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Omar Rodriguez Lopez drops his next solo album ‘¿Sólo Extraño?’ | Music News
Moving outside of the confinements of pr planning and other entrapping mechanisms to the release of material, singer songwriter Omar Rodriguez Lopez has been launching a plethora of digital records over the last few years without any previous announcements. The albums show up on Bandcamp and news finds its way through the extensive network that is his label, colleagues, fans and supporters. Eventually pressed onto various formats, the digital introduction of his latest efforts has become a healthy tool for the expansion of this young visionaries legacy. With Omar Rodriguez Lopez in full dedication mode to his latest band Bosnian Rainbows, the release of his solo material is a very welcomed gift to new music being put out this year.
¿Sólo Extraño? is the latest Omar solo album which has been released this week. It is a metamorphosis in sound representing the future of progressive rock and electronica. Sleek, sonically provocative and psychedelic, it’s another exploratory vehicle of sound that bends all notions of what this musician has done before. The origin or personnel is unknown, which has become a feature to the new LP’s in his release stream. Check out the full digital stream of ¿Sólo Extraño? below and order a copy if you enjoy what you hear.
Omar Rodriguez Lopez ‘Equinox’ | RLP and Sargent House
December 2012 was an interesting time for this world and Omar Rodriguez Lopez let loose three offerings of his musical offspring in the month that prove to be some of his most experimental and borderline psychotic records to date. Unlike the bulk of his solo releases over the last decade, these albums come with no information attached and shed a lot of past sonic skin for entirely new approaches to creating music. Specifics on recording location, who plays on each song and what it all means has been left out this time around. Equinox was the album of the three new records in the batch that I have been drawn towards the most, creating a very exotic pop sound, flirting between angular guitar lines, drenched effects added to just about every piece of sound being processed and new waves of style to the canon of Omar’s music. This is easily the most exploratory yet tasteful music he has released and the inclusion of his vocals adds to the direction he has been going as of late.
Starting with the five minute track “Sueños Salvajes”, this subversive jam piece begins with a beautiful drum solo masked in post production phasing. It feels like the drums are being played on top of a commercial airliner, not inside of a recording studio. Omar brings huge sounding atonal note lines that are reminiscent to moments on his Apocalypse Inside of an Orange record. This would be the outsider version where manipulation is given an entirely new value to the music. Drums create vortexes of rhythm in clever positions while the music shape shifts in every direction you could ever imagine. The bass keeps the groove centered and constant, adding a platform where everything else goes and no sounds are held back. The vocals from Omar are treated with a lot of effects and feel like they come from another world. Those tight little prog and funk licks you can find in a lot of Omar’s rhythm work in the past find their way on the inner sections of the layers while psychedelic tones rise outward from this saturated sound.
One of the songs on the album that has stuck in my consciousness is the fifth track “Mermaid Grapefruit”. The first thought that came to mind was a bridging and heavy emergence of early Volta in the salsa prog rhythms found on “Drunkship of Lanters” and the immaculate pristine like guitar sheets from the intro of “Eunuch Provocateur”. The layering is less concentrated and the groove has a breathing value to it that makes it shine with a beauty I have not heard in a lot of Omar’s new works. The bass reverberates powerful emotions while glistening guitar shimmers and bounces off of psychedelic synth layering. The vocals are again highly treated but are sung in a higher and brighter register than most of the other tracks. Natural sounding percussion and a magnetically charged glow leaves the groove in a much more primitive and raw state. It’s a very deep song to my senses where I can feel every emotion Omar is conveying through the tones, rhythms and melodic lines. The small and subtle guitar additives create a very exotic layer, giving way to a beautiful rhythm solo at the end which fades out all too soon.
Photo from RLP & Sargent House
Another stand out piece on the album that is very new territory for Omar is the track “Dientes Para el Osmosis”. The synth has an 80′s derived tonality to it – crystal like – while the guitar is unhinged. Bass is roaming and exploring through some incredible territory of notes and the drums are really cutting the music up in every way possible. It has a tipsy feel to it, as if the entire music is tilting off its axis and playing the balancing act back and forth. The bass is really impressive on the back side and the guitar becomes rather violent and pronounced with fire fueled emotions after each successive measure. Once the guitar is treated to its maximum range of effects, it sounds as if Larry Young took over on keys and a flashback of his early days with Tony Williams Lifetime became his source of inspiration. Natural piano makes an appearance as well but in a very unorthodox manner. As the music breaks open and shatters into endless expression, the piano finds some very odd lines to walk down itself. The ending section has a lot of really great rhythm guitar parts embedded, reminiscent of the communication Omar is known to have with John Frusciante over their career. Sun Ra esk synth drones eventually fill the entire mix to the top for an overpowering result. It’s a track that serves as one of the more intense and dynamic pieces. The end is given the full out treatment of climbs and fall outs as the music crashes into a wave of somber energy and a very delicate aura arises. It’s unbelievable how far the piece goes and is able to end on such a peaceful and cinematic note.
