Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo (Gold Standard Labs)

“He said bison, not buffalo.” Isn’t it all about interpretation? Isn’t music about the flow of emotion and a connection to this world? Flow and connectivity: two things Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Mars Volta, At the Drive-In) fails to supply. The fact that Rodriguez-Lopez wrote and recorded second solo LP Bufalo in 2005 while living in Amsterdam is no surprise. From the jungle-addled 26-second opener (“The Lukewarm”) and Mars Volta live staple “Rapid Fire Tollbooth” to closing Cedrix Bixler-Zavala-voiced punk rock mindfuck “La Tirania de la Tradicion,” Bufalo is perplexing. Question is whether Rodriguez-Lopez has inflated to the size of the woodwinded, 11-minute-plus funk storm “Please Heat This Eventually” (admittedly the best of the 10 tracks) or if he’s actually entered into another (wanky) dimension. Either way, Bufalo is no more than sound over sound, an explosion of meditation, an implosion of guitar noise.

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This article appears in July 13 • 2007.

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