Track of the Day: 'Atheist Money' by Adam Stafford

Although we've got to wait until October for Stafford's new album 'Taser Revolutions', the lovely people at So, by Toad Records have seen fit to bestow this taster track upon us. I loved the last album 'Imaginary Walls Collapse', and this sounds like it heralds another great record.

The deceptively gentle start is soon rudely interrupted by some abrasive electronic rhythms. As first Stafford's guitars and then his vocals come in the song starts to build to something rather epic. Melodies and harmonies soar, like Coldplay or U2 when they still had all the tunes but none of the pretension. This man knows how to write a tune, that's for sure, and if he keeps putting out belters like this he'll deserve the chance to play them on festival stages in the early evening sun.

Grab yourself a free download below.

Track of the Day: 'Rain or Shine' by Young Fathers

Although it's not long since Young Fathers won the Mercury Music Prize for 'Dead', and the SAY Award for 'Tape Two' before that, news has just broken that their next album will be with us at the start of April. The title - 'White Men Are Black Men Too' - is sure to provoke some discussion (you can read their thoughts on it here) - and hopefully the music will too.

The first track to appear is 'Rain or Shine' and it's a typical melting pot of styles and sounds. Starting with sixties-style keyboard riff, more layers soon appear - droning bass, crackly drums, sung vocals, spoken vocals and a chorus that repeats and repeats to drill into your brain. After a few listens I reckon it's one of the best things they've ever done.

Have a listen below and then head over to their website here where they'll give you a free download in exchange for your email address.

Track of the Day: 'Teenage Exorcists' by Mogwai

Contrary Scottish buggers Mogwai have got a new EP (Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1) out at the start of December, featuring three new tracks and three remixes of songs from their recent 'Rave Tapes' album. To highlight this they've set the opening track 'Teenage Exorcists' upon us, which turns out to be the last thing you'd expect from them i.e. a 3-minute, fully vocal, upbeat track that's the closest thing they've made to a pop song in possibly forever. This turns out to be extremely disconcerting, but does show that it all goes tits up for them they may have a future writing hits for 5 Seconds of Summer.

Track of the Day: 'Tugboat (Galaxie 500 cover)' by Meursault

This track is taken from the new album by Scottis indie mearchants Meursault, 'The Organ Grinder's Monkey', which has just been released on Song, By Toad records. The record was put together using crowd-funding, with money being raised for the specific purpose of funding a trip to this year's SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. As part of the process, those who pledged for the album were able to vote for 5 of the songs that would be included on the record, and one of the winners was this Galaxie 500 cover, which was duly included. The recording process started on 1st February and the whole things is now mixed, mastered, printed and packaged - not a bad work rate! It's a great cover too, well played and with just the right amount of emotion. You can listen and download the track below.

Recommended music: 'Greatest It's' by Yong Yong

For their second album Portugese duo Yong Yong have relocated to Glasgow, with interesting results. Swapping the sunshine of Lisbon for Scotland's biggest city has produced a more focused, structured sound that sometimes even strays onto the dancefloor. Sure, there are still woozy, eerie atmospherics and crackly ambience, and bits were you think you've got a duff copy of the record 'cos the sound keeps breaking up, but overall this set hangs together much better than their début album 'Love'.

There are a couple of points on the record that remind me of The KLF's ambient classic 'Chill Out', but to counterbalance that there's disembodied rapping (on 'Sesamstraat'), crunching beats ('Maca Lu-Lu) and spoken-word extracts (The Valley). If you listen to it all the way through in one go (which you should) this is a record that envelops you, packs you up and takes you to its own private universe, full of dark corners and fog, but occasionally shot through with flashes of sunlight.

'Greatest It's' is out now on the ever-interesting Night School Records, from whom you can order you vinyl copy here. Listen to the whole album below.

Recommended music: 'Dead' by Young Fathers

It's been nearly a year since I first wrote about Young Fathers (see post here), and in that time they've continued to build a name for themselves while putting together their début album, which will be released on Monday 3rd February.

So what do you get from a Scottish / Nigerian / Liberian hip-hop act? As you might expect, this is not run of the mill gangsta / pimps & hoes rap record. It inhabits its own space in much the same way as Kanye West's last 2 albums - you really won't have heard a hip-hop album like this before. And like Kanye at his best, there are some fantastically melodic hooks and catchy pop choruses in amongst the brilliant rap lyricism.

Take opener 'No Way' for example - hard pounding, almost military drums and raps possibly about life in an African village give way to a sung chorus of "AK-47 take my breath, went straight to heaven" which also incorporates one of the most audacious rhymes on the album - "when you're feelin' Presbyterian". The highlights come thick and fast: 'Low' underscores it's powerful rap with a bagpipe-like drone and more marching band drums, 'Just Another Bullet' layers the vocals up to menacing effect, while 'War' builds a Massive Attack-like track to add another sound to their style. 'Get Up' is full of the band's natural energy, and 'Dip' has another of their big melodies and great choruses. There's more Massive Attack-ness in the menacing 'Mmmh Mmmh', and 'Hangman'steps up the threat level with its "time to meet your maker" threats. In contrast 'Am I Not Your Boy' offers redemption with it's heartfelt chorus that's impossible not to sing along with. The album closes with 'I've Arrived', and after a few listens you can't do anything but agree with that statement - Young Fathers have arrived, and 2014 is theirs for the taking.

