Desmond Williams

Desmond Williams was born in Jamaica and sports a beard and dreadlocks, and he has also done time as an apprentice to the legendary reggae producer Scientist. But don’t be fooled: His take on dance music is amazingly catholic, as his debut full-length makes clear. Working in the studios of the celebrated Eighteenth Street Lounge label in Washington, D.C., Williams has produced a kaleidoscopic program of dance music styles, ranging from the lilting Brazilian rhythms of "Um Favor" to the nearly ambient downtempo textures of "Wilcher Waltz," with intervening episodes of trip-hop ("Oxygen"), jazzy North African impressionism ("Delights of the Garden") and, yes, reggae ("This Morning," "Dread a the Roughest"). Though the rhythms are varied, the mood is constant: languorous, laid-back, smoky. Excellent. (Visit Eighteenth Street Lounge at www.eslmusic.com.)