The song on the album that I have come to enjoy the most is the longest track on Equinox, “Popolon”. The progressive rock and dub stylings of Omars past manifests itself full force in this track. Bass bounces on the low end while very linear layers create a hazy but more bridged sense of dynamics. There isn’t as many lines crossing over one another and it leaves all the room in the world for the beautiful state of groove to emerge. The bass lines really pull me in when it starts exploring more notes within the pulsing meter cycles. The sense of colors and rhythm in the guitar parts is also very special. The way the vocals are drenched in effects, the sly in the pocket drumming and so many other elements create a unique style that is rich in culture and youth. This is one of the darkest funk influenced rhythm sections ever presented on a Omar track and it feels like the groove will never end.
Equinox is an album of many styles, many names and many directions. Pop to ambient noise, there is something to be taken from all of the music hemispheres of Omars world here. After repeated listens, I have come to the conclusion that it stands as tall and exhilarating as anything else in his works. This could be the end of an era or the beginning of a new one with how morphed and stretched out this record is. It’s a beautiful thing though that the world doesn’t know a definitive answer for that question anymore.
-Erik Otis
http://rodriguezlopezproductions.com/
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If you are new to the solo albums of Bosnian Rainbows guitarist/vocalist, a very good landing point to get an idea of his entire body of works can be found in the compilation release Telesterion released by Sargent House and Rodriguez Lopez Productions in spring of 2011.
The music releasing output of Omar Rodriguez Lopez slowed down considerably in 2012 by his own standards set over the last decade but is still prolific in terms of most modern recording artists. Before releasing three records at the very end of 2012, albums released from Omar in 2012 include the full length LP’s Un Corazón De Nadie, Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar and Octopus Kool Aid.
Equinox serves as one of three final releases from 2012, all dropping only a few days before the new years. With the band he co-created, Bosnian Rainbows, releasing their debut track and info on more touring, the anticipation builds high for the debut album by Bosnian Rainbows expected this spring. To get a really good idea where Bosnian Rainbows and particularly Omar Rodriguez Lopez is headed, check out the interview Omar did with City Arts in October of 2012.
The Sentimental Engine Slayer from director Omar Rodríguez-López now available for pre-order | Film News
In 2010, multi-instrumentalist Omar Rodríguez-López embarked on his first official film release with the full length feature The Sentimental Engine Slayer. First premiering at the illustrious International Film Festival Rotterdam, I was really impressed by how the film made me feel and the type of social situations it touched upon. With Omar Rodríguez-López playing the lead role of Barlam, the experiences he is thrown into shape the process in which this character passes through the threshold of being a boy and entering into manhood. How he gets there is a process that is in some ways surreal and in every other way universal.
Two years after its release in the film world and the hard working staff at ORLP and Sargent House have come up with a proper DVD release of this landmark point in Omar Rodríguez-López’s career. The DVD will include the original full length feature along with deleted scenes and a bonus montage for the extras. TSES shirts are also available in their online store.
Click Here to purchase The Sentimental Engine Slayer DVD, shirts or bundle package.
The Sentimental Engine Slayer tells the compelling, confounding tale of the overdue coming of age of a twenty-something misfit named Barlam. Barlam’s awkward transition from boy to man is as much the story of struggling to find one’s essence in a world of stereotypes as it is an indictment of the distorted reality of family life in the disengaged 21st century. A bottom-rung grocery bagger whose neo-incestuous relationship with his addict sister, Natalia, causes him no small amount of grief and disillusionment, Barlam seeks solace in the convoluted wisdom of what few male peers are available, namely his androgynous, alcoholic boss, Oscar, and the sister’s simple-minded boyfriend, Zack. Seeking an explanation as to the strange circumstances of his apparent lack of family structure, as well as the respect from others fundamentally absent in his mundane model-building existence, Barlam is soon led astray amid a seedy underworld of prostitutes, hustlers and addicts. The labyrinthine plot soon begs questioning as to where reality ends and fantasy begins, Barlam shifting effortlessly between hapless punching bag, assertive surrogate father figure, and rage-prone psychopath. Written by Sonny Kay
RLP and SH reissue “Omar Rodriguez Lopez & John Frusciante” on CD and LP | Music News
The Omar Rodriguez Lopez & John Frusciante collaboration record has been one of my favorites in both artists output of work, showing a side of the two musical forces that reflects what one might hear if these two were playing together for friends and in the confinements of their homes. With a sound that sounds as primitive and raw as it comes, it’s a very personal album that I go back to often for inspiration. The crew over at Rodriguez Lopez Productions and Sargent House prepared a reissue of this album on CD and Vinyl with the first 500 orders of the LP version containing a 11×17″ folded posted designed from the cover of the album. The first 500 were pressed on red vinyl which of course quickly sold out and the remaining prints will surely go sooner then later. I absolutely love this record and am very pleased to be able to cover the reissue today at SCV.
