“One Night Stand,” various artists
Mixtapes are becoming the lifeblood of good hip-hop, with high-profile artists like Lil' Wayne releasing new songs on the Internet at an almost reckless rate and DJs exposing samples of emerging artists to new audiences on a single disc. While he's mostly retired from club DJing, DJ Joe Dubb (Joey Wilkerson) has seasonally dropped discs featuring some of Louisville's most interesting hip-hop. On “One Night Stand,” Wilkerson forsakes club-friendly hip-hop for R&B, and the result is a 12-track collection of danceable contemporary R&B. Stephon's “Lights Camera Action” and Patrick's “Young Boi” show a strong Isley Brothers/R.Kelly influence; and Mr. Luke's appropriately titled “Slow Jams” is a top-shelf, radio-friendly romantic effort.
“Workers,” Workers
Workers inherits the position of its predecessor, Your Black Star, as the Louisville band teeming with the most potential. The three-piece's third release finds the band in a better mood than 2006's “Sound from the Ground” and 2007's “Beasts,” and the result is a noisy but melodic treat. The band maintains its room-filling loudness — amazing how three guys can make so much noise — and singer Jeremy Johnson's urgent vocals. But, this time, these steadfast components are channeled through a more optimistic tone that recalls a less-orchestrated My Bloody Valentine. It's a powerful piece of work. The band formerly called Your Black Star changed its name, in part, to generate a fresh start after years of toiling, mostly fruitlessly, to attract notice from record labels. This record is a solid Exhibit A.
“Dr. Legs & the Medicine Ball,” Dangerbird
Oh, guitars. You can make or break a rock album. On Dangerbird's debut, you certainly take quality pop songs and turn them into an album's worth of sweaty rock bar music. This is an album your Faces-loving old man and good-time loving mom could have rocked to the night their first-born was conceived. It's un-Louisville — there's not an ounce of artsy math rock or Fugazi on this album — and appealing to that crowd that enjoys cheap beer in bars with wood panel walls and unusable dingy restrooms. At root, these are hook-laden pop songs. “Lookin' for a Light” is a Southern rock-influenced gem, boosted by Brian Gray's (a Velocity staffer, we should note) twangy vocals and some deadly riffs.
