Amputechture

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Amputechture
Amputechture cover
Studio album by The Mars Volta
Released September 12, 2006 (International)
September 11, 2006 (Europe)
September 8, 2006 (Germany)
Recorded November 2005 - May 2006 in Los Angeles, California , El Paso, Texas and Melbourne, Australia
Genre Progressive Rock
Length 76:04
Label Gold Standard Laboratories
Universal Records
Strummer
Producer(s) Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Professional reviews
The Mars Volta chronology
Scabdates
(2005)		 Amputechture
(2006)


Amputechture is the third full length studio album by The Mars Volta released on September 12, 2006. It was recorded in Los Angeles, CA, El Paso, TX and Melbourne, Australia. The album was produced by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and mixed by Rich Costey.

The album features almost a dozen artists, including Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante who is featured on every track except "Asilos Magdelena".

In early July of 2006, the track "Viscera Eyes" was officially released on the band's MySpace page. On July 13th, the band also posted a link to a stream of the song in full on their website. Soon after, the full version of "Viscera Eyes" on the MySpace page was replaced by a radio edit running at 4:21. "Viscera Eyes" was also confirmed to be the first single from this album.

The album debuted at #9 on the Billboard Top 200 selling over 59,000 copies in its opening week [1]. According to RIAA Radar the album is now their biggest selling album exceeding the sales of their debut album De-Loused In The Comatorium [2]

Contents

[edit] Overview

Amputechture marks the first time The Mars Volta have created an album without a single unifying narrative. According to the band's website[3]:

The essential creative process remained the same: Omar creating the music (including the horn sections) for Cedric to lyricize — but this time with the freedom to document unrelated stories, vignettes, inside jokes, various people, events, and memories. All in all, Cedric likens the experience alternately to the compartmentalized episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, or the disparate plotlines of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks - storylines not necessarily linear or in any way connected, but all told in the same voice.

Also, in an MTV interview posted on July 25th[4], Cedric Bixler-Zavala said inspirations for the album were very diverse, ranging from the recent U.S. immigration marches to the news stories of possessed nuns. As far as the concept of the album, storyline, and overall mood has to go, Cedric Bixler-Zavala had this to say during the interview:

"This album's a commentary about the fear of God instead of the love of God, which goes hand-in-hand with Catholicism...To me, religion is the reason there is so much conflict in this world, and I think it's just so unnecessary to believe in this blue-eyed, white-bearded, white-haired God. Amputechture is my personal way of describing enlightenment, or just the celebration of this person who is a shaman and not a crazy person. It's about the pineal gland and how it has certain elements that mimic a DMT experience, and how we can come up with cures for cancer and AIDS if we're more in tune with what's going on in the rainforest."

Bixler-Zavala explained the lyric writing process to "Time Off"[5]:

"Sometimes the lyrics come easily, other times I have to work quite hard. When I’m starting off actually singing on a song and I’ve never heard it before, I just do a whole take of gibberish. Just kind of mumbling fake words - because what’s more important is the intent of the feeling that you get with the melody, and if it’s the right one.

It shouldn’t really be that important what the word is, so later I’ll try and fit words to the gibberish I did, because I think the gibberish is a lot more honest than the words - so I’m just trying to put clothes onto something that’s naked. It’s easier to just put clothes onto something that’s naked and just say ‘Yeah, that’s what I meant’, when everyone else seems to come up with a better interpretation than what I intended.

"And sometimes some of that gibberish is retained in the final product. There’s a lot of the stuff on ‘Tetragrammaton’ that Omar didn’t want me to repeat because he just liked the first scratch take of it. Some of it I cringe at, because it sounds so rough and scratch, and I’m really all over the place as far as hitting the right notes. So sometimes we’ll go in and alter it later in mixing with some effects that’ll kind of hide that, or amplify it even more and make it seem like an intentional fuck-up. Sometimes we believe in the creed that you should honour your mistakes as hidden intentions!"

