Cadence Weapon, Afterparty Babies

Hip-hop's sacred dictum, "keep it real", is easier to follow if you're a former crack dealer from Baltimore than an erstwhile journalist and techno fan from Alberta, Canada, but Rollie "Cadence Weapon" Pemberton's second album owes much of its charm to his confidence to be exactly who he is. Inspired by a summer hanging out in Edmonton, Afterparty Babies examines heartbreak, parties and try-hard hipsters to a frantic soundtrack of unpredictable techno collages that could slot into a DJ set by Basement Jaxx or Justice. Although he drops references to Ian Curtis and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, and playfully rhymes the Wire (magazine) with The Wire (TV show), Pemberton doesn't strain to impress. He doesn't need to: his darting intelligence and racing imagination are evident in every line.