The Best In New Music

Source: SoundCloud / Worship

Artist: Worship

Track: Leviathan

Worship are a dynamic trio creating fabulous Alternative Indie with elements of electronica and are producing an exceptional impact in the music world. There’s a lot of noise being made about these guys at the moment, being an extremely hotly tipped group of 2012. Once you’ve heard their music, you’ll sure to remember them, these guys are brilliant at what they do and music is certainly what they do best. They themselves describe their genre of music as Bewildermental; an extremely aptly titled genre for Worship.

Worship consists of members; Tim Alexander, Jordan Fish, Tom Mayo, hailing from Reading. The trio are returning after over 6 months out of the main spotlight, as they’ve been working on and composing their first full length album and from what we’ve already heard, it’s going to be one hell of an album and have been creating a sombre and catchy brand of atmospheric indie rock with the right amount of electronica blended into it.. Their first released demo; ‘In Our Blood’ in October 2009, instantly caused waves of excitement in the music industry and this was an insight of things to come for the group. After this there was immediate interest from various people in the music world and were asked to record at Radio 1 and then booked for 2010s Bestival. This instantaneous reaction obviously gave Worship the confidence to continue to show progression within themselves as a band and then went to Norway for a month to develop their song writing and hence penned a selection of fresh and electrifying tracks. Following the group’s success they subsequently toured the UK with such similarly exciting acts such as: Everything Everything, Dry The River and The Antlers. The guys have also played numerous festivals and even supported rock legends Primal Scream.

Since releasing their first demo Worship have regularly featured on various well known blogs and in publications such as Kerrang, The Guardian, The Independent and have had sporadic plays across Radio1 and Kerrang. Henceforth Worship have fully cemented themselves as ones to watch in the music scene.

Leviathan is the follow up single to the popular tracks: “Collateral” and “House of Glass”. Worship has kindly offered up this new track to the internet world for free download, free listening, a delightful bonus for fans of the band. This track is coming from their up and coming album; the name of which is yet to be announced. The track begins with Worship’s very own brand of mournful and atmospheric indie rock, with the delightful opening lyrics: ‘I can feel the ocean breathe slowly, it wraps its arms around me. Underneath these sheets, I found a world that I was sure I’d lost.’ Sung with dazzling poignancy by lead vocalist Tim Alexander. ‘Leviathan’ starts with a steady yet infectious beat and builds up slowly, gradually gaining tempo with electronica elements increasingly introduced. This trio hailing from Reading evoke extreme emotional potency and melodic tone throughout the track. And perfectly produce the balance between sombre and heart wrenching with incredibly joyous; which is a difficult feat to create, yet these guys manage to develop this seamlessly.

From the onset there’s an irresistibly interesting element to ‘Leviathan’ as they evidently portray their gloriously gloomy alternative indie rock, but then they faultlessly entwine tendencies of electronica making for an overall more exciting and enticing listening experience as Worship are masters at inspiring genre spanning music overflowing with gloomy exuberance and their very own intelligently innovative brand of despairing catchy atmospheric rock.

I absolutely love this track it evokes emotion within me and is instantaneously infectious, there’s brilliance filled within every layer of ‘Leviathan’; of which there’s a multitude of, pushing a dark collection of components with brief respites of the simple yet exceedingly effective notes of the piano composing a terrific basis of instrumentation and the main hook that is powerful and encapsulating and will still be playing in your head even once the song has ended. Ranging from upbeat jubilant moods all the way to darkly lyrical and reflective compositions painting a deep and rich picture of their individual brand of musical brilliance.

Reviewing and listening to ‘Leviathan’ by Worship has been a true delight and have become one of my current favourites. From start to finish their songs have an atmospheric synth base that is haunting to listen to, evoking various visual  whichever genre of music you love this band will have a great effect onto you, this track just gets under your skin and is contagious to the ears. There are certainly huge prospects on the horizon for this talented trio.

