—Andrew R. Iliff

Oysterhead

The Grand Pecking Order

(Elektra)

You’ve got to admire Les Claypool. Still theoretically the brains behind Primus, Claypool, last seen playing Colonel to his Amazing Flying Frog Brigade, has formed yet another side project. It is a little as though someone is playing fantasy football with musicians: How else would you get Stewart Copeland, the drummer from the Police, head-Phish Trey Anastasio and jack-of-all-bands Les Claypool on the same album?

With such a pedigree, Oysterhead were never going to be bad, and in fact they are much, much better than that. What happens when three ludicrously talented musicians get together and have fun? Well, a lot of silliness to be sure: The title track is a pastiche march, and the bizarre “Wield the Spade” owes something to early Pink Floyd in its cartoonish morality tale. They’re not always politically correct: “Shadow of a Man” is all about Billy who came back from Vietnam. The brilliant “Pseudo Suicide,” sounds like Jimi back in the afro-haired prime of the Experience. Copeland’s fills are hysterical as Claypool hollers, “There ain’t no cure for suicide!” Anastasio clearly enjoys himself abundantly as well: His tracks “Radon Balloon” and “Birthday Boys” are sublime psychedelic acoustic jams that sound a bit like the mellower moments of Led Zeppelin (compare with “Bron Y-Aur Stomp” off III). One might wish that Claypool had managed to trade for a vocalist to compare to the storm whipped up by the instruments; Claypool’s nasal cartoon voice and Anastasio’s simple waster mumble both serve them well, but pale in comparison to their music—the lyrics are merely a trampoline to get the band bouncing before they head off into the clouds. It all comes together beautifully on “Mr. Oysterhead,” the song that sums everything up both lyrically and musically: From the ludicrously phat funk of the bass, and the high-hat shuffle that used to send Sting into orbit, to the cocky lyrics, “When all else has been done and said / Along comes Mr. Oysterhead / He’s an inspiration to us all.” Indeed he is…

—Andrew R. Iliff

Ozomatli

Embrace the Chaos

(Interscope)

It’s a little difficult to know what to make of Ozomatli’s second album, Embrace the Chaos. The musicianship is great, and there is no shortage of personnel or good ideas (the album has at least five guest artists). Kicking off with the rollicking horn-driven “Pá Lante,” Ozo come rolling out with infectious energy. The track is almost surprisingly straight up, given the mix ’n match ethic of the rest of the album: There are no guests, and no breaks into turntable spins or hip-hop mode—just the euphoric, impossibly upbeat vibe that is possibly Ozo’s biggest gift to mankind.

From then on, the album gets more complex. The best expression of Ozo’s no-passport-needed, pan-global style is the groovy “1234,” on which De La Soul slides in perfectly amongst the brass stabs and chunky guitar. The rhythm section has to rein in their polyrhythmic tendencies a little, but the momentum is great. At times Ozo sound, to their credit, a bit like a sublimely rejuvenated and bass-heavy Buena Vista Social Club, with lugubrious vocal lines even in the midst of relentlessly upbeat songs like “Guerrillero.” Which makes Kanetic Source’s rap in the middle of “Dos Cosas Ciertas” sound a little like a mic-rush by a peculiarly talented audience member: It’s surprising, cool, the band don’t seem to mind very much, but it doesn’t quite fit in. Ozo at times run the risk of reducing themselves to a well-chosen sample on their own album, a peculiar fate for a band of eight talented members. “Vocal Artillery” is a great hip-hop track, but one could be forgiven for thinking that it was a different band—the growly muted-trumpet line just doesn’t really suffice to put Ozo’s mark on the song. Perhaps the various rappers that show up on Embrace just can’t manage the textured rhythms Ozo throw up when they play by themselves: Certainly just about all of the more hip-hop influenced tracks have much more pedestrian rhythm sections. So Embrace the Chaos is two bands for the price of one, and a bit of chaos well-hugged. Now if they could only get these two very talented bands to collaborate a little more, we might have something seriously good.

—Andrew R. Iliff