Rene Lopez, native New Yorker and son of a Latin trumpeter, recently released ELS, named for Lopez’s spontaneously derived style, “Electric Latin Soul”. The record features co-producers Mario Caldato Jr. a.k.a. Mario C (Beastie Boys and Jack Johnson) and Jason Lader, in a resultant mix that’s less than soulful.

“ELS” throws together disparate elements including Latin drumming, canned whistling, and hyper-robotic vocal effects. Electric Latin Soul/makes you lose control, purports Lopez. With plenty of hand claps and more space invaders sound effects, he informs the listener that it took him 20 years to finally find my flow. It was passed out behind the couch the whole time.

A track that begs for real virtuosic musicianship is the story of Lopez sitting on my stoop one day, when the Devil comes bearing a stolen set of timbales and challenges him to throw it down/right on South 4th Street. Instead of taking on the Beast’s challenge in a drumming duel paralleling Charlie Daniels’ seminal, “Devil Went Down to Georgia”, the drums take a backseat to the singer’s pitchy, nonsensical “Fa la la de fa la”, as he childishly insists, That’s how I sing my song. The track culminates in a coda of unremarkable drumming, overpowered by spooky interjections akin to what a kid might produce let loose on his very first soundboard.

If music is an expression of truth, a kernel pops out of “Johnny Wants To Be A Matador” in the line, Life is too damn short to waste it on hangin’ at the corner store. “Moon Feather” treads all too lightly upon the fertile ground of the troubadour with a charming little stoned groove, telling a forgettably new-age cliche story of East Coast boy meets West Coast girl.

Regrettably, substantive lyrical content is virtually absent from the record, and the cacophonous clashing of styles is, at times, outright unlistenable.

Final Words: Needs more cowbell; Life is too damn short to waste it listening to this record.