Search - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez :: Xenophanes

The Strongest Material Since Frances the Mute

Alaric | 11/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you haven't heard Xenophanes, you can at the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Productions' web page in the Catalogue, under the 'Digital' tab that appears below the LP; you can stream the entire thing (along with most of his/defacto/tmv releases!) and decide for yourself.



Mixed by Rich Costey, Thomas Pridgin on drums, Ximena Sarinena (up and coming Mexican pop singer with a unique, pleasant voice; also ORML's lady if I'm not mistaken), art design by Sonny Kay.





In the context of Bedlam of Goliath, Pridgin's fusion chops could be taken as miscellaneous prog shredding of the worst kind --a shame. On Xenophanes OMRL has music that more than meets his drummer's style and strengths half-way, and the result is a great deal more satisfying.



Ximena Sariñana singing ORML's lyrics is the real highlight and pleasure of the LP --Omar's surely auto-tune corrected vocals are unexpectedly tolerable, though Ximena takes center stage and keeps it for the most part (Especially Track 6). Her being listed as an accompanist is yet another ironic, humorous conceit on the part of the uber-producer-arranger-yaddayaddayadda OMRL.





This reviewer's judgement: if not the strongest material since Frances the Mute, then Xenophanes is certainly the most compelling, focused and uniquely stylized release in-itself since Tremulant, this coming from an early admirer of TMV/OMRL's work. The lyrics are especially compelling, being completely in the Spanish tongue; the textures, lush; the percussion and rhythm sections tight and focused. Nothing negative to add other than possibly the mix: loud, loud, loud!







"

Great Starter for Omar

Shared Gum | alexandria, va United States | 02/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a big fan of Omar, but mostly in the context of the Mars Volta and At the Drive-In. I love each of their albums, and I think that the man is a genius.



However, his solo work has been all over the place. Calibration is hardly song oriented and combines mostly noise elements and processed vocals that were briefly introduced on Frances the Mute (but were not the focus of that album). It is heavy music and hard to get into. Apocalypse is a great album, but it at times feels like it goes on for too long.



And now onto Xenophanes. This is truly a gem, and I was surprised not to see more reviews here. It is much more song-oriented than the rest of Omar's solo work. The riffs are very catchy while still sounding fresh and experimental, and Omar's vocals in Spanish are quite good and go well with this music. I won't go into a song-by-song review here - they all flow very well together.



Overall, Omar has created an excellent and moody record, but without making it difficult to listen to. Highly recommended!"