Like many late '90s outfits, the Los Angeles-based Ozomatli is an eclectic conglomeration, fusing a wild variety of music. At its core, the group is a dance band, blending funk, hip-hop, Latin rhythms, jazz, salsa, reggae, Tejano, and worldbeat into its sound. It's a busy, heady mix and occasionally there's simply too much going on in the mix for ...
Falta Amor is the Mexican pop/rock band's least noteworthy album by far -- musically, at least -- but it still has its moments and, most importantly, it established them as a promising act during the early '90s, with an exceptionally straightforward pop/rock sound for a Mexican band. In particular, "Rayando el Sol" is a highlight and established a ...
Arriving a long four years after Revolución de Amor (2002), which had been the band's most accomplished album to date, and a Grammy winner to boot, Amar Es Combatir confirmed Maná's continuing designation as the world's standard-bearing Spanish-language mainstream rock band. Amar Es Combatir's lead single, "Labios Compartidos," was an overnight ...
By the time of his fourth album, La Vida...Es un Ratico, it was difficult to imagine Juanes being any more acclaimed or popular. He'd already won trophy cases of awards, from numerous Grammys to France's highest cultural honor, L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and he'd already topped charts in a diverse range of countries, including not only the ...
European superstar Manu Chao has long gotten by on writing simple repetitive melodies with simple repetitive lyrics, making it, if nothing else, easy for his international audience to sing along, no matter their native language. So it is not particularly surprisingly he follows the same pattern on his fourth studio full-length, Radiolina, ...
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA, and co-produced by rock en español expert Gustavo Santaolalla, the second album by Grammy-winning Juanes, highly anticipated following the release of its first single, "A Dios Le Pido," once again delivers his awarded fusion of urban, rock, and Latin American rhythms. A spiritual folk-rock song opens this 12-track ...
The first solo album released by the former frontman of Mano Negra, Clandestino is an enchanting trip through Latin-flavored worldbeat rock, reliant on a potpourri of musical styles from traditional Latin and salsa to dub to rock & roll to French pop to experimental rock to techno. Chao's voice tends to be a bit nasally, but the best songs ( ...
The unplugged trend of the 1990s could be quite revealing. If a band used amplification to mask its deficiencies, going acoustic could easily expose them. But when artists who had a lot going for them -- everyone from Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen to L.L. Cool J -- went unplugged, they had a lot of strong material to rely on and triumphed in an ...
Since the mid-'90s, every new album release by Café Tacuba was an event, especially in the band's native Mexico. This was partly because of the band's considerable renown and their reputation for evolving stylistically, but also because new album releases were few and far between. Like Cuatro Caminos (2003) before it, Sino was eagerly awaited by ...
From the first notes of Flores de Alquiler, it's clear that la 5ª Estación is rock en español a cut above the average. Laced with mariachi horns and fronted by gutsy lead vocalist Natalia Jimenez, the first cut, "El Sol No Regresa," confidently sets the standard of excellence and taste to be met and exceeded by subsequent tracks. The debut ...
20 Grandes Exitos is an excellent collection of newly-recorded versions of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' best and best-known songs that should serve as a good introduction for the curious. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Clandestino, Manu Chao's first solo effort, owed its greatness to its character. It was a minimalistic, yet filled with experimentation, album. But, what's most distinctive, it was honest, direct, intimate: the personal diary of someone who had traveled a lot, not only around Latin America but through life. Unfortunately, Chao seems to lose his ...
Never a band afraid to push their sound further, to try new things, Ozomatli has been developing their songs past the salsa-inspired, hip-hop-infused rock they played on their self-titled debut for a while now. On Don't Mess with the Dragon, they continue to do this, moving even further from the Latin music around which they formed and into R&B, ...
A couple years removed from her mainstream breakthrough album, Sí (2002), and its string of perfect pop hits, Julieta Venegas returned with a similar album, Limón y Sal. It's difficult to fault her for doing so. Certainly, her earlier rock en español work -- Aquí (1998) and Bueninvento (2000) -- was critically acclaimed and remains well regarded. ...
Nil Lara accomplishes an innovative lyricism rooted in traditional, Latin rhythms in this self-titled follow-up to his debut album My First Child. His Cuban heritage serving as catalyst, Lara weaves English and Spanish lyrics to communicate universal themes. From the first song, "Money Makes the Monkey Dance," which reflects upon the struggles and ...
One of three best-of Maná compilations in the Esencials series released in 2003, Sol focuses on the band's rockers, whereas Luna focuses on their ballads and Eclipse on a distillation of both. Maná is admittedly known best for their ballads, which tended to score them their biggest hits historically, but the guys are convincing rockers as well, ...
Los Angeles-based Ozomatli are a new kind of American band, a band reflecting the multiracial and multicultural One World demographics of the 21st century. Drawing on musical sources as diverse as salsa, hip-hop, rock, jazz, funk, Tejano, and reggae, Ozomatli appear to be trying to be all things to all people, but amazingly, they pull it off more ...
One of three best-of Maná compilations in the Esencials series released in 2003, Luna focuses on the band's ballads, whereas Sol focuses on their rockers and Eclipse on a distillation of both. Maná enjoyed the most commercial success with their ballads, beginning with their first major hit, "Rayando el Sol" (1992), and their breakthrough hit, ...
Although they won a Grammy for their previous studio album, 2004's Street Signs, the ten-piece multicultural music collective known as Ozomatli have always been first and foremost a live act, and experiencing the group's explosive, energetic stage show, which mixes salsa, punk, reggae, funk, hip-hop, and touches of jazz into a barrio gumbo block ...
Mexican pop/rock genius Aleks Syntek has recorded a lot of great music in his day, and the songs comprising Mundo Lite are no exception. In fact, they just might be some of the best he's ever assembled on one album. From the album-opening electronic textures and guitar hooks of "Tiempos de Paz," it's hard to deny the music of Mundo Lite. And if ...
The performances on Sounds Eclectico are all live recordings related to KCRW, the Santa Monica public radio station that's a vital and varied musical resource for the curious, the fans, and the Hollywood music supervisors. Morning Becomes Eclectic host Nic Harcourt produces the set, and provides notes to each selection. As you might expect, ...
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