Live Show: Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group (3/17/09)

ORL_2009-03-17_front

The ridiculously prolific The Mars Volta mastermind is releasing yet another album next month under the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group banner. Titled Xenophanes, it will be the first work to feature vocals from Omar himself. This show from earlier this year features the same incarnation of the Group found on the new record.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group
2009-03-17
Gebaeude 9
Cologne, Germany
Recorded by a_doubt

Track list:
01 Boiling Death Request A Body To Rest Its Head On 11:23
02 Victims Del Cielo 10:36
03 Dyna Sark Arches 9:19
04 Las Flores Con Limon 7:55
05 Ila Hysteria 7:09
06 Locomocion Capilar 4:08
07 Here The Tame Go By 10:17
08 Population Council’s Wet Dream 5:55
09 How To Bill The Bilderberg Group 14:31
10 Jacob Van Lennepkade 19:02
11 Dankeschoen 1:24
12 New York City 5:03

Lineup:
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez · guitar
Mark Aanderud · keyboards
Juan Alderete De La Peña · bass
Thomas Pridgen · drums
Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez · keyboards & multiple instruments
Ximena Sariñana Rivera · vocals


Download Lossless Torrent Here

Hott Summer Traxx

During the summer great albums always drop like rain and I usually seem to have less time to talk about them, so here is a superpost full of tracks from the records I’m loving right now accompanied by a nano-review:

Dark Night Of The Soul

It seems Danger Mouse‘s best work is destined to be illegal, and this teamup with Sparklehorse and a vast cast of music superpowers is going to give the other “dark night” record a run for its money as best compilation of 2009:

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse : Revenge
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse : Little Girl
Dark Night Of The Soul website

Bibio

Bibio takes his ’60s folky electronica into a J Dilla direction creating maybe the best summery album of the year:

Bibio : Fire Ant
Bibio : Lovers’ Carvings
Buy Ambivalence Avenue
Bibio myspace

Sonic Youth

The greatest band of the last three decades drops yet another gem that holds up to their cornucopia of a discography, this time showcasing their mastery of extended guitar jams:

Sonic Youth : Antenna
Sonic Youth : Walkin Blue
Buy The Eternal
Sonic Youth website

DD/MM/YYYY

Canadians get mathy with this intricate record that surprisingly sprawls into a lot of different territory in 35 minutes:

DD/MM/YYYY : Bronzage
DD/MM/YYYY : Sirius b
Buy Black Square
DD/MM/YYYY myspace

Woods

Folksy, psychedelic rockers that are too good for their lo-fi branding, and this album allows them to display their proclivity for writing great, succinct pop songs and occasionally letting lose a long meandering jam.

Woods : The Number
Woods : Military Madness
Buy Songs Of Shame
Woods myspace

Sunset Rubdown

Spencer Krug’s most consistent outlet produces yet another “grower” album that I love more and more with each listen.

Sunset Rubdown : Black Swan
Buy Dragonslayer
Sunset Rubdown myspace

The Mars Volta

TMV take a left turn from the velocity of their career so far, and it turns out they do soft, down-tempo and nuanced just a good as they do everything else.

The Mars Volta : With Twilight As My Guide
Buy Octahedron
The Mars Votla myspace

Bonnaroo 2009: Wrap-Up And Final Thoughts

Now that I’ve finally gotten over my Bonna-flu, here’s one last post to talk about what I took from this year’s shenanigans. The Bonnaroo guide book talked about the weird familiarity that Bonnaroo becomes after several years of attending, and that definitely struck me this year. The place now certainly feels “like going back to the neighborhood where you grew up as a kid”. But this installment still managed to be a unique experience from every other. Outside of the hurricanes Thursday night, I think this was the best weather this festival has ever seen, and I feel the constant cloud cover really helped the energy overall stay strong through the last night. The vibe is always fun at the ‘roo, but I felt like this year there was a little extra electricity in the air with the crowd. Having Radiohead on a lineup is pretty awesome, but I think in the end this year’s event will be most remembered for having the strongest top to bottom lineup.

I think you could find a rather large collection of music journalist/blogger types that would agree that Animal Collective‘s Merriweather Post Pavilion, Grizzly Bear‘s Veckatimest, Dirty Projectors‘ Bitte Orca, and St. Vincent‘s Actor are all legitimate contenders for album of the year and Bonnaroo showcased all four artists within a matter of hours. This lead me to ponder some things and I came up with a few observations. First, Brooklyn, New York is the undisputed new music mecca right now. Atlanta has some cool stuff going on, but Brooklyn is the center of the universe. Also, I think harmony, particularly vocal harmonies, is a musical concept that is going to be on a hott trend for the years to come. Complexity, nuance and classical notions of musicianship are also concepts that I believe to be on the upward swing right now in the direction indie pop music is taking. There are plenty of exceptions and even healthy pushback against these trends in this “any flavour you like” internet world, but there is a renaissance going on and Bonnaroo is one of the best places to get a real glimpse at it.

