Tape One

2013 release from the Scottish trio. Ol' Dirty chose his moniker because there was no father to his bastard style. Young Fathers earn theirs by making something so fresh it doesn't yet have a name. These are three fellas from Edinburgh who've been working together since they were 14 years old, who have an elastic mind-meld that mimics their fused sensibility of sound, who one day locked themselves in a dingy Scottish basement and came out with something that'd never been done before: A fearless combination of beat, rap and song that smells not only of it's dark and dank birthplace, but of discovery and of communion. They are vocalists and perfectionists all three: Alloysious born in Liberia, Kayus raised by Nigerian migrants, and G who also provides the score. Together, they croon like a left-field rock band or a '90s R&B group, and rhyme like scions sent either from the D.A.I.S.Y. age or some dystopian future, and do so over production that pulls as much from ancient African tradition as it does contemporary electronic futurism.