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 Pena
on bass;
Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez
on percussion and synths;
Deantoni Parks
,
Cedric Bixler-Zavala
, and
Jon Theodore
alternating on drums; and
Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales
on 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
(on theremin and synths as well as guitar),
Alderete de la Pena
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
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
, 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
'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
'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
and
's popping bassline urging on the guitars.
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
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,
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. ~ Thom Jurek