Click here to read the entire post…

A Random Mp3 Trilogy: The Mars Volta, Islands/Beck, Sunset Rubdown


The Mars Volta @ The Tabernacle (9/24/08)

Octahedron, The Mars Volta‘s 5th full-length album, drops June 23rd and already a handful of tracks from it are floating around the web. Where Bedlam in Goliath was a successful continuation of their winning formula, this new album might see TMV take a new turn. Here is what Cedric Bixler-Zavala said about it:

“We always threatened we’d make a pop record. We wanted to make the opposite of all the other records we’d done. Sometimes it’s good to get rid of an old audience…because they know what to expect. And I’m sure whatever audience we get from this album, we’ll disappoint them with the next.”

I’m guessing there is a little sarcasm in that statement, although a few of the tracks I’ve heard certainly sound a little different. But I doubt too many TMV fans are going to be disappointed with the first single from Octahedron:

The Mars Volta : Cotopaxi

The Mars Volta myspace





Islands @ SXSW 2008

Another classic Beck album just got an expanded reissue. This time it was the 1994 K Records release One Foot In The Grave, which was recorded in Calvin Johnson‘s basement and features appearances from him as well as members of Lync, Built To Spill, and Presidents Of The United States of America. I absolutely love this Beck record, so I have been really enjoying listening to the reissue. It seems Islands are excited about it also because they recently posted a great cover of one of my favourite tunes from it on their myspace:

Islands : Cyanide Breath Mint (Beck cover)


Buy One Foot In The Grave Expanded Reissue

Buy Arm’s Way

Islands myspace

Beck myspace





Sunset Rubdown @ The Earl (9/24/08)

Sunset Rubdown‘s newest album, Dragonslayer, hits stores June 23rd, and from my first listen to it, it is going to be another amazing edition from Spencer Krug and company. But before I throw it in my heavy rotation and talk more about it, I still haven’t gotten over my obsession with their first record. I have been listening to it endlessly for months now after finally discovering it 3 years late, so here is the last epic track from it for you:

Sunset Rubdown : Shut Up I Am Dreaming Of Places Where Lovers Have Wings

Pre-order Dragonslayer

Sunset Rubdown website

Don’t forget Sunset Rubdown will be at the Drunken Unicorn June 16th.

I Heart Omar Rodriguez Lopez

The latest effort from the mastermind behind The Mars Volta, Old Money, was released digitally last year and placed #35 on our Top 50 albums of 2008. The album finally got a full media release last week, and I realized that I had completely forgot to do a post on it when it originally came out. Old Money was a possible follow up to 2006′s Amputechture until Omar decided to take the band in a different direction. He opted to do it instead as a solo work, and I think the results benefited from that choice. It is more Amputechture than Amputechture, and the lack of restraint afforded to his solo moniker works to create something special brimming with over-the-top psychedelics. It works especially well because the excessive music parallels the theme of the album. Not that any of his previous solo work was lacking in far out experimentation, but this might be his most successful to date.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez : The Power Of Myth

Omar Rodriguez Lopez : Private Fortunes

Buy Old Money

Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group at Fuji Rock 2007:

Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group: “Calibration” official video by Omar:

Live Show: The Mars Volta (10/02/2008)

The Mars Volta
2008-10-02
Open Air Theatre
San Diego, CA

1. drunkship of lanterns
2. ilyena
3. wax simulacra

Click here to read the entire post…

Voodoo Music Experince 2008: Nine inch Nails, The Mars Volta, Lil Wayne

Last week we made a last minute decision to go to New Orleans and catch the Voodoo Music Experience this year. We spent most of the trip on Bourbon Street and in the casino, but we did attend Voodoo last Saturday to catch Lil Wayne, The Mars Volta, and Nine Inch Nails consecutively on the main stage, and it was a ton of fun. We arrived a bit late for Lil Wayne‘s scheduled time, but luckily he was running behind too. I will say that I did enjoy hearing the songs live, but Lil Wayne was rather unimpressive in person. He seemed like he was stoned out of his gourd, it felt like most of the vocals were pre-recorded, and the set was filled with predictable events like a prayer session and a taking off of the shirt. I rarely enjoy hip-hop live, so I’ll chalk a lot of this up to that, but to sing a song sitting down holding a guitar, and then to never actually do anything with the guitar but let it sit in your lap seems pretty lame

It appeared most of the crowd was there on Saturday to see the hometown acts, and as soon Lil Wayne finally got his mic shut off, most of the crowd took off enabling us to get very close for The Mars Volta. TMV were their typical amazing selves playing mostly newer stuff, and in long, extended jam versions. Cedric seemed angry about something and was taking on-stage lights, his mic stands, and whatever else he could find and smashing them, and even tried to mess up Nine Inch Nails‘ lighting system that hung above the stage for the entire day. While that spectacle is fun to watch, I find myself being fascinated much more by Omar’s forceful conducting through the jam sections. I keep trying to decipher what all of his hand signals denote. It’s unbelievable to me that there are still so many people out there who hate this band because I can’t get enough of them:


