Album of the Day

De-Loused in the Comatorium, by The Mars Volta (2003): This is another one of those semi-popular albums I bought because it was causing critics to throw around the "p-word." In fact, I remember a New York Times article about the band that name-dropped King Crimson and Yes. At first, to be honest, I was not impressed. It was certainly different, dark, and difficult to get into. And I generally like my music complex and dense. But, to paraphrase Spinal Tap, there's a fine line between densely complex and hyperactively twitchy. Having lived with it for a while, it's grown on me, but not greatly. About halfway through it all starts to run together and the nonsense vocals get on my nerves. But for about 30 minutes, it's pretty kick ass.