Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Artist), Jeremy Michael Ward (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Infrasonic
• ASIN: B00197TJCI
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,849 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sounder of Tame Swine

2. A Tightrope Supports Our Festering

3. Salvo

4. Impoverished Beliefs

5. Heathrow Waltz

6. Sweell the Ranks

7. Gidi Prime

8. Swiss Armor Tank

9. Improvised Beliefs

10. Host to Fair Weather Friends

Editorial Reviews

The self-titled collaborative album between Omar Rordriguez Lopez (of The Mars Volta) and his late band mate, Jeremy Michael Ward, will come as something of a departure for fans of Rodriguez Lopez's vast catalog of rock-oriented albums. Originally recorded in 2001, after the dissolution of Ay The Drive-In and prior to the Tremulant EP which would announce the arrival of THE Mars Volta to the world at large, the Rodriguez-Lopez/Ward collaboration is a playful, abstract concoction of manipulated sounds and processed, unrecognizable recordings of household objects, everyday activities, passing dialog, and similar ephemera. Ward (who passed away in 2003), sound manipulator for TMV as well as a founding member of the dub-devoted De Facto project, was a fixture at the band's Long Beach compound/studio, Originally issued as a limited edition (200), minidisc-only release and distributed amongst friends, the album has never enjoyed widespread availability until now (via Infrasonic Sound Recording Co). Comparable to the work of minimalist composer Steve Reich, Rodriguez Lopez has stated that the album is representative of his concept of artistic freedom, as well as illustrating the crossdimensional elements linking his various solo projects.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Electronic Spacey Void, July 21, 2008

By 

Keegan R. Lerch "classytrumpet" (Bethlehem, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward (Audio CD)

Well, if you haven't heard this yet...don't come expecting to hear something along the lines of Omar's solo stuff like Calibration, Apocalypse inside of an orange, or even De Facto type electronica/dub music.
This album is a great example of electronic music (not electronicA). This music -- and yes, it is music, these are compositions -- reminds me of older electronic music compositions I have heard from the 1960s and 70s. This could very well be catalogued as a classical music album purely because of its remarkable similarities in sound to early electronic music. This is true electronic noise composition done by two very good musicians. Several friends of mine couldn't even make it through this album in one listening, I love experimental, out-there music, so I sat down and listened to the whole thing.
There is no rocking guitar or memorable melodies on this album, and it is an album purely for those who want to hear everything Omar puts out. I personally love his random twists and manic changes in his music output. It was sad to see J. M. Ward go, but it is glad to see something like this to add to his posterity as a musician.
Once again, I recommend this album for those who love experimental, electronic, noise, music concrete, and sonic exploration material. If you are in search of rock, alternative or pop this isn't for you, although I highly suggest you listen to it at least once!
Happy Listening!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most experimental endeavour Omar has taken yet (besides hallucinogens)., July 16, 2008

By 

Luis Daniel Lopez Sanchez (Puebla, Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward (Audio CD)

I don't usually write reviews, but I felt that the average score of this particular album was unfairly low, so I'll give it 5 stars in order to get it to what I consider a more appropriate score (4 I think, but it won't be enough).

By what is already written here you must have realized that album is non customer friendly, and by customer I mean the kind of guy that actually likes the postmodern experimentation (yes, a bit exaggerated) that Omar has been up to since, as we now see, his departure of at the drive-in.

As you should probably know, his style fluctuates rapidly (and sometimes insanely) between progressive rock and jazz (not necessarily virtuoso in technical means, which is one of the reasons by which I actually like his music, by some lack of pretentiousness and pomposity I rather say), latin, funk, ambient, dub... But this... this is entirely different, there's no apparent structure; there's no immediate identification either of a purpose, of a feeling nor of a melodic sound and thus, it fails to communicate virtually anything. All this provokes the loss of the integrity of this whole experimentation as a work of art (at least colloquially). But we've been already in this situation, the lack of traditionally accepted sonic structure is part a wider attempt to produce a novel way of musical expression, that was the whole point of the avant-garde movement of musique concrète and computer music since the 40's.

OK, so what is this? this is more than just a fine exposure of sound manipulation, this is good enough to remind me great tape works of avant-garde composers, but I think it doesn't manage to attain a complexity level consistent with this precedents and it doesn't represent the evolution the genre has undergone since its first developments.

Summarizing this album is a nice work that deserves to be bought by those who wants to explore further in music than the good old prog/latin/funk/..../dub mixture that Omar creates, but avoided by those who wants to stay in its limits (so I've said nothing new). Also this album may be considered as one good avant-garde project (ah, if yo are new in this and you liked it, google avantgarde project) that might be considered as a new great step in Omar's excursion in experimentation and will make us regret the loss of Jeremy as a convincing prospect in the production of more of this perception-conflicting Sound Manipulation.

5.0 out of 5 stars insane, brilliant, surreal, mind-melting, July 20, 2011

By 

Colin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Jeremy Michael Ward (MP3 Download)

This record...wow, just wow. WARNING!!!!: IF YOU LOVE THE VOLTA, DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS UNLESS YOU APPRECIATE THE ELECTRONIC, AMBIENT, SOUND-MANIPULATION, NOISE ROCK PORTION OF THE COCKTAIL THAT IS THE MARS VOLTA. This record is definitely, without a doubt, strictly for either only the most dedicated Volta/Omar fan, or the type of people who's favorite VOlta record is Frances the Mute because of the amount of ambient and surreal noise in the background. If you like the Volta for the rock aspect, or the vocals, or the drumming or whatever, and you don't absolutely love the electronic sounds they implent as much if not more than anything else, do not listen to this record. This solely consists of, to the untrained ear: annoying, high-pitched, whirling noises and sounds that don't seem to have any organization, purpose, or meaning. To the appreciative ear, this is the most insane, out of this world, aural experience you could ever get with any Volta or Omar release. Consists entirely of crazy sounds and noises I've never heard before, or thought possible. No "real" instruments, no vocals, no percussion, nothing but electronic sounds and noise manipulation; which is exactly what Jeremy Michael Ward did in the band, and this is an album solely consisting of that.