Tony Dize

It starts out in melodrama, with a string-laden meditation on his life and trials, and an appeal to God. But after that unpromising start, young Tony Dize proves to be quite an interesting guy: His reggaeton is dark and a little depressed, and he's not above singing about suffering and desperation. He mucks about with the reggaeton beat a bit, too -- not in a Tego Calderon or Calle 13 kind of way, no humor or hip-hop here -- but with the judicious use of dance beats and a surprising abundance of genuine melodies. The album is too long by half, but it's an interesting debut.