The Mars Volta — Frances The Mute

James Joyce took 11 years to write Finnegan's Wake, so at least we know he spent some time crafting such an impenetrable monster. The Mars Volta only took two years to record their beast, Frances The Mute, but all this uncontrolled, unfiltered wankery won’t get this disc a mandatory spot in the high school curriculum. There's certainly some impressive musicianship going on in these five songs (or 15 songlets, movements, passages, whatever the hell you want to call them), but just try not to get a headache two minutes into lead track "Cygnus." The MV's first full-length still retained some semblance of mysterious but awesome ambition; its follow-up is unmitigated crap.

Get it from