History Music / TheMarsVolta

[[caption-width-right:350:Yeah, kinda like that. [[note]]Pictured: Omar Rodríguez-López (left), Cedric Bixler-Zavala (right), [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and]] [[Characters/DoctorWhoDalek a Dalek]] (centre).[[/note]]]]

* SelfTitledAlbum: Their upcoming seventh album.

* IAmTheBand: Cedric and Omar are a two-person variant. They are the principal songwriters and usually the only members to appear in the band's promotional images. The band of musicians of musicians that perform the songs is referred as The Mars Volta Group.

Members:

Former members:

* Adrian Terrazas-Gonzalez: flute, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet.

Collaborators:

* [[StageNames Flea]] of the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers: Bass, Trumpet

Discography:

The Mars Volta is a GenreBusting ProgressiveRock band from El Paso, Texas (at some points also based in Mexico) formed in 2001. As of July 2019, they have released six studio albums, an EP, a live album, and a handful of other releases including an unofficial B-sides and outtakes collection leaked to the Internet from an unknown source in August 2013, and are currently in the studio recording a new album.

While critically divisive in some quarters (Pitchfork infamously gave a scathing 2.0/10 review to their second album ''Frances the Mute'', by far the lowest rating it received from any major music publication), their work, particularly their first three albums, has attracted particular acclaim from the progressive rock community, and in 2008 earned the title of Best Prog-Rock Band from ''Magazine/RollingStone''.

They initially entered a hiatus in late 2012, which they formally announced as a break-up on January 25, 2013. However, the band members continued to work with one another and, after a time, confirmed that they would ultimately reunite the project. Rodríguez-López and Parks went on to form a new project, Bosnian Rainbows.

In addition, Rodríguez-López, Bixler-Zavala, and Hinojos' previous band, [[Music/AtTheDriveIn At the Drive-In]], has reunited; they released a new single in 2016 and a new album in 2017. As of April 2014, Rodriguez-López and Bixler-Zavala had also [[http://www.nme.com/news/the-mars-volta/76609 formed a new project entitled Antemasque]] (also featuring former Mars Volta drummer Dave Elitch and Music/RedHotChiliPeppers bassist Flea - who, for that matter, performed on several of the Mars Volta's albums).

Despite this, the band remained inactive for quite some time; Rodríguez-López [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190401010031/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/omar-rodriguez-lopez-on-epic-solo-album-series-new-at-the-drive-in-lp-166438/page=5 indicated]] in 2016 that he intended for a reunion to happen, but it seemed to be mainly a matter of scheduling as to when (he wished for founding members Eva Gardner and Jon Theodore to be involved). Bixler-Zavala also indicated on Website/{{Twitter}} in February 2018 that a reunion [[https://twitter.com/cedricbixler_/status/962120912844681216 will occur]], though he later [[https://twitter.com/cedricbixler_/status/962820868744216576 clarified]] that it wouldn't be immediate. In May 2019, he [[https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/05/the-mars-volta-reunion/ confirmed]] that the band were in the studio.

In June 2022, they released their first new track since ''Noctourniquet'', the three-minute "[[https://youtu.be/rYAR6bpf85Q Blacklight Shine]]", and announced a tour and a [[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/740418906811793563/989179062750699640/unknown.png new self-titled album]], promising "Caribbean rhythms underpinning sophisticated, turbulent songcraft" and "Rodríguez-López's subterranean pop melodies driving Bixler-Zavala's dark sci-fi tales of the occult and malevolent governments". Joining Omar and Cedric are original bassist Eva Gardner, past synth player/percussionist Marcel Rodríguez-López, and new drummer Willy Rodriguez Quiñones.

** ''De-Loused In The Comatorium'' has a more psychedelic rock and space rock focused sound, as well as seemingly having a bit more inspiration from {{Music/Rush}} than their other albums.

** They have many very lengthy songs, but their longest studio track by far is "Cassandra Gemini" from ''Frances the Mute'', which runs for 32:32 in its intended single-track format. (Many digital releases [[DigitalDestruction chop it into eight tracks, entirely arbitrarily]] - the band lists five movements for it in the album booklet, although it's not actually clear where these are intended to begin and end.)

