LEADING Scottish emcee Loki had a point during his SAY Awards performance last week when he sarcastically observed that “Scottish hip hop has now been declared a real thing by the cultural blogosphere”.

The likes of Gasp & Physiks may not be riding the same waves of success as Stanley Odd or Hector Bizerk, but they’re no less talented. Their new single Rosie is vintage hip hop in a very Scottish sense, as the two rappers exchange reflective rhymes about poisonous relationships over a jazzy boom bap beat.

You can catch Gasp & Physiks at the Audio Soup Festival in Dunbar on July 18.

Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke is used to working with better known rappers – Kanye West, Drake and Pusha T have been amongst his clients in recent years.

His latest track Resistance features hotly tipped R&B singer Jhene Aiko, and is epic in scope to say the least. HudMo, as he is now colloquially known to his international fanbase, contributes an archetypical jagged rhythm.

Though her lyrics are somewhat shallow, Aiko proves a revelation. Her passionate vocals prove to be the perfect counterpoint to her glitch terrain.

At the other end of the scale, pianist and all-round purveyor of modern classical Andrew Skeet may be one to watch in 2015. The 46-year-old has been composing, arranging and conducting music for his entire life, but Sony have now given him the opportunity to release a solo debut album of his own.

Setting Out suggests Skeet’s debut will be very much in the same vein as contemporaries Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm. The single is unapologetic in its emotive excesses as piano tinkles over a heart-rending strings section providing harmonies.

Outside the UK, the French new wave revival shows no signs of stopping as early pioneer Colder has returned with his first single in ten years.

The reclusive producer is aptly named; his new single Turn Your Back is icy and disorientating. Nonchalant post-punk vocals echo around a forbidding synth-led soundscape while an ominous piano phrase repeats in the background.

Singles from Air Bag One, Madeon and M83 demonstrates that 80s synth pop revivalism is still a trend on the continent, but Colder is still more Joy Division than Cyndi Lauper.