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XENOPHANES

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

Eclectic Prog


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Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Xenophanes album cover
3.96 | 66 ratings | 4 reviews | 32% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 2009

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Azoemia (2:49)
2. Mundo De Ciegos (4:01)
3. Ojo Al Cristo De Plata (7:06)
4. Amanita Virosa (3:15)
5. Sangrando Detrás De Los Ojos (2:04)
6. Desarraigo (5:54)
7. Asco Que Conmueve Los Puntos Erógenos (4:07)
8. Oremos (4:49)
9. Perder El Arte De La Razón Sin Mover Un Sólo Dedo (3:31)
10. a) Flores De Cizaña (3:45)
11. b) Maria Celeste (3:31)

Total Time 44:52

Line-up / Musicians

- Juan Alderete de la Peña / bass
- Thomas Pridgen / drums
- Marcel Rodriguez Lopez / percussion, keyboard
- Mark Aanderud / additional keyboard
- Ximena Sariñana / vocals
- Omar Rodriguez Lopez / vocals, guitars

Releases information

Released on Rodriguez Lopez Productions

Thanks to mrcozdude for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ Xenophanes ratings distribution


3.96
(66 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(32%)
32%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(36%)
36%
Good, but non-essential (18%)
18%
Collectors/fans only (6%)
6%
Poor. Only for completionists (8%)
8%

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ Xenophanes reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Epignosis
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars This may be a tad premature, given that I have not heard all of this hombre's solo albums, but I'm pretty much comfortable enough saying that this is Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's finest work outside of The Mars Volta. This album is loaded with fresh melodies and engaging compositions; even the tones of the instruments set this album apart from The Mars Volta sound while retaining some element of it. Rodriguez-Lopez has a far less astringent, more soothing voice than Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and it's a real pleasure to hear him take to the microphone- he does a great job in that role. Perhaps my biggest complaint is that the endings to most of the songs consist of abrupt and seemingly random changes. Aside from that, this is a solid album that takes very little time to get into, but takes much more to fully appreciate.

"Azoemia" The first track consists of a variety of noises- sinister (could be described as extraterrestrial) breathing juxtaposed with high-pitched plinking sounds and gushes of wind.

"Mundo De Ciegos" After the bizarre introduction, it's good to hear some actual music, and the band doesn't disappoint, allowing the lead guitar and piano to shine right away. The bass tone is decidedly different from The Mars Volta- instead of a full, heavy tone, the player opts for a sound closer to that trebly punch of classic symphonic progressive rock. The vocal melody is another enjoyable aspect to this song.

"Ojo Al Cristo De Plata" With this much more laidback approach, this piece could have conceivably been a leftover for Octahedron. It adopts a heavier feel during the second half, and one could really hear Rodriguez-Lopez's main band doing this.

"Amanita Virosa" Things heat up with this fast-paced number, loaded with that punchy, gritty bass that can't sit still.

"Sangrando Detrás De Los Ojos" This terse piece is musically one of the highlights of the album, as it uses a stunning chord progression to accommodate Rodriguez-Lopez's tasteful guitar soloing.

"Desarraigo" One riff shared by two guitars panned hard on either side gives way to atmospheric synthesizer and an unbelievably good vocal performance from Mexican singer-songwriter Ximena Sariñana, which in turn becomes a fuller piece. The abrupt ending features soft percussion and lighthearted piano.

"Asco Que Conmueve Los Puntos Erógenos" This energetic piece melds several styles, including hard psychedelic rock, jazz, grunge, and symphonic progressive rock, producing a veritable beast of an eclectic song. A rollicking piano solo over heavy instrumentation consumes much of the middle.

"Oremos" This spacey piece indulges in lots of reverb and fascinating vocal effects.

"Perder El Arte De La Razón Sin Mover Un Sólo Dedo" This track is somewhat disjointed and off-putting, from that opening static to the arrangement itself, which just seems to be all over the place. Initially I was put off but just about everything, but subsequent listens have fortunately dispelled much of the antipathy I held toward this song. The instrumentation during the middle section, however, is still grating and difficult to listen to.

"Flores De Cizaña" While not matching some of the phenomenal pieces that came before it, this one has its own charm, with some funky riffs and good instrumental moments. Again, some of the instrumentation is grating, but not nearly as much as the previous track.

"Maria Celeste" The final track places things back into traditional territory for fans of The Mars Volta, as this piece sounds like something that belonged on Amputechture (although Thomas Pridgen's drumming is furious and unrelenting- no surprise there). Given the recurring themes, the final three tracks should have been one.

Review by snobb
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Year 2009 bring us 6 (!) The Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez solo albums. This album chronologically stays somewhere in the middle between them. Musicians team is similar as in previous albums, what means part of TMV team and few additional, incl. Mexican female singer Ximena Sarinan.

If "Los Suenos De Un Higado" was quite unusual beautifully melodic heavy neo-Latin fusion album, "Xenophanes" is more what you waiting from TMV guitarist.

All music is heavy mix of usual TMV energetic mix of guitar noise, synth /samples and heavy psychedelia. Main difference from TMV music is different ( from Cedric) vocal, partially more rounded sound and higher attention to melody. More acoustic sound and more jazzy arrangements. But anyway - explosive energy, fast rhythm and ( psychedelic) heaviness filling all the space around.

The album sound as related TMV side project, similar enough to attract heavy TMV fans and different enough to be interesting for listening. In fact, the work at the level of TMV.

Strong 4,5.

Review by Kempokid
COLLABORATOR Prog Metal Team
4 stars It's rather interesting seeing way ORL's discography is always in flux between pushing the envelope of his sound and then falling back onto the basics, which in his case are these colourful, psychedelic jams that lean pretty heavily into the sound of latin rock. This undoubtedly falls a bit closer to the latter, feeling rather safe in a lot of regards, and yet, Xenophanes still ends up being one of Omar's better albums both for the way that it both plays this style pretty damn well, but then also adds this extra dimension to it all with the lovely, passionate vocals of Ximena Sariñana. Unlike her previous appearance being essentially singing over less intense versions of pre- existing Omar songs, her role on Xenophanes feels far fresher, as the songs feel as if they've been composed with her contributions in mind, rather than a bit haphazardly altered just to fit them in somewhere. This alone is enough to take this album up a peg or two, which is good since outside of that there isn't really anything separating this album from quite a few of his others, it's just his typical style but very well played, but with a bit extra, and sometimes that's all you need, especially when your typical style is as awesome as it is here. Could honestly make a case for this being one of the best entry points into his discography on the whole, especially if you're already a Mars Volta fan.

Latest members reviews

5 stars First off, I'm going to say this is definitely in my top five favorite albums of all time. This album is that missing link between At the Drive In simplicity and Mars Volta craziness. This holds up to anything Volta has done. The album begins with noises. Well expected from Omar... and then we're ... (read more)

Report this review (#644518) | Posted by Smurph | Friday, March 2, 2012 | Review Permanlink

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