Stanley Odd

'social observations with gentle grooves and excellent live musicianship, creating a mix which should be on everyone’s iPod.'

Olaf Furniss - The Scotsman

'social observations with gentle grooves and excellent live musicianship, creating a mix which should be on everyone’s iPod.'

Olaf Furniss - The Scotsman

This article originally appeared in The Herald Newspaper (Scotland) on September 20, 2012, under the headline CHANGING ATTITUDES WITH A HIP-HOP UPRISING.

According to the cyber oracle of hipster lingo that is the Urban Dictionary, a “Hector” is an intelligent man who is unafraid to show his feelings. Its compilers may wish to apply an addendum: a “Hector Bizerk” is a brilliant Glasgow art-rap deuce, starring lyrical livewire Louie Deadlife and precision drummer Audrey Tait.

While Hector Bizerk represent the stripped-back, experimental vanguard of West Coast (Scotland) hip-hop, Edinburgh six-strong rap ensemble Stanley Odd are more lavish and pop-fuelled but no less thrilling. That these two outfits sound so different is cause for celebration: their divergence reflects the country’s thriving yet disparate hip-hop uprising.

There are commonalities too, between Hector Bizerk and Stanley Odd. They’ve both just released excellent albums, for starters, and they both explore styles and themes that accentuate the import of indigenous hip-hop: they rhyme in local accents; their songs have humour, social clout and political acuity; they skewer rap clichés viz bling, guns and misogyny with introspection, realism and satire.

Both acts are compelling on non-hip-hop stages, too: they’ve both played T in the Park; Stanley Odd performed at Celtic Connections, and Hector Bizerk shared a bill with Remember Remember and Alasdair Roberts at Glasgow’s recent Music Language festival.

“It’s our responsibility to try and win over different audiences,” offers Louie of Hector Bizerk’s eclectic appeal, which owes as much to (post) punk ideology – social diatribes, DIY ethic, primal rhythms, avant-pop – as it does to hip-hop. “Audrey’s always played in bands, and I’ve been rapping for years [he formed the Deadlife Crew, runs the Loosely Speaking rap battles and collaborated with MC / beatboxer Bigg Taj on last year’s arresting Paranoise album]. We got together to push one another – to focus on the rhythm of rap and the rhythm of drums and try to get a message across that way.”

What’s particularly striking about the duo is that they both seem to lead, without ever overpowering each other. Tait’s beats fire-up Louie’s rhymes but, critically – note the gender (re)balance – he sings to the beat of her drum.

Hector Bizerk just self-released their terrific debut, Drums. Rap. Yes., which is not so much a title as a manifesto: the album exploits minimal tools for maximum impact. Louie shines a light on the duo’s meticulous process by discussing Burst Love, the first song they wrote. “Audrey had ideas for various rhythms, and I tried to match words and syllables with hits on the drums,” he explains.

“It was interesting from a writing perspective, to be so focused on how regimented the flow, and the sound, of the words had to be. I’ve also learned so much about tone and song dynamics in the twenty months we’ve been doing Hector Bizerk, and I think that’s really exciting – understanding how to build a crescendo and come back down. That’s really propelled us.”

Louie’s enthralling, melodic flow is packed with Royston, Glasgow patois. “I’ve found my accent and colloquialisms to be advantageous,” he suggests. “We can rhyme words that people in the south of England don’t know or don’t understand. I think that’s pretty cool – it’s almost like we’ve got exclusivity on some words.”

Stanley Odd’s MC Dave “Solareye” Hook also nods to Scottish rap’s significance in a folk context – it upholds and advances oral traditions; preserves and re-animates dialect. “I’ve ranted to people about this a lot in the past, and in a way our Celtic Connections show validated that,” he offers. “It’s got real common themes with folk – it’s about storytelling, local language, social commentary, all that stuff.”

Stanley Odd are also hugely pop-friendly: their ace new single, Killergram, suggests they’re in with a convincing shot at commercial success (or at least, they should be), and there’s a rousing dynamic between Hook’s rhymes and singer Veronika Electronika’s choruses. But the outfit confound the norm at every turn: they’re a Scottish live band with a rapper; they’re a hip-hop group with acoustic instruments; they employ hip-hop’s chop-and-remix methodology, and then have to (re)learn how to play their songs live. Little wonder their new (second) LP is called Reject.

“It’s a collection of stories about rejects and rejection, about not necessarily accepting things at face value,” says Hook. “Everyone can identify with that sense of feeling out of place, and I think our material has always had a kind of outsider theme to it. Whenever we play festivals, the first thing people say when they come up to us is, ‘I don’t like hip-hop, but-’” he laughs.

Stanley Odd are easy to love and lots of fun (especially live), but don’t be misled: their songs are seriously clever and politically resonant – Thatcher and Clegg receive dressing-downs - The Herald

This article originally appeared in The Herald Newspaper (Scotland) on September 20, 2012, under the headline CHANGING ATTITUDES WITH A HIP-HOP UPRISING.

According to the cyber oracle of hipster lingo that is the Urban Dictionary, a “Hector” is an intelligent man who is unafraid to show his feelings. Its compilers may wish to apply an addendum: a “Hector Bizerk” is a brilliant Glasgow art-rap deuce, starring lyrical livewire Louie Deadlife and precision drummer Audrey Tait.

While Hector Bizerk represent the stripped-back, experimental vanguard of West Coast (Scotland) hip-hop, Edinburgh six-strong rap ensemble Stanley Odd are more lavish and pop-fuelled but no less thrilling. That these two outfits sound so different is cause for celebration: their divergence reflects the country’s thriving yet disparate hip-hop uprising.

There are commonalities too, between Hector Bizerk and Stanley Odd. They’ve both just released excellent albums, for starters, and they both explore styles and themes that accentuate the import of indigenous hip-hop: they rhyme in local accents; their songs have humour, social clout and political acuity; they skewer rap clichés viz bling, guns and misogyny with introspection, realism and satire.

