East Coast Aesthetics: Penpushers, Swingingman Records, Sweet E & ODC Get Serious

4-man crew Penpushers (MCs Lifeboy and Obsolete, and DJs The Brain and Dr Hands Zharkov) are reluctant to categorise themselves as a hip-hop act. Their new LP 'Poltergeeks' is a quiet masterpiece with some really dark corners, brightened by the presence of new member Jane Gilbert, also heard on Livesciences' debut. "We are not really genre-conscious like other bands," says producer The Brain. "We might record some airy-fairy guitar one day and something hard and dark the next, maybe drum and bass. A lot of hip-hop bands will be in the studio, someone will come up with a beat, and everyone will be like: 'Oh that's not hip-hop, can't do that, that's too weird…' We're not so much advertising ourselves as a non-genre band, it's just that we don't like to have descriptions applied to the music."

"As soon as you pigeonhole us, we're fucked," says lyricist Lifeboy. "Simple as that. Record stores have Genre X labels, and once they've stuck you in there, that's where you stay."

'Poltergeeks' is an album that moves away from the Anticon territory of their previous work, to a more song-based approach. The lyrics are a portentous mix of dystopian imagery and classical allusions, Lifeboy quoting Yeats on lead single Breathe Deeply. "We've always had tunes where we were Zen Masters, like 'Ohhhm' and met each other on a higher plane," muses Lifeboy, "but with Poltergeeks, a lot more real feeling went into it, rather than just taking you off on another bizarre journey, which was kind of our trademark on tunes like Ugly Tree."

The Brain chips in: "Everybody's afraid of the future, but not that many people admit it. Maybe it's the weather. If we all moved to Hawaii we would make a soft rock album or a funky house album, I'd be singing…"

"We could go ahead and write that tune that all the B-Boys are going to like, and walk around with our jeans hanging off our arses and all of that shit, but for me it's not fulfilling," says Lifeboy. "You have to dig a little bit deeper."

"In Germany you will not find us in the hip-hop section of the music store, we are in Electronica, or Leftfield, or Rock & Pop. Rock & Pop suits us better than hip-hop," protests The Brain. Despite this, Penpushers are perhaps the most critically respected hip-hop exports from Scotland. 'Poltergeeks', whether they like the pigeonhole or not, is a great hip-hop album – full of intelligent and challenging rhymes and moody, atmospheric beats and textures. Who cares if you can't dance to it? In terms of conceptual ambition and musical experimentation, Penpushers lead the pack.

Are there really too many rappers and not enough beats, as Edinburgh-based Sweet E and ODC claim? The brother and sister partnership have been making music for nigh on ten years. Early influences came from their mother, and her love for the soulful sounds of Marvin Gaye and gospel music. As Sweet E sees it; "Music as we know it comes from church; from Africa through slavery and interpreted over centuries to what we have today – it is the very essence of music." While studying in the USA, Sweet E supported Naughty By Nature, The Roots and MC Solaar. A stint in London paid off, and soon she and ODC were securing support slots with artists like Roots Manuva and Skinnyman.

Did they find it difficult to enter the hip hop scene with Scottish accents in a largely Americanized genre? "It depends where you're from," replies Sweet E. "People get used to the accent. We have been all over the UK dropping tracks, and with the Scots accents our music is unique and eclectic – almost like watching River City for the first time! It's like nothing you've ever heard."

"If you hear our music, the consciousness and future relevance of it, it's not just music we're making. We talk about the apocalyptic situation that we're in, as people and as a human race. We try to help out with our immediate community, hoping that this can spark off a chain reaction to help the next person, and the next. We aren't materialistic in our determination for success, but at the same time we do want to be rewarded for what we do." That may not be far away; as rumour has it that Mos Def's manager has been taking an interest. Intelligence and strong will make Sweet E and ODC major contenders to break Scottish hip-hop abroad and elsewhere in the UK.

It's been all quiet on the FBC (AKA Fountainbridge Collective) front for the last year or so, until Norton & Solenoid returned from a jaunt in Copenhagen, visiting founder member and producer Boogie B Rhomboid. The fruits of this visit can be heard on the new EP 'Welcome to Jazz Club', under the FB boys new moniker The Landing Party. It is the first EP on their new label Swingingman.

A more light-hearted approach is evident, particularly on the lead track: "I guess because we were abroad, having fun, it just felt more laid-back," says Norton amicably. "The name Swingingman came from a Black Flag album called 'My War'. Tells the story of a modern man driven to suicide: 'I'm the swinging man / And my feet never touch the ground.'" They may have lightened up, but they've not lost their punk approach to hip-hop.

New tracks from American signing VS Dot will follow The Landing Party's EP, and FBC themselves will be supporting Souls of Mischief at Cabaret Voltaire on October 28. I ask how much support FBC have got from local media and radio: "It ain't constant, but they show us interest, it's up to us to keep giving them new stuff to play. Any urban artist north of Birmingham needs more coverage. Swingingman is gonna keep pumping out quality releases; we ain't looking to have a huge stable, but consistent quality from folk you can rely on to have something interesting to say, and to say it with gusto."