2 ДЕКАБРЯ 2004 ГОДА.

SPLENDID REVIEW

 

   Интернет открыл тайну инди-рока. Фанаты гораздо больше, чем просто пару раз, уходят от темы, которую искали вроде табов для гитар, списков оборудования, форумов и так далее, щёлкая на ссылки, ведущие на страницы с описанием альбома, на котором играет огромное количество приглашённых музыкантов в главе со специфической игрой басиста. Среди всего этого находится неуловимый проект A Manual Dexterity, фильм чувачка с вьющимися волосами, который играл в At The Drive-In \ The Mars Volta \ De Facto, и которого зовут Омар Родригес-Лопес. Деталей немного, но отрывочные подробные сведения вовлекли имя Джона Фрусцианте как возможного коллаборатора саундтрека. Все мы знаем наверняка, что этот фильм, находящийся в производстве ещё с 2001го года, незакончен, предположительно полностью вымышлен, длиной приблизительно 90 минут и снимается в Лос-Анджелесе. Но даже эти "факты" спорны.

   Релиз "A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One" создаёт только большее количество загадок вокруг этого проекта - 50 минут - в значительной степени, инструментальная работа, где Родригес-Лопес роется в своих нео-прог-атмосферных пост-ATDI вещах. Всё самое пугающее сосредоточено в "Around Knuckle White Tile", где разлита лента эффектов, как для Хэллоуина, где плёнка сыгрывается назад на средней скорости, плюс медленное облако скрипящих атмосферных шумов, голоса, поющие на иностранном языке, звуковые вспышки, всяческие щёлканья, гремящие неблагозвучные барабаны в конечном счёте уступают место капризной акустической гитаре. Волна сбивчивых барабанных партий и резкие гитарные завывания делают свою работу, составляя в целом семь минут темноты, богато украшенных шумом. Если диск упорядочен хронологически, открывающие титры фильма обещают быть жуткими.

   Тема медленно обнаруживается. Каждый трек, кажется, функционирует на дихотомии звука и \ или тихого пошагового продвижения против громкости, экспансивности против клаустрофобии, супер медленного темпа против сверхсветовой "Dyna Sark Arches", для примера, духовые звучат неистово громко, а затем минималистически, напоминаю электро-фанк !!! или LCD Soundsystem. Всё тот же эластичный бас, роскошные клавишные и ужасная тема к Blaxplotation, играющие одновременно. Тонкие, непринуждённые мелодии "Here The Tame Go By" разделены пополам жарким энтузиазмом Сантана-подобной гитары, а затем растворяются в "Deux Ex Machina", которая вызывает кровоточивость ушей.

   Это кривой шар, каким его сделали рычания через дисторшн и строгая латин-джазовая мелодия, которые переворачивают альбом с ног на голову. Остальной материал с альбома  - в значительной степени стандартный и пост-роковый, с некоторыми новыми интересными идеями и странными отступлениями (особенно симфония the Metal Machine Music в "Sensory Decay Part II"), без зрительных образов вокруг. Однако, имеется достаточно оснований, чтобы ждать сиквела.

 

   - - Стив Инглиш;

   - - статья взята с сайта SPLENDIDEZINE.COM. Оригинал [ЗДЕСЬ].

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 ДЕКАБРЯ 2004 ГОДА.

FUNPROX REVIEW

 

   Омар А. Родригес-Лопес - это член авангардистской панк \ хардкор группы The Mars Volta, которая была сформирована после его ухода из другой группы, At The Drive-In. В течение периода между двумя этими группами он работал над фильмом (уже почти законченным). В то же время он начал работать над некоторой новой музыкой при поддержке некоторых музыкантов. Так получился саундтрек к фильму. Этим летом была выпущена первая его часть.

