Omni

Ten years on, Omni’s ‘Deluxe’ is a bit of a paradox; It’s an island of a record with a fully formed untethered-to-any-scene unique quality but I hear its influence everywhere in the art punk underground. There are countless bands that have mined inspiration from the LP’s cerebral pop cool, single string riffs, syncopated hooks, and crispy mid-fi production style. Perhaps when Philip and Frankie cheekily named the album ‘Deluxe’, they knew they had a classic on their hands. The band was poking fun of the streaming era marketing tactic where artists re-enter the algorithm via a ‘deluxe’ expanded version of an album right after the original is released. Ironically, ten years later Omni’s debut is a genuine classic and is being re-released with a bonus disc of B-sides, outtakes, and demos. Omni began as a way for Philip Frobos and Frankie Broyles to practice creative spontaneity in contrast to the slower meticulous methods their then other bands employed. The economic songwriting betrays a true sense of virtuosity; The power duo explodes with melodic lines and clever counterpoint that is far removed from the atonal motorik stomp of many of Omni’s peers in the current art rock underground. Frankie is truly one of his generation’s most unique and creative guitar players; he always sounds like himself even when assimilating disparate influences. Ben Hozie, BODEGA