Friday, August 1, 2008

One Day as a Lion- One Day as a Lion

This EP is long overdue. It’s been 8 years since Zach de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine. Audioslave didn’t do it for me. Rumors of a de la Rocha solo album have been circulating for years. He scrapped a project with DJ Shadow, Company Flow, and ?uestlove to record an album with Trent Reznor that never saw the day of light (sans one track released on the internet in 2004). What the hell has this man been doing all these years? Well, finally the word is out, and this release has kind of been lurking in the shadows. There hasn’t been a lot of press preceding its release; it just kind of popped up one day. Regardless, it’s finally here.

One Day as a Lion (the name taken from a black and white graffiti photograph taken by Chicano photographer George Rodriguez in 1970) consists of de la Rocha rapping and playing keyboards, and none other than former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore on the skins. The results are a sound that combines the political spitting of Rage and the psychedelic leanings of the Mars Volta, with a bit of a rasta undertone. There are some really sick electronics here and de la Rocha flows like he was always born to do. Tight fucking drumming and great production here by the always fly Mario C. (of Beastie Boys fame). This is the dopest shit I’ve heard this year besides the new Immortal Technique joint.

A very pleasant surprise. But it just makes me long for a new Rage album that much more. Hey, anything’s possible.

One Day as a Lion myspace

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