Omar Rodriguez – Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo

I first heard this LP when the missus stuck it on downstairs whilst I tossed and turned; held in the throes of an appalling hangover. Apparently, the missus liked the cover art, which is a fetching drawing of a buffalo. Normally a hangover and anything Mars Volta-related is a no-no. I can’t really get on with the Mars Volta stuff; it gets on my wick. But I have to say that it could be heard to be good and worthy of airplay.

This release is pretty laid back; the vocals on Rapid Fire Tollbooth aren’t too grating; and there’s an early Funkadelic groove to it which is very appealing. In fact a lot of this LP’s guitar playing reminds me of the late great Eddie Hazel.

Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo is a soundtrack to a film by Jorge Hernandez, El Bufalo de la Noche (does that mean Buffalo of the night? I’m guessing it does.) And it’s an LP with a great sense of space; maybe that’s something that comes with the territory of writing soundtracks. I’m not sure. There are only three tracks with vocals, the rest being instrumentals – which perversely really helps the structure of this release and allows the fabulous guitar playing to come to the fore. There are some great spacey moments; Thermometer Drinking the Business of Turnstiles and If Gravity Lulls, I Can Hear the World Paint are a fabulous, low-slung sci-fi/psi-fi pieces, whereas the title track is a gargantuan slab of ever changing, sometimes rampantly orchestral psychedelia. Oh and check out Please Heat This Eventually for some rousing, stop-start nonsense that certainly tips it’s titfer to Bernie Worrell.

So it just shows you should always keep an open mind comrades!

Words: Richard Foster.