Ozomatli
Embrace the Chaos
(Almo/Interscope)
US release date: 11 September 2001
by Andy
Hermann
PopMatters Music Critic
Party
Against the Machine
Don't believe everything you read in the papers,
especially when it comes to coverage of political protests
and street demonstrations. Despite what nearly every media
outlet reported, the cops at last year's Democratic National
Convention in Los Angeles did not shut down the Rage
Against the Machine concert. In fact, Rage's show went off
without a hitch, as did the day's worth of peaceful marches
and demonstrations in downtown L.A. that preceded it. Nope,
the band the authorities decided they had to pull the plug
on was not Zack and company -- it was the act that followed
them, a local and then little-known (outside of L.A.) band
called Ozomatli.
What's
so scary about Ozomatli? At first glance, nothing. Compared
to Rage, they're a fairly tame party band -- up-tempo, to
be sure, but devoid of slashing guitars and strangled battle
cries. Instead, going to an Ozomatli concert is like hearing
all the music at an urban street fair rolled into a single
band. There's plenty of Mexican ranchero exuberance, a lot
of hip-hop swagger, a dash of salsa, a smidgen of funk and
a fairly healthy dose of rock 'n' roll. There's even some
African and eastern influences, especially in the rhythm section,
which layers djembes and tablas on top of traditional western
drums and sampled beats. If the America-as-melting-pot model
beats out America-as-segregated-patchwork, this is what the
block party of the future will sound like.
And come
to think of it, that idea probably does scare a lot of people
in this country. The riot cops at the DNC included, apparently.
Where
a lot of other politically themed bands strike angry poses
and throw down angry lyrics, Ozomatli don't have to -- these
guys embody their politics just by being who they are. This
is why their music is so joyous, a celebratory antidote to
every aggro South Central b-boy and dreadlocked suburban white
kid who's come down the pike in recent years pumping his fist
and claiming social significance. Ozomatli's PR kit identifies
them as a "polyglot Black-Chicano-Cuban-Japanese-Jewish-Filipino
crew", and that's a pretty fair description of both the band's
ethnic makeup and its sound. No other act in recent memory
can claim such multicultural credentials, or has gained such
instant critical heft simply by virtue of being what it is.
Reviewing
a new Ozomatli release, then, becomes something of a challenge
for any socially progressive music critic. You gotta love
what they stand for, but do you have to love their music?
Ozomatli's
1998 self-titled debut was lovable mainly for its sheer brazenness
-- musical styles and rhythms collided on that disc with loopy
abandon, not making for the most coherent listening experience,
but giving a very fair studio approximation of the giddy energy
of Ozo's legendary live shows. Their long-awaited follow-up,
Embrace the Chaos, ironically bids farewell to much
of the chaos in their earlier music. Here, Ozo favor sticking
to one style per track, and even structure the album as a
fairly predictable exchange of salsa/Mexi-pop numbers and
straight-up hip-hop joints featuring new MC Kanetic Source
and a parade of guest rappers. The result is a more polished
but far less daring affair, which is not entirely surprising
considering that Embrace the Chaos represents Ozo's
major label debut and effort to embrace a wider audience.
The steady hip-hop beat of "Vocal Artillery" is far more likely
to win Ozo some radio play than the head-scratching rhythm
changes that characterized their first album.
Diehard
fans may miss some of that musical friskiness, but there's
still a lot on Embrace the Chaos to enjoy. The disc
starts off strong with a bouncy Caribbean-flavored number
called "Pa Lante", propelled by a great horn line and some
surprisingly intricate work from guitarist Raúl Pacheco --
one of the most notable things about Embrace the Chaos
is how much all the members of Ozo have honed their instrumental
skills since their first album. "Pa Lante"
also benefits from the addition of some beautiful African
kora work by Prince Diabate and some help from Steve Berlin
and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, who bring a little of their
trademark rock en español catchiness to several of
the album's tracks.
Ozo continue
to show off their improved chops on "1234", which fuses a
hip-hop groove and a rousing New Orleans funk chorus with
guests raps from De La Soul's Pos and TruGoy. "Dos Cosas Ciertas"
finds the band in more traditional salsa mode, although even
here they can't resist throwing in an oddball drum-and-bass
bridge with MC Kanetic Source offering a loose rap translation
of the song's Spanish lyrics ("En la vida dos cosas ciertas
/ Son la muerte y el cambio" -- "In life two thing are certain
/ Death and change"). What jumps out most on this track, however,
is the work of new drummer Andy Mendoza, who propels "Dos
Cosas Ciertas" with an authoritative, almost hip-hop rhythm
that sets the song apart from the zillions of other salsa
sing-alongs blaring out of car radios all over L.A. He's a
great addition to the band's melting pot sound. "Vocal
Artillery" is an underground hip-hop fan's dream come true,
a collaboration between Ozomatli, Black Eyed Peas rapper/vocalists
Medusa and will.i.am, and Jurassic 5's turntable wizard Cut
Chemist (a former member of Ozo who contributes a few guest
spots on this disc). With all this talent on hand, the track
itself is something of a disappointment -- it's an entertaining
romp with wah-wah horns and Black Eyed Peas' typically mind-boggling
rhymes, but it lacks a strong musical hook or memorable chorus.
