British electro-pop trio Nedry announce US debut of album championed by BBC, Q Magazine, XFM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

February 1st, 2010

British electro-pop trio Nedry announces US debut of album championed by BBC, Q Magazine, Uncut, XFM

"Gently skittering electronics and slow-building, spacious ambience - Nedry's gorgeous, minimal soundscapes are tailor made for the wee hours." -- Q Magazine

"A futuristic sonic collage of dreamy glitch-folk, shimmering electronica and weapons-grade Dubstep percussion... Feels like a futuristic step forward from Radiohead's In Rainbows or Portishead's Third. 4 stars." -- Uncut

"Sent shivers down my spine….like Thom Yorke’s Eraser with a bit of a Dubstep vibe and some Post-Rock influences… Nedry's post-dubstep, shoegazy brilliance will make them stand out from the crowd in 2010" -- Huw Stephens - BBC Radio One Introducing

London, UK trio Nedry -- whose dazzling fusion of electronica, instrumental rock, dub-step rhythms and hauntingly beautiful vocals has generated a wellspring of excitement in the UK media -- announces the U.S. release of its debut album Condors. The disc arrives stateside via Monotreme Records (65daysofstatic, Jeniferever, Barzin) on April 20th, 2010.

Check out the MP3 for "A42" from the album HERE. Or, watch videos for "A42" (VIDEO) and "Apples & Pears" (VIDEO).

Nedry is Matt Parker, Chris Amblin and Ayu Okakita. Their beautiful sound and arresting beats are from and for the "post-" generation. Their songs are dark and ambient but broken-up and lifted by moments of glitch and fuzzy, melodic guitars eliciting comparisons to other iconoclast artists like Bjork, Blonde Redhead and Tuung. Both live and on record they use innovative production techniques to create a truly original sound.

Nedry started performing, producing and recording in summer 2008. In a little over a year they've made waves on the UK electronic music scene, sharing stages with the likes of Pivot (Warp), Maps (MUTE), The Gaslamp Killer (Brainfeeder) and Daedelus (Ninja Tune). Nedry have steadily gathered critical acclaim since the self-released SZ EP, and support from the likes of Q Magazine and The Times as well as airplay on a host of radio stations including XFM, Resonance FM, BBC 6Music and BBC Radio 1 has assured them as one of the most exciting bands to emerge in 2009. BBC Radio 1 DJ and new music guru Huw Stephens in particular has championed the Nedry sound, inviting them to the famous Maida Vale studios to record a live session for his show.

Nedry tours the UK this spring with 65daysofstatic as well as headlining dates in the UK & Europe. See complete dates below.

Artist: Nedry

Album: Condors

Label: Monotreme Records

Release Date: April 20, 2010

1. A42 (MP3) (VIDEO)

2.Apples & Pears (VIDEO)

3. Four Layers of Pink

4. Squid Cat Battle

5. Scattered

6. Condors

7. Swan Ocean

8. Where The Dead Birds Go

Nedry on tour:

03/09 London, UK @ The Social - Huw Stephens Presents

04/28 Boumemouth, UK @ The Winchester

04/29 London, UK @ The Lexington

05/02 Carlisle, UK @ Brickyard *

05/03 Glasgow, UK @ Oran Mor *

05/04 Newcastle, UK @ Academy 2 *

05/05 Birmingham, UK @ Academy 2 *

05/06 Sheffield, UK @ Octagon *

05/07 Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms *

05/08 Bristol, UK @ Trinity *

05/09 Cambridge, UK @ Junction 1 *

05/10 Portsmouth, UK @ Wedgewood Rooms *

05/11 Plymouth, UK @ White Rabbit *

05/12 London, UK @ Koko *

* with 65daysofstatic

On the Web:

http://www.nedrymakesmusic.com/

http://myspace.com/nedrymakesmusic

http://monotremerecords.com

Nedry are available for interviews. For more information, contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

Dark pop group Southerly goes Negativist with new EP, plots International tour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

February 6th, 2010

Dark pop group Southerly goes Negativist with new EP, plots International tour

Portland, OR is widely known for its wealth of dark-pop songwriters, and Southerly is one of its very best. The nom-de-tune of Krist Krueger, Southerly has announced the release of a lush, layered new work titled Champion Of The Noisy Negativists on February 19th, 2010. The digital/CD/vinyl EP via the Self Group imprint follows the artist's celebrated 2007 album, Storyteller And The Gossip Columnist (Greyday Records).

