a fakie jumping on the bandwagon. He has been involved for 9 years and is a truly passionate individule.

[remixor]

A significant difference between The Mars Volta and Jimmy Eat World is that regardless of how much you like each band, the music played by Jimmy Eat World is staggeringly simple compared to the music played by the Mars Volta. JEW uses simple rock power chords and little else. It takes a certain amount of consistency and competance to play that sort of music but nothing on the level of what is required by the type of songs The Mars Volta writes. I can (and have) easily play along to almost any Jimmy Eat World song while listening to it for the first song because they rarely use more than a few chords in a given song. Perfectionists they may be, but with their material they can afford to be perfectionists. It's completely understandable why TMV would need to spend a long time in the studio to nail that stuff down.

Anyway, my goal after I finish school is just to play shows around the San Diego area, record an album, and hopefully get signed to a local label.

[Captain Blondebeard]

JEW's music is simple because they have to be. That's what sells. TMV will never have the same success as Jimmy Eat World for that reason. TMV will have a solid collection of dedicated fans but for the average listener it's just too complex.

I didnt even notice that you were from Southern California. I would love to help you out with anything you need. I am located in Orange County. What style music do you play? Have you played live before and if so where did you play at? I am very lucky that I had someone important who knew me and actually cared about me. Back when Geffen was MCA I was given a paid intern job and I got to know so many people. It's very easy to get started in Southern California.

[remixor]

I was not criticizing JEW, I was just commenting that it's a fundamental difference between the two bands that probably has some effect on their recording times. And certainly TMV will never enjoy huge mainstream success, but I suspect that's not one of their primary aims.

I've played live in various places in San Diego, but until I graduate (probably in about a year and a half) I am not planning on seriously attempting to get gigs on a regular basis. I go to school in Northern California anyway. Mainly lately I've just been writing material with my drummer and trying to get my degree.

[MDMaster]

TMV enjoyed too much success in my opinion. When I bought the EP, which I read not everyone liked, I thought they were actually pretty good and was looking forward for more.

So I went for the album. Track one, ok. Track two, ok. Track three, four, etc. Then I wrote a review for it, for an italian 'underground' online mag, and I expressed what I felt and how I still feel about their album like this:

'It takes five people to make music like Mars Volta. But it takes some intellect to make some good songs'. No matter how much I listen to this, this still sounds like some people trying to make 'alt' music, and that's not how it's done. You don't TRY to make it, you just do it; you can just hear the trying hard in the record: 'hey does this sounds 'alt' enough or should I put in more synth?'. I don't like that and don't buy this kind of philosophy; not many people agreed with me, but hey, that's the price to pay

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by deadworm222

No, I meant that EUROPE IS CRAP.

Funny crap, anyway.

[Mattsius]

Originally Posted by Ninth

Funny crap, anyway.

Swedish crap, if I may.