A few weeks ago, Glasgow hip hop band Hector Bizerk looked totally the part onstage at the O2 ABC supporting Public Enemy.

This has been their breakthrough year, with second album Nobody Seen Nothing getting onto the SAY Award shortlist, and everything about this four-track EP is proof that they're growing and progressing with every new release. Their backbone remains the symphonic range of Audrey Tait's drumming and the fast-lane delivery of rapper Louie's street poetry, but increasingly Fraser Sneddon's bass is becoming a defining element in their sound and, arguably, the means by which they've stepped up a level. The Bigger Picture opens to a brass fanfare like a James Brown revue transported to the East End of Glasgow, BT Phone Home moves at a cocky rolling swing pace towards an apocalyptic synth chorus, Little Man Says sprinkles mariachi trumpets over a loose reggae skank, and the title track gives clear sight of the mature songwriting band Hector Bizerk will undoubtedly become. Seek it out.

Alan Morrison