Order a copy by Clicking Here
Here is our review of this album as posted in May of 2010
There have been various references of this collaboration taking shape into album form for quite some time and today is finally the day. John Fruciante and Omar Rodriguez have finally released an album together. What’s really great about this release is you have the ability to donate to a really great cause “Keep Music In Schools”. Omar hasn’t been known for this type of release where all the profits go to a separate group or cause, because of that I am really proud of these two men for opening the doorways to help the youth, the future cosmic warriors who are going to push society into yet another phase of compassion, integrity and discipline in the arts. Frusciante has always worked with Omar on various projects, including his movie ventures, solo albums, the dub/latin project Defacto and of course his Grammy award-winning band that has been running for almost a decade strong, The Mars Volta. What these musicians have given each other will never be fully realized, not even by Frusciante and Omar. What can be analyzed is what they have given each other has propelled them into stages of musical release that is unseen in todays pop artists. Omar and Frusciante have beautiful creations together and this is the pinnacle thus far of that relationship they share. I have witnessed Frusciante perform with Omar on stage a hand full of times and the trading of energy, spacing and feeling always touched a core part of me that resonated with vibrancy and honesty.
This album starts out with a piece titled “4:13 am”, it’s an electric piece that is very majestic and contains all the nice slippery and saturated overtones that are so common place in Omar’s music. The atmosphere in the first track is very dream like, emotions you would find in a movie or book filled with deep abstract meaning. The sample effects of birds add to the total atmosphere and close the track out to bring it directly into “0=2″. This is a mostly acoustic based song that came from the gsl 45 series released a few years back, which the song “0″ comes from as well. Acoustic bass with interlacing acoustic guitar lines are followed in tandem with bright lyrical leads and bubbling synth. After “0=2″ comes the metallic and smooth track “LOE”. For any Volta fans who have heard the rare track ”Ambuletz” and love that sound, you’ll be more than pleased to dive into this song. Some incredible soloing follows a very space influenced and dissonant intro. The main section and soloing stretches across an a very smooth electronic back beat. A piece that sounds like it could be the soundtrack song for a car chase scene. The music presented after these tracks follows in the same vein of the joining of acoustic and electronic forces. No side is overshadowed or out does the other, emotions and feelings from the acoustic and electric world catapult themselves back and forth into a sound that is uniquely theirs. When a musician achieves this unpractical balance, credit must be given to those involved and to those willing to take the voyage. Omar has been releasing more acoustic material into his records, a direction that has given a fresh breath to his sound. This is a beautiful record made by musicians who have created a strong brotherhood. Please share with your friends and loved ones, Omar is making timeless records, it’s about time we all acknowledge that…
Bosnian Rainbows live @ The Troubadour October 25, 2012
All photography from Oliver Walker | http://olivermwalker.com/
Snapshots, Polaroid pictures, photographic stills, memories, pastness; all words that Omar Rodriguez Lopez used to say while describing his music. Whether it be any of his past groups, I don’t need to name them. Alas, Thursday’s performance by Bosnian Rainbows contradicts all the latter terms, this is music that marries feelings of nostalgia with the power of the future. This is the type of music we have all been waiting for. Onstage, Omar is joined by Teri Gender Bender as the frontwoman alongside the undeniable Dark Angels. The musical viscera presented by Dark Angels alone is otherworldly; bass and melodies by New York City aural chemist Nicci Kasper is heavily paired with the ultimate multitasking artist, Deantoni Parks. For the majority of the set, Deantoni has drumstick in left hand while playing samples and melodies with his right. At some points he even plays on a third instrument behind him. He’s given up cymbals and toms for challenges and an altogether fuller sounding effect on the throne. Now add Omar’s most potent tones with the method-acted possession and hair-raising, perfectly dynamic vocals of Teri and there you have it, the blissfully emergent Bosnian Rainbows.