Both acts are compelling on non-hip-hop stages, too: they’ve both played T in the Park; Stanley Odd performed at Celtic Connections, and Hector Bizerk shared a bill with Remember Remember and Alasdair Roberts at Glasgow’s recent Music Language festival.

“It’s our responsibility to try and win over different audiences,” offers Louie of Hector Bizerk’s eclectic appeal, which owes as much to (post) punk ideology – social diatribes, DIY ethic, primal rhythms, avant-pop – as it does to hip-hop. “Audrey’s always played in bands, and I’ve been rapping for years [he formed the Deadlife Crew, runs the Loosely Speaking rap battles and collaborated with MC / beatboxer Bigg Taj on last year’s arresting Paranoise album]. We got together to push one another – to focus on the rhythm of rap and the rhythm of drums and try to get a message across that way.”

What’s particularly striking about the duo is that they both seem to lead, without ever overpowering each other. Tait’s beats fire-up Louie’s rhymes but, critically – note the gender (re)balance – he sings to the beat of her drum.

Hector Bizerk just self-released their terrific debut, Drums. Rap. Yes., which is not so much a title as a manifesto: the album exploits minimal tools for maximum impact. Louie shines a light on the duo’s meticulous process by discussing Burst Love, the first song they wrote. “Audrey had ideas for various rhythms, and I tried to match words and syllables with hits on the drums,” he explains.

“It was interesting from a writing perspective, to be so focused on how regimented the flow, and the sound, of the words had to be. I’ve also learned so much about tone and song dynamics in the twenty months we’ve been doing Hector Bizerk, and I think that’s really exciting – understanding how to build a crescendo and come back down. That’s really propelled us.”

Louie’s enthralling, melodic flow is packed with Royston, Glasgow patois. “I’ve found my accent and colloquialisms to be advantageous,” he suggests. “We can rhyme words that people in the south of England don’t know or don’t understand. I think that’s pretty cool – it’s almost like we’ve got exclusivity on some words.”

Stanley Odd’s MC Dave “Solareye” Hook also nods to Scottish rap’s significance in a folk context – it upholds and advances oral traditions; preserves and re-animates dialect. “I’ve ranted to people about this a lot in the past, and in a way our Celtic Connections show validated that,” he offers. “It’s got real common themes with folk – it’s about storytelling, local language, social commentary, all that stuff.”

Stanley Odd are also hugely pop-friendly: their ace new single, Killergram, suggests they’re in with a convincing shot at commercial success (or at least, they should be), and there’s a rousing dynamic between Hook’s rhymes and singer Veronika Electronika’s choruses. But the outfit confound the norm at every turn: they’re a Scottish live band with a rapper; they’re a hip-hop group with acoustic instruments; they employ hip-hop’s chop-and-remix methodology, and then have to (re)learn how to play their songs live. Little wonder their new (second) LP is called Reject.

“It’s a collection of stories about rejects and rejection, about not necessarily accepting things at face value,” says Hook. “Everyone can identify with that sense of feeling out of place, and I think our material has always had a kind of outsider theme to it. Whenever we play festivals, the first thing people say when they come up to us is, ‘I don’t like hip-hop, but-’” he laughs.

Stanley Odd are easy to love and lots of fun (especially live), but don’t be misled: their songs are seriously clever and politically resonant – Thatcher and Clegg receive dressing-downs - The Herald

Edinburgh six-strong hip hop ensemble Stanley Odd are the first to acknowledge that their debut album, Oddio (2010), was not hugely forward-looking in its sound, and it’s this sonic volte-face, teamed with MC Dave ‘Solareye’ Hook’s electrifying socio-political and self-reflective rhymes, that make its follow-up so arresting.

It’s easy to fall for Reject’s melodies, beats, piano sweeps and vivid production (the band chopped and remixed every song, and this hip hop methodology has reinvigorated their sound and narratives): musically, it’s as pop-orientated a rap album as you could hope for, in no small part thanks to vocalist Veronika Electronika’s terrific choruses. But its real sucker-punches come in Solareye’s cerebral diatribes, from (anti)nationalist soap opera(p) ‘Marriage Counselling’ to the spectacular, vote-promoting ‘Antiheroics’. - The List

Stanley Odd, the Edinburgh based alternative hip-hop band who suffuse live instrumentation with samples and loops have an new album due for release in a fortnight which Joe Whyte’s been listening to. See what he thinks about it below.

Sometimes the most punk rock things you hear aren’t punk rock as we know it. Forget the buzzsaw guitars, the shouty chorus, the same-old-lyrics-about-the-government blah blah blah.

Stanley Odd are an Edinburgh-based hip hop collective who use real instruments to make some of the most original music you’ll hear this year. They loop and sample themselves, live and in the studio, to concoct a stew of seething beats & pulsing swoops of sound and lyrics that mix humour, pathos and searing political comment in colloquialisms that the characters from Trainspotting might recognise.

Album opener This Is Stanley Odd has the dreamy vocals of backing singer Veronica sweetening the lyrics of rapper Davie as he declaims the state of the nation against a musical backdrop that recalls some of Gil Scott-Heron’s punchier moments. There’s a taste of post-millennial angst to the downbeat pulse of Antiheroics. Davie’s rhymes add a certain damaged syncopation to the minimal bleeps and looping bassline. Words that bring home the global meltdown in real terms are suffused with a certain swagger and self-effacing humour that we Scots refer to as gallus.

New single Killergram (see below) takes the gangster rap clichÃ?©s and rips them a new one. All you posturing wannabe thug-life-lite scenesters better take cover. This one’s about you.

Stanley Odd: Reject – album review
Posted on September 2, 2012 by Joe Whyte

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Stanley Odd: Reject (Glasswerk)
CD/DL/LP
Out: 17 September 2012

Stanley Odd, the Edinburgh based alternative hip-hop band who suffuse live instrumentation with samples and loops have an new album due for release in a fortnight which Joe Whyte’s been listening to. See what he thinks about it below.