Listen to the MP3 for "Trials" from Champion HERE. And, "Soldiers" (MP3 and VIDEO) from Storyteller.

To kick off the EP release, Southerly launches a tour throughout Europe with Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band beginning February 18th. A hometown sendoff is slated for Tuesday, February 16th at Kelly's Olympian in Portland with four bands sharing various Southerly members. See below for complete dates.

Picking up where the latest full-length, Storyteller And The Gossip Columnist left off, listeners can hear the natural progression toward what ultimately became Champion: a swooning, eerie, beautiful, morose and uplifting soundscape that serves as an undeniable reminder of the tension, release, intensity and intrinsic harmony that all of us experience and celebrate in life. Unlike the previous disc, Champion is a largely instrumental affair, using vocals as additional layers, rather than the music's guide.

Champion Of The Noisy Negativists is a continuation in the evolution of songwriter/producer Krist Krueger, whose work has often been compared to fellow moody pop artists The National, Brendan Benson, Richard Ashcroft and Tindersticks. Predominantly recorded at Krueger’s own Sonic Sandbox (Portland, OR) and completed at Haywire Studios (Portland, OR), Champion was engineered by both Krueger and Robert Bartleson and produced by Krueger.

Are you a champion of the noisy negativists?

The EP is dedicated to and in memory of Jeff Hanson, please visit www.myspace.com/jeffhanson to learn more about him and his beautiful music.

Artist: Southerly

Title: Champion Of The Noisy Negativists

Label: Self Group (CD/digital) / People In A Position To Know (vinyl)

Release Date: February 19th, 2010

1. Trials (MP3)

2. Champion Of The Noisy Negativists

3. Repercussions

4. Ascend

5. Allostasis

Southerly On Tour:

02/16 - Portland, OR @ Kelly's Olympian (Self Group & tour launch party)

02/18 - Amsterdam (NL) @ Nieuwe Anita

02/19 - Münster (GER) @ Amp

02/20 - Bochum (GER) @ Untergrund

02/21 - Giessen (GER) @ MuK

02/22 - Stuttgart (GER) @ Schocken

02/23 - Wiesbaden (GER) @ Schlachthof

02/24 - Hamburg (GER) @ Uebel & Gefährlich

02/25 - Osnabrück (GER) @ Kleine Freiheit

02/26 - Erfurt (GER) @ Engelsburg

02/27 - Magdeburg (GER) @ Projekt 7

03/01 - Zürich (CH) @ Hafenkneipe

03/02 - Freiburg (GER) @ White Rabbit

03/03 - Luxembuorg (LUX) @ Dqliq

03/04 - Weinheim (GER) @ Cafe Central

03/05 - Erlangen (GER) @ E-Werk

03/06 - Cologne (GER) @ Werkstatt

03/07 - Berlin (GER) @ Bang Bang Club

03/08 - Würzburg (GER) @ Posthalle

03/09 - Munich (GER) @ Orangehouse

03/10 - Vienna (A) @ B72

On The Web:

http://southerlysongs.com

http://myspace.com/southerly

http://www.selfgroup.org

http://facebook.com/southerly

Hi-Res Photos, Cover Art, Bio and more:

http://www.selfgroup.org/sg001press.html

Southerly is available for interviews. For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

Visual artist Sonny Kay presents L.A. gallery opening

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 28th, 2010

Visual artist Sonny Kay presents L.A. gallery opening

POV Evolving Gallery and Sargent House announce the Los Angeles gallery opening of recent work by renown visual artist Sonny Kay. The installation titled Tamper Proof: Recent Works by Sonny Kay opens with a gala reception on Thursday, February 11, 2010. The event also features acoustic performances by Lisa Papineau, Matthew Embree (RX Bandits) and Liquid Indian, plus special guest DJs (DJ) Nobody and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta). The artist's installation runs through March 9th, 2010.

Sonny Kay’s work will certainly be familiar to devotees of The Mars Volta, and in particular the vast solo output of Volta head-honcho, Omar Rodriguez Lopez. As creative director for Rodriguez Lopez’s L.A.-based eponymous record/film imprint, Rodriguez Lopez Productions, Kay’s meticulous collage and graphic design work has become synonymous with a seemingly endless stream of heady, inspired psychedelic albums that began appearing en masse in 2006. POV Evolving presents Tamper Proof, a show of Kay’s most recent album-related works and some as-yet-unseen creations intent on wriggling out of the confines of the 12” LP sleeve.