9/10

• Hiya guys, haven't posted any reviews in a while- just about to post one I've finished.
• Any exciting new music people have been listening to lately?? : ) x

Artist: Searching For Sylvia

Track: The Ladder from the EP The Ladder

Genre: Power Pop / Alt. Rock / Americana

Searching For Sylvia are an extremely talented and impressive group hailing from Rotherham, UK; not an overly glamorous base for the band having the rather dubious distinction of being one of the most deprived areas in the north of England, despite this the music generated from this part of the UK is delightfully positive and full of spark, associated with artists such as Joe Cocker, Def Leppard, Human League and other artists respectfully. The Alternative Rock / Americana style band echoes such acts such as Big Star, The Gin Blossoms, Teenage Fanclub and newer influences alike. The group consists of members; Pete Sheldon playing Guitars and Lead Vocals, Andy Hartley on Bass and Vocals, Ian Higginbottom on Guitar and also on Vocals, Keith Lund on Drums and Chris Copper- Percussion; this current line-up was cemented after years of individual struggle with their own various project, they developed a vehicle and form to combine and perform their vast collection of songs and with this line-up the band have progressed enormously with their sound and style. Their many years of relentless gigging is beginning to pay dividends as they’re honing in on the specific sound they wish to create musically.

‘The Ladder’ is the opening track from Searching For Sylvia’s very first EP with the same name released in May 2011 recorded with producer Steve Ellis at Orion Studios in their home town of Rotherham. The introduction of this track is an impressive opening into the unique world of Searching For Sylvia with an instantaneously catchy lead guitar riff and a tasty hook, making for a dazzling intro from this British quintet. The instrumentation is infectious and potent leading to a perfect start to ‘The Ladder’ creating Rock with a melodic overcoat of Power Pop with an edge of Ballsy Americana. After this dazzling introductory riff the lead vocals are introduced with Pete Sheldon’s powerful voice and the backing vocals of Andy Hartley and Ian Higginbottom creating a strongly compelling layered vocal line forming an interesting edge. The Ladder’s exceedingly intelligent and polished lyrics begin with the lines; ‘Always said you had no fear, even first when the water’s not that clear. When you looked like going down, you always find a friend to bring you back around.’

The lyrics and vocal tone are striking and the prominent spark and talent that shines throughout the track with enticing lines and phrases fitting perfectly with the melodic tone of the voice, however after about the first minute or so it does becomes quite repetitive and relatively monotone, thinking with retrospect of the introduction of ‘The Ladder’. The song is conveyed like a rough diamond, there just needs to be some tweaks and improvements to perfect the composition and to achieve the full potential of the track; slight adjustments need to be made to the tempo and to the speed of the actual track with different timing changes being introduced to encapsulate the listener to a deeper degree, because as ‘The Ladder’ continues the whole structure becomes quite dull and instantly makes the listener disinterested, due to the track seemingly continuing on the same musical level, there desperately needs to be a huge injection of exuberance and energy, as atmospherically the track isn’t overly thrilling or innovative, becoming a huge drawback to ‘The Ladder’, as this Rotherham quintet need more drive and excitement to thrive and shine through each and every note to entice and enthral the audience even more so, otherwise the group get lost amongst the many other Americana styled and inspired musicians mimicking that typical Americana sound and fail to convey any fresh and innovatively inspiring music.

Searching For Sylvia are evidently a talented British group with depth and maturity, more specifically within the lyrics as they hone in impeccably with the art of song writing, a joy that is configured throughout the track, creating a mixture of classic guitar music joining forces with the lyrically thoughtful and original phrases. Although ‘The Ladder’ does become quite lacklustre as it endures, an aspect I was extremely disappointed to encounter, despite this fact they produce exceedingly tight instrumentation with notable influences across a wide spectrum of music and genres, noticeably heard throughout the entirety of the track itself and The Ladder EP; essentially including eclectic guitar-driven Americana Rock with true Pop sensibilities. The fundamentals of the track are relatively positive, it basically needs slight polishing as they need to continue to define their brand of honest and catchy Alternative Rock Americana / Power Pop.

