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OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ

Eclectic Prog • Puerto Rico


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Omar Rodriguez-Lopez picture
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez biography
Omar Alfredo Rodriguez-Lopez - Born September 1, 1975 (Bayamón, Puerto Rico)

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ is the guitarist and producer of the influential prog band THE MARS VOLTA. He grew up in El Paso, Texas, but spent some of his childhood in South Carolina. His music career started at 15 years of age, when he became the singer for the El Paso hardcore band, Startled Calf, from 1990 to 1992. During this time he met CEDRIC BIXLER-ZAVALA, with whom he has been living and working ever since. At the age of 17, RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ left El Paso to hitchhike around the country for a year in the early 90's With the help of Bixler-Zavala, he went back to El Paso, where he began fighting his drug addiction. They then joined hardcore band AT THE DRIVE-IN as backup vocalist and bass guitarist. After signing a record deal with Flipside Records and recording "Acrobatic Tenement" with the band, he became their full-time bassist before switching to guitar. After several years, a combination of excessive hype, relentless touring, artistic differences, and the two friends' drug habits eventually caused the band's demise.

In 2001 RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ and Bixler-Zavala left AT THE DRIVE-IN, and the band went on "indefinite hiatus". Eventually they formed the band with whom they would reach international success, THE MARS VOLTA. During the early years of the band, RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ also worked on a low budget movie called "A Manual Dexterity", starring their bandmate and friend Jeremy Ward, whose soundtrack, "A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume 1", was released in 2004.
In 2005 RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ relocated to Amsterdam, where he eventually wrote and recorded four separate albums.

His first solo project was the OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ QUINTET, with which he played several live shows in Europe; in 2005 it also included three members of THE MARS VOLTA (JUAN ALDERETE, his brother MARCEL RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ and ADRIAN TERRAZAS-GONZALES). The songs featured on this tour later appeared on the album "Omar Rodriguez". It was characterized by long, improvisational songs with Dutch titles and no lyrics. The Quintet also performed live with DAMO SUZUKI, parts of which were recorded and incorporated into a 25-minute EP titled "Please Heat This Eventually", which was released in 2007. On May 29, 2007, "Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo", written and recorded in California and Amsterdam during the two previous years, was released. It ...
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OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ discography


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OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.76 | 35 ratings
A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One
2004
3.41 | 36 ratings
Omar Rodriguez
2005
3.88 | 66 ratings
Se Dice Bisonte, No Bůfalo
2007
4.22 | 106 ratings
The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange
2007
2.95 | 36 ratings
Calibration (Is Pushing Luck and Key Too Far)
2008
1.59 | 23 ratings
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward
2008
3.57 | 28 ratings
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus
2008
2.53 | 22 ratings
Minor Cuts and Scrapes in the Bushes Ahead
2008
3.84 | 57 ratings
Old Money
2008
3.61 | 44 ratings
Solar Gambling
2009
1.85 | 26 ratings
Despair
2009
3.17 | 31 ratings
Megaritual
2009
3.21 | 47 ratings
El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Cryptomnesia
2009
3.67 | 48 ratings
Los Sueos De Un Higado
2009
3.96 | 66 ratings
Xenophanes
2009
2.95 | 36 ratings
El Trio de Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Ciencia de los Inutiles
2010
3.43 | 37 ratings
Sepulcros De Miel
2010
2.41 | 28 ratings
Tychozorente
2010
3.71 | 29 ratings
Cizaña De Los Amores
2010
3.40 | 27 ratings
Mantra Hiroshima
2010
3.61 | 26 ratings
Un Escorpión Perfumado
2010
2.20 | 16 ratings
Un Corazon de Nadie
2012
2.86 | 19 ratings
Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar
2012
3.23 | 16 ratings
Octopus Kool Aid
2012
2.81 | 13 ratings
Equinox
2013
3.45 | 16 ratings
Woman Gives Birth to Tomato!
2013
3.00 | 16 ratings
Unicorn Skeleton Mask
2013
2.10 | 14 ratings
¿Sólo Extraño?
2013
3.70 | 14 ratings
Sworn Virgins
2016
3.25 | 13 ratings
Corazones
2016
3.92 | 15 ratings
Blind Worms, Pious Swine
2016
3.79 | 10 ratings
Arañas en La Sombra
2016
2.41 | 8 ratings
Umbrella Mistress
2016
3.40 | 5 ratings
El Bien y Mal Nos Une
2016
2.50 | 6 ratings
Cell Phone Bikini
2016
1.86 | 7 ratings
Infinity Drips
2016
3.00 | 7 ratings
Weekly Mansions
2016
3.63 | 8 ratings
Zapopan
2016
2.75 | 4 ratings
Nom de Guerre Cabal
2016
3.40 | 5 ratings
Some Need It Lonely
2016
3.43 | 7 ratings
A Lovejoy
2016
2.86 | 7 ratings
Roman Lips
2017
2.86 | 7 ratings
Zen Thrills
2017
2.57 | 7 ratings
Chocolate Tumor Hormone Parade
2017
2.86 | 7 ratings
Ensayo de un Desaparecido
2017
2.57 | 7 ratings
Azul, Mis Dientes
2017
3.00 | 7 ratings
Gorilla Preacher Cartel
2017
2.71 | 7 ratings
Killing Tingled Lifting Retreats
2017
2.86 | 7 ratings
Solid State Mercenaries
2017
3.57 | 7 ratings
Birth of a Ghost
2017
2.67 | 6 ratings
Doom Patrol
2017

