Omar Rodriguez

"Omar Rodriguez" is the second solo album by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and the inaugural part of his informal "Amsterdam cycle," a series that Omar recorded in 2005 while residing in the Netherlands, followed by:
(2) Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo CD/LP (Gold Standard Laboratories, 2007)
(3) The Apocalypse Inside Of An Orange CD/2×LP by Omar Rodriguez Lopez Quintet (Infrasonic Sound, 2007)
(4) Calibration (Is Pushing Luck And Key Too Far) CD/2×LP (Nitrous Oxide Records, 2007/08)
Most sessions were completed in early June, with further overdubs in August during The Mars Volta's North American tour and the final mix in September 2005. The recording featured three of TMV's recent members: Omar's younger brother Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez on drums/percussion and keyboards, Adrián Terrazas González (opens in a new tab) on saxophone, and bassist Juan Alderete de la Peña (opens in a new tab) on one of the tracks. Even before the self-titled CD came out, Omar established his Omar Rodriguez Lopez Quintet, featuring the same three instrumentalists joined by Money Mark of Beastie Boys fame on keyboards. The band toured Europe in November 2005 to promote the upcoming release. (During the 14th November 2005 show in Cologne, Germany, Damo Suzuki joined ORLQ on stage for a lengthy improvised jam, subsequently released as Please Heat This Eventually 12" EP in December 2006.)
The "Omar Rodriguez" CD/LP was released on 5 December 2005 by the Dutch label Willie Anderson Recordings. (Exactly one year later, in December 2006, Gold Standard Laboratories and Erika Records re-released the self-titled LP in the USA as a picture disc (opens in a new tab) in a limited numbered edition of 2000 copies.) The album's centerpiece, a 17-minute "Jacob Van Lennepkade" track, is named after the street where Omar Rodriguez-Lopez lived in Amsterdam.