Neill's first review

Since late 2004, The Mars Volta has been one of my favorite bands. And even though they have been fading away as a top spot on my favorite lists, it is only because their early stuff is just so much better than their newer releases. And how can you get more early than their first release as a full force? Correct, you cannot get any earlier (unless you count At the Drive-In or De Facto).

Tremulant EP was recorded less than a year after At the Drive-In broke up, and unlike in any other release by The Mars Volta, you can still hear some ATDI sounding-ness left in the songs.

The EP starts off with what else but the sound of weirdness. It almost sounds like aliens have some weird tribal conga thing. But yes, it is the classic Mars Volta noise to begin the track for a minute and 56 seconds. But once it hits 1:57...BAM! The band is on a rampage! Cut That City unveils Cedric and Omar's new line up for their then new band. Ikey Owens on keyboard, a very good-looking and talented Eva Gardner on bass, the master Jon Theodore on drums (I wish he was still with the band), and the now deceased Jeremy Ward sound manipulating.

The EP goes from the fast paced, kinda latin sounding "Cut that City" to the slow, more haunting "Concertina." I personally enjoy the live version of the song a little bit better, because it is slightly faster. But this is still a great tune.

Next and finally is "Eunuch Provocateur." This is probably my favorite song on the EP. It starts out with a mysterious sounding guitar part. My friend, David, said the beginning sounds like a chase seen in a Steven Segal movie. I have to agree with him, but I still like it a lot. Then it moves in to craziness like the first song. At about five and half minutes into the song, you reach weird noise and weird drums again with some skewed vocals in the back. This lets me know the song and EP is done despite there being over three minutes left on the track. Some people are so bothered by the weird noises The Mars Volta puts on their CDs, they don't even give the actual music a chance. I am not one of them, I don't see why people just don't skip the weird noise parts to it.

Anywho! This is a wonderful recording. It is a great way for a great band to start off. Of course this would be outdone by the group's first full length, but they don't have any other recordings like this, so this is why I hold this in such high regard.

Overall, I give Tremulant EP a 9 out of 10.

Until next time, this has been Neill.
Fo' real