CALIBRATION (IS PUSHING LUCK AND KEY TOO FAR)

I'm quite surprised to see that Calibration is recieved so poorly on this site. This is not a prog album by any means, more of an experimental free-for-all. All of the tracks are bizarre and heavily mixed and the album lacks fluidity as a whole...but thats what stands out to me.

Each seperate song has its own charm to it: 1)Mexico starts out with pretty sounds and vocals and turns abruptly into a freak-out. 2)El Monte T'ai follows a solid rythym and is topped off with spanish lyrics (which I cant understand but I enjoy), simple and enjoyable. 3)Una Ced Lacerante is a short noise experiment with a good mellow guitar solo in the middle. 4)Calibration sounds like a Mars Volta song that didn't make the cut, and then got disected and abused in the mixing process...in a good way. 5)Grey [Cancion Para El] starts and ends with beautiful strings and has some guitar in the middle to match the mood. A short and exquisite piece. 6)Glosa Picaresca Wou Men is another song that seems to have been meant for something more. A good trippy song that ends when you least expect it to. 7)Sidewalk Fins was terrible the first time I heard it, but now I consider it a highlight of the album. Trippy like the song before it, but far darker. It slowly builds to a climax that sounds like your speakers are blown...but it works. This song is EVIL! 8)Lick The Til Ting Poppies is similar to the sound of El Monte T'ai, structured well and layered in several sound effects and instruments. 9)Cortar El Cuello is similar to Grey in mood but stripped down a bit, consisting of only guitars. 10)...Is Pushing Lucy feels like a beat driven remix of Calibration (with the same lyrics?), but is much longer and far more experimental and bizarre. 11) La Lagrimas De Arakuine closes the album in a long and beautiful way. This is the only fluid track here, and it is magnificent.

If your a fan of Omar you should be able to appreciate Calibration for what it is: An excellent collection of experiments. The songs are better individually than as album contributors. Not The Mars Volta, not even prog rock really, but interesting music to say the least. Sidewalk Fins and La Lagrimas are unforgettable to me.

5 stars in the land of experiments

4 stars in the land of prog

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