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.72 | 20 ratings
どういたしまして
2010

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.82 | 11 ratings
Telestrion
2011

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

3.21 | 21 ratings
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Damo Suzuki - Please Heat This Eventually
2007
2.65 | 19 ratings
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Lydia Lunch
2007
4.33 | 3 ratings
Maida Vale Session
2009
2.95 | 30 ratings
Omar Rodriguez Lopez & John Frusciante
2010

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Umbrella Mistress by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2016
2.41 | 8 ratings

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Umbrella Mistress
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

2 stars Only so many times that ORL could do the whole "Omar goes pop" move before he misstepped with it I guess. Umbrella Mistress sees him leaning even further into psychedelia here than he did on Blind Worms Pious Swine, but it ends up sounding a whole lot more conventional than that one despite this. Rather than the bright, colourful and surreal nature of that album, where everything sounded vaguely uncanny, yet pretty nonetheless, this takes on a far more mellow, ethereal sound, with the way everything is so muffled and reverb-heavy being enough to sand down a ton of the rougher edges previous found even within projects like this. The issue to me lies in the fact that I don't really see this as an album with many original or interesting ideas going for it, it really is just mellow psychedelic pop, and while this leads to a couple of gorgeous tracks, namely Eastern Promises and Blue Pale Queen, I often find that there's just not quite a strong enough sense of melody to make a lot of the songs here rise above being a bit of a bore. If you reaaallly liked previous instances of Omar Rodriguez Lopez diving into more approachable, pop territory, then you might find something to enjoy here, but otherwise, I do think that there are quite a few other albums in this vein by him that I'd hand you first before even thinking of showing this one.
 Arañas en La Sombra by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2016
3.79 | 10 ratings

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Arañas en La Sombra
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

4 stars I definitely think that I approached the ORL IPECAC recordings with the wrong perspective and mindset by thinking that these were all going to be more scattershot and messy. While they may be largely just collections of demos and unreleased music that he threw at the record label and told them to do whatever they felt like with them, these have been shockingly good and varied. Time and time again they've shown themselves to be these very solid, cohesive albums that take on rather different styles and never feel as if they were unreleased due to a lack of quality. While this takes on a more standard Omar feel than the previous 3 albums in this series, there's still a lot to love here, with everything being drenched in a hazey reverb that cuts out some of the more abrasive sounds in favour of something a little more psychedelic, especially when looking at elements like the wobbly synth noises on Extravagants Dietes that further add to this atmosphere.

This also definitely feels like it's the album that contains the most demo material, not just because of the fact that it bears a lot more similarities to past albums, with the guitar evoking a lot of Bedlam In Goliath's frenetic madness in particular, but even the more lo-fi recording and the raw nature of it all contribute to this feeling. This shines most brightly in Primitivo y Barbaro bearing a lot of similarities to the middle section of Metatron, which impressively manages to capture a lot of that song's explosive energy despite not having Cedric's vocals or Thomas Pridgen beating a drumkit to death at mach speed. Overall a fantastic album, though not one that I especially think is essential listening to anyone other than big Omar Rodriguez Lopez fans that want to hear as much of his music as possible (me), since there are other albums that are a bit more polished and final sounding that utilise a lot of these ideas. Amazing, but inessential all the same, strongly recommended for fans, and to be fair, new listeners would find a lot to love in this as well, it's just that there are some other albums that I'd send their way before considering this one.