   "A Manual Dexterity" - это почти 60 минут экспериментальной музыки, которая была бы превосходна для альтернативного американского дорожного фильма. Открывающие треки показывают гитару и электронику. Результат - главным образом, мечтательная и спокойная музыка. Фантастические интермеццо (от итальянского intermezzo - перерыв. Это небольшая инструментальная пьеса свободной формы. - Примечание переводчика.), такие как в "Deus Ex Machina", с явно испанским влиянием, являются хорошим экспериментальным настроением альбома и помогают держать слушателя в постоянной тревоге.

   Полный саундтрек к кинофильму имеет свого рода чувство 60-70х годов, как в "Vanishing Point". Эта запись заинтересовала меня и мне любопытно, к какому фильму она написана, так как она действительно нуждается в том, чтобы её изобразить.

 

 - - Статья взята с сайта FUNPROX.COM. Оригинал [ЗДЕСЬ].

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 ОКТЯБРЯ 2004 ГОДА

POP MATTERS.

 

   Between dissolving At the Drive-In and reforming as the superior Mars Volta, Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez (guitarist and co-songwriter for both bands) began work on a series of adventurous studio sessions to accompany the film-in-progress A Manual Dexterity. Rodriguez-Lopez has bypassed the film's indefinite delay by releasing the first half of the mostly instrumental soundtrack, appropriately titled A Manual Dexterity — Soundtrack Volume 1, on his own Gold Standard Laboratories label. The film's music (performed by what the press release calls a "comparable" lineup of the players on the Mars Volta's De-loused in the Comatorum) represents a definite stop-gap between Rodriguez-Lopez's two bands, a palette-cleanser of sorts amidst his transition from histrionic punker to labyrinthian progger. It's a project that seems to neglect all invocations of the mainstream, opting to beat its own atypical drum loudly.

   A Manual Dexterity is a lot like finding your way through the dark, hands extended in helpless surrender. Sounds jump out of the tempestuous infrastructure, timbres and textures melt and fry. It's the kind of bi-polar frazzle suggested by De-loused's more avant-garde moments. Rodriguez-Lopez works with molecular structures on A Manual Dexterity, the mark more of a minimalist than the mad scientist team that fused De-loused's brilliant puzzle. The soundtrack focuses on manipulating sonic expectations, contesting and challenging concepts of sound over stark, one- or two-chord progressions (notably devoid of melodies). A song's path doesn't twitch and convulse like those in the Mars Volta's catalog; instead, the environment expands and recedes while the form remains constant. It's important to be reminded that A Manual Dexterity is ultimately a companion piece to the incomplete film. You can't help but wonder if the film's images will help to further assist in understanding Rodriguez-Lopez's creation. The majority of the record is challenging -- almost confrontational -- and not exactly something that will garner heavy rotation on the home stereo. "Dyna Sark Arches" is easily the most immediately accessible track: its funky robot groove, courtesy of a rhythm section wound elastic-tight, is matched by wah-wah guitars twisting around the set-up. "Around Knuckle White Tile" builds from a collage of free-form curiosities into a minor-key throb-drone, led by Rodriguez-Lopez's piercing, Jimmy-Page-on-Jack-Daniels electric guitar.

   But moments of clarity are merely fleeting, as A Manual Dexterity's thumbprint is full of experimental eccentricities. "Sensory Decay Part II" is Vangelis held to a hotplate: synthesizers boil and bubble, skidding sound manipulations scatter about like shrapnel in the unsteady atmosphere. "Of Blood Blue Blisters" is a Zappa freak-out in space, built entirely on jarring dissonance and shrieking lurches of beastly tones. Plaintive guitars arpeggio at a labored pace in "Here the Tame Go By", which keeps suggesting that it will descend somewhere dark, finally making good on the promise by intrusive electronics that are slowly bled to death. "Dramatic Theme" taunts breaking points of tolerance with chattering, swooning, and horrifically squealing layers of guitars.

