Pitchfork

Photo by Hadas

As if the works of twitchy hard rock jam band the Mars Volta and spazzcore leaders Hella didn't cause listeners to foam at the mouth already, members of both groups have joined forces to form a new band dubbed El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Named after and led by Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the newfangled freak show includes his Volta band mates Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals) and Juan Alderete de la Peña (bass), along with Hella's Zach Hill (drums) and Jonathan Hischke (synth bass).

Those with heart conditions should probably just stop reading now and wait for the next Fleet Foxes story.

El Grupo Nuevo's debut release is called Cryptomnesia and it's out May 5 on Rodriguez-Lopez's new imprint, Rodriguez-Lopez Productions. (This guy likes the sound of his own name.) The record is the first of a trilogy (of course it is) that was originally recorded in 2006-- apparently Bixler-Zavala had to "dwell on the enormity of the recording" for two years before laying his vocals down, according to a press release. Seriously.

Via Wikipedia, cryptomnesia is "a memory bias whereby a person falsely recalls generating a thought, an idea, a song, or a joke, when the thought was actually generated by someone else." And, based on the LP's totally insane tracklist , it looks like this album will contain 11 songs and at least as many jokes. Well, we hope songs like "Elderly Pair Beaten With Hammer", "Shake Is for 8th Graders", and "Fuck Your Mouth" are in jest. Those curious about what this thing sounds like shouldn't be. But if you still are, check out this predictably kaleidoscopic teaser trailer.

In advance of the record's official release, the band will make 3,000 limited edition vinyl copies available at indie stores nationwide on April 18 as part of Record Store Day.

In other Rodriguez-Lopez news, the busiest man in schizo-prog recently produced actress-singer Juliette Lewis's new album, which is called Terra Incognita and has an utterly horrid cover that will force you to reconsider What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Press on to see the Lewis sleeve and even more hilariously nutso track titles from Cryptomnesia:

Cryptomnesia:

01 Tuberculoids
02 Half Kleptos
03 Cryptomnesia
04 They're Coming to Get You, Barbara
05 Puny Humans
06 Shake Is for 8th Graders
07 Noir
08 Paper Cunts
09 Elderly Pair Beaten With Hammer
10 Warren Oates
11 Fuck Your Mouth

Terra Incognita: