Scottish trio Young Fathers were the surprise winner of the Mercury Prize, Britain's premier music award, in 2014. That evening the group did as much as possible to alienate the general public. The word of thanks from the sullen-looking band members after the ceremony was as short as possible. The performance earlier in the evening was full of chaotic time signatures, stuttering rap lyrics and a
… flickering stroboscope. A cross company, but that was also heard on the award-winning album Dead (2014). The ambitious trio seems determined to push their musical boundaries on the tantalizing album White Men Are Black Men Too. The songs are stacked in different layers in which all the sounds bubble up. Sometimes a beautiful melody line, but just as often seemingly randomly chosen sounds like the ringing bicycle bells in Old Rock N Roll. In terms of sound, Young Fathers in 2015 seem to be closer to elusive indie rock than to the hip-hop of their youth. Regardless, both hip hop and indie rarely sounded so adventurous. (PdK)more