7/10

Similar Artists: Big Star, Gigolo Aunts, The Gin Blossoms, Teenage Fanclub, Be-Bop Deluxe.

Artist: No Americana
Track: Never Say Never from their debut EP ‘Declaration of Independence’
Written and Produced By: No Americana
Label: Vigo Records
Genre: Alternative Rock

No Americana are an extremely British sounding and distinctively remarkable Alternative Rock band from Walsall, Birmingham in the West Midlands, consisting of members; David James Foster on Lead Vocals and Guitar, Adam Beddow as Guitarist and on Backing Vocals, Jamie C. Weate as Bassist and also on Backing Vocals and Daniel Taylor on Drums. This talented quartet officially formed in December 2008 and from that point instantly began writing their impressive material. The year 2009 was when No Americana began to cause a rumble in the music industry, as they were lucky enough to perform at the Download festival for the very first time; of which they gratefully played at, this was a much larger impressive accomplishment due to the fact that they were still unsigned at this point; an achievement that sparsely occurs within any scene of music. The group were also fortunate enough to have opened for heavy rockers The Wildhearts on their full UK tour, which was then followed by a European tour with American Rock band Stone Sour. Offend for the quartet heated up some what in 2011, as last July they experienced their very first Sonisphere involvement after literally only releasing their debut EP in the same month, which evidently displays just how exceptionally talented No Americana are, and have continuously displayed that they’ve progressed an awful lot since then.

In 2011 No Americana released their debut EP ‘Declaration of Independence’, the opener on the 6 track EP recorded at Fiveways Studios is ‘Never Say Never’; introducing the world to this marvelously talented young band that exudes confidence and dedication. Throughout the song the band’s various eclectic influences from genres such as Punk, Alternative and Rock all shine through to a correct degree; not being overwhelming or mimicking their musical idols, which is often a disappointing factor with some artists, No Americana overcome that fact, as they utilise their influences and musical inspirations to convey their unique and potent sound and style.

The track begins with an instantaneously catchy guitar riff, a dazzlingly powerful introduction to ‘Never Say Never’, with the perfect amount of heaviness running through the riff making for an impeccable start. David James Foster’s vocals are initially introduced at the 30 second mark and begin with an instant punch in the lyrics which are heightened with David’s clear and distinctive vocal tone and sound, the style and tone of the lead vocals are intensified and well complimented by the melodies and harmonies from Jay Weate’s talented melodic tone on Backing Vocals. These are amplified even more so as the band are exceptional lyricists with articulate and poignant lines and phrases conveyed seamlessly with the dynamic intelligence of the track itself. Though at certain points during the composition, the instrumentation drowns out the vocals ever so slightly, although this is my only criticism for the entirety of the track, proving how impressive this opener for their debut EP really is.

No Americana create an utterly amazing style with captivatingly unique sounds and infectiously catchy riffs, forming innovatively upbeat exciting music unbound with any restraints, as this quartet evidently intend to make a statement in the music industry and are certainly on the right track for doing so, combining a delightful composition with epic sounding guitars and includes great comp and beat, as Daniel plays the drums with real aggression building throughout the song, which is conveyed impeccably on the record, producing extremely hard hitting drum beats.’Never Say Never’ is composed with perfect length and timing within the instrumentation and delivers impressively sharp lyrics with a very British sounding edgy Rock, producing a massive and magnificent sound with an epically incandescent style surrounding the track, a band who will surely achieve great success, one to definitely watch as they continue to rise above the ranks of this music scene.

8/10
Similar Artists: You Me At Six, Stereophonics, Skarlett Riot, Killing For Company, Arcadian Riot.

One of my musical idols! An amazing artist.