Avant-garde artist, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (of The Mars Volta), stretches the bounds of experimentalism with his new Spanish record, Xenophanes. The writer, producer, performer is multi-dextrous and ambitious at every turn.This is an album full of surprising directions, cool sounds, and astounding emotion. Omar isn’t comfortable with anything familiar; his style is an entire plain of dissonance with brief interludes of clarity that drown and gasp for air. His fascination with effects continues pervasively in every inch of this album, producing a supernova of half-notes, eerie vibratos, and echoing digital delays. Perhaps, the envelope is pushed too far, one might venture. But, once you’ve gone in this direction there seems like there is no turning back. Nevertheless, this is not an inaccessible work of art – we’re not lost amidst categorical abstraction. In fact, there is an intense degree of working through insight and passion. Some label his music as psychedelic, but the term doesn’t do the artist justice. Songs like Deserraigo contain those half-dream motions that Omar invariably creates, but there is also a linear story in there. He has collaborated with John Frusciante, and you can hear a little of early RHCP influence, who began experimenting in their making use of rock and punk, which Omar definitely replicates. Other apparent influences are Porno for Pyros, for the vocals, and Nirvana, for the different ranges of distorted feedback. If you believe collages have a coherence of their own then you will appreciate Omar’s complex vision and sensibility.
David Rozon
Key Tracks: Azoemia, Mundo de Ciegos, Deserraigo
Moods: Visceral, Spacey, Manic, Enigmatic, Volatile, Complex
Buy: Xenophanes
related
- John Frusciante – The Empyrean
- Are Red Hot Chili Peppers One John Frusciante Short?
- Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Debuts His Latest Project