Kay’s music-world pedigree predates the coming of The Mars Volta by more than 10 years. During his college years in Boulder, Colorado, Kay became a central figure on the underground music scene, first as a promoter (culminating in his management of the U of C’s notorious Club 156 venue between 1993 and 1995), and then as a performer. As vocalist for the cult punk bands Angel Hair and The VSS, Kay traversed the United States repeatedly, following in the footsteps of groups like Black Flag and Fugazi, anticipating those of The Faint and At the Drive-In. Launching the celebrated Gold Standard Laboratories (GSL) label with student loan money in 1993, Kay went on to release seminal material from then-unknown groups such as The Locust, The Rapture, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Chromatics, and eventually, The Mars Volta. By the time he designed the packaging for that band’s 2002 debut, Tremulant, Kay had partnered with Rodriguez Lopez and GSL became, effectively, the band’s own label.

Kay’s design work was soon finding its was onto stage backdrops, t-shirts, laminates skateboards and myriad other tour-related ephemera, but GSL’s days were numbered. The label’s enthusiasm for releasing the work of like-minded avant-punks didn’t typically translate into record sales, and the top-heavy label closed its doors in 2007. Switching gears to full-time artist/designer, Kay seized the opportunity to carve out a recognizable niche for his idiosyncratic work. Falling mostly within the realm of digital collage, his rapidly evolving style has consistently striven to avoid the typical trappings and technical shortcomings many expect from a colloquial medium juxtaposing the old and new for comic or ironic effect.

Comprised of web-sourced snapshots and thrift-shop reference book illustrations, Kay’s painstakingly assembled composites themselves often resemble photographs, or even paintings - alternately poignant, opinionated, illustrative, occasionally funny, or simply unexplained. Fantastic, and yet eerily realistic, Kay’s images point to his convergent interests in perception, human and primate anthropology, entheogens, consciousness, evolution and anarchism. Buffeted by the virtually free-reign platform afforded by modern rock music’s arguably most prolific recording artist, Kay’s pace has quickened and his output diversified considerably thanks to Rodriguez Lopez’s literally nonstop flow of albums.

Which isn’t to say that Kay doesn’t enjoy some good old-fashioned stream-of-consciousness-derived haphazardry, nor trying his skill at designing for other artists. Tamper Proof presents examples of a variety of Kay’s work, much of which was produced since his last exhibition, Colliding on Purpose (January 2009), at Han Cholo Gallery. 2009-10 has seen his imagery adorn the sleeves of groups as varied as RX Bandits, Shooter Jennings, Red Sparowes, and NoCanDo, to name only some. However, with Rodriguez Lopez sticking to his promise to release “an album a month”, the effect that level of productivity has on Kay's other endeavors remains to be seen.

Event Details:

Sargent House and POV Evolving present

TAMPER PROOF:

Recent Works by Sonny Kay

At POV Evolving Gallery

939 Chung King Rd. Los Angeles, CA 90012

Opening Reception: Thursday February 11, 2010 from 7-11 PM.

On the Web:

http://sonnykay.com/

http://goldstandardlabs.com

http://povevolving.com

http://sargenthouse.com

Sonny Kay is available for interviews. For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

Red Sparowes preview forthcoming album with video teaser

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 20, 2010

Click image above to watch video.

Red Sparowes preview forthcoming album with video teaser

Los Angeles quintet Red Sparowes offers a preview of song snippets from its forthcoming epic, heavy and sprawling third album in a video trailer posted today (watch it HERE). The disc, titled The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies The Answer will be released via Sargent House on April 6th, 2010. See complete track listing below. The band plans to announce spring headlining tour dates in the coming weeks.

There has never been as pronounced of a leap in style and scope as with Red Sparowes' latest offering. The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer maintains their layered arrangements and swirling amplified crescendos, Americana noir soundscapes (punctuated by the extended pedal steel on “In Every Mind”), and gloriously triumphant melodies (“Giving Birth to Imagined Saviors”). Earlier records focused on the larger scope of the album, but the new album is song-centered, with the individual tracks harboring stronger independent identities. And where previous endeavors found the band propelled by enormous walls of sound, they now temper their monolithic progressions with distinct passages of separated and soft-spoken instrumentation. Red Sparowes were suspiciously absent from the playing field over the last three years, and now it’s apparent that they were busy drafting the grandest statement and finest achievement of their existence.

