Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Since June a new wind blows through your domestic stereo and we don’t mean a tepid breeze, but a proper hurricane, fascinating everybody who gets close.
This doesn’t mean Namasté’s debut album sounds like a natural disaster, far from it, “Outside Is Endless” absorbs the listener right from the start and lets him live through a wide spectrum of emotions.
The opener steadily varies from powerful to easy melodies while the catchy singing of Sam Marlow polishes the song. Such a striking voice, which doesn’t avoid high notes, is not often heard.
This style, diversified parts within a song, is a common theme on the album.
Muse, Incubus, but also older stuff such as Led Zeppelin say hello, but with the headstrong mixture of styles a new musical feeling arises.
With the song “Catharsis” it seems like the band actually had to get rid of some inner conflicts and displaced emotions. It starts with an empathetic melody, accompanied just with guitar and bass, the drums set in gradually. The calm before the storm just lasts for approximately 1 ½ minutes before the quiet melody undergoes a rockin’ metamorphosis.
The extreme length of most of the songs is quite striking as well. The clear winner is “Illusion” which draws the attention with his 9 minutes of proud length. If you now think of boredom you’re completely wrong, with it’s intensity, you get lost in the music as well as in time.
Points: 7.5/10
- SLAM (alternative music magazine)
The young band from London (who work and live in Vienna) offer modern, anthem-like, gloomy progressive rock, which partly reminds of Tool, Incubus or Muse, but ultimately sound completely distinct.
A fervid and intense experience.
Points: 4/5
- KURIER (second biggest Austrian daily newspaper)
The south London group play and sound much better than their age would lead you to think.
Around the charismatic front man Sam they form their own mixture of Led Zeppelin to Incubus or Tool, without avoiding long solo parts and intense ambience. Well, there are many such bands. Right.
But these English guys take the other way round. While in this country bands often speak about breaking out of the narrow corset of their home, Namaste found a Viennese manager and label and came to Austria to record and release their new album “Outside Is Endless”. And this album is surprisingly successful, as you can also tell with their mainly female fan gaggle - after just 4 months in Vienna!
- PLANET (alternative music magazine)
Did you ask yourself how the future of rock sounds?
Who could save guitar music?
Namasté is the answer.
Quite often we report about young and hip rock bands from the UK. Again we are talking about great guitar music from the island… but different! Namasté have nothing in common with garage and indie-disco. Their role models are Tool, Muse, Led Zeppelin and Deftones. The band relocated to Vienna, to record their first album “Outside Is Endless”.
To comment on these 60 minutes you could use the Frank Zappa quote: “To write about music is like dance architecture.” He is so right.
From the gloomy, Tool-esque, sound of the opener “Last Rites”, the frenetic rockin “Dark Lights…” to the soulful, top-heavy “With All The Other Rats” – Namasté cover a wide spectrum.
“Expired” is a little hit, distinctive with his stunner. “Brave Little Phantom” builds bridges to the 60s and finally “Illusion”, the 9 minutes long endless jam, a neck-breaker, cleverly simulate his end just to break out even louder and more clamant. The great Muse moment “Lacrimosa” terminates a storming album.
Without a doubt, “Outside Is Endless” is one of the most stunning debut albums of the year.
Despite their long list of role models, Namasté manage to sound fresh and jaunty.
What stays, is a gloomy, top-heavy, rock bastard, who can take on with the big ones of the genre.
Beyond all question, those guys need to be discovered!
- www.szene1.at
Discography
02/2006 "Every picture tells a story" (EP)
8th of June release of their debut album "Outside is Endless"
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
With their fan base growing out of their dingy South London town into the wider world, NAMASTE have had a lot of positive response from Europe and the USA especially.
At the end of the day, NAMASTE live for music, rehearsing relentlessly and writing new material wherever they can with whatever tools are available to them. Music is the be all and end all and the feeling that an injection of true homegrown spunk is needed in our current musical climate.
What happened in 2006?
NAMASTE were extensively touring their home country at every opportunity regardless of bank balance and making loads of new fans on the way.
What has to be done has to be done.
NAMASTE recorded the 6 track mini album “Every Picture tells a Story” with Muse engineer Tom Joyce at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall.
They sold over 2000 CD’s off their own backs and have given out over a 3000 to people all over the UK and the world and can pride themselves on the fact that people are taking an interest in them without having to push themselves in their faces.
After having great success whilst touring in Austria June 06, NAMASTE signed a record contract with Austrian Indie Label Crater8Records in February 2007.
The Band relocated to Vienna in January 07 to record and mix their upcoming album “Outside is endless” at What`s that Noise Studios together with producer Andreas Fennes.
The album was mastered at the Cutting Room Studios by Sound Engineer Thomas Eberger, who already worked with Bands such like The Hives, Mando Diao and Rammstein.
Be ready for NAMASTE!
Without a doubt with their new album and their energetic live shows this band will play themselves into the hearts and ears of their audience!
The next step will then be to build on their already ample UK fanbase by touring hard and playing harder toward the end of '07, BRING IT ON!
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