OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ - Se Dice Bisonte No Bufalo

Omar Rodriguez Lopez is definitely not a man who gets bored easily.

Not content with being a permanent fixture as the guitarist of Mars Volta, and not fully satisfied by his various collaborations, every so often he gives free rein to his explosive imagination, fueling an interesting solo career.

The musicians he surrounds himself with are the usual crew: on vocals (on three tracks, the other seven are instrumental) there's Cedric Bixler Zavala, Omar's longtime partner-in-crime since the days of At The Drive In, on bass there's Juan Alderete De La Pena, and handling sound effects is Adrian Terrazas Gonzales (two more permanent members of Mars Volta).

Behind the drums, meanwhile, Omar has enlisted his brother Marcel, although on the last track the seat belongs to another former travel companion, Jon Theodore.

Special guest, no less, is Mister John Frusciante, here returning the favor for Omar's appearances on some of his records and on the solo in "Especially In Michigan" from Stadium Arcadium by the Peppers.

"Se Dice Bisonte No Bufalo" essentially continues down the path of his main band, a path marked by strong eclecticism, where prog sprawl is broken up by sudden hardcore bursts, and electronic experiments slowly pour into jams that edge all the way into free-jazz territory.

Rodriguez Lopez, although he comes from a (Puerto Rican) family of musicians, is fundamentally an instinctive player with no real grounding in music theory, so his style is built on experimentation and improvisation; in practice he's more of a creative mind than a virtuoso, even if every so often his desire for total, unfettered expressive freedom tips over into self-indulgence for its own sake.

After the double introduction of "The Lukewarm" and "Luxury Of Infancy" (with a dazzling interplay of guitars, all played by Rodriguez), the first proper, fully sung song on the album is "Rapid Fire Tollbooth", where we hear Cedric Bixler Zavala's voice for the first time, and the impression is that of listening to a Mars Volta record, not least because the track has been played several times by the American band at recent live shows; well-informed sources say another version is set to appear on the next Volta album.

"Thermometer Drinking The Bussness Of Turnstiles" offers the record's most experimental and cosmic side, with abstract space-rock synth effects, perfect as an introduction to the splendid title track.

"Se Dice Bisonte No Bufalo", perhaps the album's compositional peak, is a suite split into sections, with a very Pink Floyd-esque opening built around piano notes, over which Cedric's voice is treated and modulated as if it were just another instrument; after the second epic chorus, a wonderful piano-guitar duet emerges, defining the second half of the track.

"If Gravity Lulls, I Can Hear The World Pant" is another ambient/electronic interlude, a prelude to "Please Heat This Eventually", a wildly high-energy instrumental, a genuine free-jazz piece with an irresistible groove, featuring all the musicians at the peak of their form, with special mention going to the formidable guitar-and-saxophone interplay, a lovely bass solo, and the clarinet taking center stage in the closing section.

It feels like being right in the middle of one of those frantic car chases from an American TV show: fireworks.

After such a storm of sound, a temporary gust of calm arrives in the form of the further Pink Floyd-like aromas of "Lurking About In A Cold Sweat", which flows into "Boiling Death Request A Body To Rest Its Head On", namely the Mexico City saloon where the car chase we described above comes to an end. It's yet another change of direction, with flavors somewhere between latin/tex-mex and spy-story, punctuated by a superb sax and building rhythms, an excellent reworking of early Santana.

The enemy is hunting us down, we try to take refuge in the saloon, hiding among the crowd, but there's really nothing to be done when the final volley arrives in "La Tirania De La Tradicion", which leaves us helpless on the ground, drowned in a hardcore punk that is the closest thing to At The Drive In that its former members have ever written.

This is the album's final blow, arriving just when it seemed there could be no more surprises left. Instead, Rodriguez Lopez & Co. never let their guard down for a second, delivering one jolt after another and continually managing to astonish the listener with unusual pairings and spot-on ideas.

At times it may come across as a confused work, but packed inside are so many ideas and styles, skillfully blended together, that they put the vast majority of bands out there to shame. A great injection of vitality after the stagnation of The Mars Volta's most recent work.

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24/10/2007