 Blind Worms, Pious Swine by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2016
3.92 | 15 ratings

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Blind Worms, Pious Swine
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

4 stars Admittedly, when beginning on the IPECAC recordings with ORL, I wasn't expecting a whole lot to reach the level of greatness that Sworn Virgins had displayed, let alone for such a feat to be achieved a mere 2 other albums into this series, but yeah, this absolutely fits that bill, albeit with an extremely different approach to what Sworn Virgins had in mind. Similarly to Corazones, this shows Omar taking on a far more pop-oriented approach to his songwriting, but instead of the distinct tinge of indie rock that was present there, he goes in a more psychedelic direction, bringing in some light electronic elements along with once again making use of all sorts of vocal effects, with the interesting difference of them certainly not being utilsed to the same extent as normal. It leaves the album in this great middle ground of sounding quite strange while still having that grounded side to it that complements the style well. Songs like Vanishing Tide and Lights showcase this particularly well with the way they have such clear, beautiful melodies thrown onto a backdrop of vaguely uncanny soundscapesthat serve to elevate the listening experience. The curveball of the final 4 tracks being this instrumental suite that is far more conventionally prog was also a cool think to see, especially given how strong their sense of momentum was thanks to that repetitive bassline, closing the album in an unexpected, yet undeniably welcome way that added another layer of idiosyncracy to it all. The album that I'll recommend people who were disappointed about The Mars Volta's self- titled album and wanted to see a more interesting take on pop from them, even though this album only has ORL on it.
 Corazones by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2016
3.25 | 13 ratings

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Corazones
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

3 stars Well, if I thought that Sworn Virgins showed ORL going in a more accessible, digestible direction in a lot of respects, then Corazones just takes that whole idea to another level by ditching the abrasive textures and raw energy entirely, instead replacing it with something far closer to folky indie rock rather than anything that he's done before. It helps that the songwriting is pretty strong as well, once again having a keen ear for melody and taking that really, really far to craft some fantastic moments like Running Away and Sea Is Rising, while providing small bits and pieces that still maintain a hint of his usual quirkiness here and there to give it something a bit extra. This is particularly notable with the ending of If I Told You The Truth I Would Be Made Of Lies having its title repeated in a fashion that doesn't quite rhythmically flow in a clean way, feeling more like a big run-on sentence than anything else, but it's definitely a bit of a common theme throughout to have these short lived moments.

Despite my praises, I still think that this lacks in a few areas that makes it a listening experience that falls slightly short of greatness, particularly with the way that there are quite a few points where it feels clear that Omar was struggling hard with the whole idea of stripping back and simplifying his ideas here, as there are a few tracks that end up feeling a bit underbaked, as if the ideas he had sometimes hinged on crafting those more complex soundscapes and mysterious atmosphere and would've worked better if they had been used on a more traditional album from him. This particularly rears its head in the middle portion of the album where outside of Sea Is Rising, nothing really lands too well. Even so, this is still a great time and one that I appreciate in part because even this far into his discography, Omar Rodriguez Lopez once again shows another side to his songwriting and pulls off the style mostly with grace, despite some missteps here and there. Not really my first choice for an ORL album that people should immediately go to, but for fans who are interested in exploring the sheer range of his material, this is a good one.

 ¿Sólo Extraño? by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2013
2.10 | 14 ratings

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¿Sólo Extraño?
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

2 stars Ah well, the hot streak was bound to end eventually, he released another album that I wasn't much of a fan of unfortunately. Solo Extrano feels like a bit of a retread of a lot of ORL's previous ideas that swirled around when he was messing about with more industrial and electronic sounds, having a very similar brand of dissonant murkiness, but unfortunately sounding far more amateurish at the same time. Even after having listened to this a few times now, I just don't really see much that especially stands out as something I find particularly engaging, not even conceptually. This separates it from an album like Un Corazon da Nadie which at the very least had the makings of something interesting underneath its lacklustre execution, with its dark, brooding atmosphere that bordered on sounding like some hopeless dirge. In comparison this just reads as a collection of abrasive, somewhat surreal tracks and nothing more, without ever really feeling as if it has a concrete enough idea to form into anything substantive here. Not the absolute lowest point in his discography, but certainly extremely inessential with even its standout moments not doing much you haven't already heard 50 times before in Omar Rodriguez Lopez's unending catalogue of music.
 Woman Gives Birth to Tomato! by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2013
3.45 | 16 ratings

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Woman Gives Birth to Tomato!
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

4 stars After a string of decent at best electronic experiments that never really grew into something truly great to me, Woman Gives Birth to Tomato proves to be an incredibly refreshing listen. You can still hear some of Omar's interest is messing around with synths throughout this, but this is primarily a frenetic jazz album that borders on free jazz at points, with these electronic elements acting more as a way to add further texture to the tracks as opposed to being the driving force. It's not just a case of it being refreshing and novel either, it's just a great album in general, taking a lot of clear inspiration from artists such as Ornette Coleman and then mixing in some colder, more abrasive elements to it all to create this messy, futuristic experience that walks the line between nightmarishly intense and gorgeously passionate. Stuff like this is why I continue to stick with going through the discography of ORL even after a string of albums I don't feel especially strongly about, because you get stuff like this that ends up being so exciting and surprising all throughout, with each dull moment feeling wholly temporary before you get something truly amazing thrown your way.
 Unicorn Skeleton Mask by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2013
3.00 | 16 ratings

