In order to get to the bottom of the Omega Project, several disparate elements have to be considered, contemplated and merged together, much like mixing a deceptively simple tropical drink with varied ingredients. Bassist Patience Ahonui has an omega tattoo dominating his back, and in his few months in town he has already ingratiated himself within the insider musician scene—he’s been sighted playing pool at the Banks Street Bar and sneaking up on stage at the Maple Leaf with Johnny Vidacovich. Drummer Steele Scott has a family lineage directly tied to Blacktop Records, the sadly defunct New Orleans-based blues and roots music label. Front man and guitarist Carlos Cardona is part dreamy poet, part intense visionary and the founder of The Omega Project, which evolved out of a social and environmental justice manifesto that Cardona penned and can subsequently recite from memory if the mood strikes him. The final Omega element, the one that gives the band’s songs an extra pop, fizz, boost, flavor and color, is turntablist Nick Pino.
The members of Omega Project unabashedly describe their music as jam-oriented, and subscribe to the concept of music as a conversation between instruments. Their sound walks a wobbly genre hopping line: here you have garage guitar rave ups, there’s a ska rhythmic vamp, oh yeah, then you’ve got the dalliance with a blues rock ballad dosed with fuzzed out funk undertones, and don’t forget about the scratch and sample heavy track with the ominously building guitar line that periodically explodes into bursts of head thrashing intensity.
The band got their start gigging around Hawaii before agreeing to follow Scott, a New Orleans native, to Louisiana to find out if the murky swamp and deliciously sleazy New Orleans vibe could further their sound as much as the glistening sand and sea of the Pacific did. While the Omega Project was frolicking in Hawaii, they opened some gigs for Spearhead and Steve Kimock, and most interestingly of all, were the headlining band at Pierce Bronson’s 50th birthday bash. In New Orleans since this past Mardi Gras, they recently released the album Audio Orgasms, recorded at Word of Mouth Studio and available at CDBaby.
The “x” factor that the Omega Project possesses (and which is a good harbinger for their future career) is their ability to craft songs with a pop like sensibility that often morph into heavier sections and then back to the poppy vibe, i.e. play it pretty, play it mean, maybe jam it out for a bit, get mean again, and back to the pretty melody. Musical elitists may scoff at this recipe, but the fact of the matter is that the simple things are invariably the most difficult to do really well.
By Billy Thinnes