Thunderheads storming across the prairie, outraged students taking to the streets, migratory herds stampeding along the tundra--any number of images could describe the grandiose scope of Red Sparowes’ lush vignettes. Wielding both a master’s sense of nuance and an outsider artist’s unhindered expressionist zeal, the Los Angeles quintet created a catalog of haunting and hallucinatory guitar orchestrations over the course of the millennium’s opening decade. With two albums, a string of split releases, multiple U.S. and European tours, and a number of line-up changes under their belt, Red Sparowes are currently poised to release their third album and most impressive creation to date, The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer.

Though Red Sparowes’ music thrives unbound by narrative, the band provides a roadmap to their muse. Their 2005 debut album, At The Soundless Dawn, cast the scientific inevitability of the Sixth Extinction into a grand funeral oration, revealing the message within the individual track titles. Their second full-length, Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun (2006) provided a synopsis of the Great Sparrow campaign of the Great Leap Forward, laying bare its conceptual role. The Aphorisms EP (2008 digital, 2009 12" vinyl) served a thematic precursor to the next album.

Red Sparowes' latest offering, The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer, began with the larger existential pondering of truth, faith, order, causality, and the innate demand for an understanding of the larger world around us. While Red Sparowes’ majesty is hardly in need of story, the provision of the larger metaphor yields a heightened depth and gravity to their work.

Red Sparowes consists of guitarist/keyboardist Bryant Clifford Meyer (also of Isis), bassist/pedal steel player Gregory Burns (ex-Halifax Pier), drummer David Clifford (ex-Pleasure Forever), guitarist/keyboardist Andy Arahood (ex-Angel Hair) and guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle (also of The Nocturnes). The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer was recorded August - September 2009 at Infrasonic Sound by Toshi Kasai (Melvins, Big Business, Tool). Album photography and design by Greg Burns and layout by Sonny Kay.

Artist: Red Sparowes

Album: The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer

Label: Sargent House

Release Date: April 6, 2010

01. Truths Arise

02. In Illusions of Order

03. A Hail of Bombs

04. Giving Birth to Imagined Saviors

05. A Swarm

06. In Every Mind

07. A Mutiny

08. As Each End Looms and Subsides

Hi-res photos, cover art and bio:

http://sargenthouse.com/rs_assets.html

On the Web:

http://redsparowes.com

http://sargenthouse.com/rs.html

http://myspace.com/redsparowes

http://redsparowes.bandcamp.com

Members of Red Sparowes are available for interviews. For more information, please contact Cathy Pellow at cathy@usthemgroup.com or dave@usthemgroup.com

Fang Island releases digital single with Yeasayer remix

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 19th, 2009

Fang Island releases digital single with Yeasayer remix, announces plans to high-five the U.S.

"If this is the arena rock of the future, send me an invite, okay?" -- Pitchfork

"A triumphant, heavily riffed, primarily instrumental epic, whiplashing through six minutes of smiling prog jams, and as many tempos as passages, before settling into one last minute of uplifting chants." -- Stereogum

"Life-affirming prog guitar anthems." – Seattle Stranger

Fang Island releases a new digital EP today for the song "Daisy", culled from the band's forthcoming self-titled Sargent House album. The single is backed with the Yeasayer remix of "Absolute Place" off their Sky Gardens EP. The anthemic guitar quintet will celebrate their full-length debut with a special album release party hosted by Andrew W.K. at Santos Party House in New York City on February 13th.

Fang Island describes its sound as "everyone high-fiving everyone." And, the band is currently plotting tour dates in the U.S. to high-five one and all, including a performance during the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, TX. Full tour dates will be announced soon.

Back in December, Pitchfork debuted the quirky video for "Daisy" directed by Carlos Charlie Perez (Li'l Wayne, Vampire Weekend). Watch it HERE. And, currently, Fang Island's music is also the soundtrack to on-air promos for MTV's new show, The Buried Life. Watch the trailer HERE.

Its finger-tapping guitar lines, chanted vocals, triumphant harmonies and overall perky songs hearken to the sort of "Total Music" of the F**king Champs, Jay Reatard, Ponytail, Kraftwerk, Marnie Stern, Thin Lizzy, et al. But, perhaps more so, its songs are like the music in your head at that moment when everything feels just right: that first kiss, that high score on the video game, buying your first small nation in cash... you know, good stuff. Check out MP3s for two new tracks, "Daisy" (MP3 HERE) and "Life Coach" (MP3 HERE).

