The Mars Volta are releasing much of their back catalogue in remastered form as part of a new box set, La Realidad De Los Sueños.
Spread across 18 records, the vinyl-only release includes the band’s 2002 debut EP, Tremulant, and all six studio albums, from 2003’s De-Loused In The Comatorium to 2012’s Noctorurniquet. The set also features the original unfinished recordings of The Mars Volta’s debut album in the form of Landscape Tantrums.
Rounding off the box set, La Realidad De Los Sueños includes further unreleased versions of a number of the band’s classic tracks and a book of behind-the-scenes photography. Find a full breakdown of the release here.
Speaking about the decision to release Landscape Tantrums for the first time, The Mars Volta’s Omar Rodríguez-López said: "It is the right time, to open these recordings up to the public. As a work of art in its own right, this set also needs to be seen as the end of a story."
La Realidad De Los Sueños follows on from Universal, in Rodríguez-López’s words, "illegally repress[ing] our records," having initially negotiated a deal with the major label that would see them maintain ownership of the vinyl rights for all of their records. Deciding to reissue the material as they intended, La Realidad De Los Sueños sees the band team up with German label Clouds Hill, working with founder and owner Johann Scheerer to curate and piece together the release.
Describing Universal’s vinyl reissues as "shitty," the band’s Cedric Bixler Zavala said: "The Mars Volta – and especially this box set – can be summed up best by the phrase, ‘the devil is in the details’. If you miss that, you are going to miss a fuckload of shit."
Clouds Hill will release La Realidad De Los Sueños on April 23, 2021.