Sometimes the most punk rock things you hear aren’t punk rock as we know it. Forget the buzzsaw guitars, the shouty chorus, the same-old-lyrics-about-the-government blah blah blah.

Stanley Odd are an Edinburgh-based hip hop collective who use real instruments to make some of the most original music you’ll hear this year. They loop and sample themselves, live and in the studio, to concoct a stew of seething beats & pulsing swoops of sound and lyrics that mix humour, pathos and searing political comment in colloquialisms that the characters from Trainspotting might recognise.

Album opener This Is Stanley Odd has the dreamy vocals of backing singer Veronica sweetening the lyrics of rapper Davie as he declaims the state of the nation against a musical backdrop that recalls some of Gil Scott-Heron’s punchier moments. There’s a taste of post-millennial angst to the downbeat pulse of Antiheroics. Davie’s rhymes add a certain damaged syncopation to the minimal bleeps and looping bassline. Words that bring home the global meltdown in real terms are suffused with a certain swagger and self-effacing humour that we Scots refer to as gallus.

New single Killergram (see below) takes the gangster rap clichÃ?©s and rips them a new one. All you posturing wannabe thug-life-lite scenesters better take cover. This one’s about you.



“Modelling a tough rep, probably sleep in bunk beds”Â?, rapid fires Davie. There’s nowhere to hide from a tongue this sharp.

The Counsellor’s Waiting Room sees jazzy guitar, keys and drums mine a Jimmy Smith vibe before leading into Marriage Counselling, a treatise on Scotland’s failed relationship with our Westminster cousins.

I’m pretty sure NWA or Eminem never released anything quite this wordy, clever and downright funny. It’s acute, well-observed and incisive.

I Don’t Believe You is something of a mission statement from Stanley Odd.

They’re the children of 21st Century Caledonia and although they don’t like much about their surroundings, they can find the beauty and humour in the most mundane.

Stanley Odd are that rarest of beasts. Whip smart, dangerous, danceable and good fun too.

Forget the Cockney ones. Join the real Rejects.

Stanley Odd’s website is here. They are also on Twitter as @StanleyOdd, href=”https://www.facebook.com/stanleyodd” target=”_blank”>Facebook & Soundcloud.

- See more at: http://louderthanwar.com/stanley-odd-reject-album-review/#sthash.tLubsCsm.dpuf - Louder That War

A grey bearded old man writes.
Being a self-confessed musical purist (aka snob), I’ve always classified rap and hop-hop as belonging purely to its originators in the world of African American music. In my mind the transition from Gil Scot Heron, Afrika Bambata, Grandmaster Flash to Public Enemy created and solidified ownership to the genre in much the same way as Robert Johnson owned the blues and Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker and Miles Davis towered above jazz.
These firm convictions were on shaky ground when I first heard hip hop being used as a voice to vent rage against the discord and mistreatment of the young Africans and Arabs of the banlieu in Paris. Sadly whilst artists like MC Solaar, Haroun and Assassin were defending the oppressed and the impoverished of France, in the USA, artists led by Black owned labels took this vital form of defending the poorest in society and turned it into self-aggrandising mince about ‘gangsters’, ‘hoes’ and ‘bling’.
The onset of white ghetto kids adopting Black culture reminds me of August Darnell of ‘Kid Creole and the Coconuts’, who at the height of his global fame in the 1980’s (and probably with an eye on a headline) opined, that such was the imbalance between the races, that if resurrected, he’d ‘rather come back as a white woman than a black man’. It was through that prism that I disdainfully view just about every white kid sporting one of those special baseball caps that only fit on the side of the head…
Sure there are articulate powerful white hip hop artists like Aesop Rock, Die Antwoord, Chris Palko, The Streets, the white albino Brother Ali and the fun-tastic House of Pain, that I defy even the most static of us to not jump around to, but like I say white Hip hop didn’t really speak to me or my generation of the new fogeys.
So safe behind my clamped lugs and closed mind I simply ignored white hip hop.
Well, that is, until a couple of years ago, when I heard a tune on the CD that ‘Dad rock’ magazine The Word used to give away to entice former hipsters into believing they still had ‘it’.
It was a song rapped in a Scottish accent about a young man planning to save the world from all its ills, if only he could be arsed getting out of bed… he couldn’t. I loved it, it was funny, clever and spoke of the slacker generation who have all the answers but would rather someone else made the effort. I stuck it in the car and occasionally it would pop up for three minutes of head nodding and a knowing appreciation.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago and an invite to the Wickerman festival. Not particularly fussed with the well-past-their-sell-by-date headliners Texas, I wandered up into the tents, noticed a name I had a passing familiarity with, almost imagining that this Stanley Odd feller was a crumbly old bloke churning out crusty sea shanties in a style not too dissimilar to the late Ivor Cutler model. So, in I wandered. Boom, a mass of jumping folk, men, women, kids, young, old, thin, fat, hairy and bald. All of them waving their hands in the air, as if indeed, they just did not care.
I made my way up front, whipped out the video camera and began recording the fervour. Totally converted to the wit of their lyric and the tight musicianship that kept the band powerful and energetic, I left the festival a happy bunny, got home and blogged about them straight away, particularly one song Winter of Discontent.

