Showing posts with label american. Show all posts
Showing posts with label american. Show all posts

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's Despair

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has his hands in many different projects and musical genres. While being most known for his "main" band The mars volta together with Cedric Bixler Zavala, he has also released around 16 solo albums under several different constellations since 2004. This works are mostly towards the prog genre, but a little now and then he releases more obscure works like his album with Jeremy Michael Ward (that I recently uploaded here), and also one titled Despair. Despair was recorded with field recording equipment during Omar's stay in Israel 2007. It features chants from the different religions occupied in Jerusalem and also other objects within the town, that he later experimented with in the studio (just like the Jeremy album). The album cover is upside down, something that has made many speculate. It turns out that each track is indeed backwards, so fans decided to fix this by making a reverse version. According to me both versions are great in their own ways. The regular backward version is filled with a more calm and soft atmosphere, while still being harsh around the edge. The reverse version is much more of a creep fest. A perfect eerie mood record that I highly recommend!

Download regular backward version: www.mediafire.com/?3wanm2neqyq


Download reverse version: www.mediafire.com/?jgyzzodwzty

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Jeremy Michael Ward

This record was a collaboration between Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and his close friend Jeremy Michael Ward that took place shortly after Omar left cult post-hardcore band At the drive-in and began The mars volta in 2001. It features field recordings of various objects, activites and people that they later messed with in the studio. Jeremy died of an drug overdose in 2003, only a month before The mars volta released their first full length record Deloused in the comatorium (that featured lots of Jeremy's sound manipulations). I actually never think it was supposed to be released at first, but with Jeremy's death you can see the relase (it came out in 2008) as a tribute to Jeremy from Omar. All in all it's a noise classic that you shouldn't miss.

Lastfm: www.lastfm.com/music/omar+rodriguez+lopez+jeremy+michael+ward