Calibrating Omar

Learn more about Omar's new album at the MySpace page. The skinny:

Calibration (is Pushing Luck and Key Too Far) is the forthcoming debut rock/electronic fueled solo record from Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. The CD, LP and digital download is set to be released on December 15, 2007 in Japan and in February-March 2008 in the US and UK & Europe through N20 Records an underground American indie label known for hard hitting drum and bass, J-pop, rockstar turntablism, metal jungle, west coast hip hop, reggae and dubstep.

The Calibration album found a home after Mars Volta bassist Juan Alderete linked up Omar and longtime friend Nate "N8loc" Shimizu of N2O Records. "We both are into hard drum breaks, heavy electronic music and pressing records old school analog style, on all kinds of rare dope colored vinyl. Omar's concept of the 2 part album is an original artistic piece that fit perfectly into the sound we've been breaking. Look out for some all-star producers and artists on the 2 albums," says Shimizu.

To complete the original album, the cover art was created by renowned San Francisco graffiti artist GREY, a childhood friend of Rodriguez-Lopez. An exciting "luck and key pushing" follow-up album featuring remixes of songs from the album will be released later in 2008 featuring Omar's friends and artists from the N2O Records roster.

John Frusciante lends vocals on the track "Glosa Picaresca Wou Men".

Sunday YouTubing: The Mars Volta

"Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)"

"Son et Lumiere" > "Inertiatic ESP"

"Televators"

"Eriatarka"

The Mars Volta & The Christian Science Monitor?

I'm gonna throw some lyrics down and let you make what you will of a recommendation for Amputechture showing up in The Christian Science Monitor. Now I know that The Christian Science Monitor is not a religious themed paper. However, it is published by a church ( the First Church of Christ Scientist, Boston) and there is a religious article published in ever paper.

Maybe I should just throw them a bone for being so open-minded. After all, they are throwing a bone to an album that is handing it to Christianity and Catholocism. Maybe that has something to do with their basic theology: "what reaches and affects thought shapes experience, it follows that a newspaper would have significant impact on the lives of those who read it" [CSMonitor.com].

I simply find it interesting to see a promotion of sorts for Amputechture in something affiliated with the organized religion. Granted it was a recommendation from author T.C. Boyle, but I am still impressed with the open-mindedness.

While I respect the ability to be fair and unbiased in discussing what is created through art, I am digging everything Cedric has to say...

Tetragrammaton
you and your false
witness to god
you've one in the chamber
but your finger got stuck

let slip the sound
of a cry for help
but all was lost
on the night you walked

palms speak through eyes
serve your memory lost
i contaminate with insignias

in the end they just gagged me
to make him come out

Meccamputechture
this dirt is turning christ
to make repent again
so i've heard
they're cutting
all the youngest ones
said this dirt is turning christ
to make repent his lust
so i've heard
that the puppet tugs its pull
please dismantle
all these phantom limbs
it's the evidence
of humans as ornaments

Viscera Eyes
while the other three did hide
the culprit spat the seed
from a podium of glass
shattering the sigil
that you thought was deitized

don't let me go, don't let me go
here is venom in numerical lies
your convalescent thorns
are but a crown of maggots
they rot the shakes inside that glass eye
come and give it to me
come on and die

[From MTV.com]
"This album's a commentary about the fear of God instead of the love of God, which goes hand-in-hand with Catholicism," he said. "To me, religion is the reason there is so much conflict in this world, and I think it's just so unnecessary to believe in this blue-eyed, white-bearded, white-haired God. Amputechture is my personal way of describing enlightenment, or just the celebration of this person who is a shaman and not a crazy person. It's about the pineal gland and how it has certain elements that mimic a DMT experience, and how we can come up with cures for cancer and AIDS if we're more in tune with what's going on in the rainforest." Cedric Bixler-Zavala