2 New Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Records

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is a power house. Besides leading, composing and playing guitar for The Mars Volta, hes recently scored the movie The Burning Plan with Hans Zimmer, produced Juliette Lewis' new record, and continues to churn out new solo records almost constantly.

On Tuesday he's releasing his 12th solo album entitled Xenophanes. Even for a huge Omar-head like myself it is daunting to keep up with all of his records, but this one is of particular interest because it is the first time in his entire career that we are going to get to hear Omar sing! It will be sung completely in Spanish and this fact alone should make it worth a listen.

And just this morning another new album entitled Los Sue Os De Un Hidago was released digitally. This album was recorded with his group, including members of The Mars Volta and critically acclaimed/grammy winning singer Ximena Sariñana, live at BBC studios during a tour through Europe earlier this year.




This is probably one of my favorite solo albums Omar has released yet. Hell some of my overall favorite material in general. Where on many of his solo albums he can to indulge in his various styles, particularly the more experimental, this album is a great balance of all them all. He finds a center point which we haven't seen much of. It's not overly crazy, (a la Cryptomnesia) but also not ambient (Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Jeremy Michael Ward). Omar instead showcases all of his many talents in this 5 song set, something usually reserved for a Mars Volta disc. It proves to make a most enjoyable records.

Los Sue Os De Un Hidago also finds Omar working more with melody, be it through he guitar solos or through Ximena Sariñana's vocal work. Don't get me wrong though, Omar still retains his unique sense of style. The opening "Boiling Death Request A Body To Rest It's Head On" finds the group on the more fusion side of things and features some awesome keyboard work along with Omar's patent dissonant guitar lines. The last track, "Victimas Del Cielo", is a stand out and features more great vocal work from Sariña before showcasing Rodriguez's best guitar work on the ablum.

The great thing about this, and the rest of his solo work is that it can all be streamed for free at http://omarrodriguezlopez.bandcamp.com/. This has helped me sift through his large and rapidly expanding discography and find the gems (I also highly recommend The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange). These new projects find Omar continuously expanding and show that even with the large breath of music he's releasing, he is becoming anything but stale.

9/24/09 Playlist

My inaugural show at 91.3 WVUD. Not without its set backs, including an accidental play of Steely Dan, but it was real fun. Thanks to my friends and family for listening. I'll be doin this every Thursday from 5-6pm so hit me up with requests. You can listen here or of course on 91.3fm if you're in Delaware.

Rx Bandits- My Only Lonesome Friend
The Mars Volta- Goliath
The Meters- Look-Ka-Py-Py
The Bamboos- Rawville
The Dead Weather- 60 Feet tall
Steely Dan- Bad Sneakers
Portugal. The Man- Sugar Cinnamon
The Dirty Projectors- Temecula Sunrise
The Flaming Lips- Buggin'
Big D & The Kids Table - Describing The Sky
Big D & The Kids Table- The Sounds of Allston Village
Santana- Soul Sacrifice (live at Woodstock)

Facing New York - Me N My Friendz

Everyones got those bands that they should check out. Facing New York had been up there for a real long while, and it wasn't till I heard this song that I finally did. I actually love this song alot. I really do. The thing is it should suck. The guitar riff is ok and the delivery of the vocals vaugley remind me of something between Weird Al and some lame white rapper. But the total package and presentation is great. I really believe it. While after giving them a quick once over, I should go in more deeper, this is the song that I think is really outstanding. Hope you feel the same.

The State

The State is a comedy group from the early 90s that have produced most of my favorite comedic material of all time. If the name doesn't look familiar then you might know their other projects; Stella, Role Models, Reno 911!, The Ten, Wet Hot American Summer, and Michael & Michael Have Issues to name a few.

This past summer the influential tv show of the same name finally got a release and if you get a chance to watch it in any capacity i highly recommend it.



After the show ended, its members went on to form different projects, one of which being Stella. Starting as a stand-up troupe that made hilarious short films, they are probably best remembered for the short lived show on Comedy Central (you can watch the entire series of Hulu). This Tuesday they have a brand-new live stand up DVD coming out and it looks great. Check out a clip;



For me Stella is special, not just for the humor but also for the time in which I saw it. I checked it out probably because the dude from "I Love the 80s" was in it but after seeing the first episode I was hooked. My friends and I gathered each week to see this explosive brand of humor that I had never seen or even thought of before. It was brilliant.

They also introduced me and much of the world to "alternative" comedy (for lack of a better term) and a great new group of actors including Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis and Elizabeth Banks.

