Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - "Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo"

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Boiling Death Request a Body to Rest Its Head On (GSL 2007)

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo / GSL

Over at Reckless Records, I am always surprised at how consistently we keep Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s first solo project, 2004’s A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack, Vol. 1, in stock. It is a decent album (supposedly the soundtrack to an uncompleted/never-released film of the same name) of ambient psychedelic guitar noodles released at the peak of The Mars Volta’s popularity. I’m not necessarily saying it was a cash-in on the revitalized interest in Rodriguez-Lopez’s post-At the Drive-In guitar-wizard reputation, but despite a few well-worth-your-time songs, it is pretty much negligible in the grand scheme of things. Yet I have probably sold more of that particular album, especially the LP version, than all the Mars Volta albums combined during my tenure at the Chicago record store. I have a theory (that was somewhat solidified through a conversation with a patron as I was once again selling our newly-restocked copy to just the other day) that the brightly twinkling, light refracting cover-art has a lot to do with its appeal when matched with Rodriguez-Lopez’s acclaimed name. It nearly hypnotizes you with curiosity upon setting your eyes on the flashy cover; especially in it’s grandiose LP form. The customer asked me what I thought about it, and I told him my true opinion—decent with a few standouts, but nothing overtly special—and it didn’t dissuade him in the slightest, and then he actually remarked about the curious artwork. Now if Rodriguez-Lopez had just matched that ridiculously hypnotizing album cover with the music of his latest solo outing, Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo, we would have the complete package.

I think like most people, my interest in the Rodriguez-Lopez helmed Mars Volta peaked early and waned with each passing release; it is now to the point where 2006’s Amputechture got little more than a sole passing listen by my ears. But truth be told, I have always had and presumably always will have a soft spot for the Puerto Rican composer, guitarist and producer. He is just too talented to ignore even if neo-psychedelia prog is not your cup of tea. There is a reason that At the Drive-In was such an ambitious, mind-blowing punk band, and as Sparta has further proved, it was not stemming from the rhythm section. Seemingly the love child of Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin (see 1972’s Love Devotion Surrender for the seeds of Rodriguez-Lopez’s sound), Omar’s freewheeling and passionate compositions stem from the hey day of ambitious psychedelic jazz-rock in the early 70s, but as with his work with the Volta, occasionally over-reach their ambitions into pretension and come off more cheesy mid-70s prog than anything. It’s a shame too, because the man has ridiculous talent and vision, he’s just trapped in the wrong era.

Thankfully though, Rodriguez-Lopez occasionally leaves the major label budget behind for some home recordings like the ones on his latest solo offering, Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo, one of four albums recorded while visiting Amsterdam in 2005. Fortunately handed-over with no over-arching themes or alienating concepts or questionable Mars Volta artwork (other than the once again possibility of being a soundtrack), his third album under solely his name is an intriguing affair of mid-fi Latin-jazz-grounded psyche-rock that vastly improves on the foundation laid with A Manual Dexterity. The regular cast of characters remains involved: Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s high-pitched croon is utilized on three of the tracks (exceptionally on “Rapid Fire Tollbooth,” haphazardly on “La Tirania de la Tradiciòn”), Volta contributors Juan Alderete de la Peña, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez and Jon Theodore all chip in, and of course the now expected two-cents from John Frusciante and Money Mark. All the musicians involved sound very much attuned to each other and provide ample palettes for Omar to riff and wail and rip over with his so ably proficient electric guitar.

After two doodling ambient pieces (the kind that made up the majority of A Manual Dexterity), the first proper tune is “Rapid Fire Tollbooth,” a patient psyche-funk number narrated by Bixler-Zavala that should have been what the Mars Volta was doing all this time. With Bixler-Zavala’s unearthly, echoing yelps undercut by drowned soprano sax flourishes, Rodriguez-Lopez first riffs with consciously sloppy wah-wah funk before releasing the kind of finger-bleeding solo that has instigated so many Santana parallels. A slightly more developed ambient piece bridges into the title track, a slowly blossoming song of Latin-jazz piano, mindedly eased electric guitar and un-enunciated vocals from Bixler-Zavala. It mostly sounds like a Tremulant cast-off, which is absolutely a compliment. Another continuously developed ambient number (a pattern is appearing) before we get to the original studio version of “Please Heat This Eventually,” a limited-edition 12-inch collaboration with Can’s Damo Suzuki from earlier this year. Though Suzuki’s growling vocals aren’t included on this version, Money Mark’s Joe Zawinul impression accentuating the urgent, exuberant piece certainly takes it to a new, welcomed dimension. In between the culmination of this every-other-track-pattern of slow-burning, ambient pieces, “Lurking About in a Cold Sweat (Held Together by Venom),” and the questionable psychedelic-punk of “La Tirania de la Tradiciòn,” is my favorite number, “Boiling Death Request a Body to Rest Its Head On.” Like a b-side to Love Devotion Surrender, Rodriguez-Lopez submerges his guitar in watery effects-pedals and lets Adrian Terrazas Gonzales wail on an equally recordingly-restrained soprano saxophone in a Pharoah Sanders-spiritual-jazz manner. With the light percussion and just right marriage of pedals and distortion, it’s the Latin-psyche-jazz excursion I have always hoped for from Rodriguez-Lopez.

So is Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo the best Omar Rodriguez-Lopez solo offering to date? Yes. Is it more rewarding than most of the Mars Volta output? To me at least—yes—but mostly because it just seems devoid of the pretension they have established with that outfit (which seemed like a good idea at first, but hasn’t really panned out). Will it prove as remarkably sustainable selling-wise as A Manual Dexterity? It should from a music standpoint, but the prairie-toned artwork certainly doesn’t have the same mesmerizing appeal as the light refracting hoopla of Dexterity. And finally, the must-be-answered hypothetical question: “I am more of a fan of the idea of the Mars Volta than the actual music, will this suffice my tastes?” Yes, and I’m right there with you buddy.