This is energy I have not witnessed before, this is happiness I haven’t felt before. I’m sure I speak for the entire team at SCV when I say Bosnian Rainbows is beautiful brain-cell-building music. I literally learn more about myself when listening to their compositions. It must feel rewarding and refreshing for Omar to be surrounded by composers and leaders onstage. Collaboration has never sounded so crisp and fluid. Thank you Bosnian Rainbows, for teaching us all a lesson in musical honesty.
By Pouya G. Asadi
Omar Rodriguez Lopez “Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar” | Rodriguez Lopez Productions | Sargent House
The Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez Lopez is on what one can assume another prolific run of album releases this year. With the release of Un Corazón De Nadie earlier this year, At The Drive-In reissue albums and a new full length release with The Mars Volta in Noqtourniquet, the arrival of Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar today comes with a big smile on the faces of the staff at Sound Colour Vibration. The direction of Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar is stunning and features only one guest musician, The Mars Volta drummer Deantoni Parks. Utilizing drum programming, sequencing, synths, piano, wurlitzer, mellotron, bass, guitar and percussion with all lyrics and vocal contributions from himself, Omar Rodriguez Lopez dives into a very direction of music that calls to his past records in small ways but stands on its own as a truly unique release in his discography. It always feels like Omar is reacting to his last musical statements with a yearn to redefine what he has been labeled as from so many circles of thought. Synths and guitars are pronounced with tons of colors on this record and in an unusual manner to say the least.
Experimental at heart, Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar contains what I feel are the best and more focused attempts in the department of vocals from Omar Rodriguez Lopez. In past releases, his vocals are drenched in effects and become unrecogniable for the most part. With Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar and particularly tracks like “Gentle Umbrellas” and “Angel Hair”, Omar proves his strengths as a vocalist, coming off with a prestine glow that you’d expect from his bandmate of The Mars Volta Cedric Bixler Zavala. As a self contained voyage into the mind of Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar sounds like the continuation of what he started on the De-Loused in the Comatorium bonus track “Ambuletz”. Industrial dirty psyche is the best guess I have at labeling this album and it is with every album the division between genres and labels becomes more blurred. The piece “Spellbound” has really raw and dirty drums with snake like guitar patterns that make some of the most wonderful movement I have heard out of his guitar playing. The piece sounds like it has sludge pouring into the center of the mix with the clean washed out melody work that allows the direction and energy to move forward.
A song like “Fear Eats The Soul” is a really special creation to me. Laced in a really minimal setting of guitar processed in effects along with his vocal musings that define this entire album, the interactivity between the two makes this one of the most unique songs I have ever heard from Omar. There are sounds that I can’t even begin to describe that jump into the mix. When Deantoni Parks and the field of layers smashes into the composition, the otherworldly Jorodowsky inspired spaghetti western sound is at full flight and becomes something that reminds me of many of his records of the past. “Better to Hang a Dead Husband Than to Lose a Living Lover” is an excursion into the bass heavy, ghost overtone existence I mentioned with the The Mars Volta song “Ambuletz”. Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s voice adds a deeper and darker dimension however and his unorthodox melodic lines feel like spirits rising from the dead. The track becomes a cyclone that sends off blasts of colors in all corners of the room. It feels impossible to follow a track like this and is probably my favorite on the album.
“Tentaculos” rides a fine line between insanity and elegance. There is a weighted bouyancy that attracts the darkness and light into one field of focused energy. The drums are aligned with a heavy organic approach with syncopated runs that makes this ride as wobbly as it is poignant. The guitar is surprisingly fresh and beautiful, moving into position with a tenacity and angular push when Omar Rodriguez Lopez lets loose on an airy, drifting sequence of what seems like a solo but is uncharacteristically not like one. The vocal approach makes it feel like a ballad, not a complete mind fuck of experimental deviation.
All of the music on Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar was written and directed by Omar Rodriguez Lopez with the exception of Compartir (Sharing a Bus), co-written by Deantoni Parks and Omar Rodriguez Lopez. Mixing was completed by long time associate of The Mars Volta,Lars Stalfors along with mastering work by another long time The Mars Volta associate and co-owner of Infrasonic Sound Pete Lyman. Artwork was completed by Coral Romero Garcìa with design and layout from the prolific Sonny Kay. This is a record worth checking out if you love new directions in rock based music.
