The Mars Volta - Cygnus

[NickB33]

Was this the festival hall gig when pridgen was still new to the band? If so i was at this gig. Cedric ended up crowd surfing. I wish they would release the DVD already!!

[ollidutza]

omfg! cedric is so so so fucking sexy ;)

[blakesta025]

damb thats awesome i wish i was their

[KenNoUnderson]

omar's guitar is really alive

[Bruinsmamusic]

To those who say Pridgen is a bad drummer: Get some intellect and perhaps you'll understand the difficult shit he's doing right in front of your nose.

[DRUNKENRAMBLE]

led zepplin on tacos ...awesome!!!

[happytime13]

Cedrics singing is so perfect here!

[peterbass27]

Viva Juan Alderete!!

TMV

My F... Favorite band!!

[Chingeesoraus]

aver confieasa omar 4:19

[dammboy3]

fucking gooooooood

[dekmektsis]

For me, this is the greatest guitar-solo of all time!

[Chingeesoraus]

you obviously haven't listened to tmv's early stuff. its like this times 100!

[dekmektsis]

of course i have. this is just my favorite. everybody is entitled to their opinion...

[Chingeesoraus]

imo the best guitar solo is the viscera eyes solo from the troubador on 4/2/2007

if you want ill pm you the link to download it, its definitely beast.

[dekmektsis]

Ok, I'd love to hear it. Are you on Twitter? I can message you my email address there privately. Also, TMV is following me on Twitter. It's Twitter/DimitraE... Talk with you soon. Dimitra

[dekmektsis]

Yes, please... I posted the comment above for you, actually.

[JackSheet]

yes please!

[lettrism]

i was at this gig and noticed all the pro cameras around the place. really looking forward to the dvd being released. it was a cracker of a show - second song in, cedric runs off stage, round the back of the crowd and crowdsurfs to the front. funny stuff.

[godhatesugly]

He crowd-surfed?! He's come a long way from At the Drive-In thats for fucking sure.

[nirv420]

thats dope

[AguyWITHstuff]

what other songs did they play there

[yargum69]

wat

[ReggaeMusic3]

fuckin blown away!!!!

[oscariscool]

oh my god!!

[ack44]

holy shit

[lejtocore]

wow

[Lushoverthebridge]

Genius

[poisonedmousie]

oh my God. Omar is so amazing. I effing love this song.

[rx0alex]

gointo the show at somerset house and will be praying they play this song!!

[revy120]

Excellent...

[AlvinZalvin]

this is an orgasm...

[EuQueroParar]

oh man, i get those too with tmv

[manchigatito]

guhuuu XD kawaii

me lo mostro uhn amigo

entero bkn!! XD kawaii

[rushlover56]

ummm i wonder what band they got this name for a song?

[dslaterr]

you know because rush invented the word "cygnus".

[rushlover56]

im not saying they did asshole but if u actually knew a little about mars volta that they r big rush fans

[stratocastermaster2]

lol omar said he pretty much knows nothing about rush

[rushlover56]

thats weird. cause i read an article a couple years ago saying that their new album was heavily rush inspired

[petefic26]

rush did not invent the word "cygnus". It's a constellation...

[arcanejazz]

and the name cygnus for the constellation comes from mythology, like most constellation names, lol

[DandelionVolta]

@petefic26 @arcanejazz it's also latin for "swan"

[iamsicsic6]

seems like theyve put on a bit of the funk lately....i think i like jon theodores take on this better........:(

[iamchris1000]

watching mars volta live videos and i JIZZED IN MY PANTS

[rastaneda]

also, i fucking LOVE the breakdown/jam part of this song. so fantastic, so good

[rastaneda]

great video!! check my video, i get some pretty cool footage up close of cedric and company... NEW ALBUM COMING SOON TOO!!!!!!!

[nismocuaad]

there`s a dvd of this concert?¿?¿?

[nismocuaad]

Chingon, chingon chingonsisimo,

[Martyagogo]

I loved Theodore's drumming style, but damn. Pridgen rips this song :]

[GenDoomVisser]

when i watch jon i think in my head that he's the best , but then i watch thomas. I just don't care anymore the mars volta will always be evolving

[useful100]

OMG Surely they mst be one of the best live bands around today

[trenken]

Their drummer is ridiculous. One of the best rock drummers ive ever heard.

