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Love or hate this mega-technical, prog-to-the-nth-degree power trio, you gotsa admit that despite the shredding, this is some stony-ass shit…
-KW
I was pretty surprised when I heard that The Mars Volta, who have previously sold out Terminal 5 (a huge new-ish venue in Manhattan) and are scheduled to play the Hammerstein Ballroom (another enormous Manhattan venue), are also playing at the much more intimate Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey on this tour.
Say what you will about the band — they are indeed quite a live experience to behold and have clearly captured the attention and imagination of a myriad of many serious music lovers in their 7 year run for good reason.
And so on September 18th, while Vince and Axl are giving each other h.j.s in the back row at the Opeth/High On Fire/Nachmystium extravaganza, me and the Gibbler will brave smelly NJ in the name of fiery PROG. A chance to see a band up close that usually only plays sold-out shows in gigantic venues doesn’t come along so often; I believe there are still tickets left, so don’t delay, and let’s rockit!!
See you in the stony non-pit…
[read my Sunday Spotlight on The Mars Volta and check out plenty of their wicked tunes]
-KW
With Cedric singing on a few of the tracks (and appearances from other members of The Mars Volta, including recently-departed drummer Jon Theodore), Omar’s “solo” record Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo plays very much like a collection of MV outtakes (it even has a chilled-out version of a new MV track “Goliath”, which is here entitled “Rapid Fire Tollbooth” — I suspect this version came first, and served as a sketch for the MV rendition). But there’s a bit more headspace twinkled in between the actual tunes than usual.
This album, one of four full-lengths written and recorded by Rodriguez-Lopez whilst living in Amsterdam in November 2005, was conceived around the same time as The Bedlam In Goliath, and was inspired by the Jorge Hernandez Aldana film, El Búfalo de la Noche (as well as plenty of hallucinogens, I’m sure); which is where the title for Se Dice originates. Omar also composed a soundtrack to the film, which will feature contributions by The Mars Volta.
Calibration (Is Pushing Luck and Key Too Far) , the prolific afro’d Latino mastermind’s next album, due out one week from today, is meant to be quite electronica-heavy, and will be followed later this year by an album of remixes.
Dude keeps busy, that’s for sure!
-KW
OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ – “Rapid Fire Tollbooth”
OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ – “Boiling Death Request a Body to Rest Its Head On”
OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ – “La Tirania de la Tradicion”
all from Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo (2007)
Visit Omar on MySpace (official)
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