Audio By Carbonatix
Independent Journalism in Phoenix Needs You
We need to raise $15,000 by August 9 to support the reporting our community depends on. Reader support keeps us independent and is playing a larger role in funding local journalism and shaping what comes next. If you believe independent local journalism matters, make a contribution today.
Jane’s Addiction fans reached for the Zeppelin, and Strokes fans uncovered the Velvet Underground. All’s well in geekdom. But now El Paso, Texas, outfit the Mars Volta returns with a second full-length, challenging indie rawkers to reference their . . . King Crimson and Yes albums?!? Frances the Mute is all about hitting prog-rock’s suite spot, with its five songs six to 30 minutes in length and bearing knotty Latin flourishes, piano and string arrangements, horn howls, and strangulated riffs unfolding in a lavishly wrought hydra. For fans of convoluted, indulgent musical mitosis, Frances the Mute will leave you saying, “Shine on, you crazy diamonds.”