-Erik Otis
Omar Rodriguez Lopez “Un Corazón De Nadie” Rodriguez Lopez Productions / Sargent House
Multi-instrumentalist Omar Rodriguez Lopez of The Mars Volta is back with yet another solo album, Un Corazón De Nadie. Released today on his own label Rodriguez Lopez Productions and the LA based imprint Sargent House, this album is an unexplainable ride of ten tracks saturated in heavy elements of electronics. Metallic rhythms, small traces of recognizable guitar and hallucinogenic synth and vocal work, Omar Rodriguez Lopez and his colleagues take a subversive dive into extreme states of illumination and darkness on Un Corazón De Nadie. Electronic in body, young in spirit and something otherworldly in the aftermath, haunting melodies and snake like movement becomes the focal point, not overpowering sequences of note configurations. I pictured a haunted mirrored house when first hearing many of these pieces, with siren esk sounds that fluctuate in breathing like patterns. The drum and percussive elements are surprisingly ridged yet have that fluid and glossy feeling that the tools of today are giving electronic drums.
I can’t help but think of many modern electronic producers when hearing Un Corazón De Nadie, something of an evolutionary step when analyzing the solo heavy guitar music that has dominated the career of Omar Rodriguez Lopez. Half way into the album and the ride changes drastically with “Colmillo”. With this piece, I feel like I got zapped inside of a game of Tetris gone wild with flying blocks coming at me and the walls around me shattering as they stack together. Bass rides out like a early 90′s deep house song and as soon as this equation becomes restless and overdone, a really heightening synth line comes forth and moves the piece to a harmonious reshaping of its former self. Rolling and almost tribal sounding deep bass and percussion tower inside of the electronic style synth that is reminiscent of old sci-fi shows. There’s not many artists who can utilize this much dissonance and achieve this much power and connectedness inside their compositions but Omar Rodriguez Lopez pulls it off time after time. My favorite piece has to be the song “Hez”, with a rustic drum pattern that centers around synthesizers moving in the dark like fire fly’s. There is a very pure and light filled sound here and it is a much needed breathing point from how dark the record is overall. Minimal piano is the defining element that drifts the song into an abundant state of happiness.
If you are a fan of Dalek, Dose One, Mike Patton and any other shape shifting musical genius, you’ll love the state of kaleidoscopic foundations into electronic dynamics and incendiary grafted composition work that makes Un Corazón De Nadie an indescribable album.
-Erik Otis
SCV Podcasts Vol 121: Ἀπόλλων
This mix was first presented as volume 39 in our podcast series and is seeing its first upload into our online streaming radio page with Mixcloud as volume 121. Covering all regions of the globe, this is a very eclectic mix that moves in and out of genres at the blink of an eye. This mix is dedicated to Cindy, love you a lot.
-Erik Otis
- Greenthink – Tim & David Together
- Adrian Younge – Cleaning Up The Streets
- Richard “Groove” Holmes – Song For My Father
- Broadcast – Drums on Fire
- Mercedes Sosa – Nocturna
- Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra – Nanny Jee (feat Nanny G)
- Praxis – Babylon Blackout
- Matthewdavid – Group Tea (Feat. Flying Lotus)
- The Flaming Lips – Worm Mountain (Featuring MGMT)
- Chocolate Watch Band – Psychedelic Trip
- Gal Costa – Volta
- Omar Rodriguez Lopez – Nada De Amor
- Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – Changes
- Elton John – Out of the Blue
- Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
- Messieurs Richard De Bordeaux & Daniel Beretta – La Drogue
- Ilyas Ahmed – As Another
- Buddy Rich and Max Roach – The Casbah
Sound Colour Vibration Podcasts Volume 121: “Ἀπόλλων”
Compiled and mixed in May of 2011 by Erik Otis
Zechs Marquise presents their newest full length Getting Paid
El Paso has been the talk of progressive rock music for many years now. With progressive latin band The Mars Volta devastating audiences in venues around the world over the span of a decade, their origins of El Paso became the talk of many. Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez has been a driving force in the percussion area of Volta’s sound since mid 2000′s and more recently has contributed more keyboard and synth parts to the live shows. Marcel is a really gifted drummer who has been playing on records of his older brother Omar Rodriguez-Lopez for many years now. Marcel has been dedicating a lot time to another project of his, Zechs Marquise. The release of a second full length, Getting Paid, has come forth this year and is a record we have had on constant rotation since it was released. Zechs Marquise is a group that is as beautiful, progressive, enlightening, raw and electrifying as The Mars Volta. If you have been fortune enough to see a live show, there is nothing I can really tell you that you don’t know.
