Omar Rodriguez Lopez

Old Money

[4/5]

When Omar Rodriguez Lopez brought in friend and fellow six-string savant John Frusciante to play the guitar parts for the Mars Volta’s Amputechture, it caused quite a stir among music critics. Rodriguez Lopez said he’d written the parts and simply wanted to concentrate on producing the record, but critics weren’t sure, openly questioning whether Rodriquez Lopez had the chops to pull off such intricate prog picking. With the eight solo albums he’s put out in the past five years, it seems clear those critics were picking the wrong fights. His latest, Old Money, is a stylistic step back in time for Rodriguez Lopez, as it was recorded in the still-experimental afterglow of 2006’s Amputechture sessions. The guitarist has certainly moved on since then, taking on more Latin, African and World themes, but his playing and arrangement on this disc is head-and-shoulders above his contemporaries. (STONES THROW; stonesthrow.com) Oakland L. Childers