A Slight Delay

It certainly sounds like a great idea: bring together two DJ’s, one from North America and one from South America, along with about forty guests. Simmer for four years, and then unleash upon an eager public. In practice… well, that’s something else again. The Spirit of Apollo sounds, and feels, like a frustrating relic of what might have been, but wasn’t quite.

For the most part, the results smolder, but never fully come alight. It’s not for lack of talent. Producers/DJ’s Squeak E. Clean and Zegon are competent, and on those occasions that things click, it’s because of collaborations that work precisely because they’re counterintuitive; if putting David Byrne and Seu Jorge alongside Gift of Gab and Chali 2na (as on “The People Tree” and “Money”) is cool, pairing Tom Waits with Kool Keith on “Spacious Thoughts” is downright inspired. However, some of the disc’s other combinations come off as a form of musical stunt casting, as with the ubiquitous Kanye West and Wu Tang cameos (the fact that O.D.B. appears here gives you an idea of about how long this disc has been in the works). There are some gems here, but you’ve got to pan through an awful lot of averageness to find them. (more…)

Ozomatli in a nutshell: in 2007, the Bush State Department sent the L.A.-based combo on the road to locations as diverse as Jordan, Peru, and Nepal as cultural ambassadors. Yes, that Ozomatli, with its soundclash aesthetic, liberal politics, and antiwar stance; they followed in the footsteps of Ellington and Armstrong, acting for a short time as America’s musical ambassadors to the world. Even the guy who first said that politics made for strange bedfellows probably never saw that one coming.

But it’s appropriate that it should have happened. For nearly fifteen years, this L.A.-based crew has refined a style that’s embraced rap, reggae, rock, rai, bhangra, and anything else it’s come across. Unlike many of their contemporaries who can be found clogging Putamayo compilations and Starbucks counters, it’s not timid stuff and the blending is seamless, unlike much of the rest of what’s routinely described as “fusion.” Indeed, their closest kin would be the off-kilter ethnopunk of Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros or Manu Chao, cross-bred with a Los Lobos party vibe. They’ve managed to blend an almost bewildering diversity of personalities and styles into a pretty cohesive and formidable whole.

While their studio albums have been well-written, well-performed affairs that’ve earned them Grammy nods, critical acclaim, decent sales and a small but devoted following, their live shows are the stuff of legend. So, naturally, having listened to the band since the first album dropped, I was pretty excited (to put it mildly) to put the rumors to the test. Since even the best bands have off nights, and I’m naturally suspicious when anybody–even a band that I love–is the subject of that much hype, I was also maybe a bit apprehensive.
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