As songs go, this is a cry of frustration at the state of play between Scotland and Westminster, common media mistruths and the reality. To abuse the cliché, it fair blew my mind. Here was a young band articulating what the collective of pro-Independence minded Scots grind their teeth about every night after watching Newsnicht.
A few weeks later and what lands with a thud in my inbox? Their second album Reject. It’s laced with puns, play on words and phonetic combinations rarely found outside the Broons annual, alliterations, onomatopoeia and double entendre lyrics that’ll leave you snorting with laughter. There’s also the too clever by half, acrostic opening for the first song ‘This Is Stanley Odd.’ However, it does set the tone for an incredibly literate and clever album.
This album is a testament to inquiry. If you’re undecided on Independence and can’t seem to get your head around the pro or anti viewpoints, listen to this and hear Veronika Electronika and MC Solareye articulate the path we’re heading down.
The chances are that political junkies will scroll straight to Antiheroics and Marriage Counselling for their ideological fix, a couple of plays later with the lyric firmly embedded, I humbly suggest that they listen to the rest of the album with the same attention to detail. There are songs about wannabe gangsters, early morning love, an homage to club life and the beauty of the rejected.
For the politically hungry here is the lyric to Marriage Counselling. It’s a dialogue between Caledonia and Britannia done via an exchange of feelings, fac - National Collective

A grey bearded old man writes.
Being a self-confessed musical purist (aka snob), I’ve always classified rap and hop-hop as belonging purely to its originators in the world of African American music. In my mind the transition from Gil Scot Heron, Afrika Bambata, Grandmaster Flash to Public Enemy created and solidified ownership to the genre in much the same way as Robert Johnson owned the blues and Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker and Miles Davis towered above jazz.
These firm convictions were on shaky ground when I first heard hip hop being used as a voice to vent rage against the discord and mistreatment of the young Africans and Arabs of the banlieu in Paris. Sadly whilst artists like MC Solaar, Haroun and Assassin were defending the oppressed and the impoverished of France, in the USA, artists led by Black owned labels took this vital form of defending the poorest in society and turned it into self-aggrandising mince about ‘gangsters’, ‘hoes’ and ‘bling’.
The onset of white ghetto kids adopting Black culture reminds me of August Darnell of ‘Kid Creole and the Coconuts’, who at the height of his global fame in the 1980’s (and probably with an eye on a headline) opined, that such was the imbalance between the races, that if resurrected, he’d ‘rather come back as a white woman than a black man’. It was through that prism that I disdainfully view just about every white kid sporting one of those special baseball caps that only fit on the side of the head…
Sure there are articulate powerful white hip hop artists like Aesop Rock, Die Antwoord, Chris Palko, The Streets, the white albino Brother Ali and the fun-tastic House of Pain, that I defy even the most static of us to not jump around to, but like I say white Hip hop didn’t really speak to me or my generation of the new fogeys.
So safe behind my clamped lugs and closed mind I simply ignored white hip hop.
Well, that is, until a couple of years ago, when I heard a tune on the CD that ‘Dad rock’ magazine The Word used to give away to entice former hipsters into believing they still had ‘it’.
It was a song rapped in a Scottish accent about a young man planning to save the world from all its ills, if only he could be arsed getting out of bed… he couldn’t. I loved it, it was funny, clever and spoke of the slacker generation who have all the answers but would rather someone else made the effort. I stuck it in the car and occasionally it would pop up for three minutes of head nodding and a knowing appreciation.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago and an invite to the Wickerman festival. Not particularly fussed with the well-past-their-sell-by-date headliners Texas, I wandered up into the tents, noticed a name I had a passing familiarity with, almost imagining that this Stanley Odd feller was a crumbly old bloke churning out crusty sea shanties in a style not too dissimilar to the late Ivor Cutler model. So, in I wandered. Boom, a mass of jumping folk, men, women, kids, young, old, thin, fat, hairy and bald. All of them waving their hands in the air, as if indeed, they just did not care.
I made my way up front, whipped out the video camera and began recording the fervour. Totally converted to the wit of their lyric and the tight musicianship that kept the band powerful and energetic, I left the festival a happy bunny, got home and blogged about them straight away, particularly one song Winter of Discontent.

As songs go, this is a cry of frustration at the state of play between Scotland and Westminster, common media mistruths and the reality. To abuse the cliché, it fair blew my mind. Here was a young band articulating what the collective of pro-Independence minded Scots grind their teeth about every night after watching Newsnicht.
A few weeks later and what lands with a thud in my inbox? Their second album Reject. It’s laced with puns, play on words and phonetic combinations rarely found outside the Broons annual, alliterations, onomatopoeia and double entendre lyrics that’ll leave you snorting with laughter. There’s also the too clever by half, acrostic opening for the first song ‘This Is Stanley Odd.’ However, it does set the tone for an incredibly literate and clever album.
This album is a testament to inquiry. If you’re undecided on Independence and can’t seem to get your head around the pro or anti viewpoints, listen to this and hear Veronika Electronika and MC Solareye articulate the path we’re heading down.
The chances are that political junkies will scroll straight to Antiheroics and Marriage Counselling for their ideological fix, a couple of plays later with the lyric firmly embedded, I humbly suggest that they listen to the rest of the album with the same attention to detail. There are songs about wannabe gangsters, early morning love, an homage to club life and the beauty of the rejected.
For the politically hungry here is the lyric to Marriage Counselling. It’s a dialogue between Caledonia and Britannia done via an exchange of feelings, fac - National Collective

Stanley Odd's second full-length album is a step up from Oddio, building on the politicised, hook driven template they evolved on EPs Pure Antihero Material and The Day I Went Deaf. With an incendiary live reputation and a firm grip on songwriting, they're the most fully-formed band to emerge from Scotland's ever-burgeoning hip-hop scene in recent years.

Not quite every track on Reject hits the sweet spot, but the tight funk of Killergram, the infectious electronic pulse of dystopian anthem Will the Last One Left Please Turn Off the Light, the majestic, epic, string-led sweep of Carry Me Home and the bouncing, pitch-bent synth-funk of Get Out Ma Headspace showcase the band at their eccentric, accessible best. Solareye is a rapper with something to say, but his rhetoric never overshadows the super-tight band, or the smoky, soulful delivery of singer Veronika Elektronika. This is intelligent, polished home-grown hip-hop with broad appeal. - The Skinny

Scottish hip-hoppers Stanley Odd have become one of the major forces in the Scottish music scene. With two albums now under their belt, the band have gone from strength to strength, adding depth to their unique sound which stands out amongst a scene of far too many posers who lack any sort of originality. Instead, Stanley Odd provide a fun alternative, breaking free from the rap with Scottish accents novelty. Ahead of their headline show at the Oran Mor as part of the West End festival, we spoke to the band to get their thoughts on what has been exceptionally successful last year or so for them.

