As you have no doubt heard, Les Paul recently passed away at the age of 94. He was a pioneer in developing the solid-body electric guitar, but his most influential innovation was the development of multitrack recording. A song he released in 1947, titled ‘Lover (When You’re Near Me) features 8 electric guitar parts. 99.99% of all music today is recorded using multitrack recording, whether it’s analogue or digital, so it is safe to say he is one of the most influential pioneers of popular music.

In addition to his multitrack achievements, he is probably most well known from the Gibson Les Paul, the guitar he helped design. Some iconic Gibson Les Paul players include Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Bob Marley, Neil Young and Slash.

Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins recently announced his new drummer, 19 year old Mike Byrne, to replace Jimmy Chamberlin who left the band earlier this year. The pair are working on a new album together.

Weezer have a new album on the way, entitled Raditude … that’s right… Raditude. The first single, ‘(If You’re Wondering If I Want To) I Want You To’, should be available online by the time this article is published. The album is due out late October.

Robbie Williams is set to attempt his comeback after two terrible albums (2005’s Intensive Care & 2006’s hilariously bad Rudebox). He has wisely decided to return to pop music after he strangely attempted hip-hop on his last release. The new album is called Reality Killed the Video Star and will be released in November.

Last week I had some bizarre news about Bob Dylan recording a Christmas album. This week there is more strange news about the music legend. He was detained by police near the New Jersey shore for acting suspiciously as he walked around the neighbourhood in the pouring rain. According to Dylan himself, “he was just out for a walk” but many suspect he was trying to find the house Bruce Springsteen wrote Born to Run in. This would not be out of character, as he had recently visited the childhood home of John Lennon as well as Neil Young’s old Winnepeg house. Who knows what weird Bob Dylan news might be available for next week’s column...

The Mars Volta – Octahedron

After releasing the relentless Bedlam in Goliath last year, the Mars Volta are back with their version of an ‘acoustic album’, according to guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez.  But never fear, he is not talking about a venture into Jack Johnson ‘acoustic’ territory here, it is mainly referring to the change of pace and tone … and it couldn’t be any more different from Bedlam.

Octahedron has a strong classic prog-rock feel, the King Crimson influence on the band has never been more apparent. Since We’ve Been Wrong, the opening track, is somewhat reminiscent of The Widow from Frances the Mute. It’s a good song but not really covering any new territory just yet. Teflon is another good track, but it also plays very close to the Bedlam in Goliath formula, albeit slightly slower. 

Halo of Nembutals and With Twilight As My Guide are next up on the tracklist and they are by far the standout tracks on the album. Halo of Nembutals is an instantly likeable track and one of the more accessible songs that the band has written, even though it still features the silly pseudo-scientific jargon that has become the trademark of singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s lyrics.

With Twilight As My Guide is new territory for the Mars Volta. Quite simply put, it is a beautiful song, something I thought I’d never say about a Mars Volta track! The song features multitracked vocal harmonies accompanied only by acoustic and Pink Floyd-ish slide guitar. Fantastic song, this is a must-have track from iTunes if you don’t end up getting the full album.

After Twilight, the album snaps back into the familiar Mars Volta sound with Cotopaxi and Desperate Graves, but much to my relief it returns to the softer prog-rock sound afterwards with Copernicus, one of the first Mars Volta songs to feature glitching drum machines and synthesisers. Despite the strange instrumentation, the song is probably the closest they have come to writing a pop song.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if this album shows a progression into a new softer sound from the Mars Volta, but I certainly won’t be complaining if this is a sign of things to come. It is not a very consistent album, pretty patchy actually, but there is a lot to enjoy on Octahedron. I doubt this will convert any new listeners, but anyone with an interest in the band already will find this an enjoyable listen.

Rating: 3.5/5 
 
For the rest of the year Citric will be counting down the (arguably) best albums of the decade. Here’s part two, with the top ten from 2002.

1. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf 
2. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot  
3. Iron & Wine – The Creak Drank the Cradle 
4. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 
5. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights 
6. Porcupine Tree – In Absentia 
7. Neko Case - Blacklisted 
8. Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It in People 
9. Beck – Seachange 
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers – By the Way