By Gary Jackson
Percussive tribal rhythms, gritty electronica, soulful voices and rhymes are the ingredients, mix them all together and what you get is Tape Two the second “mini” album from Scottish trio Young Fathers.
I have to say that it is a tasty musical treat and one I enjoyed very much right from start to finish. From the smooth soul of ‘I Heard’ to the anthemic ‘Come To Life’ and the slightly punk tinged electronica of ‘Queen Is Dead’. There is a wide variety of songs on this album however these all fit comfortably with the overall stylistic feel of the music.
As for that style of music, the only points of reference I would have is The Streets or a more electronic version of Massive Attack and that is just based on the electronic/rap element and is more a rough guide than direct copy of these .
That aside, Young Fathers have a lot on offer here as the music is well constructed, catchy and there is no padding out of the songs here as these are mean and lean with all excess fat trimmed off. The guys have a real nice blend going on with smooth vocals and strong rhymes and they keep in real with no cheesy lyrics or clichés. There is some great production going on as well with all the elements sitting perfectly in the mix and no part overpowering another. A great juxtaposition of the singing and the rhyming is prevalent throughout the album and nothing seems forced or out of place. This is proper honest music from the streets with absolutely no fakery.
The songs on offer are extremely powerful and if you need verification of this you can check out the video for ‘I Heard’ online, which is excellent. So hats off to Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and ‘G’ Hastings who form the Young Fathers for delivering a fine album worthy of anyone’s time and attention.
Young Fathers are a band that I could imagine closing massive festivals with 80,000 people singing along to ‘Come To Life’. The guys also have a few nationwide dates lined up and again I would urge you to catch ‘em if you can as I would say that Young Fathers live experience would be just as great an experience as the this record is. Tape Two is the finest thing to come out of Edinburgh since Trainspotting.
