Memphis All Stars: Cars, Clubs, and Strip Clubs
8ball
8 Ways Entertainment
After a steady stream of releases at the beginning of their 15-year career, Memphis rap kingpins Premro "8Ball" Smith and brother in rhyme Marlon Jermaine Goodman, MJG, have been a bit stingier with their records lately. Last year's greatest hits collection aside, their last official collaboration dropped two years ago.
More recently, the two have shifted their attentions to solo records, which in their cases are really just excuses to showcase new and favorite acts. Following MJG's excellent This Might Be The Day of last year, 8Ball has returned with his fourth solo release in as many years.
Memphis All Stars: Cars, Clubs, and Strip Clubs is just what the title promises, with a steady string of guest stars from across the Memphis rap spectrum helping the executive producer 8Ball flesh out these 16 tracks. Some are more successful than others. Gangsta Boo's overly-strained cooing about the excellence of her kitten gets plain monotonous whereas teamings with Lord T & Eloise and Yung Key are some of the best tracks 8Ball has produced in years. But most exciting are cuts like "Gangsta Luv" and the epic closer "Love Spoken," with poet El Hakin, that, as much as the paternalistic shepherding of talent, shows the ringmaster moving in new, more mature directions. Click here for more on 8Ball.
Spills & Thrills
John Paul Keith & the One Four Fives
Big Legal Mess
This debut full-length from one of the city's most popular roots rock bands was first made available on vinyl, with an included CD, at a record release party late last year. Now Oxford, Miss., label Fat Possum, through its Big Legal Mess subsidiary, has picked the band up and this week gave the album a proper national release.
Originally from Knoxville, Keith played in a succession of bands, including one that ended up backing up alt country superstar Ryan Adams for a time, before he landed in Memphis in 2005 and teamed with bassist Mark Stuart, drummer John Argroves, and producer-guitarist Kevin Cubbins -- all formerly of the band the Pawtuckets -- to form the One Four Fives.
The band is famous for its marathon live shows, ladened with covers of classic rock, rockabilly, and honky-tonk gems. Though filled with Keith-penned originals, Spills & Thrills stays true to those inspirations. Roots fans will be instantly familiar with the One Four Fives blend of retro licks and power pop song craft on numbers like "Lookin' For A Thrill." Think Marshall Crenshaw or Nick Lowe. But that doesn't dilute the appeal of a great sawdust ballad like "Otherwise," the undeniable force of the rhythm section, or Keith's superb picking. Click here for more on John Paul Keith & the One Four Fives.
Hello
Battle Victorious
Visible Media Group
Despite its combative name, which sounds more like that of a testosterone-raging metal band screaming about Tolkien-esque hero fantasies, the duo Battle Victorious is actually the latest act signed to Visible Media Group, an offshoot of the Memphis-based contemporary Christian music college the Visible School.
Originally from North Carolina, husband and wife Todd and Emily Marriott are students at Visible School, but the material of their full-length debut, as opposed to earlier demo recordings, mostly downplays overt religiosity. Instead, these are serious songs about common but serious issues such as the yearning for transcendence ("Shallow Talk"), wrestling with inner demons ("Wars Go On"), and personal tumult ("Changing States"). Neither preachy nor particularly poetic, the pair's lyrics are subtle and forthright.
Not so much the music, which mines a Dave Matthews sort-of folk rock vein. Only occasionally does Battle Victorious really light onto a memorable hook, and they are considerably more pleased with their harmonies than anyone else will be. But throughout the record's dozen tracks, there are moments of grace, as on the airy Damien Rice style mediation "I Am Everyone," that suggests a direction well worth pursuing. Click here for more on Battle Victorious.
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