The suggestion of a fledgling Scottish hip-hop scene may have been laughed off a few years ago, but over the last year or so it has grown to one of the most vibrant scenes in Scotland with Stanley Odd at the forefront of it. Something which the band feel particularly proud being a part of - “Scottish hip-hop is in rude health right now. There is a raid of quality music being made... It feels like an excellent time to be involved in the genre”. The band specialise in fun, funky grooves which MC Solareye raps over - his lyrics providing witty, alternate takes on political misdemeanours and other social commentaries, managing to do so with enough humour without losing any intelligence or integrity. With so many elements making up the rainbow of sound that Stanley Odd create, it was intriguing to find out how the band went about writing songs and making music. “Our songwriting process is a bit convoluted but we find it to have benefits as far as trying to end up with something original”, Solareye explains. “In terms of the lyrics, I write on my iPhone as I walk about every day with headphones on, sometime you have a complete song in mind, other times it’s just a mishmash of ideas. For the music, we all demo beats on our own, then jam them into song structures. After that, we record them in the studio then chop them up and sample ourselves in traditional a hip-hop sampling style, then rebuild them again. Quite time consuming, but it helps to push you into other directions.”

Stanley Odd are becoming widely renowned for their energetic live shows, with audience participation and plenty of bouncing about encouraged. Chances are if you’ve seen the band live, you’ll be making immediate plans to see them again. This is something which the band acknowledge and seem (justifiably) proud of. “Sometimes it feels like we are at our most comfortable live”, the band state, “Everyone in the band really comes alive in a gig scenario. We are lucky to have a very engaging fanbase, who love to get involved and shout and bawl at live gigs, so we just try to make sure that our set has the right combination of high-energy, interaction and entertainment.” The high-energy is not short in supply at their Oran Mor gig where the band provide the perfect accompaniment to a crowd already buzzing after a full-throttle Hector Bizerk support slot (and perhaps having enjoyed a few too many cans of warm cider in the Botanic Gardens across the road) with every member of Stanley Odd singing and bouncing along with every word as if they were in the crowd themselves.

Earlier on this year the band explored new boundaries with their live set, playing with the Electric String Orchestra at Celtic Connections after the Cairn Quartet (part of the Electric String Orchestra) appeared on the band’s latest album ‘Reject’. A gig which the band say was “one of the best we have ever played – an amazing venue, outstanding audience and such a high to play the set with the orchestra”. Such a collaboration would be unthinkable to most acts of the same mould but the performance was delivered with such ease and prowess that they plan on doing it again as part of the Edinburgh Fringe festival with plans to work again in the future already in the pipeline with the potential of the Electric String Orchestra appearing on the next Stanley Odd record which is currently being written.

A massive 2012/13 was topped off by their latest release ‘Reject’ making the shortlist for the Scottish Album of the Year Award. Sticking out like a sore thumb amongst an already diverse range of genres, Stanley Odd have emerged as one of the hot tips for the award. The band themselves are modest about their nomination, saying they are “over the moon… In terms of winning – the entire longlist is awash with quality and diversity, just to be included in amongst all that is bananas.” However, come the 20th June when the winner is announced, they may well surprise everyone (including themselves) by leaving The Barrowlands with the award.

Not bad for a band who describe themselves as “Odd As Fuck”.

Stanley Odd play The Queens Hall on August 4th with the Electric String Orchestra as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. - Glasgow Music

This is my second live review of Stanley Odd, and seeing as the previous scored a solid 9/10, and this time was better, a perfect 10/10 is not only essential but justifiable – read on to see me try to do just that.

Quite a while before the gig was my first ever week of 9–5 employment, and immediately before it was some “socialist magic” courtesy of the thoroughly entertaining Ian Saville. So a Friday night in Edinburgh, seeing arguably “my new favourite band” was undoubtedly the highlight of my week. The occasion was made even more special as the show was: (a) part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; (b) a hometown show for the band; and (c) played with accompaniment from The Electric String Orchestra. Having missed the support act Paul Gilbody in favour of some magic tricks I arrived in the rather swish looking Queen’s Hall in time to see the lights dim and the eight piece string section open the night with a medley of excerpts from the songs to come.

As the eight ladies were joined by one more lady and the five men that make up the alt-hip hop outfit Stanley Odd, the show really kicked into gear with opener ‘THIS IS STANLEY ODD’. Having saw videos of the song performed with strings on the internet, my expectations were high and as with any live music; experiencing it in person is unbeatable. The tracks that really stuck out with the strings were ‘Carry Me Home’, which was recorded with strings on the album ‘Reject’, and the live feel really gave the song the emotion the lyrics try and invoke. ‘Get Out Ma Headspace’, and closer ‘Think Of A Number’ in stark contrast to that however were given a much chirpier edge by the strings.

Despite all the intensity; all the energy and whipping the crowd into a frenzy; all the lush composition and musicianship… the ultimate highlight of the night was frontman and MC Dave “Solareye” Hook’s a cappella version of ‘Marriage Counselling’ – with the half-hearted take on the Scottish independence debate generating the relevant boos and cheers after each line. The best of which had to be the rapturous response to “Your tram fiasco… way over budget” (it was Edinburgh after all), and an emotional Hook seemed on the edge of tears half way through the song, a touching sight to bring in the three song encore.

In conclusion, the band’s performance was nothing short of perfection. Providing all the grace and stage presence you can hope for, and even a slickly improvised free-style amidst the wall of beautiful noise produced by the fourteen individuals on stage for the best part of ninety minutes. Launching itself up there with my top gigs of all time, along with similar alt-hip hop/indie outfit The LaFontaines, is that just a coincidence? All I would suggest as an improvement is that, at sextet already, why not expand and incorporate some strings permanently? - Shout 4 Music

This is my second live review of Stanley Odd, and seeing as the previous scored a solid 9/10, and this time was better, a perfect 10/10 is not only essential but justifiable – read on to see me try to do just that.

