hen Ludacris signed Georgia duo Field Mob to his Disturbing Tha Peace imprint last year, after two acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums, it was something like the Southern equivalent of 50 Cent signing Mobb Deep: a superstar taking time out of their busy schedule to give an underrated group a break. But Blood Money was a commercial flop that disappointed even hardcore fans, while Field Mob's first release for DTP, Light Poles and Pine Trees, retains their backwoods eccentricities even on its breeziest, most radio-ready songs. If their joyous jams and goofy punchlines sometimes feel a bit lightweight, that's only because so few of their contemporaries are still making feel-good music in the mold of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik-era Outkast.

Southern hip-hop is full of colorful accents and unique voices, but Smoke, one half of Field Mob, might have the most unpredictable flow in the whole South. His voice, usually doubled up in close harmony, dances and skips around the beat, emphasizing syllables you'd never expect, breaking out into sing-song cadences at a moment's notice or stretching words out like molasses. If you were to look at a visual representation of the sound waves one of his vocal tracks makes, it probably wouldn't resemble any other rapper's in mainstream hip-hop.

The other half of Field Mob, Shawn Jay, isn't nearly as interesting to listen to as Smoke, although he occasionally kicks an outlandish flow of his own on songs like "Baby Bend Over." Field Mob are eager to get their props as lyricists, even printing poorly selected couplets in large type in the album's liner notes. But that doesn't mean their lyrics don't deserve scrutiny. In fact, they earn it on tracks like "Blacker the Berry," Smoke's touching and frequently hilarious solo take on the plight of the dark-skinned black man, and the discrimination they face from even those of their own race.

Aside from Jazze Pha, who shows up on the new single, "So What," Field Mob turn to relative unknowns for production on Light Poles. Ken Jo, a member of another group from their hometown of Albany, Georgia, called TheR.I.P.Y., produces over half of the album, and Polow Da Don, a member of Jim Crow who's created fantastic remixes for Gwen Stefani and Mya, holds down two tracks. One, "Baby Bend Over," has been earmarked as the album's next single, but the other, an ecstatic sing-along called "At the Park," seems more deserving as perhaps the perfect summer jam.

Perhaps it's the fault of Light Poles' abundance of sunny hooks, but the album's angrier songs are the only times it rings hollow. Shawn Jay vents convincingly on "I Hate You," but the song is marred by the decision to jack the chorus from "Caught Out There" without sampling Kelis's voice. Instead, a member of DTP's token nu-metal band, Lazyeye, screams "I hate! you so much! right now!" awkwardly over lavish funk production. And "Pistol Grip" comes off a bit ridiculous when Smoke and Shawn Jay trade gun threats with the same manic grins they wear on songs about cars and ass. That's not to say that Field Mob are only any good when they're keeping it bright and silly, but the album is so enjoyable when they do that you don't want them to stop. And in a summer where even Busta Rhymes can't make a decent party record, that's an accomplishment worth admiring.

Hear sound clips from Light Poles and Pine Trees here.