Every once in a while there is a band that comes along and makes a great piece of art. Now I must admit I was a bit slow on not just this Album but also the band. Who do I speak of but The Mars Volta. One forum I frequent is filled with TMV fans, but all the talk just never settled in. They had finished there leg of the tour with A Perfect Circle the last two times I saw them, so I missed out on experiencing them first hand. Let me quickly tell the story of how I found Frances The Mute. I’m a sucker for female singers in rock bands, so one day at work a song comes on that is very catchy and sounds like a female. So I go and check to see the name and it’s The Mars Volta the Widow. So that blew the female thing but I still liked it so I downloaded the album for the one track. After about a week I decided to burn the whole CD. I immediately fell in love with the Latin flair of L’Via L’Viaquez despite the fact I couldn’t understand half the song. The next song that caught my attention was Cygnus…Vismund Cygnus. Now my favorite song on the album has to be Cassandra Geminni. At a whopping 35 minutes it’s almost as long as recent albums from Linkin Park(bad) and System of a Down(good). It has everything from blaring guitars to a trumpet solo. The Mars Volta have done what few today are willing to do and that’s make a “concept” record.

Now to my one complaint and it’s not about the band but the label. Universal told them that 5 songs was legally a EP so the had to cut Cassandra into 8 tracks. Which is horrible if you’re listening to it on an MP3 player. One more final point this CD is proof that illegal downloading of music can lead to record sales because there is no way I would have bought the CD(which I did after a week of it being stuck in my CD player) without downloading and listening to it first. Also this CD hasn’t left my CD player since September 10th.

I totally stole the idea from Will at our game site. The basic Idea is we will focus on a movie that might have slipped through the cracks.

Our first movie is Requiem for a Dream. Directed by Darren Aronofsky (PI) and staring Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans. The movie follows the four stars in a chaotic downward spiral of addiction. Not only chemical but also mental(television). Harry (Leto) and girlfriend Marion(Connelly) and Harry’s friend Tyrone(Wayans) are all Heroin junkies with the dream of a big score so they’ll become rich. Sara Goldfarb(Burstyn) is the films most sympathetic figure. Widowed and dealing with her son taking her television weekly to pawn for drug money. She becomes delusional and starts to believe she is going on a TV game show. After figuring out she can’t fit in her favorite red dress her television addiction leads her to taking speed pills to keep from eating and lose weight.
The movie is the most intense hour and forty minutes one is bound to experience. At almost ever turn you can’t wait for it to end but like a car accident you can’t look away. While requiem isn’t for everyone it is a roller coaster of emotion that must be seen to believe.

One would be remiss not to mention the wonderful score composed by Clint Mansell with the Kronos Quartet.

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