The Afrofunk Music Forum

Rising from the ashes of post-hardcore innovators At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta have set the music industry ablaze with their virtuosic and distinct sound. Bandleaders Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala have created a smorgasbord of Latin jazz, psychedelic rock, and electronica throughout the band’s first five years of existence and multiple full-length studio albums. Nowadays, genres of music are blending together so seamlessly that classification is near impossible. The proliferation of information and the availability of music on the internet spawned a generation of musicians that have access to, literally, a world of music.

The Mars Volta is an icon of this new generation of musicians ( “[TMV is] a true anachronism of the iPod age” –Pitchfork ). The typical Mars Volta song can range from explosive salsa rhythms and psychedelic grooves to the helter-skelter time signatures and atonalities of progressive rock and modern classical music. More importantly, TMV manages to keep their sound relatively coherent and organized despite these apparently disparate sound combinations.

I feel the readers of the Afrofunk Music Forum are an intrepid bunch. Afrofunk is built on this spirit of musical exploration. Sure it can lead to miserable failures, but just one incredible sound can re-evaluate the way music is made and interpreted. The Mars Volta is one of those bands.

With their new album Bedlam in Goliath just hitting stores this summer, now is a great time to check out The Mars Volta and their fearless advancement in the spirit of rock and roll. Pitchfork sums it up: “Few bands in popular modern rock share their technical prowess, super-adventurous listening habits, or K2 conquering ambition.”