One album that I cruelly left off last year's "Best Of" was
Bosnian Rainbows' self-titled debut. I would certainly amend that list after having spun the record raw the past few months. It really is a profound achievement, a mesmerizing combination of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's experimental guitar-work and Teri Gender Bender's vocal heroics creating a weird, wild, and wonderful Mexican desert-rock windstorm. Rodriguez-Lopez's most florid tendencies, exacerbated to a sometime aggravating degree by his full control over the Mars Volta, have settled into a slinky, rhythmic guitar snakes, cracking like a whip across the beat of a song. Gender Bender compliments the propulsive instrumentation with an equal parts arresting and soothing croon, barking lines and throwing flames one second before dipping low into a ghostly register. This band is truly more than the sum of its parts.
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Last year, I had the pleasure of watching Bosnian Rainbows perform at Red 7 as I was studying over the summer. I remember I was down to my last red cent, and probably wasn't going to be able to swing the show. Then, by some weird stroke of luck, I found a $20 bill in the Petco parking lot while buying food for my cat (Siouxsie). I used the money to attend the show, and was not disappointed. The crackling electricity with which Gender Bender tore across the stage was a sight to behold, rabid in its ferocity and commanding in its fervor. Rodriguez-Lopez, while restricted behind a keyboard, throttled his guitar like he was wrestling a demon, his whole body quaking with each strum. Had I done a review of this show, it would have definitely topped my list as the best live show of 2013 (yes, even beating out the Cat Power revue of her old classics).
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Which leads me to today's post: it appears that Bosnian Rainbows are back in the studio, pursuant to this video posted on their Instagram page. Can't wait to see if this group is going to churn out another record soon. Check out the riffs below and let me know what you think.