You can listen to the whole album below, and once you have you're definitely gonna want to rush off and buy it. My top tip (if you're in the UK) is to get it from the Ninja Tune shop here, where it's the best price you'll find. The album is on the Anticon label (in the US) and Big Dada (in the UK).

Track of the Day: 'This Muted Flourish' by Rob St. John

A track from the box set celebrating five years of Song, by Toad records. From the Song, by Toad sessions, this one is by the wonderful Rob St. John (if you haven't heard his album 'Weald' you should definitely check it out). Listen to the track or download it for free below, and then make sure you check out the label here.

New music: 'Remurdered' by Mogwai

If you watched 'Les Revenants' ('The Returned'), the French TV show that Mogwai soundtracked, then you might think that the title of this track could be a clue as to what happens to the dead who return to the sleepy French village by the lake. Is it possible to kill someone more than once? Would they be doubly pissed off with you? These are the sort of questions that Mogwai probably completely ignored when naming their new track, the first to be released from forthcoming abum 'Rave Tapes'. Whatever it's called, it's an understated but powerful track, driven along by a great electronic riff which continues the subtle evolution of their sound. I love the artwork and their new band logo too. You can listen to the track below, or grab it for free by inserting your particulars in the requisite slot.

Track of the Day: 'Mr. Martyr' by Young Fathers

The hotly-tipped Scottish (via Libya and Nigeria) trio are about to follow up their first release 'Tape One' with the less-than-imaginatively titled 'Tape Two'. From it comes this great slice of angst-ridden indie-rap, with a sung chorus that's more than a bit reminiscent of Kele Okereke from Bloc Party.



The album comes out in a couple of weeks on Anticon - you can pre-order it here on CD, vinyl or cassette. Read more about the band here.

New band of the day: Young Fathers

OK, so here's proof that you can discover great new music at SXSW without even going there. As usual Matthew from Song, by Toad has posted his annual SXSW podcast (you can listen to it by clicking here) and Young Fathers were the act that stood out for me from the ones I hadn't heard of.

I'm not sure why quality hip-hop from Scotland should be such a hard concept to grasp, but once you've heard Young Fathers you'll realise that anything can be achieved anywhere - even if they were the only good hip-hop act north of the border (which I'm sure they're not). Theirs is a pretty eclectic sort of hip-hop, taking in diverse styles and musical genres for backing tracks and samples - between the three of them they have Libyan and Nigerian as well as Scottish heritage so you can see why they paint with such a broad palette.

They've signed to the hip Anticon label and put out their first release, Tape One, earlier this year - you can listen to the whole thing on their Soundcloud page by clicking here. Listen out for the bit 39 seconds into the second track 'Sister' where 'not now' creeps out in a broad Scottish accent.

This week the band have also put out a new track called the guide - you can watch the video for the below and click here to download it for free.


Young Fathers - "The Guide" from anticon. on Vimeo.

There's no news on dates in the UK at the moment but by all accounts they were awesome in Austin so if you see that they're playing near you make sure you go and see them.

New music: 'Figurehead' by Jonnie Common

Following up his 2011 album 'Master of None', Jonnie Common is putting this single out on Red Deer Records later this month. Two quite distinct versions of the track are included on the limited cassette and download release - where 'Figurehead (Wet)' is pulsing and insistent, 'Figurehead (Dry)' is more lo-fi and sparse, but suffice to say they're both really good. Have a listen to both and see which is your favourite, you'll be able to order them from Red Deer Club soon.

In Pictures: Fence Records Chart Ruse Launch Party - The Shacklewell Arms, London 3/1/12

Last night saw the launch event for the Fence Records E.P Series. As well as the two Fence acts performing (Seamus Fogarty and Withered Hand) there was a guest set from Brentwood's finest Darren Hayman. Also milling around were the great and good from the label, including Kenny (King Creosote), who we had a nice chat with at the bad beforehand, and then stood next to during the gig, Johnny (The Pictish Trail), who was on door duties, and Rozi Plain, who sang on a couple of Withered Hand songs. There's some snaps below of Dan (Withered Hand) in action during his great set, which featured a mass sing-along during 'Religious Songs', some entertaining between song banter, and a couple of songs from the new EP. Coming back for the encore,   the calls (from me and a few others) were for 'Hard On' - despite Dan claiming 'I'm not sure I feel virile enough for that on' he managed to get it up to perform the closer.

Overall it was a great evening out - 3 acts for a fiver, and the pie & mash at the bar beforehand was pretty good as well. I hope they do the same for the next two releases!

An interestingly-coloured Seamus Fogarty

The man like Withered Hand

Dan gets animated

Up close and personal