eMusic

Start Your Trial

Old Money

by

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Mars Volta)

 
Old Money
view larger image View Larger

Rate it!

Avg: 3.5 (44 ratings)

Oddball coherence with both charm and chops from the Mother Brain of the Mars Volta

  • We Say...

    Review by Steve Hochman

    With all the elements figuring in Mars Volta's cut-up cornucopia — Miles Davis, Santana, King Crimson, Bob Marley, Mahavishnu Orchestra, just to start a list of tangible influences — it's no wonder that the band's lefty guitar wiz and musical architect Omar Rodriguez-Lopez might embrace the "luxury" of narrowing the focus a bit on his solo projects. Or at least some of his solo projects. He has done a bunch of them. In any case, who would have figured that the focus might resemble the English branch of '70s jazz-rock as practiced by such acts as Brand X and National Health?

    Well, maybe it's not that surprising. Those bands spun out of the Brit-prog realm populated by Soft Machine, Gong, Genesis and such, applying their very Albion-esque aesthetics to a similar set of influences and intents as they mixed well-schooled chops with some absurdist touches. Rodriguez-Lopez roughs things up a bit more and substitutes some American urbanism and Latin-rock roots, but the results — building on 2007's The Apocalypse Inside of An Orange album — are compatible with the liquid lines and odd twists that mark these more-or-less instrumental tracks.

    And focus, of course, is relative. There is still a lot going on here. But right from the opening with "A Power of Myth," with its glissando guitar and stutter-step beat, it's clear that Old Money takes a more linear approach than most Volta efforts. Even the distorted, barely intelligible vocal weirdness of "How to Bill the Bilderberg Group," the skittering dissonance of "The Trilateral Commission as Dinner Guests" and the Phil Manzanera-like riffs of "I Like Rockefeller's First Two Albums, But After That …" (we do love our droll titles, don't we?) are marked by coherence. Oddball coherence, to be sure, and it's that charm that makes this work, well beyond the considerable chops.

  • They Say...

    Review by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

    Given its range, depth, and breadth, it's utterly fitting that Old Money, the January 2009 offering from the increasingly prolific Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (guitarist, producer, composer, and arranger for the Mars Volta), is his debut for the mind-bending Stone's Throw imprint. On this conceptual recording very loosely based around themes of childhood dreams, nightmares, and colonial capitalism, Rodriguez-Lopez and his musical partners -- who include Juan Alderete de la Peña on bass; Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez on percussion and synths; Deantoni Parks, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and Jon Theodore alternating on drums; and Adrian Terrazas-Gonzaleson winds -- whip up the most ambitious stew he's ever created. As a guitarist, Omar has continued absorbing the knotty winding path blazed by Frank Zappa. He's also learned from him compositionally. This music may sound unhinged, loose, and utterly mind-melting in terms of its madness, but rest assured, it is scripted and recorded quite carefully. Check "Population Council's Wet Dream," as the trio of Omar (on theremin and synths as well as guitar), Alderete de la Peña, and Theodore create a power trio of a track that would not have sounded out of place on either Zappa's Hot Rats or Billy Cobham's Spectrum. The crisscrossing rhythms, key shifts, and dynamic changes that occur within this driving, intensely focused composition may feel at times like a jam, but it's far too intricate for that. "Private Fortunes" is like its mirror image, even as Omar, who plays various keys and synths as well as bass and guitar, duets with Marcel. The faux strings, rubbery keyboard sounds, and blazing guitar solo interact beautifully with Marcel's hand drums and Latin rhythms. The closest thing to an all-out jam here is the humorously titled "I Like the Rockefellers' First Two Records, But After That...," where layers of guitars and keyboards swirl around each other but are tempered by a dubby rhythm section keeping everything anchored in a single time signature -- seemingly. But even it stretches and morphs after a bit. The set closes with the title track, the longest track here. It begins like one of Omar's soundtrack compositions, with muted fuzzy guitars layered in wah-wah and reverb as well as controlled feedback and playing in harmonic extensions of one another, with killer breaks by Marcel and Alderete de la Peña's popping bassline urging on the guitars. Marcel adds a clavinet to make things even more mutantly funky, but it just ROCKS! This may be the most over the top rock recording that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has released to date, but it nonetheless contains all the imaginative and sophisticated musical elements that have made him so compelling as an artist. In fact, Old Money is so far-reaching, it will likely piss off some of his fans while making others nearly swoon with its unwieldy rockist excesses. As for winning new fans to his cause? You bet.

  • You Say...

    Write a Review

    I would like to say...

    Artist: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Mars Volta)

    Album: Old Money

    Review Title: (maximum 50 characters)

    Your Review: (maximum 1,000 characters)

    Cancel

    Please keep your comments to the recordings themselves, and be courteous and respectful. Thanks! For further info, read our Community Guidelines.

“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”


Rolling Stone
Start Your Trial

Recently Viewed

Back
Forward

© 1998-2009 eMusic.com Inc. eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks in the USA or other countries. All rights reserved.

All Music Guide © 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC

Facebook®, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia® are registered trademarks of their respective owners, Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Neither Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. nor Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. are partners or sponsors of eMusic. eMusic uses the Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia API but is not endorsed or certified by Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia. eMusic does not pre-screen, monitor, endorse nor assume any liability for websites, contents, products, services or claims made by Facebook, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia®.

Legal or copyright question regarding Facebook, YouTube, Flickr or Wikipedia content on eMusic? Please email us.