OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ & DAMO SUZUKI - PLEASE HEAT THIS EVENTUALLY

This is where Omar Rodriguez Lopez's solo work starts getting really interesting for me. While his previous efforts were unquestionably experimental and interesting in the way you could see the seeds being sown for some of The Mars Volta's work that was soon to follow, they'd often feel bloated and as if too many ideas were being tackled simultaneously without enough time to properly explore or expand upon some of them. In this regard, Please Heat this Eventually feels like the antithesis to a lot of this, instead just feeling like a tightly focused, yet insane piece of music, oh, and Damo Suzuki is here too! Really, at its core, not much actually happens in this ep, those few things that do are totally off the wall, but this still feels very tightly regimented in many respects. This is particularly true for the rhythm section, which stays almost entirely consistent from start to finish and acts as a backdrop to the awesome jam session ahead. I really love the way that the various instruments phase in and out to craft a cohesive, yet ever-shifting soundscape. I particularly love whenever the saxophone will come in and bring a distinct free jazz flavour to the table. Omar plays in top form here, leaning really heavily into his intense, frenetic grooves and simply not stopping, being a huge element of the pure fun energy that this album is comprised of. What really caught me off guard with all of this however, was the way Damo Suzuki complements this insanity so perfectly, really channelling his performance from Peking O and sounding completely unhinged as he's rambling and screaming total nonsense. Heavily underrated album in Omar's discography, definitely at least worth a listen.