[frugod510]

omar's face 1:50!!!! diggin it

[SirZeke]

LOL more like 1:48

[examinfo]

Mars Volta reminds me of Mahavishnu Orchestra:Which is a great compliment! these guys are fusion/jazz

[ASR10MAN]

been a fan of theez el paso broze for along time!

f-ing geen us

[goooch]

funk

[TMV16]

I'm really digging Juan's bass in the chorus'

[m8cct]

progressive/psychedelic/experi­mental/rock/metal/craziness at its finest! =D

[saintmikky]

metal..... ye ..... okay keep thinking that

[m8cct]

believe it or not they do have some metal components to them. Its not the first genre that comes to mind when you think Mars Volta, but there is definitely some metal influence in their music. People have a tendency of narrowing the metal genre to really heavy stuff, but if you look at the original metal bands like Black Sabbath and even a little bit of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, (though those two bands were better defined as Hard Rock, like Mars Volta) the genre has a lot of leeway.

[tquizzle23]

i agree w/ m8cct completely. you sorta have to dig for it though.

[Nickovitch2370]

haha Omar looks like Santana

[tmvps]

I LOVE THEM

[helloluci]

simplemente flipante

[el3ctric24lue]

Amazing

[SEXYBEAST8675309]

fucking Thomas Pridgen!!!!!!

i love him.........

[Crawtachio]

Holy shit at it's holiest this was an epic display.

[uberblazed421]

That just brought tears to my eyes.....ROCK N ROLL IS NOT DEAD THANX TO TMV.

[TheFreeshooter]

cant wait for the dvd!

[ovejaepileptica]

fuckin' omar's the shit

[fender7682]

agreed

[BobbyRoyale]

whoever says this drummer isn't good can honestly fuck off.

[sumstufflol]

who could say thomas isn't good

thats fucking ridiculous

[inmerit]

Its a proper daft thing to say but I'll be honest, I prefer Jon Theodore's take on this.

[jmmatos23]

That's something I will never agree with. NEVER! I just don't get it.

[eettocs]

I completely agree with that. Jon plays this song soooo perfect. Thomas is just a little too much sometimes. Nothing against him, I love Thomas. But Mr. Theodore knew how to play this one perfectly.

[chrisjeffsmusic]

This isn't from Melbourne, this is a performance from Amsterdam if I remember Correctly.

[JefeElMilagro]

Nah man it's Melbourne.

[TMVowns]

genius pure genius

[oldskoolchomp]

where's the rest of the damn video??

[ryrdyr]

on the side list it says part 2 3 4 ect....

[DjDiablock]

would give any money that to go down on their concert if they will arrive to Moscow!!!!!!!!!!!

[DjDiablock]

eng:it is clear that they use something but it does not matter, because they do magnificent music!!!

rus:это понятно что они что-то "употребляют"

!НО! Это не имеет значения т.к. они делают АХ*ИТЕЛЬНУЮ музыку =)

P.S. отдал бы любые деньги чтоб сходить на их концерт если они приедут в Москву!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bananinasdasd]

from our fetal miraaaaaaaaaaaage!!!

amazing

[unicornskickass12]

chrome the fetal mirage

[lee2dope]

Man I freaking love TMV.. Why does Cedric use effects in his mic now? I kinda dislike that.. but it's his songs..

[thesacothPEARL21]

spine chillingly amazing

[adderas]

I flippin love the drum fill at 3:00 till about 3:10

Wicked

[sirnicholson]

and thats "Spyro Gyra"sorry kind of blew the whole thing no but really check out spyro gyra it will crack you up

[sirnicholson]

ok i figured it out.they sound like "Spyro Gyro on steroids.yup yup uh huh yep thats what they sound like spyro gyro on steroids.get a visual on some spyro gyro and you laugh your god dam fucking asses off

[tiberiplaysguitar]

There all on meth

[ieroscarpet]

Why don't they ever play the beginning of this song?

[emugrint]

its not the same song

the first part is sarcophagi

the crazy part is called umbilical syllables

3rd is facilis desenus averni

and last is con safo

they just put it all on one track

thats whats so cool with frances

and when all of are played together it somehow all comes together and is awesome

[VideosOfLionKing]

heart heart p

[cdrumz]

whyd o niggas get on youtube to argue if someone wants to be stupid then let em...

i know what i know...this video is hella hard...thomas is the illest...

[ododbobo]

this is pleasant for the ears... they know what they are doing, they have played this song a million times they're just playing around

[TMVmucho123]

i doubt omar or pridgen even know or care about the time signature

[jmmatos23]

I doubt it too, just listen to some of their interviews.

[ryrdyr]

i think pridgen does but omar doesn't in an interview he said hes ignorant to theory

[SirZeke]

you cant be a musician and be ignorant of time signatures. well you could but it would be pretty hard to not stumble upon the idea while playing music. i dont think he cares unless hes trying to talk about the song to someone. and i care about time signatures but not when im playing the music.

[ryrdyr]

ssssssssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiii­iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick­kkkkk

[CocoLedZeppelin]

how'd you get this footage?

[JefeElMilagro]

It's from the upcoming live DVD. This particular video comes from the bonus disc of Bedlam in Goliath that you could buy from Best Buy for a limited time.

