It's no secret that we're major fans of Young Fathers over here at Lodown. After two rather brilliant EPs for anticon they're about to release their highly anticipated longplayer - “Dead“, out on January 31st via Big Dada - so let's find out what our man RNK had to say about it...

Those two “Tapes” for Anticon were enough to make our hands sweaty with anticipation for this one, and if those EPs were forward-thinking and outside-the-box and crazy and so much better than any kind of hip-hop (if you can still call it that) we’d have expected from Scotland, “Dead”, the trio’s proper debut album for Big Dada is the kind of banger that flies straight off the map: setting sails in what appears to be rather a galley of sound than a classic studio, the three Fathers tweak knobs, clap, chant, rap, sing, wail, fall, stand up again, raise fists, bounce, and row further and further out into an ocean of angst and pure, unfiltered willingness to express anything and everything as if their lives depended on it. So self-assured and outspoken and gutsy it hurts, the rugged, crazy, tribal energy is literally everywhere now, up in the skies and waiting behind every corner, coming down hard in tracks that range from riot vibes to fuzz-fueled apocalyptic street scenes with blood flowing while sweet-sung lullabies can be overheard from the window above. In other words, Edinburgh’s G, Alloysious and Kayus are about as “dead” as De La Soul were when they released their 1991 album – and you can tell these guys have only just begun: The Scottish Armada is finally (sonically) marching back to the motherland, and we’ve long surrendered and succumbed to their deadly sweet sting.