Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Old Money (Stones Throw)
At some point, all music needs a melody - even punk, with its pride in its lack of musical tutoring, realised that a song needs a hook. Despite his punk background, it's a point that appears to have eluded Rodriguez Lopez on his latest solo outing from jazz-punk wig-out weirdos the Mars Volta.
Throughout the set's 12 prog-jazz tracks there is no more than five minutes of music that you could conceivably whistle along to. Full of guitar theatrics and screechy discordance it's a masterclass in getting a guitar to do things it was not designed to do. This may be the sort of thing hardcore prog-rock fans can latch on to, but for those of us who hanker for the shock tactics of Omar's other alma mater, At the Drive-In, it's little more than noise.