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Unicorn Skeleton Mask
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

3 stars This is definitely my favourite of the electronic oriented ORL albums from what I've heard so far, largely for the way that it approaches everything with a bit more caution and elegance than his other material from this era without sacrificing its experimental edge. These chaotic, atonal screeches of distortion are balanced by a very melancholic tone yet again, only this time the compositions have a bit more life to them, evoking a lot of vibes that are rather similar to something you'd hear in The Mars Volta, just once again put through the surreal lens of Omar being the only one touching these tracks. The drums also help add to this all, with songs like Sea is Rising especially benefitting from slightly more basic musical elements. Overall just a very solid time, would definitely be cool for those who were big fans of Noctourniquet especially, since this similarly plays around with some pretty ugly ideas in more accessible ways than one might expect.
 Equinox by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2013
2.81 | 13 ratings

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Equinox
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

3 stars While Omar continues to explore the electronic elements of his music in a similar way to how he tapped into them with Octopus Kool Aid, Equinox sees him taking things in a far more abstract, formless direction. There are very few melodies to latch onto and the rhythmic elements feel jagged and chaotic, as if they're barely being held together and often just entirely falling out of time and trying their best to keep up, it's all a very bizarre, messy listen that takes on a very experimental edge on the whole. The issue to me is that I feel like it goes a bit too far in this direction to the point where it's difficult to find much tangible at all for the majority of the album's runtime, even if it has its standout moments such as the warped, almost dancelike beat of Lovely Rain and Dientes para el osmosis just generally reeling things back in a touch to really play to the strengths of the erratic vibes while working in some of his classic magic to really bring it to the next level. I continue to really enjoy ORL's approach to music being so free but at the same time I really do find that his best work tends to flourish whenever he is able to add more of those elements of nuanced structure and moments of more subdued material to help guide his music in a direction that makes those intense moments feel so much more impactful. I feel like Equinox is emblematic of both sides of this as well, as despite being so freeform for most of it and feeling a bit homogenous as a result, those few moments where everything gets stripped back a layer reveal some of his signature greatness, and I'm hoping some of the albums of his I'm yet to hear further expand upon this again, especially those that continue to play around with electronics.
 Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2012
2.86 | 19 ratings

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Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

3 stars The electronic era continues with yet another vibey mood piece that puts more significance on the textures and vague bits of imagery mixed throughout rather than a more tangible sense of individual songwriting, this time feeling like a bit of a middle ground between the strange, but bright pop melodies of Octopus Kool Aid and the endlessly dark, murky atmosphere of Un corazón de nadie. The main point of interest here is the way the electronic instrumentation ends up feeling like a bit more of a backdrop to the other elements at play here rather than dominating the compositions in the past, with a far stronger emphasis on the interplay between the fuzzy vocal melodies and drum beats being notable. It's all pretty well played and leads to crafting a pretty mysterious vibe that's worth listening to if you really like that stuff, but I also found that with the exception of the very emotionally charged final track Angel Hair, nothing else here was really something that outright moved me in a way beyond simply finding it pretty cool. This is definitely the sort of album more for the fans than one that I'd ever really consider as a good point to start listening to Omar Rodriguez Lopez.
 Un Corazon de Nadie by RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ, OMAR album cover Studio Album, 2012
2.20 | 16 ratings

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Un Corazon de Nadie
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Eclectic Prog

Review by Kempokid
Collaborator Prog Metal Team

2 stars ORL continues his exploration into electronic territory by utilising such instrumentation in yet another pretty different way, this time using it as a sort of backdrop to craft a lot of dark, sombre soundscapes that simultaneously foreboding and mournful. Unfortunately, that's about all I feel this album has going for it, a bunch of initially interesting soundscapes that don't really get expanded upon in any especially interesting ways, ultimately being a bit of a hollow experience. I don't deny the fact that there was certainly quite a strong effort to craft a unique, haunting experience either, this isn't quite like a couple of his other projects that sound more akin to messing about for the sake of seeing what he could do (a totally fine approach to do that sometimes has worked out rather well for him), but rather a very conscious effort to craft something deeply cohesive. I simply just don't feel much from it and think that a bit more time to properly develop a lot of the individual elements here to do more than simply fit an aesthetic would've gone a long way into making this a truly compelling experience. Not particularly bad, it just doesn't really do much in the end unfortunately.
Thanks to Atavachron for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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