It's been a fun ride...
So, as you’ve probably figured out by now, A Slight Delay has been somewhat more delayed than usual. This time, however, it’s not because I’ve been idle. Far from it. Visit www.thefirst10000.com (my blog for novice and amateur photographers) to see what I’ve been up to.
ASD will still be updated on its usual (lack of a) schedule, but not quite as frequently as it once was. I appreciate those of you who’ve stuck with this blog for the last few years, and look forward to seeing you at my new online “home.”
Throughout their fifteen-year career, Ozomatli have had plenty of musical surprises up their collective sleeve. Their template, from the beginning, has built on an energetic fusion of salsa, cumbia, rap, rock, banda, and pretty much anything else you can think of. In the last few years, over the course of the recent discs Street Signs, Don’t Mess with the Dragon, and now Fire Away, Ozo have matured and cohered in ways that their amazing self-titled debut could only hint at.
There’s something to be said for a restaurant that breaks all the rules, especially if it results in food that manages to be thoughtful, innovative, and delicious. With that said, there are three rules that should be set in stone no matter how many of the others you intend to break. In no particular order:
A brief post, albeit one I’d rather not have to write…
I received an email a couple of days ago. The message in this disturbing missive: “Only YOU can save Christmas!”
You very nearly have to feel sorry for one-hit wonders. In some rare cases, that single shot of fame eclipses the rest of a damn fine album, and in others, it’s viewed — very wrongly, as it turns out — as a high point in an artist’s, or a band’s, career.
It can be hard writing about music, all the “dancing about architecture” stuff aside. You want to say something that will evoke what’s coming through the speakers sometimes, what it makes you feel other times. Actually, forget writing about music; the hard thing sometimes is just listening to it in the first place. Music is all about context. First of all, there’s the pile of emotional baggage that some artists’ work carries with it. Then you also have to deal with a web of connections and connotations that comes with a lifetime of listening to music. Sometimes this is a good thing, especially when that past experience reminds you of something—a throwaway line or bit of phrasing, lyrical or otherwise—that somehow deepens and enriches the experience.