Quite a while before the gig was my first ever week of 9–5 employment, and immediately before it was some “socialist magic” courtesy of the thoroughly entertaining Ian Saville. So a Friday night in Edinburgh, seeing arguably “my new favourite band” was undoubtedly the highlight of my week. The occasion was made even more special as the show was: (a) part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; (b) a hometown show for the band; and (c) played with accompaniment from The Electric String Orchestra. Having missed the support act Paul Gilbody in favour of some magic tricks I arrived in the rather swish looking Queen’s Hall in time to see the lights dim and the eight piece string section open the night with a medley of excerpts from the songs to come.

As the eight ladies were joined by one more lady and the five men that make up the alt-hip hop outfit Stanley Odd, the show really kicked into gear with opener ‘THIS IS STANLEY ODD’. Having saw videos of the song performed with strings on the internet, my expectations were high and as with any live music; experiencing it in person is unbeatable. The tracks that really stuck out with the strings were ‘Carry Me Home’, which was recorded with strings on the album ‘Reject’, and the live feel really gave the song the emotion the lyrics try and invoke. ‘Get Out Ma Headspace’, and closer ‘Think Of A Number’ in stark contrast to that however were given a much chirpier edge by the strings.

Despite all the intensity; all the energy and whipping the crowd into a frenzy; all the lush composition and musicianship… the ultimate highlight of the night was frontman and MC Dave “Solareye” Hook’s a cappella version of ‘Marriage Counselling’ – with the half-hearted take on the Scottish independence debate generating the relevant boos and cheers after each line. The best of which had to be the rapturous response to “Your tram fiasco… way over budget” (it was Edinburgh after all), and an emotional Hook seemed on the edge of tears half way through the song, a touching sight to bring in the three song encore.

In conclusion, the band’s performance was nothing short of perfection. Providing all the grace and stage presence you can hope for, and even a slickly improvised free-style amidst the wall of beautiful noise produced by the fourteen individuals on stage for the best part of ninety minutes. Launching itself up there with my top gigs of all time, along with similar alt-hip hop/indie outfit The LaFontaines, is that just a coincidence? All I would suggest as an improvement is that, at sextet already, why not expand and incorporate some strings permanently? - Shout 4 Music

Alternative hip-hop act Stanley Odd won the opportunity to support The View at Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland’s Big Apple Award, following a brilliant live performance in front of a panel of music industry judges, at The Garage's G2 venue in December 2012.

Stanley Odd and The View will team up to play in some of the USA's most renowned music venues including Brighton Music Hall in Boston on April 5, Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, April 6 and the Bowery Ballroom in New York April 7.

Stanley Odd, who have been together for three years, released their debut album Oddio in 2010 and follow up 'Reject' in 2012 accompanied by a relentless schedule of live shows. The band have supported the likes of Arrested Development, Asian Dub Foundation, Sage Francis and Easy Star All-Stars, in amongst numerous headline appearances and UK festival slots including T in the Park, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, Belladrum, the Insider festival, Wickerman and Celtic Connections.

Solareye, Stanley Odd's MC said: "Going to New York, the home of hip-hop and getting to support The View in such classic venues as the Bowery Ballroom, Brighton Music Hall and Knitting Factory is an amazing opportunity for us. We are delighted to be contributing to Scotland Week 2013 and to be given the chance to represent Scotland at such a diverse celebration of Scottish art and culture. Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland is an extremely important and worthwhile charity and it is great that we are able to be involved."

Indie rockers The View, will head over to the USA at the end of February to kick-start the tour off in Seattle and perform in venues across America and Canada ahead of their three dates with Stanley Odd.

The View burst onto the music scene in 2005 with their debut album Hats Off To The Busker and since then have released three albums including Which Bitch?, Bread and Circuses and Cheeky For A Reason.

The View frontman Kyle Falconer said: "We're really excited about touring the United States, especially with the Stanley Odd crew. It's great to have a fellow Scottish band supporting us for a couple of dates. It's such a great opportunity for both of us, as we've not got much experience of playing to the American crowds, but hear they can throw a party, so watch out, The View are coming to rock."

Caroline Parkinson, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland on the Big Apple Awards. The Award was created to give a new emerging band an important showcase here in Scotland and in New York during Scotland Week 2013. This is a fantastic opportunity for Stanley Odd who I’m sure will make a big impression on the Big Apple.”

Donald MacLeod, Chairman of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland charity and owner of renowned live music venues The Garage and The Cathouse revealed: "Stanley Odd are a truly original band that have a very bright future ahead of them, everyone at Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland is thrilled that they will be representing the charity in the States this April. This is a fantastic opportunity for them to take their brand of Scottish hip-hop to the home of hip-hop, New York.”

NOTES:

The View will perform at the below dates, supported by Stanley Odd:
Brighton Music Hall - Boston, April 5
Knitting Factory - Brooklyn, April 6
Bowery Ballroom - New York, April 7
- Creative Scotland

Solareye can teach Caledonia and Britannia a thing or two about protest, writes Aidan Smith

BANG goes my great headline. I’d really wanted to meet ­Solareye in Edinburgh’s Morningside – for the hell of it but also for the uniqueness. How many rappers do you suppose pass though the ’hood of Jean Brodie? In the event, this one keeps right on going and we end up chatting over coffee in Bruntsfield, a little bit edgier though still not quite Compton.

By day, 34-year-old Dave Hook – his real name – lectures on the BA course in pop music at Edinburgh Napier University where one of his students has a vested interest in this week’s Scottish Album of the Year Award, having engineered Paul Buchanan’s Mid Air. Refined, stately, impeccable, it’s exactly the kind of record that gets nominated for prizes.

But Hook – by night leader of the hip-hop collective Stanley Odd – is in the running, too. He’s staggered they’ve made the short-list, doesn’t think Rejects has “a hope in hell” of winning, but will enjoy the night regardless. Just being mentioned in despatches is a terrific achievement for Scottish rap. Whoever thought that would take off?

