Taste For The Unsavory LP

Description

As I sit here and eat a petite filet mignon and drink an American gamay blend, I ruminate over the newest solo album, Taste for the Unsavory, from Omni’s Philip Frobos. Why might you ask? Because I’ve been asked to by Philip himself. Aside from Omni, Philip can be found around town performing solo while shaving his face, wearing tailored suits, and making martinis on stage. Not the kind of antics you’d expect from the person responsible for the low end of the laser precise Omni. At his core Philip Frobos is a lounge singer. It’s a long dead trade in this era but it’s a tradition of sorts in the world of post punk albeit unrecognized to most fans of the genre. Many a Rough Trade or Postcard Records artist attempted this path and often made records that were inferior to their previous combos work. This is not the case here and what makes Mr. Frobos’ output so interesting is the storytelling that lays the foundation for the songs themselves. This should come as no shock, as his first solo album was literally a soundtrack to his first novel which is “not a thing” mind you. The songs are often first-person accounts of characters that are sophisticated, seemingly wealthy and most importantly vapid. Are these meant to be jabs at how the other half lives? Is Philip yearning to have these “problems” himself because the troubles of the wealthy are trite compared to what the rest of us have to put up with in the service industry, retail or whatever standing up jobs musicians have to do when they aren’t pedalling their 7”s and polluting the roadways of the US and if they are lucky Europe? Either way the end product is entertaining, and the sounds are pleasant and sophisticated in a perfectly agitated way that makes me think that possibly both are true. Fans of Philip’s first solo offering Vague Enough to Satisfy will notice a shift in fidelity. Gone is the Young Marble Giants in Las Vegas motel vibe of his first record and a more expansive aural universe is there to explore. This was achieved by Philip’s prudent decision to partner with Rodrigo Avendaño (Soccer Mommy) for this record. Rodrigo was able to help develop the sounds hinted at in Vague into a full dynamic range. The result is akin to the difference between Picasso’s sketches and his paintings. If that wasn’t enough, Taste for the Unsavory is a star-studded event, if your stars are people that you could easily meet in dive bars across the east side of Atlanta. It’s garnished with performances from the likes of Lydia Gammill (Gustaf), Bill Kelliher (Mastodon), Matthew Flegel (Preoccupations) and features artwork from his fellow Omni bandmate Frankie Broyles. The record comes adorned with a cocktail zine of original drinks (which there’s a 50/50 shot of the reader needing this since your musical taste suggests you might know your way around a jigger and shaker tin) and pastel drawings of each cocktail by Philip’s lovely wife, Emily Frobos. All these accoutrements just help to decorate a wonderful batch of songs sung behind a facade that’s known to go behind the bar and pour his own drinks during a performance. At the end of the day we all have a persona whether it’s what we broadcast on social media, the way we behave at our jobs or even around our friends, or even as simple as attempting to approximate the person we wish we could be. The lines between who we are versus our personas tend to blur as time goes on. (“Gentleman” Jesse Smith, 2026)