Rodriguez-Lopez throws rapid-fire curveballs throughout Volume 1's hour, from celebratory Latin excursions ("Deus Ex Machina") to gargling undercurrents of musique concrete ("Dream Sequence"). The record's most jarring moment could be its most conventional: the closer "The Palpitations Form a Limit" is a relatively straight-ahead rock thumper with vocals from Cedric Zavala (Rodriguez-Lopez's songwriting partner and fellow Mars Voltan). While his ambitions and risks are laudable, they're also very prickly and perturbed. The most devoted of Mars Volta fans will undoubtedly find his excursion into soundtrack impressionism a bit too impenetrable and not susceptible to revisiting. Easy listening notwithstanding, A Manual Dexterity continues to make the case for Rodriguez-Lopez's restless drive to create, even if it functions more as a footnote than a definitive entry in his catalog.

 

 - - Статья взята с сайта POPMATTERS.COM. Оригинал [ЗДЕСЬ].

 

 

 

 

 

 

28 СЕНТЯБРЯ 2004 ГОДА

STOPSMILING

 

   Omar Rodriguez-Lopez А Manual Dexterity - Soundtrack Volume 1

   Reviewed by Alan Jacobson

 

   Holdup Hold the phone, Mr. Eno! What is this nonsense? A soundtrack lo a film that doesn't exists

This crap has been going on for years From those imaginary scores that the brilliant be-feathered baldo-longhair pumped out in the 70's to that recent audio excursion to lands-not-yet by wacky Scandinavians Arling & Cameron, the non-soundtrack soundtrack has been a clever, postmodern jerkoff for decades now.

   Now we've got "volume one" from a film that hasn't come out yet? Come ON, right!? That's just what I was thinking, dear reader, until I listened to the damned thing I hurriedly came to the comforting realization that this oft-pretentious соnсеpt works out well because А Manual Dexterity is both soundtrack to a film which will come out, and is also really quite good

As a member of Al the Drive In and half the songwriting learn of Mars Volta. Rodriguez-Lopez has cultivated a reputation for long, atmospheric, tipsy tours through the noggin such as "De-1oused in the Comatorium " Hot lo disconcert—А Manual Dexterity is highly accessible music

   Though the balance of the LP is inspiring. atmospheric joy, those radio-heads out there will delight in one track That it's called "The Palpitations from A Limit" should only mildly distress for it is one of the sharpest, hardest grooves to be released this year Its economical 3:22 kicks TV on the Radio's ass up and down the street, at once thumbing the nose and virtually compensating for their rambling sophomore disappointment

   The rest of the soundtrack falls more with expectations Atmosphere is the goal and is attained ruthlessly, for the air seems clogged with the pollution of emotion. The whole affair introduces itself with a minute-long crescendo which repeals itself throughout the cathartic guitar-n-noise suite of "Around Knuckle While Tile " Think Graeme Revell training Dick Dale in Tai Chi while their idyllic desert locale is destroyed by the dystopian clamor of a world gone utterly bonkers

   Sound collage informs the rest of the work as well. The ratatat of a phone off the hook incredibly blends into guitar feedback al the end of "Here the Tame Go By ". "Deus Ex Machina" emerges from that sonic swamp with a devilishly modern rumba Typewriter sounds noir up "A Dressing Failure" This sucker's brim with surprises A constantly winning and inspiring listen which works as both mentally-elevating background texture and wickedly engaging headphone music. А Manual Dexterity disappoint anyone—either those new to or already familiar with Rodriguez-Lopez's work.

 

 - -  Алан Джексон;

 - - статья взята с сайта STOPSMILING.COM. Оригинал [ЗДЕСЬ].

