Two Words, One Answer.
Ozomatli
 Don't Mess with the Dragon $18.49 If you're a fan of Ozomatli and someone who'd never heard of them asked you what genre they are, chances are you wouldn't be able to give him/her an answer (what their very name means is a head-scratcher). But their latest album Don't Mess with the Dragon is filled with great stuff. "Can't Stop" is an ideal way to open the album because you indeed won't be able to stop playing the disc after that track. From there you'll find standouts like "Here We Go", "When I Close My Eyes" and the necessary tribute-to-your-hometown, "City of Angels". And an Ozomatli album wouldn't be complete without some Latin tunes, so "La Gallina" and "Violeta" are good examples of that. I only gave the album four stars because a few of the songs start to sound the same after a while and also, it's pretty hard to top their previous album, Street Signs. But Don't Mess with the Dragon is still a blazin' album that belongs in your collection. Anthony Rupert  Ozomatli $18.98 Ozomatli, how could you go wrong? Tasty latin, world, jazz, hip hop, salsa. How many bands can play that many styles? Ozomatli can. Ozomatli show how you should do a 9 piece band. Please, let's not even mention Slipknot. This band actually uses each band member, you know, instead of Slipknot, who sound like they use one of their guitarist, corey, and the drums pretty much the whole time (come on, you have a sampler, a dj, two percussionists, two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, you idiots. USE THEM!!!). It's really some interesting stuff to listen to. Though the songwriting sometimes seems to falter. I don't know, but it sometimes seems to be a bit okay, not merely awesome, either great or good. BAH! I've lost it! get it. 8/10  Embrace the Chaos $13.98 Langly, uno de los Pistoleros Solitarios de "Expediente X", luca en la serie una camiseta con el logo de Ozomatli. Casualidad, guio, publicidad? Ms bien una muestra del impacto que el grupo caus con su debut homnimo, con su mezcla de rock, ska, funk, hip hop y ritmos latinos. Los europeos estamos acostumbrados a ese cajn de sastre llamado rock mestizo, y hemos sufrido en silencio la aparicin de grupetes que esconden su mediocridad tras la etiqueta de "globalidad enrollada". Pero para los yanquis, Ozomatli fue toda una sorpresa. Despus de tres aos de gira, el septeto multiracial de Los Angeles regresa con las ideas ms claras: si en su primer trabajo fusionaban estilos en un mismo tema, en "Embrace The Chaos" tienden a diferenciarlos en distintas canciones, y para ello recurren a varios productores. Steve Berlin, de Los Lobos, se encarga de potenciar los sonidos ms latinos en "Pa Lante" (con el violn del lobo David Hidalgo y la kora de Prince Diabate), "Tmido" (con influencias cubanas), y el bullanguero "Mi Alma" (de races mejicanas). La faceta ms rapera de Ozomatli queda plasmada en las producciones de Bob Powers: "Lo que dice"; "1234" (al estilo de la Old School, con De La Soul); "Vocal Artillery" (con los recitados de Wil.I.Am (de Black Eyed Peas), Kanetic Source y Medusa, y el efectivo scratch de DJ Cut Chemist); y el pausado "Embrace The Chaos" (con Common y una trompeta jazz). Por su parte, el productor Mario Caldato aporta interesantes fusiones en "Dos cosas ciertas" (una cumbia interrumpida por un ritmo drum'n'bass y el rap en ingls de Kanetic Source), y en "Sueos en realidad" (donde los sonidos brasileos se funden con el scratch de DJ Spinobe, los metales y las percusiones). En lengua nahuatl, Ozomatli es el dios azteca del baile y, sin duda, el grupo angelino hace honor a su nombre.  Ozomatli $9.49 Ozomatli, how could you go wrong? Tasty latin, world, jazz, hip hop, salsa. How many bands can play that many styles? Ozomatli can. Ozomatli show how you should do a 9 piece band. Please, let's not even mention Slipknot. This band actually uses each band member, you know, instead of Slipknot, who sound like they use one of their guitarist, corey, and the drums pretty much the whole time (come on, you have a sampler, a dj, two percussionists, two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, you idiots. USE THEM!!!). It's really some interesting stuff to listen to. Though the songwriting sometimes seems to falter. I don't know, but it sometimes seems to be a bit okay, not merely awesome, either great or good. BAH! I've lost it! get it. 8/10 |
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