Omar Rodriguez-lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward

The self-titled collaborative album between Omar Rordriguez Lopez (of The Mars Volta) and his late bandmate, 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 At 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.