Coming Up

Don't Mess With The Dragon On their fourth full-length studio release, Ozomatli serve up a rhythmically seething musical mélange that serves as virtual mirror to the dizzying cultural contradictions at the heart of their Los Angeles hometown, wrapping it in a studio-polished veneer (largely courtesy of Sa...	Street Signs You generally don't have to listen too hard to hear what's on the mind of Los Angeles music collective Ozomatli. The multi-faceted band is rarely subtle in its politics or its incorporation of countless Latin traditions as well as modern rock, jazz, pop and hip-hop. But on the ba...	Ozomatli Multiculti Los Angeles-based 10-piece Ozomatli is more than the sum of their parts: hip-hop, salsa, and funk crash head-on in this surprisingly natural collaboration. Their self-titled debut makes Ozomatli sound like one of the world's great live shows--a party band with a brain-...	Embrace the Chaos The follow-up to Ozomatli's 1998 eponymous debut, Embrace the Chaos builds on the band's proven strengths: a masterful command of a palette of musical styles, a firm commitment to social activism, and an unending devotion to the power of rhythm. Like the L.A. landscape from which...	Live at the Fillmore
Back to Black Amy Winehouse: Back to Black	The Odd Couple With its cinematic origins The Odd Couple is the natural title for the second album by a pair who seem to spend as much time in wardrobe as the studio and whose recordings are often compared to film scores. Their greatest hit, 2006's "Crazy" was even built around a chunk of a spa...	Un Poquito Quema'o Here is a hot band out of Paris that has an eclectic Latin sound with attitude that rivals the best of Ozomatli and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. Sergent Garcia weds dance-hall reggae and ska to Cuban son and salsa, and the result is relentlessly upbeat and danceable. The band is 14 m...	Sleep Through The Static Jack Johnson recorded his fourth album using nothing but solar power. This is somehow fitting for a singer-songwriter, surfer, and filmmaker who spends most of his days floating in the ocean under Hawaii's open skies. The forces of nature certainly seem to have found their way in...	A Lo Cubano While North American rap drowns in its own clichés, international artists are invigorating the genre with their own musical traditions. The Orishas, a Cuban group based in France, use Afro-Cuban religion to summon the spirit of hip-hop. Named for gods of Santeria, they came toge...

Entire EP stands the test of time!
Bought this at my first live show- not sure how rare it is now but it was a tour EP and I think won the Grammy that year for Best Latin, even tho it's really only half an album ! But it's one of those collections that is best played first song to last, or of you are maxing mixes for driving or as dance tapes you will still want all the songs- It's up there with the few recordings I've collected over the decades that (a) stand the test of time over several years. For me, the individual songs are 'all' favorites! (2) But also, they all fit together really well, so it's a song cycle in a sense, where you get added enjoyment in the song progession- Like Maroon 5's Songs About Jane, Beatles' recordings, classical symphonies.

quite amazing
ozomatli works with a variety of styles and sounds and talents and it creates...wow. live they have enough energy to pull in even someone who hates latin and or rap and hip hop. they draw the crowd in and preform to max. fully corordinated dance on stage well playing instuments is very impressive. often times when a band is great live you will buy their cd to find that it is not as great as you thought. not so with ozomatli, the cd is something i have listened to over and over again. they sing about actual issues, which you dont see so much in main stream music these days, and they are increadibly proficiant at their instruments. the sax/clarinet/obo player is increadible, to be able to go that high on a clarinet would have to take a life time of learning.

A teaser for great things to come
Ozomatli is undoubtedly an incredible live act with enough energy onstage to light up a large city. Their blend of musical sounds (hip-hop, funk, rock, folklorico, norteno, etc. etc.) is really unique, and the passion they have in their singing is indisputable. So, with that, they released this brilliant 6-song EP as a follow up to their outstanding "Embrace the Chaos." The CD grabs your attention from the very beginning, with "Pensando En Mi Vida", which has a classic Ozo sound. "Let Me Dream" is somewhat of an anomaly, as its entirely sung in English, yet somehow it works (it takes some getting used if you're a longtime Ozo listener). It's got a smooth groove to it, and the vocals work, unlike many other Spanish-singing bands trying to break into the English-speaking market. "Esa Morena" is a great song to dance to with a beautiful girl at your side, and "Ya Viene El Sol" is bound to become a classic Ozo song. I saw the band perform this track live at a packed show at the Fillmore in Dec. '03 and it was incredible, and remarkably, the CD version doesn't lack any of that energy. This EP is by far the best buy for the price of most releases I've seen out today. Each and every song is a winner (another rarity). Highly recommended.

Great Live Band
I've seen Ozomatli in concert several times and they always put on an awesome show! If they're ever in your town, go see them! Great energy! Great tunes!

Truly, Coming Up
I've had the pleasure of watching Ozomatli grow from gigs within LA. To have them create an awesome CD in 1998, then to go on and inflate their gift with a second album, and develop exposure in film and tours is wonderful. Their current CD, "Coming Up," has 6 songs - 5 new and 1 remixed has lifted their talent range to a new height. Many artists, talented or not, tend to lag or shift drastically when creating "new" albums and Ozomatli is just one of those groups that has it. The energy, the instrumental vibe, and intelligent lyrics, truly is genius. I recently saw their concert (again) they took my breath away. My advice, make a wise investment and purchase this CD and their past two CDs for yourself and someone you know.