Mars Volta – Landscape Tantrums: Unfinished Recordings of De-Loused in the Comatorium (Vinyl LP)

Unfinished Original Recordings of De-Loused In The Comatorium!

The recent rediscovery of Landscape Tantrums, the first attempt at recording the music that would become The Mars Volta’s De-Loused In The Comatorium, revealed an important and hitherto missing chapter in the group’s evolution. Self-recorded by Omar (assisted by Jon DeBaun) at Burbank’s Mad Dog Studios within a head spinning four days, Landscape Tantrums captures De-Loused in somewhat embryonic form, though much of what would make The Mars Volta’s debut album such an electrifying, sublime experience was already in place: the fearless invention, the fusion of futurist rock elements and traditions from outside of the rock orthodoxy, the sense of virtuosity working in service of emotional effect.

From a distance, The Mars Volta must have seemed as if they were on a high when they walked into the studio to record what they expected to be their debut album (“I didn’t think of it as demos or a dry run,” Omar says). The group had recently played the Coachella festival to rave reviews, a vindication of the quixotic risk Omar and Cedric had taken, quitting At The Drive In to lead such an uncompromising musical proposition. Their debut EP, Tremulant, had similarly signaled their singular vision, and been rewarded with similarly positive feedback.

But the truth was that The Mars Volta entered Mad Dog in tatters, scarcely believing anything other than failure lay within their reach. They’d recently lost their bassist, Eva Gardner, and parted ways with keyboard play Ikey Owens. Tensions were brewing with drummer Jon Theodore, too himself a replacement for founding drummer Blake Fleming Omar questioning Theodore’s commitment to the group. And sound manipulator Jeremy Michael Ward’s drug problem had gotten so far out of hand that he’d been sent to rehab, and wouldn’t return until two days into the Landscape Tantrums.

1. Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of) [Unfinished Original Recordings Of De-Loused In The Comatorium]
2. Son Et Lumière (Unfinished Original Recordings Of De-Loused In The Comatorium)
3. Inertiatic ESP (Unfinished Original Recordings Of De-Loused In The Comatorium)
4. Drunkship of Lanterns (Unfinished Original Recordings Of De-Loused In The Comatorium)
5. Eriatarka (Unfinished Original Recordings Of De-Loused In The Comatorium)
6. This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed (Unfinished Original Recordings Of De-Loused In The Comatorium)
7. Televators (Unfinished Original Recordings Of De-Loused In The Comatorium)
8. Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt (Unfinished Original Recordings Of De-Loused In The Comatorium)