*** Various Artists

SOURMASH: A LOUISVILLE COMPILATION

(X-STATIC)

Usually, compilations are mixed, so that one track sends you into repose and the next into a fit of head banging. Sensory overload, anyone? But this survey of Louisville's diverse music scene is surprisingly sinuous. The brainchild of a Louisville local, the disc is a fab introduction to the underpublicized scene there, from country to punk. Juanita's instrumental "Thunderbirds Are Go Crotch Rocket" fires up the cool beach-blanket-bingo surf-music sound, with a bluesy saxophone and an island bongo beat. With a fluttering female soprano voice out front, "The Gift" by Nod has a fun 'til tuesday light-pop thing going. And there are 15 other entries just as good, bouncing from Joan Baez folky-acoustic guitar stylings to the early college radio sound of the days when R.E.M. were good and twangy; there's even a "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" slamming drum beat. What's cool is that the untempered zeal of bands just starting out makes these old reliable styles seem fresh.

-- Loren Epstein