In 2009, Zech’s Marquise gave the world Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, a full length debut that was released on 2xLP with Willie Anderson Recordings in Netherlands and on digital and cd formats with Rodriguez Lopez Productions. Included with core members Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez (bass), Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (keys), Marcos Smith (guitar) and Matthew Wilkson (guitar) is guest appearances from Adrián Terrazas-González (The Mars Volta, T.R.A.M., El Regimen) playing saxophone, Michael Farraro adding drums and trumpet contributions from Rikardo Rodriguez-Lopez. The high velocity of their live shows was still something that was not fully captured with this release. Could that ever be? As good as Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare is, the production work and compositions on their newest LP Getting Paid is testament to the fact that yes, it can be.
Getting Paid is one of the newest releases from Los Angeles based media production organization Sargent House Records and the ominous Rodriguez Lopez Productions. 12 tracks and a little under an hour, Getting Paid was recorded at Eureka’s Castle and Castle Grayskull in El Paso, Texas. Including the same core members as the previous record, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez takes over drums duties along with the keyboard and synthesizer additions. Guest additions this time around come from Matt Embree of RX Bandits, El Paso singer Sonny Baker and incredible remix work from Low End Theory’s DJ Nobody, Brainfeeder recording artist Charles Dickerson aka Mono/Poly and Eureka The Butcher.
The ground covered on Getting Paid is staggering when considering the type of rhythms, time changes, effects being used and the overall tools utilized from the band to create this body of work. The record starts off with the title song and doesn’t leave any time getting right into the type of wild vehicle of expression that is present on every track. As soon as the band breaks out into the mix together, they drop out and Marcel runs a small sequence of a snake like melody that continues into the section started in the beginning that is reprised. Compositional value is a must when age comes into those creating the music, and Getting Paid is a really advanced album in that area.
‘Lack Jaw Night Vision’ has that voodoo Latin punk groove that his group Volta was slamming out show after show in the number ‘Drunkship of Lanters’. With cross diving guitar patterns that dance all over the mix, there is a very devious and dark sound present on this record. All of this winds up into an 8-bit video game soundtrack sound, you’d think this was an Advantage song at certain moments. A little after two minutes, the song breaks down into a hazy thick Latin rock groove with some of the best recorded percussion I have heard in a long time. All of those nice wavering sheets of layers and layers of effects that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has become known for are all over this record. The guitar work can be tricky at times from Marcos Smith and Matthew Wilkson, blanketing itself in the hologram of another instrument.
Photo by Heriberto Ibarra
My favorite song on the record has to be ‘Guajira’. Starting off with a percussion heavy intro, the guitar that makes up the first section sounds really elegant, spacey with lots of complexion. A lot of this album took me to the experiences I had with the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez record Apocalypse Inside of an Orange. If you are unfamiliar, it has that really dreamy car ride along a coast feel, very hypnotic and smooth. If you are familiar with Apocalypse Inside of an Orange, Getting Paid has the same type of sonic variation and mature composition work as that album. Getting Paid is something you really need to check out for yourself.
The album cover work was designed by Zeque Peña with layout by the one and only Sonny Kay. With a nod to Marvel and DC Comics alumni Bill Sienkiewicz and more particularly his cover work for RZA’s Bobby Digital in Stereo, there is even the same surround sound cymbal, with this cover instead saying “in MEGASLAP SURROUND”. The cover design also portrays the album art for soundtrack scores to blaxploitation era films of the 60′s and 70′s. Soundtrack scores from pivotal soul, fusion, jazz and r&b artists like Roy Ayers, George Duke, Groover Washington Jr, and so many more. For this lovely cover, an owl, lion, gorilla and elephant represent the members of the band behind a backdrop of tranquil and relaxing colors with all of the characters on the cover representing the classic b-boy stance. Ancient Egypt to a low rider, the cover of Getting Paid is one I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to analyzing. Maybe it is best served that way.
The following is an excerpt from the press release Sargent House gave for this record:
The album was entirely produced and engineered by Marcel. “We started off recording percussion to sequencers and loops,” he explains. “I chopped those sounds up and arranged them. From there, we wrote the album with each of us coming in and playing on top of it. Kind of like a hip-hop song.” Considering the hectic tour schedules of both Zechs Marquise and The Mars Volta (in which Marcel plays keyboards and percussion), the band was forced to work on the album over an extended period of time in between both band’s tours. “It gave us a lot of time to get perspective on the songs,” Marfred says. “We’re really happy with and proud of this record.”
