** Jaymz Nylon

AFROTECH

(Irma)

Internationally mobile DJ Jaymz Nylon, recording for a house-music label based in Bologna, does 13 tracks of ecstatic percussion, rhythmic keyboards, and dreamy vocals -- perfect for jazzy dancing. At times (perhaps inevitably) his jams sound a lot like the music of Daft Punk, but most of his cuts live up to the pomo tribalism of the CD's title. "Heartbreak," "Main Squeeze," "One Nation," and above all "Shango" evoke much of the post-James Brown boogaloo spirit that made '70s Afrodisco (Exuma, Manu diBango, Savannah Band) such a double-edged treat -- exotically percussive but also chic and homegrown funky. "All for You" adds the trippy, club-girl soprano of Sokunthary Svay to the mix, reviving the cool sexiness of disco kid Taana Gardner circa 1979-1983. But the triumph of Nylon's vision is "Afronauts at Lincoln Center," a long riff of conga, cool jazz, deep-house percussion, spaceman chants ("We are the a-fro-nauts, a-fro-nauts"), and the lapping of waves upon a beach on who knows what faraway planet? Lumpy, loopy, and very cool indeed.

-- Michael Endelman