the mars volta - de-loused in the comatorium

wow. this is a weird, yet brilliant, album. emo mixed with jazz rock, jam rock, latin music, funk, 70's-sounding prog and 60's psychedelia. which is a fancy way of saying that they're a prog band that isn't afraid to rock out every now and then. still some annoyances of the bands drug habit, such as random lapses into long periods of noise noodling, keep this from being a truly great album.

the mars volta - frances the mute

this 77 minute long ep(there are only 5 distinct songs, split into 12 tracks) is as brilliant in its own way as deloused but also suffers from the same lapses in noise noodling. now that the band is supposedly clean and sober, it will be interesting to see what their next album brings.

i've only listened to this album twice so it is difficult to accurately compare it to transatlanticism. but, my gut reaction is that it is a fine and worthy follow-up.