"Guerrillero" is even more of a throwaway track by Ozo standards,
a catchy but extremely conventional salsa number that could
almost have been recorded by any good Mexican pop band.
The title
track, "Embrace the Chaos", was inspired by Ozomatli's role
as soundtrack to the police crackdown on the DNC protests,
and it opens with a heart-wrenching sound sample from those
events -- cops yelling at demonstrators while one of them
begs on a bullhorn for more time to disperse. "Please, please,
please just allow us to leave peacefully", the protestor pleads.
"We are attempting to comply with your order". (I was at the
DNC protests when the cops broke things up during Ozomatli's
set, and I can tell you that they allowed just minutes for
a crowd of thousands to clear out of a fenced-off area through
one narrow exit, then waded into to attack those still stuck
inside with tear gas and rubber bullets. It was an ugly, bald-faced
payback for a day of allowing the protestors to march in the
streets.) The track itself, despite its title, is an introspective,
downtempo number with lovely harmony vocals, muted horns and
a savvy rap from veteran MC Common ("only through chaos can
we ever see change"). Where most groups (RATM, anyone?) probably
would have responded to the events at the DNC with a defiant
protest anthem, Ozo opt for a note of solemnity, and in so
doing produce Embrace the Chaos's most affecting track.
It's the best sign yet that Ozomotli are a lot smarter and
deeper than their party-band reputation might suggest.
The band
pushes the envelope even further on "Pensativo (Interlude)",
a self-indulgent experiment in ambient jazz from trumpeter
Asdru Sierra -- lots of menacing, atonal horns and other music
school silliness. Fortunately, it's a short track, and leads
in to the Cuban son/merengue of "Tímido", which shows
off the horn section's jazz skills to much better effect.
Special props on this track go to Arturo Velasco, who enriches
Ozo's sometimes slight two-horn attack with some nice trombone
work (here and throughout the album), and guest pianist Alberto
Salas, whose nimble fingers really give "Tímido" some Cubano
syncopation.
"Lo Que
Dice" promises to blend Ozo's Latin and hip-hop flavors, as
Cut Chemist starts things off with a traditional Spanish vocal
track laid over a fat hip-hop beat. But then Kanetic Source
and guest rapper Justin Poree start trading rhymes, and the
song becomes a fairly conventional rap anthem. "Mi Alma" is
another track that's too traditional for its own good -- produced
by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, it leans heavily toward Ozomatli's
Mexican roots (their name is taken from the Aztec god of dance),
with lots of mariachi horns and ranchero guitars. Entertaining,
yes, but like "Guerrillero", "Mi Alma" doesn't really take
full advantage of Ozo's ability to bust Latin music out in
interesting directions.
The closing
track, however, is a gem -- a salsa/samba rave-up called "Sueños
en Realidad" that spices things up with lots of classic Ozo
touches -- a playful horn line, Jiro Yamaguchi's fiesty tabla
fills, and some great turntable flourishes from newcomer DJ
Spinobe. This is when Ozomatli are really at their best --
taking traditional Latin musical styles and tricking them
out with some streetwise, multicultural sensibilities. It's
something they need to do more of, especially because they
still really don't have a strong lead vocalist (Pacheco and
Sierra are solid but undistinctive, and Kanetic Source's contributions
get lost amid all the guest rappers), and they lack the songwriting
chops necessary to lift their more conventionally structured
salsa and hip-hop tracks above the competition. But as musical
stylists, these guys have no competition -- no one
else is putting out songs like "Sueños en Realidad" or "Pa
Lante" right now, so it would be nice to hear Ozo trying harder
to produce more tracks like these, and seek out a middle ground
between the rhythmic mayhem of their debut and the more disciplined,
radio-friendly sound that dominates Embrace the Chaos.
Ultimately,
on Embrace the Chaos, Ozomatli may be trying too hard
to bring their sound to a mass audience, parsing it down to
its component parts in an effort to win over more hip-hop
and Latin fans alike. To me this is a mistake, because Ozo's
musical stew will remain hard for a lot of people to swallow
no matter how it's served -- so when they water it down, they
only misrepresent the creative chutzpah of their lives shows,
and risk losing old-time fans. But let's hope I'm wrong, and
that Embrace the Chaos becomes a huge hit. Ozomatli
are still a great band, and the message of racial and cultural
unity that they embody deserves to get out there.