In Brief

* * 1/2 Towa Tei, “Future Listening,” Elektra. The first half of this album includes some of the very best pop-dance you’ll hear this year, a heady, intriguing smorgasbord of techno, bossa nova, world music and house. On his solo debut, this founding member of Deee-Lite has created grooves that evoke the quirky, kitschy ingenuity of that band’s early records. He starts to repeat himself near the end, but not before marking himself as a talent to watch.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).