Nothing embodies the band's sense of optimism and enthusiasm better than this clip of Fang Island performing live for a classroom of kindergartners. Watch HERE.

Fang Island began, oddly enough, as an art school project while the band members were attending the prodigious Rhode Island School of Design (also the foundation for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Les Savy Fav, Lightning Bolt, Six Finger Satellite and some band called the Talking Heads.) According to guitarist Jason Bartell, the goal was to "make music for people who like music." That is, music without irony that harnesses its uplifting qualities. Just like a classic rock song or classical symphony can stir us emotionally, Fang Island exists to unlock that spirit.

Fang Island is guitarist Jason Bartell, bassist Philip Curcuru, guitarist Chris Georges, guitarist Nicholas Andrew Sadler, and drummer Marc St. Sauveur. They all share collective group vocal harmonies and the occasional hand claps. While Sadler is also known for his role in the debauched rock band Daughters, it is only his fretboard skill that translates between the two groups.

Fang Island begins appropriately with the sound of erupting fireworks on "Dreams of Dreams" leading into a cascading chorus of ringing guitar notes before the group vocal harmonies chime in with the mantra, "they all are within my reach, they are free." The second song, "Careful Crossers" launches in beneath the vocals with a chorus of gleaming guitar harmonies smeared over the marching, syncopated rhythm section. Elsewhere, tracks like "Sideswiper" hearken to the metal-laced positivity of Andrew WK. "Daisy" sounds like a unique collaboration between the F**king Champs and Jay Reatard. Throughout the album, it's like listening to the cool version of classic rock -- the type of anthemic pop without the cheesiness -- that you wished Journey and Boston could've made.

Fang Island's debut album, Fang Island will be released February 23rd, 2010 via Sargent House.

Fang Island live:

02/13 New York, NY @ Santos Party House (hosted by Andrew W.K.)

Artist: Fang Island

Album: Fang Island

Label: Sargent House

Release Date: February 23, 2010

01. Dreams of Dreams

02. Careful Crossers

03. Daisy (MP3) (VIDEO)

04. Life Coach (MP3)

05. Sideswiper

06. The Illinois

07. Treeton

08. Davey Crockett

09. Welcome Wagon

10. Dorian

Hi-Res photos, cover art and bio:

http://sargenthouse.com/fangisland_assets.html

On the Web:

http://www.myspace.com/fangisland

http://fangisland.com

http://digital.fangisland.com/

Fang Island is available for interviews. For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

RX Bandits announce U.S., Australian tour dates Feb - April

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 14th, 2010

Click image to view tour promo video

RX Bandits announce U.S., Australian tour dates

Southern California's multifaceted prog-psych-rock quartet RX Bandits are once again taking to the road in support of 2009's highly-successful album Mandala. Touring begins next month in Australia as the group joins the massive multi-city traveling Soundwave Festival alongside Faith No More, My Chemical Romance, Jane's Addiction and more. US dates follow in March with The Builders and the Butchers and Zechs Marquise supporting. Please see below for complete dates.

European and UK dates are also in the works for May/June and will be announced soon.

RX Bandits recently performed a special acoustic set on BBC Radio 1's "The Punk Show with Mike Davies" and appeared on Fuel TV's "The Daily Habit". Click here to watch videos.

Mandala: few titles are as perfectly befitting an album for a band reaching the culmination of a decade-long musical transformation. With this recording, RX Bandits have truly struck the essence of their merging of genres into a complete and masterfully detailed mosaic. Check out the MP3 for the single, "My Lonesome Only Friend" HERE. Stream the entire album HERE.

Tracking for Mandala took place at The Mouse House Studio in Northern Pasadena in March of 2009, and marked the return of producer Chris Fudurich to the fold.The album features dramatically hypnotic artwork by Sonny Kay. Mandala was released July 21st, 2009 via Sargent House.

