The first album I bought that I truly loved was “Relationship of Command” by At The Drive-In. I was 12, I think, and I used to be the kind of kid that would sit and watch MTV, although I preferred MTV2 as soon as we had it. I would put it on and play with toys, read, or do homework (woo homeschooling). Sometimes I’d just spin in place and listen to the music, and as I got dizzy the music would seep in and be the only anchor I could percieve. I would only really be transfixed if the video was strange, and not so much about the song.
Except for “One Armed Scissor.” I didn’t know what I saw in it then, but it grabbed me like no other song had. I have that song to blame for my music obsession, and a large part of that obsession is related to At The Drive-In. I’ve worn out both the CDs of “Wiretap Scars” by Sparta and “De-Loused in the Comatorium” by The Mars Volta. And within the continuing fanboyishness towards ATDI and the splinter groups, I became aware of Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s solo work. Now that this music blog is en route to becoming a thing, I’ve decided to channel that obsession into something more educational. In writing The Complete & Accurate Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, I have three goals.
First, is to actually give exposure to these records, however limited it is. I do not feel like there’s been appropriate coverage of the music that Omar makes. Granted, The Mars Volta is politely thought of as divisive. It still frustrates me to see the mass of this work go ignored, so the birth of the Complete & Accurate Series here is directly in response to that.
Secondly, to make the argument that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is on the level of other pop music composers. As my music obsession has grown, I’ve become fascinated with the idea of a pop composer, specifically after making my way through Frank Zappa’s back catalog (which I’ll come back to in a second).
Pop structure is still fascinatingly varied for me, and the idea of an artist with a prolific output and decisive control over it is… well, something I seek in my own musical pursuits. The discovery of Omar’s output over the last few years has satisfied this want completely- the man has released 22 albums in 10 years, not counting the Mars Volta. In fact, when I started drafting this article, I found that another album had just been released.
In beginning to develop the idea of Omar as Composer, I found a trend worth discussing that’ll be a cornerstone of the debate; the existence of periods within his compositions. There are four distinctive periods that these recordings has come out of, which I’ve attached titles and time frames to: The Nascent period (2000-2003, marked by wild experimentation), the Amsterdam period (2005-2006, following in the wake of the recording, release, and touring period of both De-Loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute and the refinement of lessons learned), the Goliath period (2006-2007, recordings around the creation of The Bedlam in Goliath, the most commercially successful album while also being his most traumatic experience as a producer- as a result, these albums feel like a venting process with more frantic and dark content than previously) and the Ximena period (2008-current day, crudely named to represent the releases including Ximena Sariñana on vocals, noteworthy as having a heavy vocal focus with Omar’s own guitar moving into a more supportive role underneath Ximena’s strong melodic singing).
The third thing I’m hoping to accomplish with the Complete & Accurate Omar study is to produce visible entrance points into Omar’s back catalog. Coming back to Frank Zappa’s back catalog, the thing that made my approach to him easy aside from the more celebrated parts of his canon (Joe’s Garage, We’re Only In It For The Money, Hot Rats, etc) was the availability of greatest hits compilations. The first Zappa album I bought was the “Strictly Commercial” compilation. So I will have a continuous list of songs I’ll be making (I’ve been taking notes by song) and when it gets to a decent length (CD length, let’s say) I’ll post it.
So yeah. Read, enjoy, and maybe learn too.
Fermata over Whole Rest 