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has stated that the word "Amputechture" was coined by the late Jeremy Michael Ward. Omar stated in an interview with Switch Magazine:

"That word has been with us for a long time, and we wanted to use it for something very important. For us, this third record is very important and...I don't know exactly what does it mean, but the sound of the word makes us feel good."

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Vicarious Atonement" – 7:19
  2. "Tetragrammaton" – 16:41
  3. "Vermicide" – 4:15
  4. "Meccamputechture" – 11:02
  5. "Asilos Magdalena" – 6:34
  6. "Viscera Eyes" – 9:23
  7. "Day of the Baphomets" – 11:56
  8. "El Ciervo Vulnerado" – 8:50

[edit] Notes

  1. Vicarious Atonement is the theory that the atonement of Jesus Christ was legal in God's eyes and that Jesus died in the place of the humans that sinned.
  2. Tetragrammaton is a reference to the 4 letter name of the Hebrew God, that being יהוה, or YHWH.
  3. Vermicide is any substance used to kill worms, especially those in the intestines, or the act of killing worms.
  4. The fourth track is a portmanteau of amputate, technology, architecture, and Mecca. (The holiest city in the Islamic faith.)
  5. "Asilos Magdalena" is Spanish for 'Magdalen Asylums.'
  6. Viscera refers to internal organs, namely intestines.
  7. A Baphomet is an object used for idolizing, also confused with popular representations of Satan.
  8. El Ciervo Vulnerado is Spanish for 'The Wounded Shepherd.' In Spanish 'ciervo' and 'venado' are the words for 'deer' although the context differs in the form in which it is being used. Ciervo, in this case is being used as 'pastor', or 'shepherd'. In the Reina-Valera 1960 Edition of the Holy Bible, Jesus is referred to as 'El Ciervo que fue vulnerado' or the 'Shepherd who was wounded'.

[edit] Miscellanea

  • Amputechture is a portmanteau of amputate, technology, and architecture.
  • "Viscera Eyes" evolved from a song originally written for the band At the Drive-In. [6]
  • Lyrics and melody from the un-released song "A Plague Upon Your Hissing" are used in "Day of the Baphomets."[7]
  • This is the band's final studio recording with drummer Jon Theodore. [8]
  • This is the band's first studio recording with former At The Drive-In bandmate Paul Hinojos.
  • Amputechture is the first of their three albums to contain no original artwork; the background of each page in the album booklet is simply a section of Jeff Jordan's "Big Mutant". In addition the CD art itself is "Dwarf Dancing", also by Jeff Jordan.
  • The liner notes of The Mars Volta's previous album Frances the Mute feature a credit for "Amputekthure" under the "published by" credits, Cedric Bixler-Zavala's name under the ASCAP corporation.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/life/2006-09-20-lifeline_x.htm?csp=34
  2. ^ http://www.riaaradar.com/search.asp?searchtype=ArtistSearch&keyword=The+Mars+Volta
  3. ^ http://www.themarsvolta.com/?sec=biography
  4. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1537073/20060725/mars_volta.jhtml?headlines=true
  5. ^ http://www.timeoff.com.au/index.php?area=Interviews&pg=38&subarea=5010&sel=5010
  6. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11111847/exclusive_mars_volta_album_preview
  7. ^ http://plyrics.com/lyrics/marsvolta/aplagueuponyourhissing.html
  8. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/mars-volta/23789


The Mars Volta
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez | Cedric Bixler-Zavala

Isaiah Ikey Owens | Juan Alderete | Thomas Pridgen | Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez | Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales | Paul Hinojos
Former members
Eva Gardner | Jeremy Michael Ward | Jon Theodore
Discography
Albums: De-Loused in the Comatorium | Frances the Mute | Scabdates | A Missing Chromosome | Amputechture
Extended plays: Tremulant EP | Live EP
Singles: "Inertiatic ESP" | "Televators" | "The Widow" | "L'Via L'Viaquez" | "Viscera Eyes"
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