Hot Peas 'N Butter, Vol. 3: Mo Hotta, Mo Butta  (Audio CD) 
by Hot Peas 'N Butter

Danny Lapidus and Francisco Cotto, the big-smiling pair behind Hot Peas 'N Butter, must not have gotten the memo that, butter or no butter, kids hate peas. But forgive them their goofy name and spoon them up liberally for your preschoolers anyway: with Mo Hotta, Mo Butta, their third disc, the peas and the butter have arrived at a perfect ratio of smooth to chunky, spreading their hand-clappy Latin party beats across several tracks and slathering others with a creamy folk-pop mix. The vocals are not the thing here: Lapidus and Cotto sing well enough, but it's their commitment to spiking their addictive rhythms with a spring-green twirliness that'll keep kids coming back for more. The occasional educational song works well, too: "Que Bonita Bandera," or "What a Beautiful Flag," flings kids across the globe on a survey of all that's colorfully sewn and flappy. --Tammy La Gorce