Multi-cultural funk/hip-hop/world-beat ensemble Ozomatli [ tickets ] has lined up a busy summer schedule filled with a typical compliment of outdoor festival appearances.

The Los Angeles-based eight-piece crew will launch the outing July 11 in Oakville, CA. The group stays busy through early fall, concluding its current stretch Sept. 18 in Santa Barbara, CA. Dates are below.

After signing a new record deal earlier this year with fledgling Downtown music imprint Mercer Records, the band has been working on material for a new album in Jack Johnson's Los Angeles recording studio, with Robert Carranza (Mars Volta, Zach De La Rocha) producing.

"Our new music is filled with what could best be described as a sense of 'happy urgency,'" singer and guitarist Raul Pacheco said in a press statement. "There just seems to be a thread of calmness and maturity running through these songs that says, 'Do what you want in your life right now, there is no need to wait any longer.'"

Ozomatli's most recent studio album was 2007's "Don't Mess With the Dragon."