You wouldn’t believe the wide variety of music that comes across the

Daily Beacon review desk. Sometimes, exciting new music comes to

light that you just won’t hear anywhere on the radio or MTV. On the flip

side, plenty of record companies are pushing the crap their less tasteful

A&R folks dig up. There’s nothing left to do but jump in and see what’s

what.

Montell Jordan, This Is How We Do It— ***3/4 (of 4)

You have to love an album with an introduction by the singer’s mother. It

would be rude not to. It also helps that Jordan has a golden voice and

often comes close to being a lyrical heir to the Barry White throne (which,

of course, Barry White has no intention of vacating.)

Jordan proves his strength right away with his smooth vocal style on

“Somethin’ for the Honeyz.” The music is a laid back summertime groove,

with a airy keyboard melody flying around over the lyrics.

On his current hit “This Is How We Do It,” Jordan involves everybody in the

party, from the “OG Mack” to the “designated driver.” Again, the groove is

laid back R&B. Jordan’s crew pulls this sound off with class and panache,

utilizing a sample of Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story.”

Hailing from South Central L.A., Jordan escaped the gang-bang scene and

honed his vocal skills. “My story,” he says in his bio, “is that even

through all that goes on in the inner city and in South Central, I didn’t

gangbang and found a way to go to church and college.”

His diligence definitely paid off.

Star Maps 2 Blocks, a Capricorn Records compilation— **

This collection of artists recording for and/or distributed by Capricorn

Records has the usual ups and downs of compilation CDs. By chance, it

contains two very exciting tunes from Fat Possum recording artists. This

blues label is now receiving distribution support form Capricorn.

R.L. Burnside’s “Old Black Mattie” revives the “shit-kicking”

style blues drum shuffle like nobody’s business. Hailing from Holly

Springs, Mississippi, Burnside’s scratchy, choppy guitar licks add spicy

southern texture to this Howlin’ Wolf-esque delight.

Also on the blues tip, CeDell Davis of Pine Bluff, Arkansas,

offers “Rock.” Davis’ style focuses more on his screechy gee-tar

wailing, which is refreshing in its ancient sound. It’s not the smooth,

gutless blues of a cheap bar band, but the soulful stuff that legends are

made of.

311’s “Omaha Style” also rises above with their competent

funk-rock-rap mixture. This group has played Knoxville several times in the

past few years. They pull in Caribbean rap styles with surprising panache

for a bunch of guys from Omaha, Nebraska.

The rest of the CD, however, offers a mostly bland assortment of

contemporary college rock. Hayride and Sordid Humor fall into

place somewhere around Camper Van Beethoven and Counting Crows, without

reaching the class of the former or escaping the doldrums of the latter.

Widespread Panic clock in with a too-long and too-boring drone

called “Raise the Roof.”

Urban Dance Squad, Persona Non Grata— ***

After an apparent loss of members, this group is back with their 3rd album,

continuing their take on the funky rap-rock thing. The now-quartet suffers

a bit from the loss of the extra instrumentation, which made their sound

truly fresh. The simple rock atmosphere gets old fast, even with singer

Rudeboy’s distinctive vocal style.

Still, the band tends to be very strong lyrically, tackling a variety of

political and social issues, as in the urban-crisis song “(Some) Chitchat.”

I’m sure there are plenty of fans of this style left, and they will find

few better CDs of the genre around.

The Fables, debut album— (nothing registered on the

star-meter)

Often, bands come along with such a lack of style and substance that one

wonders why the band members bothered to learn how to play. The Fables are

lyrically and musically the most uninteresting band I’ve ever heard.

I will point out, though, their CD is attractively packaged, and their

lyric sheet and liner notes share a nice font.