[Andrew0325]

that drummer is pretty damn sick

[lee2dope]

They need to do a show of all the albums and put em on dvd....and Cedric needs to lose the effects.. Idc if his voice isnt as high pitched..comes with age..just let it be natural.

[ginty019]

thomas is soo fuckin nuts

[Beelzeboss89]

i'm almost positive that at its 4/4 up until the breakdown part at 2:38. but at 2:38 it goes to 23/8 - 16/8, then at 2:51 i think it goes to 9/16.

[IRBoomkin]

wow you have no idea what you are saying

[SirZeke]

this song doesnt have or need a time signature. the music seems to go beyond them. i know that impossible, im a drummer, but if i played it i would just think about the song.

[pangtjoff]

Tss, all music have a time signature.

[cinnabin]

the song(each part) has a time sig, but most musicians play by feeling not by counting in their heads

[SirZeke]

thats what i meant.

[weedkiller10]

im sure they mean the jam, not the opening bit...

[necrobata]

Sangreee, sonandooo, de rabia nací!!

[Bretteo]

intense band,they actualy amaze me

[emugrint]

omar looks so natural with his guitar

[jabob4444]

i have to say the jam that begins at 4:01 is probably my favorite instrumental by the mars volta hands down, i love it, the energy the emotion the time signature, i can listen to that part of cygnus...vimund cynus all day long. brilliant!

[JonasBridgous]

Awesome song.

[AirHendrix91]

This is gonna be an awesome DVD. They better release it this year :D.

[AaronLiraE]

It's already out it comes with

"Bedlam and Goliath"

[Embroglio89]

only the cygnus vid comes with tbig and thats if you got it from japan. the whole dvd is coming out this year sometime, theres been talk of July 30th as a releae date but it hasn't been properly confirmed yet.

[02nothing]

that first drum hit is like someone kicking open my mind.

[mariereneest]

my comment ws meant for splinterd...the joke fails

[superbaddrummer]

seriousley an orgasm to my ears

[superbaddrummer]

holy shit i am so inspired by this

[superbaddrummer]

hahahaha that was funny, this is my favorite song

[Splinterd]

damn they go through drummers like rosie odonnell does twinkies.

[whatthebutts]

So you're trying to say Rosie O'Donnel has only consumed two twinkies in the last seven years? Clever joke you've got there

[jackp22]

It kinda is, seeing as they had jon, then blake fleming, then deantoni parks, now thomas.

Not two.

[mariereneest]

u fail

[TOOLnavy]

1:51 - 1:52

i find it hard to believe he doesnt use a double pedal for this song.

[pinotostado]

TMV is awesome, Jon is awesome too, but accept the present, thomas is the new drummer so just enjoy their music

[InstantClubHit]

When is the ridiculous drummer argument going to end, and when it ends, will people finally begin listening to the music?

[roxit2368]

Ya'll know Pridgen was a child prodigy on the drums, right?

How can you not say that he is awesome?

And that whole speedy discombobulated sound is what cedric and omar were aiming for with most every album after Deloused. TMV have never really cared about technically making music "for the fans." They just aspire to make something different and epic and as long as they're happy with it, that's that.

[TOOLnavy]

gotta love that organ

[gealoa]

what beat is it in the guitar solo?

is it a 5/8?

[1Lee]

29/16

[sucramnormark]

15/8

[E3tiger]

72/64

[sucramnormark]

10281271/7

[KRsoundismusic]

it's actually 9/16 and 5/4...or 29/16..but I wouldn't count like that...

[ModulationCracks]

i count it like this: ||: 9/16 | 6/8 | 2/4 :||

[Rakim360]

I agree with that as well, when i look at it a diff. way.

I count it as 5/8 6/8 2/4. but im not positive.

are they tech. the same?

[KRsoundismusic]

well it can't be 5/8 because it would have one sixteenth note too much. The first pattern is 9/16 you can divide the rest the way you want to...10/8...5/4...3/4 and 4/8...doesn't really matter...but it's unbelievable how thomas plays over it with all the "delays" within the groove itsself....crazyness.

[VismundCygnus421]

It's a lot easier to count it as a measure of 5, a measure of 6, and a measure of 4. Sure, you can count the first one in 9/16 because there's the offbeat into the second one, but you don't have to since it all adds up to a neat 5,6,4,5,6,4,5,6,4,5,6... pattern in the end. I also love the hi-hat note pattern on the album of 2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3..etc. The two cyclical patterns over each other is just brilliant. Thomas is good, but Jon is just more mature and had a better feel. Thomas is too flashy.

[iwazused]

i 100% agree with this statement but you have to give thomas the props, there is no doubt he can play.

[jimshtjor]

bullshit its in 4/4 dumasses

[CCBassline]

yeah, these guys must not know how to count. heh. 29/16? wtf are these people thinking?

