2 New Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Records

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is a power house. Besides leading, composing and playing guitar for The Mars Volta, hes recently scored the movie The Burning Plan with Hans Zimmer, produced Juliette Lewis' new record, and continues to churn out new solo records almost constantly.

On Tuesday he's releasing his 12th solo album entitled Xenophanes. Even for a huge Omar-head like myself it is daunting to keep up with all of his records, but this one is of particular interest because it is the first time in his entire career that we are going to get to hear Omar sing! It will be sung completely in Spanish and this fact alone should make it worth a listen.

And just this morning another new album entitled Los Sue Os De Un Hidago was released digitally. This album was recorded with his group, including members of The Mars Volta and critically acclaimed/grammy winning singer Ximena Sariñana, live at BBC studios during a tour through Europe earlier this year.




This is probably one of my favorite solo albums Omar has released yet. Hell some of my overall favorite material in general. Where on many of his solo albums he can to indulge in his various styles, particularly the more experimental, this album is a great balance of all them all. He finds a center point which we haven't seen much of. It's not overly crazy, (a la Cryptomnesia) but also not ambient (Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Jeremy Michael Ward). Omar instead showcases all of his many talents in this 5 song set, something usually reserved for a Mars Volta disc. It proves to make a most enjoyable records.

Los Sue Os De Un Hidago also finds Omar working more with melody, be it through he guitar solos or through Ximena Sariñana's vocal work. Don't get me wrong though, Omar still retains his unique sense of style. The opening "Boiling Death Request A Body To Rest It's Head On" finds the group on the more fusion side of things and features some awesome keyboard work along with Omar's patent dissonant guitar lines. The last track, "Victimas Del Cielo", is a stand out and features more great vocal work from Sariña before showcasing Rodriguez's best guitar work on the ablum.

The great thing about this, and the rest of his solo work is that it can all be streamed for free at http://omarrodriguezlopez.bandcamp.com/. This has helped me sift through his large and rapidly expanding discography and find the gems (I also highly recommend The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange). These new projects find Omar continuously expanding and show that even with the large breath of music he's releasing, he is becoming anything but stale.