Word: bixler
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...this scholarly and delightful volume proves them right. American Toy Cars and Trucks by Lillian Gottschalk (Abbeville; 328 pages; $75) celebrates wheels past, from 1894 to 1942, and the older these miniatures are, the more charm radiates from their wire wheels and peeling running boards. From the Jones & Bixler touring car complete with uniformed chauffeur, to the double-deck city bus populated by "clown, fireman, porter and gentleman," to the motorcycle steered by Popeye, Bill Holland's photographs offer a bright valedictory to objects that managed to be mass-produced without compromising their jaunty integrity and cast-iron elegance...
Without a doubt, the Mars Volta is a self-consciously difficult band, one that has simultaneously increased the level of permutations in its sound along with the variety of its genre affiliations. The roots for the template Rodriguez and Bixler currently employ can be found on At The Drive In’s records—namely, Rodriguez’s off-the-hinges screeching and squalid guitar-wanking—without really hinting at the more drastic experimentations the two would soon dabble...
...Drive In’s songs pack a wallop, hitting the ground running in excellent form. The missteps occur when the band attempts to stretch a really great three and a half minutes into a six minute mini-epic that lacks forward motion. Bixler and Rodriguez have forgone that problem, not resting on any patterns—other than some near-patience-breaking extended stretches of ambient noise—for too long. The ambience serves as a segue between the music as they sustain one continuous unit, five segments of which make up the track listing, some with their...
Still, the long stretches of ambient blips and beeps are an exasperating bump in the road. Even if Bixler and Rodriguez maintain the need to provide transitions between segments, do they really have to be so arduous? The duo has ambition seeping out of their pores; restraining their indulgences would do them much good...
...package that takes more time to digest, like the worst offenders of the genre, they also detract from the intensely accomplished peaks the band manages to climb. Ultimately, though, I doubt the Mars Volta will ever hold back much on the grandiosity. Even with their bloodstreams and lungs clean, Bixler and Rodriguez’s twisted mind trips will impact the presentation of their music more than appropriate...