Ojos De Brujo

The kinetic synergy Ojos De Brujo achieved on 2005's Bari made the group instant darlings of the world music scene, but that audacious, genre-defying spirit is missing from Techari. Oh, it's not a bad release -- it's perfectly passable flamenco, cut with the occasional shoe-horned inter-genre collaboration. However, vocalist Marina Abad has never had much of a voice, and her weaknesses are more apparent without the band's usual instrumental swagger backing her up. Not an awful album, but sadly it's a step backwards from their earlier promise.