Hook may not reckon much to his chances, but surely the judges won’t fail to be impressed by Rejects’ relevance to the here and now, its striving for a rhyme for “Alex Salmond”, its audacity in including epic tracks about independence, which by the way are the standouts? On Antiheroics, Solareye fires off loads of questions: “How can you support Tory Britain and Scottish Labour?… Are we oil-rich or a subsidised pet?… Rule Britannia, Cool Britannia, Cruel Britannia – do you want to stay the full Britannia?” Along with Salmond, Nick Clegg and UK Health Secretary Andrew Lansley get mentions and the stereo­typing of “sponging Scots”, the flow is cranked up for a roll-call of St Georges-waving skinheads, TOWIE-types and Tory toffs.

Meanwhile, Marriage Counselling is even better, with Scotland and England as clapped-out lovers trying to break up with each other by letter. “I used to make things, inventions, you curbed my creativity,” writes Caledonia, adding: “I’m a 1,000-year-old country/Surely I’m old enough to look after my own money.” In reply, Britannia apologises for being a bit neglectful and asks: “Weren’t we always good together?” But at the track’s end, Caledonia is being informed: “I’d be doing you a favour keeping you… the truth is you’d be nothing without me.”

In his shorts and T-shirt today, Hook resembles one of his students with not the slightest glint of hip-hop bling. He’s a modest fellow, happy his music is being heard, and shrugs when I compliment him for tackling an unsexy subject like independence and penning protest songs when few others are. “I don’t know why there aren’t more,” he says. “We all seem to be more comfortable now, and therefore apathetic. I thought the bedroom tax might become this era’s poll tax in terms of protest but it’s not really happened. Regarding independence, I’m still hopeful we’ll get some songs soon.”

It sounds, with his references to “my pal Alex”, that he’s pro it. “Well, ­people in the independence movement have asked me to get involved in the campaign, but really I’m undecided. I don’t like Westminster making decisions that affect Scotland alone and I’m also anti-Faslane, which would be reason to say Yes. But the financial implications I don’t understand. What happens to ­welfare, health care, pensions? In ­Marriage Counselling there’s another PS which goes: ‘Half of me doesn’t really want to leave you.’”

Encompassing a few different nationalities including Germany, Norway and Leith, Stanley Odd were founded on the course where Hook now tutors in sound engineering. If the politics gives the impression they might be hard work, you should know there’s a string-driven poppiness to the music, with soulful choruses from Veronika Electronika. And there’s humour too with copious mentions of maddies, bams, wide-os, lassies in trackies and lads in too-short trousers suggesting “yir cat’s deid”.

Rapping in the vernacular is part of keepin’ it real for Stanley Odd. Says Hook: “Even if we were interested in the aggressive posturing that’s in a lot of hip-hop, Scotland isn’t the kind of country where you can get very far pretending to be something you’re not. To me, songwriting is about telling stories and you can only properly tell them about the place you’re from, and in the voice you’ve got.”

Hook admits to being a bit obsessive about this. “I hate hearing people, and especially Scots, singing in a mid-Atlantic accent.” But if the voices travel in the other direction, it’s flattery. “The boys in Frightened Rabbit, who’ve got a good following in the States, told me there are young bands there who’re getting inspired by them and they’re imitating Scottish accents. That’s amazing.”

On Rejects Hook raps of a “triple life of work, band and wife”. That’s Stella who’s expecti - Scotland On Sunday / The Scotsman

Griff says; Here is the soundtrack!

It has been a recurring feature of these blog posts for both Gordon and I to ask; where is the soundtrack? ; specifically, where is the angry but expressive and meaningful music that articulates the feelings of a disaffected, disenfranchised youth during this time of ideologically imposed austerity for the weak, the poor and the powerless. We've asked, or alluded to, this question ‘here’, ‘here’, ‘here’ , ’here’and ’here’ in the last six months, and for a while we began to suspect that we might not get an answer and that we would have to fall back on the classic protest songs of our youth. I had previously hinted that the great white hope (if you'll excuse the term) might just be Scottish, outsider hip-hop crew, Stanley Odd (seen ’here’ recently on The Streetlamp). Their 2010 debut album, Oddio, had the beats, and the street-sharp lyrics were full of facetious scorn for vacuous modernity. Even when front-man Solareye reaches a pitch of righteous indignation, as evinced on songs such as Think of a Number (video below) and Winter of Discontent, there’s a certain quick-witted, measured coolness to it; this looked like the band I was praying for, but I had to be sure. Well folks, last night I went to see Stanley Odd playing live at the The Captain's Rest in Glasgow and now I am sure.



Stanley Odd could be the band who define 2011 in Scotland; and the beauty of it is, is that it will be on their own terms. This band are confident, bold and politically aware but, above all, they strike me as being fiercely, willfully independent. I may well be praying for a band who are just as musically righteous as they are politically but I strongly suspect that Stanley Odd don't play any one else's game but their own; and that's just how I'd want it to be. Live, the band are tight beyond belief, Solareye is all wiry, gallus energy; as eloquent and charismatic as you'd expect. The real revelation is Veronika. Her soulful vocals have always been the sweetener to Solareye's scathing rapping and, in a live setting, she really pulls it off; hitting every note, CD perfect, while playing the crowd to perfection with sweet smiles and cheeky winks. And this is a band who really engage with the crowd. For a moment, as we bounce madly along to their classic outsider anthem Ten to One, we really feel that we are 'all in this together' as the hideous Cameron might say. Well, fuck Cameron and fuck 'the new politics' of Clegg; we've got a new voice to rally behind.