* DigitalDestruction: "Cassandra Gemini" got hit with this hard as a byproduct of ExecutiveMeddling. The band intended to release it on ''Frances the Mute'' as one 32-minute track, but as the album had five tracks, this meant they'd only be paid an EP's wages. Disputes with their record label resulted in the track being modified for the CD version of the album, being arbitrarily split into eight tracks -- with no heed to the song's five movements -- to push the track total to 12. While the track's original full-length form was respected on digital music platforms for some time, it was reverted to its split form in early 2021.

While critically divisive in some quarters (Pitchfork [[EightPointEight infamously]] gave a scathing 2.0/10 review to their second album ''Frances the Mute'', by far the lowest rating it received from any major music publication), their work, particularly their first three albums, has attracted particular acclaim from the progressive rock community, and in 2008 earned the title of Best Prog-Rock Band from ''Magazine/RollingStone''.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Try telling anyone the names Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-López are dull-sounding. Also, Cerpin Taxt and Vismund Cygnus.

* TBA - ''The Mars Volta'' (forthcoming)

In June 2022, they released their first new track since ''Noctourniquet'', the eleven-minute "[[https://youtu.be/rYAR6bpf85Q Blacklight Shine]]", and announced a tour and a [[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/740418906811793563/989179062750699640/unknown.png new self-titled album]], promising "Caribbean rhythms underpinning sophisticated, turbulent songcraft" and "Rodríguez-López's subterranean pop melodies driving Bixler-Zavala's dark sci-fi tales of the occult and malevolent governments". Joining Omar and Cedric are original bassist Eva Gardner, past synth player/percussionist Marcel Rodríguez-López, and new drummer Willy Rodriguez Quiñones.

*** From their core studio discography, also topping the 10-minute mark are "Cicatriz ESP" (12:29), "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" (13:02), "L'Via L'Viaquez" (12:21), "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" (13:09), "Frances the Mute" (14:36), "Tetragrammaton" (16:41), "Meccamputechture" (11:03), "Day of the Baphomets" (11:57), and "Blacklight Shine" (11:11, at least on Website/YouTube; there's a shorter edit on some other platforms). During their original run, they dialled this back a bit with time; none of their last three albums have any tracks above ten minutes in length, although each album has at least a few tracks that still qualify for this trope (six minutes or longer), and arguably the first two songs on ''The Bedlam in Goliath'' qualify as a single fourteen-minute composition. Of course, they returned after a nine-year hiatus with the eleven-minute "Blacklight Shine".

*** From their core studio discography, also topping the 10-minute mark are "Cicatriz ESP" (12:29), "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" (13:02), "L'Via L'Viaquez" (12:21), "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" (13:09), "Frances the Mute" (14:36), "Tetragrammaton" (16:41), "Meccamputechture" (11:03), "Day of the Baphomets" (11:57), and "Blacklight Shine" (11:11, at least on YouTube; there's a shorter edit on some other platforms). During their original run, they dialled this back a bit with time; none of their last three albums have any tracks above ten minutes in length, although each album has at least a few tracks that still qualify for this trope (six minutes or longer), and arguably the first two songs on ''The Bedlam in Goliath'' qualify as a single fourteen-minute composition. Of course, they returned after a nine-year hiatus with the eleven-minute "Blacklight Shine".

** Even employed in the studio to some extent - parts of "Cassandra Gemini" (although not the entire song) were apparently improvised, for example. Beyond that, they also had a habit of taking their favourite improv segments and writing new songs out of them.

In June 2022, they released their first new track since ''Noctourniquet'', the eleven-minute "[[https://youtu.be/rYAR6bpf85Q Blacklight Shine]]", and announced a SelfTitledAlbum. Joining Omar and Cedric are original bassist Eva Gardner, past synth player/percussionist Marcel Rodríguez-López, and new drummer Willy Rodriguez Quiñones.

*** From their core studio discography, also topping the 10-minute mark are "Cicatriz ESP" (12:29), "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" (13:02), "L'Via L'Viaquez" (12:21), "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" (13:09), "Frances the Mute" (14:36), "Tetragrammaton" (16:41), "Meccamputechture" (11:03), "Day of the Baphomets" (11:57), and "Blacklight Shine" (11:11). During their original run, they dialled this back a bit with time; none of their last three albums have any tracks above ten minutes in length, although each album has at least a few tracks that still qualify for this trope (six minutes or longer), and arguably the first two songs on ''The Bedlam in Goliath'' qualify as a single fourteen-minute composition. Of course, they returned after a nine-year hiatus with the eleven-minute "Blacklight Shine".