SOLAR GAMBLING

For this project- yet another this year from the Energizer conejito that is Omar Rodriguez-Lopez- the listener is treated to some relatively simplistic pop-rock songs with outstanding female lead vocals. Unfortunately, Rodriguez-Lopez's mindset during the making of this album must've been something like, "Okay, so we've got these great Spanish pop-rock songs...now let's make them progressive by adding experimental noises and manipulating the tracks during the last minute or two." Sometimes I wish he would just let well enough alone and stop screwing with excellence.

"Locomocion Capilar" There's no usual messing around with experimental sounds in the beginning- just an impressive, strong opening with a great riff. The feminine vocals soar and take some getting used to. All in all, this is a satisfying start.

"Las Flores Con Limón" Tremolo guitar plays a few lonely chords and notes as a quiet voice surfaces. The silky vocals are more enjoyable here than they were on the opener.

"Colmillo Castrado" Light electric guitars create a delicate bit of music. It gives way some sort of constant buzzing sound, like what the drag strip used to sound like several miles from my friend's house many years ago.

"Un Buitre Amable Me Pico" Here's a song with a solid, funky rhythm. The vocals are extremely good, and ultimately, this is a great little song.

"Poincaré" The previous song suddenly gives way, and what remains is a gentle piano and a gorgeous vocal. It is similar in sound to Natalie Merchant or Sarah McLachlan (with a few Rodriguez-Lopez tricks added toward the end, of course).

"Los Tentáculos De La Libélula" For a couple of minutes, the mad scientist takes some elegant, light music and mutates it into something with a hideous snarl.

"Miel Del Ojo" This slow rock song has a low and sultry vocal. It too is eventually given the treatment of a noisy static wash.

"Lorentz" Piano, bass, and occasional electronic noises carry on in a slightly discordant but not unpleasant manner.

"Vasco Da Gama" A glorious final song, this has an excellent opening theme and exceptional vocals from Ximena Sarinana Rivera to follow. Here, she sounds a fair bit like the beloved Portuguese singer Astrud Gilberto. The background, similar to a Mellotron but not, has quite a bit of wow and flutter that somehow works to the advantage of the overall performance.

I think this is the first Omar album with Mexican singer Ximena Sarinana Rivera. Don't even know if she was his girlfriend yet. Her singing is not bad here, she gets better on later albums. I have never heard her solo stuff. Solar Gambling features some cool cover artwork; Omar's album covers have gotten more interesting over the past 500 albums. The music here is typical solo Omar. Similar to most of his latest albums with Ximena.

"Locomocion Capilar" is a good opener. This song sounds very much like The Mars Volta. The last half of "Las Flores Con Limon" is better than the first half. "Colmillo Castrado" is basically slowed down guitar effects. "Poincare" is a nice song with piano and vocals. Some echoed vocal effects. There's a weird effect, not sure what it's called, at the end. "Los Tentaculos De La Libelula" is just more guitar effects. "Miel Del Ojo" is not a bad song, but has some annoying noisy parts. "Lorentz" is basically piano and acoustic upright bass. Some guitar effects.

"Vasco Da Gama" is the last and best song. Named after a famous Portugese explorer(if memory serves). Nice symphonic string-synths here. I like Ximena's double-tracked vocals during the 'chorus' part. Good drumming in this song. Gets noisy at the end. Not a bad album at all. I thought Omar's early releases were all over the place and very hit or miss. It seems some of the 3000 albums he's released in the past two years are far more consistent. 3 stars.

At this point in ORL's discography there's definitely a sense of iteration in his work opposed to the more drastic shifts in mood and style that were a prominent aspect to his approach just a couple of years further back, instead taking an idea and running with it over the course of multiple works, slowly improving and refining it until we get Solar Gambling, which feels like the peak of it. The big difference with the take on the colourful, psychedelic Latin rock shown here compared to the previous attempts is the way that it blends in a few more pop and art rock sensibilities into the fray, having longer stretches dedicated to really exploring the more melodic aspects of his sound, once again amplified by the inclusion of Ximena's vocals. While not quite as surreal nor intense as a lot of his other stuff, I'd also say that this is one of his strongest displays of songwriting up to this point, feeling as if there's just not a moment wasted, with even the more experimental, droney cuts here adding to the experience as a whole rather than acting as weird little diversions. One of his best solo albums that also proved that Omar wasn't just building his appeal and approach off a sense of spontaneity , but that he was also extremely capable of crafting something great simply from refining what was already there.