The trick to doing SXSW right is finding the side projects of great bands and/or artists and getting to see them up close.  Last year, my girlfriend was skeptical about seeing the Street Sweeper Social Club.  After I revealed to her that Tom Morrello of Rage Against The Machine was leading it, she went and had a kick as time.  This year, I’m going to provide the same kind of sweet access by checking out the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group.  Omar Rodriguez Lopez is, of course, the force behind The Mars Volta.  Welp, he formed this group way back in 2005 and have been releasing material under that moniker, or other forms of it like the Quintet, Quartet, etc, since then.

Listening to ‘Un Buitre Amable Me Pico’ off soon to be released “Telesterion,”  I can’t help but feel embarrassed.  “Telesterion” is a compilation of works spanning Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s entire career and boy is there many an album.  I hear Mars Volta all the way in this song and nothing else.  Rodriguez Lopez has his own compositional voice and I love jacking into it.  That’s why I’m embarrassed.  I missed out on so much.  I need to go back through all of this mind-blowing and brain-melting material.  This may be my number 1 Showcase for SXSW.

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/Omar_Rodriguez_Lopez_Group-Un_Buitre_Amable_Me_Pico_.mp3]