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 СЕНТЯБРЯ 2004 ГОДА

MXDWN

A DEXTERITY OF 16

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ (A MANUAL DEXTERITY VOL. 1 SOUNDTRACK)

   Consider this a shining example of the new wave of progressive rock Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, guitar player and principal song­writer for The Mars Volta, has an audacious new solo album that drives for diversity more than excessive fretwork A Manual Dexterity Vol 1 also doubles as the soundtrack for Omar's as yet unreleased film project of the same name The movie is something Rodriguez-Lopez has been filming on and off for a couple of years using his personal collection of cameras If this album is any indication of what to expect the piece will be highly visual and abstract without a heavy focus on characters and dialogue A Manual Dexterity plays less like a traditional guitar player solo-album and more like a fully realized prog-rock opus, much akin to The Mars Volta's De-Loused in the Comatoriurn.

   Actually, many of the tracks here might have easily been ideas integrated into that record Imagine the ethereal spacey parts of those songs in a long-form patient delivery. The spastic time changes famous from Omar's old band At the Drive In are not present here Songs such as the opener "Around Knuckle White Tie" and "Dramatic Theme" use a set melody and then slowly swell into a melee of textured subtle sound effects Some are amazingly grabbing like "Sensory Decay Pt II" which through fuzzy flanged distortion literally is evocative of what one might think it sounds like on the moon Only two songs on the record feature vocals, the latin dance track "Deus Ex Machina" and the other is the closer "The Palpitations From a Limit" which features a short and sweet performance from Cedric Bixler-Zavala.

 

 - - Реймонд Флотат;

 - - статья взята с сайта MXDWN.COM. Оригинал [ЗДЕСЬ].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2004 ГОД

OMAR A. RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ - A MANUAL DEXTERITY: SOUNDTRACK VOLUME ONE MUSIC REVIEW

 

   For those of you who don’t know, Omar A. Rodriguez Lopez is the guitarist and lead creative director with the Mars Volta project. He was also guitarist for El Paso’s beloved quintet At the Drive in, I would imagine you wouldn’t be reading this if you haven’t heard of them. This is O-Rod’s solo project but it seems like the custodian at Gold Standard Labs swept up all of the scraps from the Mars Volta recording sessions and gave them back to O-Rod like he still wanted them. Being the eternal hippie O-Rod lives by the one-mans-trash-is-another-mans-treasue credo.

   The album feels might best be described as a long-ass introduction to something that never actually arrives. It’s almost like being stranded in an M.C. Escher drawing or in the labyrinth with David Bowie. A Manuel Dexterity would be a suitable soundtrack for a night time road trip across the desert because of its relaxied feel and that it follows no conventional rhythmic patterns, or song structure, but then again it will jolt you right back to rapt attention with an unexpected high pitch feedback stab in the ear, should you start dozing at the wheel.

   It’s not until track four, “Deus ex Machine,” that you will hear any singing - technically I guess you would call it singing, though I’m at a loss to convey exactly what kind of singing you would call it. It’s some sort of Spanish vocal, courtesy of a man (possibly a relative) by the name of Angel Marcelo Rodriguez sings the song in a classic Spanish style and feel which gives the song a very vintage Mexican atmosphere.

   There is also stellar use of the typewriter as a legitimate musical instrument on “Sensory Decay Part II.” Although very original, the typewriter idea walks that fine line between brilliance and fruity artsy fartsyness. On “Of Blood Blue Blisters” O-Rod’s number one Disney character, Dumbo, came in and lifted his trunk in front of the microphone. And not to worry, Cedric does make an appearance on “The Palpitations Form a Limit” for some singing help. This album has an awkward listenabilty related to the “stoner factor verses sober factor.” Since there is so much going on this CD stoners might appreciate the trippiness level of O-Rod psycadelic riff arranging. Maybe if the boneman lets me pick and list my favorite albums of the year on this site this will be on it as ‘Trippiest album of the year.” You probably will not dig this album at first because Radriguez is so off the wall. But give it about five straight listens perhpas find a safe way to alter your frame of mind for an hour and get a feel for it because you now own a fine piece of music and art.

 

 - - Тисон Кантрелл

 - - статья взята с сайта ZBONEMAN.COM. Оригинал [ЗДЕСЬ].