Stanley Odd – Pure Anti-hero Material EP

The Odd Squad's debut Oddio showed promise: Solareye's direct, witty, well-constructed flows meshed well with the funk-jazz stylings of the band, and Veronica Electronica's vocals added a welcome dash of soul. Live, the band are Scotland's answer to The Roots, as anyone who has seen them destroy King Tut's, or causing moshpits at the T Break stage will tell you.

At times Oddio didn't quite match that, but Pure Anti-hero Material ups the ante considerably. The Oddyssey is chopped and screwed electrofunk, Sonarcotics is a dubbed out epic, The Controller plays with crunchy 8-bit, while the savage, heartfelt Letter To A Critic describes the architecture of Scotland's still nascent hip-hop scene. In a sane world, Stanley Odd would be way more popular than Snow Patrol. [Bram E Gieben]