Here's some additional projects/media to check out from the crew;

You can see all of the Stella Shorts at college humor.
http://www.collegehumor.com/user:398

New Interview with David Wain. It goes into just how the State formed and made it to MTV, how he came to work with Paul Rudd, and his role in the DVDs production.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/david-wain,31483/

Michael Showalter's internet "talk show" The Michael Showalter Showalter.
http://www.collegehumor.com/tag:michaelshowalter

David wain's Internet show Wainy Days which features guest stars from Jonah Hill to Rashida Jones.
http://www.mydamnchannel.com/Wainy_Days/Season_1/1Shelly_388.aspx

You can stream both Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter's comedy albums on Lala.com
http://www.lala.com/#album/360569445187453484

David Wain's first film that he made before The State even formed. It made it all the way to Sundance and did the festival circuit when he was still in High School.
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/08/david_wains_aisle_six_investig.html

Circa Survive on Atlantic & record with David Bottrill

Heres the official statement;

"Greetings everyone! We have wonderful news to share with you. After almost a year of writing, we have begun working on our third record in Toronto, ON. David Bottrill, who has made amazing albums with bands like Tool, King Crimson, Silverchair and Moneen, is producing. We couldn’t be more excited to be working with him and the songs are turning out beautifully. This is the most time we’ve ever spent on writing an album and possibly the hardest we’ve ever worked on anything as a band. We can’t wait to share this music with you. It feels like it will be so soon now.

After completing our contract with Equal Vision we embarked on a long search to find our next home. We met with lots of labels and decided that Atlantic Records is the best place for us to continue our growth as a band and to help us release our music around the world. Because this is a big step we feel the need to reassure you that we are and always will be the same band no matter what label we are on. We are so grateful for everything Equal Vision has done for us and having their blessing in this next step couldn’t mean more. Our friendship/relationship with them is strong and will continue to be so.

Over the next couple of months we will be updating our websites with videos and pictures from the studio to let you in on some of the recording process. As we do so we invite you all to take this journey with us. We can’t wait to be back out on the road playing these songs for all of you."

See you soon,
Circa

I think this is a great move for Circa. They seemed to go just about as far as they could in the punk/warped tour world in terms of size and sound. I think their music is unique yet wide appealing enough to be successful.

David Bottrill also seems like a great choice. I love the production (Brian McTenernan) on both of their previous cds, but to me they do sound quite a bit alike. I think a new producer with a much different background and a studio in a Toronto, a city which really seems to fit the sound of their band, is just perfect. I'm excited and can't wait to see where they take their sound.

Lettuce @ Gathering Of The Vibes

I went to Gathering of The Vibes in Bridgeport, Connecticut last weekend and as the same as last year it was a great experience. But the musical highlight was definitely Lettuce. One of the most fun live performances I've seen. Here's a video;

Downloading

Everyone downloads. Its no secret and I fully support it. Shit, thats how i've gotten into just about all the music that I listen to. But still, I buy cds and lps. Partly because I love my collection and the experience of acquiring a piece of music after the anticipation builded up (its like Christmas), but also because I like to support bands.

If you think that downloading an artists album doesn't hurt them, your simply wrong. The capital inflow of a label/band is very important and album sales is a major contributor to getting bands on tours, promotions, marketing, merchandise and generally keeping the band growing and sustaining.

Two blogs that EVERYONE should read about downloading and its effects on the independent artist are by two people that I highly respect and are doing some of the best and progressive things in all of music, John Gourley of Portugal. The Man and Cathy Pellow of Sargent House(Rx Bandits, Russian Cirles, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez) and they put into perspective just how much each purchase of an album means. Here are their links;

Sargent House Blog

Portugal. The Man Blog

Now these two people know full well that downloading has helped their acts grow and achieve the success that they have. Gourley and Portugal. the Man were one of the first to fully support it, even leaking their 2007 album Church Mouth two weeks early themselves. Sargent House also allow all of their albums for streaming on sites like
band camp and last.fm.

Sargent House is urging people to buy their artist Rx Bandits new record not for money, but to push their music into the limelight. If all fans of Rx Bandits abought their record when they come out next week, they say they would debut in the top ten on the Billboard charts, providing another reason to support artists you enjoy, to get shitty music off the airwaves and tv!! Still whether these calls to action will be taken seriously remains to be see, but they do provide insight to the other side of downloading.

I urge everyone to buy these two records and to support two great bands, Rx and Portugal. The Man, with both their new albums coming out this Tuesday. And for the next two days the new Rx album is only $3, so definitely hop on that.



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