RX Bandits - Australia / Soundwave Festival

02/20 Brisbane, AU @ RNA Showgrounds

02/21 Sydney, AU @ Eastern Creek Raceway

02/23 Randwick, AU @ UNSW Roundhouse *

02/25 Melbourne, AU @ Palace Theater *

02/26 Melbourne, AU @ Royal Melbourne Showgrounds

02/27 Adelaide, AU @ Bonython Park Oval

03/01 Perth, AU @ Bassendean Oval

* Side Shows w/ Sunny Day Real Estate, Motion City Soundtrack, Glassjaw

RX Bandits / The Builders And The Butchers / Zechs Marquise

03/09 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre

03/10 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress

03/12 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre

03/13 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit

03/14 Austin, TX @ Emo's

03/16 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues

03/18 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room

03/19 Orlando, FL @ The Social

03/20 Orlando, FL @ The Social

03/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade

03/23 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle

03/24 Washington D.C. @ Rock and Roll Hotel

03/25 New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre

03/26 New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre

03/27 New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre

03/28 Philadelphia, PA @ The TLA

03/29 New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place

03/30 Allston, MA @ Harper's Ferry *

03/31 Allston, MA @ Harper's Ferry

04/01 Montreal, QC @ Underworld

04/02 Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club

04/03 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick

04/04 Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge

04/05 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall

04/06 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club

04/08 Denver, CO @ The Marquis Theatre

04/09 Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue

04/10 Boise, ID @ The Venue

04/11 Seattle, WA @ El Corazon

04/12 Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre

04/14 Orangevale, CA @ The Boardwalk

04/15 San Francisco, CA @ Slim's

04/23 Pomona, CA @ The Glass House *

* Without The Builders And The Butchers

Hi-res cover art, photos and bio:

http://www.sargenthouse.com/rxb_assets.html

On the Web:

http://www.sargenthouse.com/rxb.html

http://www.rxbandits.com

http://www.myspace.com/rxbandits

http://digital.rxbandits.com/

http://www.sargenthouse.com

# # #

RX Bandits are available for interviews.

For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

Omar Rodriguez Lopez makes directorial debut at International Film Festival Rotterdam in February

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 12, 2010

(Click image above to view trailer.)

Omar Rodriguez Lopez makes feature film directorial debut at International Film Festival Rotterdam in February

The phenomenally productive artist Omar Rodriguez Lopez makes his directorial debut next month when his feature film, The Sentimental Engine Slayer sees its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on February 4th, 2010. The film was written and directed by Rodriguez Lopez.

While The Sentimental Engine Slayer is not his first venture as a director -- he also created two unreleased films, 2001’s A Manual Dexterity and 2003’s Letters from Dystopia -- it is his first feature released to the public. Made on a relatively small budget using money borrowed from a close friend and Rodriguez Lopez's parents, the cast and crew worked diligently on location in El Paso, TX to bring the project to fruition.

The Sentimental Engine Slayer tells the tale of the overdue coming of age of a 20-something misfit named Barlam. Set against the backdrop of drug-addled suburban El Paso sometime in the not-too-distant future, Barlam's awkward transition from boy to man is as much the story of struggling to find one's essence in a world of stereotypes as it is an indictment of the distorted reality of family life in the disengaged 21st Century. For a more detailed plot synopsis, please see the film's IMDB page.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez is an intensely prolific Grammy-winning recording artist whose genre-defying, fifteen-year career has resulted in some 35 albums. His seminal and critically acclaimed band, At the Drive-In, redefined popular rock music at the end of the last decade. Since that time, in addition to being both a solo artist and leader/composer/producer of the The Mars Volta, Rodriguez Lopez has produced groundbreaking recordings for the likes of Juliette Lewis and collaborated with Hans Zimmer, John Frusciante, and Erykah Badu, to name a few. In the early years of the new millennium, Rodriguez Lopez began filmmaking, familiarizing himself with the process by way of producing two unreleased films (2001’s A Manual Dexterity and 2003’s Letters from Dystopia) in lieu of any formal training. His third film, The Sentimental Engine Slayer, is the director’s debut feature release. Despite a virtually continuous commitment to the process of recording and touring with his various bands, Rodriguez Lopez has managed to complete two more films since principal production on The Sentimental Engine Slayer wrapped in 2007; El Divino Influjo De Los Secretos (2008) and Boiling Death Request (2009) are both currently in post-production.

On the Web:

http://rodriguezlopezproductions.com

http://www.myspace.com/rodriguezlopezproductions

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sentimental-Engine-Slayer/208663275198?ref=ts

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1511489/synopsis

http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/nl/

For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com. To contact Rodriguez Lopez Productions, email Cathy Pellow at: cathy@sargenthouse.com