“Three Dancers”

Ryan Choi

(Accretions)

Mick Jagger famously recalled seeing the Rutles’ Che Stadium concert from such a distance that he wondered, “Is it really the Rutles? It might be somebody else.” Listening to “Three Dancers,” the new EP by Ryan Choi, inspires similar thoughts. The press materials say that Choi plays baritone ukulele, but his work on these three original instrumental compositions is so far removed from mainstream ukulele music that it is easy to wonder if he might be playing something else — maybe a professionally crafted instrument, maybe something he made at home.

That’s not a bad thing for people with open minds to what constitutes music. Choi’s compositions also include percussion of unidentified types and “electronics.” His picking and rhythmic strumming of a string instrument — we’ll take his word it’s a baritone ukulele — adds melodic fragments as well as additional percussive rhythms to the mix. The results are almost guaranteed to be unlike anything else that is going to come out of Hawaii this year. That’s not a bad thing, either.

Visit accretions.com.

“Lookout Mountain”

Red Light Challenge

(Red Light Challenge)

Alt-rock duo Red Light Challenge — multi-instrumentalist brothers Sean and Kyle Luster — traces its roots back to 2009, when the brothers debuted as Just Us 2. They re-branded themselves as Red Light Challenge in 2013. This four-song CD is their first official recording. The songs — all four are originals — are firmly rooted in the guitar-based rock of the British Invasion bands of the mid-1960s and after. The cover art — Diamond Head on the front, the Royal Hawaiian hotel on the back — pegs them as coming from Hawaii.

The song “Out Tonight” speaks for generations of men who are not, repeat, not confident on the dance floor. What’s a guy to do when the woman he’d like to, er, get to know better plans dancing as part of the night out? (“She would be laughing if she knew what me on the dance floor looked like,” he thinks, trying to find a way to make it dinner instead.)

All four songs are fast and furious, tightly crafted guitar rock. If they don’t get Red Light Challenge a Hoku Award, maybe the duo’s first full-length album will.

Visit redlightchallengeband.com.

“He Anuenue”

Taz Vegas featuring Jake Shimabukuro

(RSM)

Taz Vegas’ accomplishments as an island recording artist include a Na Hoku Hanohano Award for Best Reggae Album as a member of Typical Hawaiians in 2000, and a musical partnership with Les Harris that moved past the predominately Jawaiian repertoire of Typical Hawaiians to include rock, jazz, Afro-Caribbean reggae and classic hapa-haole music. In the past year Vegas has been working with indefatigable writer-producer-music promoter Bobby Pileggi and making a bid for the national pop charts.

Their first collaboration, “Brother for the People,” decried the timeless problems of racism and violence. The arrangement combined elements of classic soul and R&B in ways that made it easy to sing along with.

“He Anuenue” is another beautiful piece of music and an effective platform for Vegas as a vocalist. Around him are Jake Shimabukuro (ukulele), Wendell Ching (drums) and Ben Vegas (guitar). The arrangement is enchanting, but since the entire song is sung in Hawaiian and translations are not provided, very, very few people will get the message — even in the islands.

The CD contains four versions: one with everything, one with the backing vocals and music tracks, one with only the music tracks and one with only the vocals.

Visit alohamusicgroup.com.