[retrohippie]

As much as I love The Mars Volta, I really miss Cedric's raw vocals without the non-stop mic-synth thingy(?)

[Dogma3721]

Me too.

This synth nonsense runs it.

[E3tiger]

Me 3. I mean it sounds clearer, but it sounds too smooth and electonic.

[marsvolta1386]

wawawa cry me a river, fuck people, get over it jon didn't wanna be there with them, what makes ppl think that having him around would make the music better then it is, fuck the point of the mars volta it to have eventual change at times, and kicking jon in the ass was one of those changes, yes guy was great but it's over, enjoy them for who they are not what they were

[drdoctorevil]

Pridgen is an awsome drummer, but he lacks swing and salsa.

[pjustusxi]

I agree.

[babber09]

TP is AMAZING. besides for those of you who claim that he "overplays" I would rather have a drummer who slightly overplays than one his is an exact copy of theodore.

[KingCheez]

omar's still the composer.

he just finally got a drummer that can keep up with his crazy

[chr1israzor]

I really don't appreciate the same way the forms and the approach in which Thomas plays these songs.....Theodore had those aspects very clear, and he knew what to play for these parts to make it sound more organic and more as a whole...such mindset always prevails over technique. speed and dynamics...these three are only aspects, not mindsets and attitudes.

[mitta394]

Absolutely 100 % agree. I'll take Theodore over Pridgen ANY day

[oridniv]

INDEED

[casquad]

these drum parts are better than the album

[redhotchilipepper76]

because hes thomas pridgen

[amarezero]

I still prefer the original arrangement for this song, and yes, it doesn't have the same feel as it did (especially the drums). But TMV changes itself so often you've gotta expect it by now. I say just cherish the old while embracing the new and we'll all enjoy the fact that Cedric is spending more time singing and less time just straining his vocal cords. The band are becoming far more focused and cohesive as time goes on and I love it.

[bamsukka]

That is true, omar can now do the dance moves AND play, rather that just one at a time haha. Although it's still pretty damn cool either way.

[redteamgoredteamgo]

thomas brings life to this song in ways jon couldn't. and vice versa if you think about it. but thomas rocks it more. and that's definitely the direction the volta is taking their music. harder. stronger. faster. they've evolved into an 8-headed monster. they sound like a 'band' more than they ever have before.

[mitta394]

I think Prigden's too rapid for The Mars Volta. He's definitely a good drummer, that's clear. But he doesn't leave space for anything to sink in; he just kind of freaks out the entire song. However, Bedlam in Goliath in itself is one big freakout and it's my absolute least favorite Mars Volta album.

[Dogma3721]

Did you really just say that? Harder? faster? Omar and Cedric left the At The Drive-In because they didn't like the direction the heavy music was going.

[AcidsplosioN]

FUCKING amazing

jesus christ, these guys are so good

[papasmurf2378]

SUPERGASM

[HispanicImpression]

you could order that under individual expression and that he is not supposed to be a replicate of Jon Theodore, but that doesn't weakens the point, that he just doesn't graps the expression of the song at this spot and could take it to the next level with Omar - Jon could do it. Playing it like Jon did it is 110 % constructive to the song, Thomas' way not at all. Jon's approach was nearer at the spirit of the song...

well... just something what disturbed me this evening...

[HispanicImpression]

I was at their concert in the Palladium in Cologne this evening (08.03.08) - first time I've seen them and Thomas Pridgen live ;).

To Thomas Pridgen:

Their's no doubt that he's one hell of a drummer, but you have to admit, that he keeps messing up this song considering the album version at the hectic part from approx 2:38-2:50. He's just can't catch the hectic-chaotic expression of this spot. Of course, you could...

[jflaks66]

Hes not messing a choice. Omar made the decision to play that part slightly differently with different phrasing (if you listen to this live segment and the track segment side-by-side you will see that the live version seems a little more slowed down, therefore less "hectic", not necessarily TP's fault)

[Wormsie]

I dunno... Thomas isn't accentuating the beat with the snare drum the exact way John did. I think that's the primary reason behind the beat not sounding as hectic. I'd agree that it's different, and personally I also prefer the previous version. But the band seems a lot happier with Thomas, I think that's what counts the most.

[mitta394]

Haha, yeah true. While I dont like Thomas nearly as much, they are no longer at eachother's throats and they do seem happier.

[Dogma3721]

Where does it say they were at each other's throats? I've -never- read that. I heard that Jon left because he had a fear of performing. and I don't see how THomas can be so much better, sure, he's fast, but he doesn't nail ANYthing like Jon did. Jons flow>Thomas' speed

concur on all accounts. I saw Thomas play this song live about a week ago and he completely ruined the bridge part by playing at the only dynamic level he knows: Loud. I feel like Jon sped up a little too much during his live performa