Once all parts were composed using the studio as a tool, the band re-recorded the album live. “We wanted something to represent our live energy,” says Marfred.
Getting Paid goes in my book for one of the best progressive rock albums of 2011. The cross merging cultures of todays age are a reflection of where we are going and Zechs Marquise is a group who will surely be heading one of these many new frontiers of sound. Below we have included a very recent video from video production house Terror Eyes for Zechs Marquise performing the title track from Getting Paid in Los Angeles in late September of this year. Enjoy!
By Erik Otis
Zechs Marquise
‘Getting Paid’
Rodriguez Lopez Productions
All music and lyrics written by Zechs Marquise. Produced by Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez.
Track Listing
- Getting Paid
- Lock Jaw Night Vision
- Static Lovers
- The Heat, The Drought, The Thirst, And The Insanity
- Time Masters
- Guajira
- Everlasting Beacon Of Light
- Crushin’ It!
- Mega Slap
- Static Lovers (Eureka The Butcher Remix)
- Mega Slap (DJ Nobody Remix)
- Guajira (Mono/Poly Swagadelic Remix)
Terror Eyes Music Video of Zechs Marquise performing live in LA this last September:
Zechs Marquise
9.28.11
Los Angeles, CA
Camera: Sean Stout / Chase Ortega
Edit: Sean Stout
Produced by:
Terror Eyes
Zechs Marquise
Rodriguez Lopez Productions
Sargent House
Zechs Marquise Winter Tour Dates
11/15 Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s – Upstairs
11/16 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf Den
11/18 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
11/19 Greenville, NC @ Tipsy Teapot
11/20 Washington, DC @ DC9
11/21 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
11/22 Allston, MA @ O’Brien’s Pub
11/23 New York, NY @ Irving Plaza $
11/25 Toronto, ON @ The Opera House $
11/26 Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar $
11/27 Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theater $
11/28 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop $
11/30 Atlanta, GA @ The Loft $
12/01 Cincinnati, OH @ 20th Century Theater $
12/02 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge $
12/03 Pontiac, MI @ iLounge (at Clutch Cargos) $
12/04 Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall $
12/06 St Louis, MO @ The Firebird
12/07 Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Music Hall
12/08 Dallas, TX @ Bryan Street Tavern
12/09 Austin, TX @ Antone’s Night Club
12/10 San Antonio, TX @ Studio 13
SCV Podcasts Vol 81: The Soul of Oneness
Sound Colour Vibration Podcasts Volume 81
The Soul of Oneness
Compiled and mixed by Erik Otis
July-August 2011
Photo by Valentina C. Apparat
Listen via Mixcloud: http://www.mixcloud.com/sacvs/vol81
Karlheinz Stockhausen – Struktur XVI A
Omar Rodriguez Lopez – If Gravity Lulls I Can Hear The World Pant
Alice Coltrane – Transcendence
The Roots – The Unlocking
Odd Nosdam – On
Angus McLise – Trance #2
Paul Horn & R. Carlos Nakai – North Window
Steven Halpern – Whisper on the Wind
Electric Sandwich – Material Darkness
At The Drive-In – Autorelocater
Scott Tuma - Heeler
Pat Martino – Passata on Guitar
Arzachel – Leg
Mongo Santamaria - Chambique
Gang Gang Dance – God’s Money V
Michio Miyagi - Mit Tsu no Asobi (Three Plays)
Bembeya Jazz National – Alalake
Mos Def – New World Water
Jimi Hendrix – Machine Gun
Pink Floyd – Mudmen
Hermeto Pascoal - Fabiula
Nobody – Tilijem’s Forest
Popol Vuh - Mit Haenden, Mit Fussen
Harold Budd & Brian Eno – Not Yet Remembered
Sound Colour Vibration presents our 81st podcast release with The Soul of Oneness. With tons of manipulation, cutting, reversing, delay and so forth, I found myself with 42 minutes that culminated in what I feel to be my first true mix. The mixes released previously were to highlight songs in full and document a sonic path all across the globe. The new mixes I will create will reflect this new vision in recreating and reconfiguring various pieces of recorded sound. We will be presenting many new dj’s, artists, record collectors, vendors and friends in our podcast series in the coming months. We recently linked with the famous Beat Swapmeet to have their vendors present exclusive mixes for our podcast series.
