Omar Rodríguez-López – Old Money
7/10

Described as his most accessible non-Mars Volta release yet, the prolific psychedelic/progressive guitarist is famed for releasing inaccessible meanderings of the experimental kind. The 33-year-old multi-instrumentalist’s past solo releases include The Apocalypse Inside Of An Orange, Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fungus and Minor Cuts and Scrapes In The Bushes Ahead. Old Money is outdated now (it was released in the states in November last year), and there are two more in the pipeline for ’09 – Megaritual and Despair. But things take a while to trickle down here, and already it’s hard to keep up. Familiarity is at hand here though, for Omar employs similar techniques as he does in his famed psych/prog rock band The Mars Volta. Squealing, surreal guitar solos and thundering drums give way to effect-drowned vocals. However these “vocals” only feature very fleetingly and are so swamped in other sounds it’s hard to even distinguish them as such. Omar’s political conscience reigns supreme in How To Bill The Bilderberg Group, an anti anti-Americanism group that seems aimed at beefing up the image of the states in Europe. Delving into rights discrepancies with his deft guitar work and unstoppable musical output, Omar seems unrestrained and ecstatic in his solo work. He has described his prolific nature to me in an interview I once did with him as a way to keep the money rolling in between TMV releases, as he says he puts almost everything he earns back into his music. However you cannot accuse him of being passionless in his product as each song on this album, which although is almost entirely devoid of words, is an ardent attack on bureaucracy and corruption. Population Council’s Wet Dream tumbles into an apocalyptic and foreboding battle of guitars, synths and drums and it is understandable that Omar is expressing his true liberal beliefs with each written note. Family War Funding (Love Those Rothschilds) is a electronics-littered dirge progressively veering into a sound explosion. While the lack of vocals means it is at times difficult to connect to the songs on Old Money without checking the titles to see what they’re about, in a way the guitars speak as the voice of the songs, spinning in and out of consciousness and effort. Puerto Rican-born Omar even instills the occasional Latin touch, with a samba beat and groove in the dream-like song Private Fortunes. Ultimately impossible to pigeon hole, but really enjoyable if you like oft-centre politics, avant rock, experi-metal, acid/jazz fusion and slight hints of South America.
Sarah

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Album, Reviews
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