So, do you want to get in on the ground-floor? Stanley Odd will be releasing a brand new EP Pure Antihero Material through Circular Records on Monday 21st February 2011. This is just the first of 3 EPs to be released in by the band this year, and will be available as a limited edition CD as well as a digital download. It can be ordered ’here’.
The track-listing is:
1. The Oddyssey (the video for which we featured previously ’here’)
2. SONARcotics
3. Winter of Discontent
4. The Controller
5. Letter to a Critic

These are five magnificently infectious grooves, fleshed out with some hard-riffing, sugared by Veronika Elektronica’s soulful vocals and absolutely bristling with pointed social and political commentary. As usual, the band manage to avoid falling into the trap of 'preaching' and the songs are all leavened with Solareye's trademark sly wit. My own favourite is undoubtedly Winter of Discontent (below) in which Solareye raps:

Listen, we’re in trouble kid,
In recession, and how did we discover it?
We were told by a Conservative government,
To take our worst expectations and double it.
Loan sharks circling and hovering,
Social unrest is bubbling,
Maggie’s back in Number 10,
And check the cold facts,
All we’re missing is the shoulder pads and the Poll Tax.
Nae jobs, thousands gettin’ laid off to save costs,
I’m wanting back to the future, Great Scott!
How do I know the economy’s affected?
For the first time in a decade we’ve got £10 eccies,
And to a government voters in the South elected,
We’re a nation of Begbies with wrecked teeth and webbed feet.
Park overnight and win four flat tyres,
As we tell stories round the chip-pan fires,
The economy’s two years behind the UK recovery,
It’s not feeling very Summery,
In summary; we’re heading for independence,
The election handed the union a death sentence,
If the SSP and Solidarity intervene with the SNP and The Greens,
Then its seems four weddings and a funeral for the Union Jack.

Amen to that! - The Streetlamp Doesn't Cast Her Shadow Anymore

Pure Anti Hero Material - Stanley Odd EP Review

Stanley Odd
Image: link
EP Review
This razor-sharp Edinburgh Hip-Hop collective are big on puns based around their band name; 2010's debut album 'Oddio' has been quickly followed by this EP which contains the track 'The Oddyssey' (a kind of hipper, wittier 'We Didn't Start the Fire' by Billy Joel that charts the major events, in their eyes, since that first release) and during the festive period they even had an 'Oddvent Calendar'.
Thankfully the finished results are far from 'oddious'. Lyrically they are adept at combining political stance ('Winter of Discontent') with bleak, kitchen sink dramas ('The Controller') that resonate across class and age. Musically they open themselves up to wide appreciation by their use of heavy riffs and deep grooves which mesh seamlessly with the insightful wordplay. If you stuck Alan Bennett, Irwin Walsh and Shaun Ryder in a blender this would be the result. As thoughtful and as fun as Scroobius Pip this is Hip-Hop that speaks to the masses and does it with a whole lotta funk.
I wonder if Bill Oddie is a fan?
Adrian Phillips - All Gigs

'Pure Antihero 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] - The Skinny

STANLEY ODD: ‘ Pure Anti Hero Material’ EP

*****

Hip-hop’s all about sex and violence and guns and gangbanging an’ stuff, right?

Hmmm. Maybe so in LA’s South Central, or Eastside…… but in Edinburgh it’s a little bit different. Staying true to their roots and rapping / singing about what they know, STANLEY ODD are six individuals with varied musical backgrounds, but with a common interest in the hip-hop style. They may be disaffected with certain political and social issues but choose not to convey their ire by bravado chest beating and advocating violence. Oh no, no, no.

Rather, they utilise the traditional, wry, dry, black sometimes self-deprecating Scottish sense of humour. That, and through the medium of vocalist Solareye’s pointed, observant lyrics and his expressive rapped delivery, creating hard-hitting, thought-provoking images in the mind of the listener.

Take ‘The Controller’ for example: the fourth of the five tracks on this EP lasts some five minutes and describes the obsessive ‘Game Controller’ as he moves the different ‘skill levels’ and phases of ‘the game.’ This dark portrayal draws parallels with real-life situations in the world today – drink and drug abuse leading to domestic violence; the loss of control leaving to suicide.

‘Letter To A Critic’ sees Solareye getting a few things off his chest with regard to how he sees others viewing STANLEY ODD, while the desolate imagery of ‘Sonarcotics’ tunes the listener’s mind to the horrors and loneliness of drugs and comparing and addict searching the next ‘fix’ to a record company looking for its next ‘hit.’ (I may be wrong in my interpretation, but it works for me anyway!) However, the song itself is ‘eased’ somewhat with the soulful singing of Veronika Electronika, and this is one of the reasons that STANLEY ODD rise above the plethora of other bands (hip-hop or otherwise) who use music as a means of conveying their beef with life in general.

You see, it’s not just about Solareye and his rhymes. Without the fantastic voice of Veronika to soften, but not dilute, the message STANLEY ODD would have to take their place in the queue of aspiring bands. Well, not quite……. without also the support of an absolutely tight, live band, who keep the programmed beats and effects to a minimum, then maybe they’d have to join that line.

So – back to the EP; ‘Winter Of Discontent’ makes its political comment without really adopting a preaching type of attitude. And even with a serious point to make, the band still incorporate little snippets of humour – listeners in Scotland especially will appreciate the subtle references to ‘taking it too far’ and Chewing the Fat.’

But just to prove to you that STANLEY ODD are far from ‘up themselves’ and in danger of becoming ensconced in a socio-political mire, I’ll leave you with the video of ‘The Oddyssey.’

They’re not all about flippant little issues and neither are STANLEY ODD all heavy about current affairs. They combine, they mix, they rap and they effin’ rock!

(The ‘Pure Anti Hero Material’ EP marks the first of three EPs to be released by the band in 2011. They feel that by releasing material in this way they will maintain a stronger connection with fans throughout the year as well as maintaining relevance with them. Speaking about the release of this particular EP, front-man Solareye says:

“…. At the end of the year, the three separate EPs will make one complete collection on the musings of STANLEY ODD through 2011. It also gives us an excuse to go on tour three times this year!”) - Loud Horizon

These Scottish hip-hop standard bearers sound much more relevant than the mighty Eminem, rapping stories that are social realism with a sense of humour and dance shoes.

Veronika Electronika has a Nu Yorican style that gives The Numbness or Get Out Of Bed a smooth edge, while reinforcing the humour: "Who in their right mind takes a horse tranquilliser? I wasn't in my right mind…"

The star of the show is Solareye. Delivery deadly, rhymes sublime. - Scotland On Sunday