The mix starts off with some of the most famous early approaches to electronic minimalism sound art with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Layered around it is a cut up section of an Omar Rodriguez Lopez piece from an album he released in 2006. The foundation of electronic meets one of the prolific artists to follow those foot steps. Then Alice Coltrane’s unique sound emerges in shortly after and dissolves inside of this mixture of Stockhausen and Omar. Alice Coltrane is the bridge to The Roots and the evolving state of sonic collage art stretches over the entire mix like this. Scott Tuma brings his new age American roots sound to this mix. Delicately blended in is a guitar solo reversed from the great Pat Martino. This leads to the ending of the Scott Tuma piece with a small bridge from prog band Arzachel. The beautiful sound of salsa come in full stride with Mongo Santamaria. We love taking people on a voyage across the world with our mixes and this is only going to start going deeper.
The reversal we did on Machine Gun really brings out some wild tones during the end as he launches a sonic assault of feedback and flourishes all over the neck. This immediately dives into Pink Floyd and one of their more cinematic approaches to sound. This crashes out jut as soon as Hermeto Pascoal and his early 70′s band bring you to the tropic setting of Brazil. With merges like Nobody and Popul Vuh to Angus McLise and Paul Horn and Steven Halpern, this mix is crafted to arise the spiritual oneness of the many musical languages spoken in the short time frame of the 42 minute mix. If you enjoy this mix, please spread around. Listen via Mixloud HERE. – Erik Otis
This mix is dedicated to Pouya G. Asadi, Dr. Sax, and Brandon Baltzley.
The Mars Volta on Letterman (2008)
Television needs more of this…The Mars Volta – Wax Simulacra – Late Show with David Letterman – 01-17-08
Exclusive Interviews
Primitive Man
John Howe
The Evens
Kevin Greenspon
Jahshua Smith
Dandy Teru
Headshotboyz
Call of The Void
Simon Larbalestier
Submerse
The Bear and The Sea
Homeboy Sandman
Tshombe Sekou
That Purple Bastard
Mo Kolours
Mylets
Rob Crow
Astronautica
Revocation
Tunde Olaniran
Barna Howard
Patrick Watson
Zack Wentz
The Cactus Channel
Masta Ace
Jeremiah Cymerman
Evan Caminiti
Justin Pearson
Walter Gross
Poppy Perezz
Daniel "Thing" Stiner
Mono/Poly
Mokobe
Psychopop
Sandro Perri
Nikko Gray
Juma Sultan
Kayo Dot
David Cristobal
Zammuto
Volcano!
Saul Williams
Nice Nice
Chor Boogie
Kevin Macdonald
The Gaslamp Killer
Damon Locks
Kimmy Robertson
Dot
Sonnymoon
Deafheaven
Kris Kuksi
Salva
Big Sir
Dustin Wong
Julian Lynch
Odd Nosdam
Deerhoof
Young Widows
Emika
Elzabeth Olsen and Sean Durkin
Nicolas Winding Refn
Jonathan Hischke
Hella
Canon Blue
Strangeloop
Deantoni Parks
Greg Errico
Zechs Marquise
RX Bandits
Danny Paul Grody
Ilyas Ahmed
The Get Up Kids
Lisa Papineau
Joe Lally
Remy LBO
Austin Peralta
Nick Kuepfer
Michael Ray
Free The Robots
Brian Ellis
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
Elliott Levin
Thomas Pridgen
Nicole Turley
Mendee Ichikawa
Teebs
Sonny Kay
Ikey Owens
SCV’s Music Video Channel
Label Spotlight
Porter Records
2935 S. Fish Hatchery Rd, #414
Madison, WI 53711 / USA
Porter Records was born in 2005 out of a love for crate digging in the basements of record shops. Porter’s founder, Luke Mosling, has a talent for finding the obscure, beautiful and strange recordings that may have previously gone unheard by a larger audience. This talent started the reissue portion of the Porter Records catalog.
When doing reissues, Porter works hard at creating strong relationships with the original artists or their estates. This allows Porter to respect not only the original vision of the artist and their recordings, but also to respect the vision the artist has for the future. Porter’s goal is to make these reissues more widely known and recognized as important pieces of art within their respected genres.
Porter Records is more than a reissue label. Porter has over 40 releases by modern composers and performers that bring something special to the current day music tapestry. Each release is like a hidden jewel providing its own unique color and brilliance. Porter Records is very proud to have such talented artists and a diverse catalog of genres in a time when the music industry is pumping out replica after replica.
PayPal Donations
Sound Colour Vibration would greatly appreciate any donations you can make to our organization. Thank you so much for the support by coming to the site, means the world to all of us. -Erik Otis
