Released on Cinco de Mayo,
Cryptomnesia (defined as "inadvertent plagiarism") is the first of three recordings done in 2006 by
El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, a side project of the guitarist and producer of
the Mars Volta.
Rodriguez-Lopez enlisted the talents of bandmate
Juan Alderete de la Pena on bass and
Zach Hill and
Jonathan Hischke of
Hella on drums and synth bass, respectively, along with
Mars Volta frontman
Cedric Bixler-Zavala for lyrics and vocals on eight of the album's 11 cuts.
Rodriguez-Lopez has been prolific since the middle of the aughts, issuing no less than ten previous recordings on various labels since 2004! While the most recent ones have revealed a more experimental and formal compositional bent and elaborate production, this earlier material is no less wildly creative and daring, though it can be seen as a much more logical extension of
the Mars Volta's musical adventures than as something with his own complete musical stamp on it, as his more recent recordings have been. There are some exceptions, such as
"They're Coming to Get You, Barbara," with its dense, repetitive layers of guitars over careening keyboards and
Hill's manic drumming.
Rodriguez-Lopez keeps his freak flag flying high while anchoring the tune with
de la Pena's bassline and his own lead lines. The stop-start, key-shifting mayhem that is
"Puny Humans" is far more progressive flip-a-zoid rock than initially meets the ear and comes out of
Rodriguez-Lopez's love for the more strident experiments of
King Crimson. While he may want to be regarded as a composer and producer as much as he is a guitarist, it is always the latter that stuns the listener. The playing on tracks such as
"Warren Oates," with its frenetic pace yet tastefully placed waves of notes and phrases, or the
Zappa-esque riffage on the title track, is so completely above the level of virtually every other rocker on the scene that it's impossible not to get sucked in.
Cryptomnesia is a tough, rugged, and wildly ambitious set of far-reaching -- sometimes overly so -- compositions reflecting the rapid growth of one of the new century's most genuinely talented and visionary musicians. ~ Thom Jurek
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