RECORDINGS Quick Spins

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

AUTUMN FALLIN'

Jaymay

Jaymay just may be the worst singular sobriquet in the history of female singers. It lacks the flair of Cher, the mystique of Madonna, the bjoldness of Bjork. Jaymay sounds flighty somehow or even hip-hoppy in a spectacularly dorky way. And yet it's a name you may want to get used to -- or get over -- as it belongs to one Jamie Kristine Seerman, a 26-year-old Long Islander whose debut album of indie/folkie/poppy tunes is one of the loveliest sounding, lyrically rewarding efforts of the year so far.

Over the course of 10 songs, Jaymay catalogues romances gone south, laments connections never made and lingers in the shadows of a true love's collapse. Her songs are clear-eyed masterpieces, sentimental without being sappy, moving without being mawkish. She wallows in the beautiful misery of "Sea Green, See Blue," wraps herself in the self-indulgent sorrow of "Big Ben," and tries to pluck herself up with the bouncy "Hard to Say," an old-timey throwback track that could have been stolen from Erin McKeown's songbook. She also wears her Dylan influence proudly -- and ably -- especially on "You'd Rather Run," a sneering nine-minute putdown filled with spurts of venom that even Bob would envy: "Was there ever a moment/One small slice in history/When I took you seriously? When your belt and your shoes/Did not announce your poor taste so fearlessly? 'Cause that's news to me." When Jaymay wields her pen as a shiv, you do not want to be on the receiving end.

The album, a torrent of words borne by mellifluous melodies, closes with the sweetly hypnotic "You Are the Only One I Love," which ends with the lines "You are the only one I love/You are the only one I love/You are the only one I love to love," repeated over and over.

Jaymay, huh? It's sounding better all the time.

-- Joe Heim

DOWNLOAD THESE:"Sea Green, See Blue," "Hard to Say," "You Are the Only One I Love"

EGO TRIPPIN'

Snoop Dogg

"Fifteen years in the game, and I'm still relevant," Snoop Dogg says on his ninth solo album, "Ego Trippin.' " He isn't bragging. Snoop scored at least one smash single for each of his last three albums, and "Ego Trippin' " continues his streak. If you haven't seen the video for his latest, "Sensual Seduction" (or "Sexual Eruption" as it's called on the album), then run, don't walk, to the nearest Web browser.

A brilliant tribute to the low production values and high flamboyance of '70s and '80s R&B videos, "Seduction" sees Snoop Dogg seriously singing the entire song -- with a little help from technology -- and Snoop the MC reduced to performing a guest rap on his own track.

"Sensual Seduction" is another star turn for Snoop. Add it to a growing list of accomplishments, including his new reality cable series on E!, "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood," which chronicles Snoop's family life and the making of his new album. On the show, Snoop says "Ego Trippin' " is a chance to free himself from genre labels like "gangster rap." So Snoop tries a lot of new things: neo-soul rap with Raphael Saddiq ("Waste of Time"), country rap with Whitey Ford a k a Everlast ("My Medicine"), vaudeville rap ("Deez Hollywood Nights") and even a Snoop-sung remake of "Cool" by the Time.

Consequently, "Ego Trippin' " is not so much an album as it is a variety show, starring Snoop Dogg as a crip-walking Sammy Davis Jr. But Snoop is versatile enough to pull it off, and it's fun just as long as you're not expecting him to be the hungry young Dogg who once bit the world on its hind parts.

-- Dan Charnas

DOWNLOAD THESE:"Sensual Seduction," "Waste of Time," "My Medicine"

RANDY JACKSON'S MUSIC CLUB, VOLUME ONE

Various Artists

Oh, Randy Jackson, is there anything you can't do? Besides your possibly quite taxing job as an "American Idol" judge, your work as a record producer and whatever you probably do, you've assembled a disc of genre-spanning musical collaborations. "Randy Jackson's Music Club, Volume One" features artists of most every race, musical style, religion (probably) and age demo. It feels like one of those K-Tel compilations people used to buy before there was iTunes, the ones that all seemed to have C+C Music Factory on them.

Strangely pleasant in a mid-'90s, Casey Kasem's American Top 40 Countdown sort of way, its tracks can be divided into four groups:

Slumming Superstars: Mariah Carey shows up for the nice gospel closer "I Understand" alongside Bebe Winans and Hezekiah Walker, and for once doesn't threaten to overwhelm/eat everybody with her giant voice.

People You Thought Were Dead: Sam Moore stars on an awkward version of "Wang Dang Doodle" with Keb' Mo and Angie Stone. But still, at least he's alive.

Oddball Collaborations: Big & Rich's John Rich and soul singer Anthony Hamilton collaborate on the not-quite-country, not-quite-R&B track "Home"; Crunk Squad and Ghostface Killah team up for the plodding "Like A."

"Idol" People: Katharine McPhee and Elliott Yamin team up for the bloodless "Real Love"; Paula Abdul's "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" is her first new track in 10-plus years, but between the tinny beat and the yeomanlike work from the sound effects guys, she sounds less like Paula Abdul than ever. But still, at least she's alive.

-- Allison Stewart

DOWNLOAD THESE: "Home" (John Rich and Anthony Hamilton), "I Understand" (Mariah Carey et al.)

PLANETA KUMBIA

A.B. Quintanilla & the Kumbia All Starz

The latest permutation of this always fun band is the first without co-founder Cruz Martinez, and the changes are fast and furious: a much stronger emphasis on Spanish, a veritable buffet table of lead singers, a heck of a lot more electronica, and a definition of cumbia so expansive that it's, well, reggaeton lite.

There's nothing wrong with any of that in and of itself. A.B. Quintanilla, the titular head now solo at the helm, may well want to experiment and play around. And, sure, there are plenty of galloping cumbia beats on songs like "No Me Haces Falta" and "Me Pase de Copas." Plus the occasional R&B shout to former frontman Frankie J, like in "Felicidades." But the Spanish is so trite and straightforward -- this, at a time when groups like Yerba Buena and Calle 13 are twisting language and metaphor in such inventive and joyful ways.

Meanwhile the singers, who include the terrific Spanish rapper Mala Rodriguez, get processed into a kind of molasses where they're barely differentiated. The title track is a riot of a contradiction: It's a basic reggaeton riff. Not that cumbia should remain slave to its languid rural roots, and not like the Kumbia All Starz have ever been traditionalists . . . but this particular outing seems robbed of some of the originality and joie de vivre of their previous efforts.

-- Achy Obejas

DOWNLOAD THESE:"No Me Haces Falta," "Vuelve," "Planeta Kumbia"