CD Reviews

Young Fathers | Tape One

Anticon (2012)

By RYAN FOLEY | December 10, 2012

3.5 Stars

Scotland does boldly inventive/wildly playful indie-pop (and prior to that, post-punk) with such machine-like efficiency that it's been a detriment to the country's other genres. Righting this wrong requires worthy torchbearers; Young Fathers are poised to assume this role for Scottish hip-hop. On debut Tape One, the Afro-Scot trio — comprising a Liberian, a Nigerian, and an Edinburghian — disputes the notion that its country of choice is a rap backwater. Lyrics are joyfully standoffish ("Don't you turn my home against me/Even if my house is empty"), even poetically saucy ("Plant your seed in your maiden's bower" wickedly evokes Robert Burns). Young Fathers are both catchy and alienating. The polyrhythm and chanted vocals from "Sister" evoke Soundway's compilations of '70s Nigerian disco and funk. The beats on "Dar-Eh Da Da Du" sound like hissing steam pipes and oil drums pummeled with rubber mallets. Calculated yet impulsive, Young Fathers prove Scottish hip-hop's viability.

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ARTICLES BY RYAN FOLEY

YOUNG FATHERS | TAPE ONE | December 10, 2012
Scotland does boldly inventive/wildly playful indie-pop (and prior to that, post-punk) with such machine-like efficiency that it's been a detriment to the country's other genres.

BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW | COBRA JUICY | October 09, 2012
Technology makes secrecy well-nigh impossible, so Black Moth Super Rainbow settle for employing it as a narrative device.

SWANS | THE SEER | August 28, 2012
Swans albums are the unparalleled expression of multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira, who often sounds like he's either deranged with enthusiasm or deranged with bitterness.

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE | ASCENT | August 14, 2012
Ben Chasny is the thinking man's shredder, a chin-stroking, Gaston Bachelard-quoting antithesis to philistine six-string savants like Steve Vai.

CANDLEMASS | PSALMS FOR THE DEAD | July 31, 2012
If this is truly, certainly, most definitely the final Candlemass album (the doom-metal progenitors called it quits in both 1994 and 2002, only to reform both times), then the swan song on their swan-song release is "Black as Time," a middling, excessively lengthy number.