Reject

(Circular)

Known for their blistering live shows, six-strong Edinburgh-based hip-hop collective Stanley Odd are proving no slouches in the studio either. Since their 2010 album debut, Oddio, they've put out three EPs and now release their second long-player. Eloquent, literate and unashamed of displaying his learning, rapper Solareye leads the charge, with the tight band bringing sonic muscle in the form of live drums, keys, guitars and samples, while vocalist Veronika Electronica adds texture to the relentless flow in the form of sung choruses. But it's the lyrics that make it. On Marriage Counselling, styled as an exchange of letters between "Caledonia" and "Britannia", Solareye comes close to genius with references to Greece and financial crisis. Elsewhere Edinburgh's tram fiasco is mentioned and, on Antiheroics, former health secretary Andrew Lansley is given a brief verbal doing. "Of course you're being watched, it's a statement of fact," Solareye raps at one point, "but putting an X in the box means you're watching back." It's conscious hip-hop with a tartan lick and a modern Scottish sensibility – and what a winning mix that is.

Barry Didcock