Click here to read the entire post…

Live Video: The Mars Volta (9/24/08) The Tabernacle

The Mars Volta finally made their triumphant return to Atlanta last Wednesday. While the shortness of their set was a disappointment to many, they packed those two hours full of their most rocking stuff. I’m a big fan of all the spacey jams, but both times I’ve seen them before this were chalked full of it, so I was glad I got to see more of a “crowd pleaser” sort of set. They opened with nearly a 30 minute version of “Goliath”. Also, thanks to Clint pinning it down to a Ghostface Killah song, I finally figured out what they are covering in their pre-”Aberinkula” jam. The song is actually “Kilo Is A Measure” by Jimmy Van and Richard Hieronymus. Here’s the set:

1. Goliath
2. Viscera Eyes
3. Jam?
4. Wax Simulacra
5. Ouroboros
6. Eunuch Provocateur
7. Ilyena
8. Cygnus….Vismund Cygnus
9. The Widow
10. Kilo Is A Measure (cover song)
11. Aberinkula

Here is the full video of them performing “Vicera Eyes”:


Click here to read the entire post…

Tonight In The A: The Mars Volta, Sunset Rubdown, Indian Jewelry, Tree Creature


Sunset Rubdown

I plan on getting to the Tabernacle early to set up for The Mars Volta show starting at 8pm and then a few hours later heading to The Earl to catch Sunset Rubdown (and Nomen Novum is opening!). I am extremely excited about both of these shows, so it’s gonna be a helluva night. Also, Indian Jewelry is playing with Atlanta avant-garde artists Tenth To The Moon and Tree Creature at Eyedrum. You really need to go to one of these:

The Mars Volta : Agadez

Sunset Rubdown : The Taming Of The Hands That Came Back To Life

Indian Jewelry : Dirty Hands

Tree Creature : Nautilus Now Silver Implodes


Tree Creature

The Mars Volta Coming Back To Atlanta September 24th!

It looks like The Mars Volta is going to do us ATLiens right and make up for the Tornadoed out show that got cancelled earlier this year. Jambase is reporting that The Mars Volta will be at The Tabernacle Wednesday, September 24th. They just announced some other dates officially with tickets going on sale this Saturday, so keep checking here for more info. Yaher!

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & John Frusciante : Special 12″ Singles : 0

Live Review: The Mars Volta (4/4/2008) House Of Blues, Myrtle Beach, SC

Ever since The Mars Volta show originally scheduled in Atlanta last weekend got canceled, I had been pretty bummed. The Mars Volta are very high on my list of favourite bands and I had only seen them once before at Bonnaroo 2005. So when I learned late last week that tickets were still available for the Myrtle Beach show, some of the crew and I decided to at the last minute to go. A very wise decision.

We arrived at the venue a little over an hour before the doors opened and already there was a large crowd. The House Of Blues had a VIP line to get in the venue before everyone else, and you had to purchase $15 worth of stuff from their store to get let into it. I had never seen anything quite like that before. Then upon entering the venue when doors opened, the security searches were about as comprehensive as I have ever seen. They used metal detectors and we had to empty our pockets into containers. I felt like I was at the airport. I got inside and quickly staked down a spot a few bodies from the front of the stage.

The Mars Volta would come on a few minutes later than scheduled and play for slightly over 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Thomas Pridgen is an absolute beast on drums. At certain points, Omar would be acting as conductor through jamming sections and it almost appeared like he was pissed at his band every once in a while. Maybe that’s just the way he does it. I thought Cedric really shined, hitting everything flawlessly. He was throwing what I thought were guitar picks at Omar’s brother playfully throughout the show. Also, I don’t believe his hair is real. The setlist seemed to be a bit smaller than other setlists I had seen, but rather than getting to hear a ton of songs, I got to experience a ton of jamming, and I think I prefer that from this band anyways. Here is the set as best as I can determine, but there was a bunch of in-between parts I did not recognize at all:

Roulette Dares
Viscera Eyes
Wax Simulacra
Goliath
Ouroborous
Tetragrammaton
Agadez
Cygnus
Aberinkula
Drunkship

The venue itself had some of the best sound I’ve ever heard. About half way through the show I left my spot up front to hit the bar and I would just walk from one place to another and everywhere sounded great. The way the building was shaped was also very neat, as there were inclines in the floors so that you could see the stage from just about anywhere. Despite the fact I’m not the biggest fan of tight security, it seemed to be a necessary evil in such a professional arena. Especially considering the crowd, which was the one part of the experience I did not enjoy. Near the beginning of the show, a whole bunch of meatheads pushed their way to the front, and the crowd was full of examples why I would never want to live in Myrtle Beach. Cedric even had to yell at the crowd between songs because they were all talking through quiet parts and committing other various rude concert etiquette infractions.

But all in all it was a fabulous experience and I hope I get to catch them again sometime soon. Hopefully they’ll reschedule their Atlanta date.

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