OZOMATLI

Fire Away

[Mercer Street/Downtown]

Ozomatli’s music has been called a collision of styles, a cultural mash-up, and a 20-car pileup of genres. It’s also some of the most joyfully energetic music you’ll ever hear. On its fifth album, the L.A.-based band stirs its blend of salsa, ska, samba, funk, and hip-hop in ways few groups could conceive. Imagine tossing the English Beat, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Caetano Veloso, and Sly and the Family Stone into a magical blender and you get some sense of Ozomatli’s eclectic approach. High points on their latest, Fire Away, include “Are You Ready?,” a horn-and-percussion-driven blast of salsa-flavored ska; “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah,” an exultant Latin pop anthem fitted with shrieking sax; and “Gay Vatos in Love,” a rockabilly-tinged tune with a soaring chorus. Even when serving up the occasional ballad, such as the plucked-guitar tune “It’s Only Time,” Ozomatli offers the sense of something celebratory and vibrant lurking just below the surface.

–Russell Hall