L'Via, hija de Miranda

Yes, I may have already reviewed Frances The Mute, but the CD officially came out on Tuesday, so here's yet another outpouring of glee for it.
Honestly, I must say that I don't like it quite as much as De-loused In The Comatorium. It replicates their live show really well, and that's just the problem. Their live shows are filled with extended jams made up of pure noisy noise. This is really cool live, stuck in between solid driving songs like "Inertiatic ESP" or "Drunkship of Lanterns," but I'd like a little more music on this album. However, there are a few parts that totally blow my mind. 3:23 into "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus" is a relentless 30-second onslaught of battery and unison guitars/keys...I couldn't drive when listening to this, as I about had a seizure. It's like listening to a strobe light. I'm still totally entranced by the Cubano son sections of "L'Via L'Viaquez," and especially when they segue back into the chorus. Now that I've got the lyrics, I also realized that the Spanish makes no more sense than the English (why would it? it's the Mars Volta). Oh, and that trumpet on "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore"? Yeah, that's Flea. You know, Flea. He played some bass on De-loused, but trumpet? Yowza. What I'm really stoked for is the 3LP edition to be released on April 26. It has the title track on it, which Omar calls his all time favorite Volta song in the new issue of A.P., though it was too long to fit on the album proper. Voltastic!
I also bought the album from my old Brit-rock faves Doves, entitled Some Cities, while I was at Amoeba, and once I can pry myself away from Frances, I'll give that a nice review. Seriously, Doves, don't put out a CD on the same day as the Mars Volta and expect me to listen to it.