ShareThis"MALICE IN WONDERLAND," Snoop Dogg (Priority)
For years Snoop Dogg has been in the habit of holiday-season releases -- so much so that he's almost as predictable as that friend who gets you a Starbucks gift card every year.
Fittingly, his new "Malice in Wonderland" is just what anyone might expect from the smooth-talking gangsta rapper: Entrancing rhythms work under the skin as Snoop charismatically raps on his two favorite themes: street life and hedonism. There's not much new here, though aided by ghostly chants and horror synths, the rapper is likely to prolong "jerk movement" dancing with the new single "I Wanna Rock."
Yet even if the 38-year-old iconic performer isn't advancing his beleaguered genre with innovation, "Malice in Wonderland" is welcome in its familiarity because Snoop is a charmer, whether he's bragging about his skills with a gun or putting the make on women.
He's always been able to reconcile the heartless killer and the romantic lover thanks to the endearing flow of his delivery and his wry lines. "You say you bite? Well, I bite back" he calmly proclaims in the atypically complex arrangement of "Gangsta Luv," a cut that doesn't need the techno-fried warbling of guest singer The Dream. Soulja Boy Tell 'Em is even more ridiculously over processed on the enervating subsequent track, "Pronto."
Still, Snoop's fond of his guest vocalists, and there are a few winners on "Malice in Wonderland," including Lil Jon, who characteristically shout-repeats Snoop's lines on "2 Minute Warning" with shocking enthusiasm, and Jazmine Sullivan, whose joyous singing puts life-affirming emphasis on the clomping "Different Languages." Also, Nipsey Hussle and Problem sign up for Snoop's hard-pounding rap boot camp on "Upside Down," and Kokane slides into "Secrets," a funk-enhanced reworking of The Romantics' "Talking in Your Sleep."
More guests -- R. Kelly, Brandy, Pharrell -- serviceably come and go as the rapper retraces his steps through well-worn territory, underscoring the fact that "Malice in Wonderland" isn't really an artistic statement. It's just Snoop Dogg doing what he does.
Rating (five possible): 3-1/2
"LA BODEGA," Toto La Momposina (Astar Artes)
Toto La Momposina and her band put everything out there on "La Bodega," and the result is as uplifting as a basket full of puppies.
The Colombian singer brings together the sounds of Spanish, African and indigenous cultures, particularly those that have flourished on the Caribbean coast of her homeland.
Most prominent on the new "La Bodega" is the cumbia style featured on the opening track, "Manita Uribe," which erupts from a dirge-like intro into a massive celebration of invigorating rhythm, chanting backing vocals and exclamatory horns. It's a group party, but Toto La Momposina is the extroverted hostess. Dense and demanding cadence pushes along the subsequent "Margarita," which features more horns and call-and-response vocals and throws focus on showy notes from the gaita, a flute made of cactus wood and duck quills.
The festivities never stop on "La Bodega," but they do shift gears.
For example, "Fidelina" is a more mellow track, but no less playful and kinetic than the others, and "Tembandumba" is more primitive and hypnotic, the vocals more meditative, the drive more ritualistic. On the other hand, the brass on "Duena de los Jardines" triggers an explosive denouement, and closing cut "Fiesta Vieja" is propelled along bold lines.
Meanwhile, Toto La Momposina is always in command, flaunting diversity of her own that ranges from a carnival barker who's barely in control of the mayhem to her torrid, diva-like flamboyance on "Yo Me Llamo Cumbia."
The singer always seems to give it her all, and sometimes that's too much to take: Her voice isn't perfect and it can swerve into sharp tones. Yet her sincere delivery on the lively "La Bodega" trumps the shortcomings.
Rating: 4
"THE ECHO FALLS," The Echo Falls (Vineland)
Listening to "The Echo Falls," the self-titled release from a Bay-Area folk-pop trio, brings to mind eating just-harvested vegetables while still standing in the garden: It's fresh and uncomplicated, and nothing is sauced up or overcooked.
The group could make its audiences nostalgic for 1970s singer-songwriters like Dan Fogelberg and Cat Stevens, yet "The Echo Falls" carries a more modern attitude in its lyrics and takes a few unconventional turns in its instrumental journey. Those little twists help offset arrangements that are at times too casual.
Frontman/guitarist/primary songwriter Alex Mandel is instantly affable and genuine-sounding on jangly opener "Road to Parnassus," arcing his voice into a sweet, near-falsetto and getting harmonic support from "ah-ah-ah" backing vocals. He often veers toward naive idealism and optimism -- from encouraging us to keep in touch with loved ones on "How Are You," to emphasizing positive thinking on "There Is Time Enough" (subsequent line to the title: "... for anything you want to do") to the schmaltzy declarations of "Every Second Thought" ("Every second thought, and I think of you ... Reservations flicker and then disappear"). However, there's a darkness that shades in, as when he battles the downside of a relationship on "Love Over Time" with, "Do I need a landlord just to live in my own mind?" and when he deals with similar contradictions on "Watchtower" ("I had a dream, I had a nightmare/You were in both of them").
"The Echo Falls" periodically suffers from half-baked production, clunky and/or sketchy passages that should have been fussed over. But rhythm section David Brandt (drums, vibraphone) and David Arend (double bass) routinely brighten the cuts -- providing a refreshing up-tempo cadence for "Every Second Thought," resonating shimmer for "Fire Down Below" and a wobbly, loose jazz feel for "Watchtower."
The trio has its weaknesses, but it also compensates for them on this airy release.
Rating: 3-1/2
(E-mail Chuck Campbell of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at Campbell(at)knews.com.)
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