Lessons on Innovation from Out of Body Special

I began the year watching a benefit concert, Red Letter Night, organized by my 2nd cousin Diane Elise. Proceeds of the event went to Red Cross.

The highlight of the night was a band called Out of Body Special.

It’s been a long time since new new music really blew me away, and this was one of those times. A couple of days later, i bought (an original, unpirated) CD. yup, the music just continued to linger in my head.

Why?

Firstly, because OBS defied genres.

Lifting from their MySpace site …

The Out of Body Special is a band that plays “Unrock”, “Hiphop Fusion”, “Urban Mashup”, or “Rock&B”; a blend of hiphop, R&B, jazz, funk, rock, soul and more designed to get you into a state of sweet disorientation – to make you forget where you are and just lose it to the music. Get out of body.

True enough, many times i really couldn’t put a finger on what “category” they’d fall under – precisely because they were category-breaking. One will inevitably just get in bed with their overall sound.

And that for me is a true test of a great band — if you’re into their overall feel, more than just their hit singles.

Secondly, i loved the fact that i really couldn’t tell where their songs were going. They were practically unpredictable.

Songs can become so commoditized and cookie-cutter that you’d reasonably know what to expect.

Oh, the chorus is on its way; the melody’s off to this high, drum roll please … . Not with OBS. They took off on so many tangents, surprised me on several turns that i just got entangled and happily lost in their music.

This embrace of uncertainty i feel is a critical component of innovating.

Taking the musical roads less travelled, following the flow into places you didn’t know existed. How else will you discover anything new?

So, in our endeavors, let’s look if we have something category-breaking, and if we literally have gone into horizons unheretofore discovered. Isn’t that a simple recipe for creating something new new?