The Ascension – Drowning in the Doubt

Band: The Ascension

Hometown: Manchester

Sounds Like: Joy Division

Since beginning WFM, which was two years ago, I’ve heard a lot of pieces of music, including a lot of weird ones, and ‘Drowning in the doubt’ makes it into that weird bracket. Not it a musical way, because it’s not experimental, but in terms in the lyrics and the song structure, it deserves a place in the strange sector. The song is awkward to say the least, as it drones on from start to finish, without any real changes happening throughout the song and it easily becomes quite laborious.

This is unfortunate because their previous ventures as a group have been good and exciting, by being quite fast paced and entertaining, but ‘drowning in the doubt’ goes the other way completely. The song has a very dark and bleak theme, with the lyric ‘This river is running dry’, however it didn’t seem to capture my imagination or force me to press the play button once more. The line is infectious and catchy though, as I’ve caught myself singing it from time to time. Expected much more from this up and coming band after hearing their previous material, although this is an experimental song with a murky theme it failed to grab me and keep me interested. However, The Ascension aren’t out to create happy bouncy tracks, which is clear here, their music is there to make people think and provoke thoughts, which it does quite well overall.

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Velocets EP

Intro

My Velocets EP came through the post a couple of days ago (cheers lads), and if you haven’t ordered yours yet I would strongly advise you to get a copy because it’s that good, if you want one, contact them on twitter and I’m sure they’d be happy to send you one @Velocets_UK.  I reviewed one of their songs last year, the single ‘Sophie’ which features on the EP, I expressed how good it was and that I was looking forward to seeing what else they will bring out, and I think I was right in saying that

The EP

‘Tell it to your kids’

The first song on the EP is  ‘Tell it to your kids’, which I heard before it came out on EP but the riff still got me excited when I was listened to it. I expected nothing less really with the riff after hearing the riff on ‘Sophie’, however that had a slightly darker tone to it with this riff being quite bouncy and jumpy. The riff sets you up for the whole song, with It being loud and in your face. The drums are mainly to thank for that because they’re ever present in the song, and so prominent all the way through. I wouldn’t say that these are the strongest set of lyrics they have but they are still very good, especially the chorus I could hear it being shouted throughout many venues around the country. The sound of the guitar is different to anything of ever heard before, maybe it’s because I haven’t heard every piece of music but it’s really electric and fuzzy and I like that.

‘Naked’

‘Naked’ is probably my favorite one on the EP mainly because of the lyrics, they’re literally engraved in my head, and I don’t think they’ll ever leave. I’m not one really for long intro’s but it works well with this song, it just slowly leads you into the song and those lyrics. After all that building up and those little catchy guitar pieces you just get this massive outburst, and it just explodes and sounds really big. I would love to hear this one live, because that part at the end I imagine it would probably make my head explode. Also it’s sung perfectly, you just get the sense that his quite vulnerable and I think that’s what I like most about Adam Walsh’s voice.

‘Sophie’

As I said, I reviewed this song last year, so if you’re interested in what I thought of that song, please have a look

https://wordsformusic.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/the-velocets-unsigned-band-sophie/

A great bad which I hope I get to see this year and hopefully make their way down my way because I’d love to see them, heard a lot of good things about this band, how genuine they are and when they’re heading. So give them all the support they need to achieve it.

Transition, Baby! – Manners are wasted on you – Unsigned Band

Introduction

Got to finally get out of holiday mode, because this is the first piece I’ve wrote since coming off holiday, so really need to get back into the swing of things. These guys have been very patient about this review, because it’s took quite a while as I had a very large list of bands, which have slowly gone down. This band are from Manchester, one of the most promising of places when it comes to music, oh and they’re rock/indie. They formed in 2009, so not so long back and have already achieved some credible milestones, those being playing at the Cavern Club and the indig02 arena in London, so not bad really. If you’re wondering who plays what, here you are… James Cotterill – Lead Vocals – Rhythm Guitar.., Joe Dobie – Lead Guitar – Backing Vocals.., Danny Arrowsmith – Bass.., Andy Foreshaw – Drums. They’re working on their new EP Charlie Pop which should be out somewhere around December time, as they told me that they would be getting the rest of the songs in December.

The Song

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This is the first song off their new EP ‘Charlie Pop’, if the rest of the EP sounds as good as this I’m sure that they will be on to a winner because this first song is rather good. Okay lets, break it down.

When I first listened to the song, the main thing that stood out to me was the vocals because they were incredibly catchy and quite infectious, and he maintained that level of energy throughout the whole song. Also I think the vocals play an integral part in the song being so catchy, because it really is that catchy. As well as this the lyrics are cool, easy to remember, making it easier to sing, making it easier to sing loud and go mental. The little riff is nice as well, compliments the vocals well, because it’s not a heavy sounding guitar, not much gain on the sound which makes it more clean (thankyou captain obvious), quite a lot of treble on the sound.

I think the song is very well put together, sounds quite advanced for a band that have only been together for still quite relatively a short period. In the song it’s got some cool affects, especially to the lead vocals at one point, obviously I liked this part, else I wouldn’t of mentioned it. One thing which I always love in a song is a solo, you can’t beat a good solo, unless it’s a bloke from Westlife singing on his own in a song, you can beat that. Anyway,  was starting to worry half way through thinking ‘there’s got to be a solo, where is it, how can they fit this in’, and then it hit and I heard it, and the panic was over and the earth carried on spinning (sarcasm).  As solos go, it’s not to bad. No good listening to it quietly while people are asleep, put some ear phones in and turn it up, get the full effect.

Overall
Looking forward to hearing their new EP, because this song sounds very promising. Will be keeping an eye on this band as they seem down to earth lads, that sound quite funny after I read their Bio and that

@transitionbaby

http://www.myspace.com/thisistransitionbaby