Various - A Sort of Homecoming: The Best of New Scottish Music

Billing itself as an alternative take on this year’s Homecoming celebrations, Fourtrak’s opportunistic collection of new Scottish talent is disappointingly prosaic. Aside from giving fledging artists an introductory outlet (an endeavour to be celebrated as often as possible), there’s little to recommend it as a complete package, the chaff severely outweighing the wheat across its 21 tracks. But while sifting through the likes of Chomsky All-Stars (who loftily claim Noam Chomsky as an influence but sound like the greatest hits of Every Pub Band You’ve Ever Ignored) is tiresome, several artists deserve the attention: Odeon Beatclub continue to hover just outside the mainstream but prove again they have the chops to cross over; Iain Shaw matches typically oddball David Shrigley lyrics to a suitably simple melody; and Souvenir Issue resurrect resilient, rough-hewn indie-pop smarts. Though unpalatable en masse, cautious cherry-picking through iTunes might yield one or two fresh discoveries.