Dry The River - New Ceremony

For the past month or so, there's been one CD that's been back on my stereo again and again - the Dry The River album sampler. I'd be the first to admit I'm not always the biggest fan of guitar bands, and hold a particular dislike for Mumford & Sons (or what they stand for at any rate) - who Dry The River have been compared to on numerous occasions.

But for me, Dry The River excel on every level that Mumford don't. Where Mumford so often idle in a stale landscape of landed gentrification and overwraught, treacle-like songs, Dry The River feel infinitely more vital - a more engaged, energetic band to hold the banner aloft in the new year.

With the weight of the prestigious BBC Sound of 2012 now resting on their shoulders, all eyes are set on the band and their forthcoming album Shallow Bed to see if they can measure up to the hype. And in tracks like album standout New Ceremony, they match every expectation and then go some way further.

From those fuzzy guitar hooks that cuddle the opening bars of Peter's Liddles almost lullaby-like vocals right through to the starry-night barn dance string sections, New Ceremony comes on filmic in its scale and bursting with a passion far larger than the band itself.

It's the chorus where the song shines at its most intense though - like another of the album's best moments, No Rest - one of Dry The River's greatest qualities is their ability to leap from one tempo to another mid-track in a sprawling feat of musical athleticism that sweeps the listener along in a dash of emotions and blurry adoration.

It's as if the song is a sole boat caught amidst the stormiest of seas, teetering on the brink of a mile-high wave - caught on that cusp of peril and adventurous dering'do - before plummeting head on into the unknown. The result is profoundly exhilarating, a bracing wash of shivvering musical pleasure.

I've long lamented the current lack of guitar bands able to write a decent pop hook, but Dry The River certainly have landed on the knack, with New Ceremony as the jewel in the album's crown. That chorus is the kind of pure, refined brilliance even the great Gary Barlow would be proud to call his own.

Soaring above the spires of towns and down across the plains, roads and railways of the land, it floats on and on - a rallying call to arms. And one, when Shallow Bed is released in March, will be answered in its droves.

Flux Pavillion - Superbad

If there was one dance track this year that really got tongues wagging and DJs frothing at the mouth, it was Flux Pavillion's Bass Canon. A song of as tantalisingly provocative levels of 'bass' as its title suggests, it swiftly exploded from cult hit to global sensation. By the end of the year, it rested firmly in the accolade of being one of the most downloaded dub-step tracks in America.

But for the dance whiz, this was to be just the beginning. With a sample on the acclaimed Kanye/Jay-Z album also under his belt, Flux Pavillion (AKA Northamptoner Joshua Steele) caught the attention of the BBC Sound Of... poll, nabbing a place in the much contested 2012 shortlist.

Heading into 2012, Stelle offers a wealth of new material to keep ravers ticking over - the new Circus mixtape, available to download free here, and new single Superbad; a track every bit as earth-shakingly unavoidable as Bass Canon was. Catchy vocal hook? Check. Big fuck-off grinding bassline? Definitely check. The makings of a future club smash: Sorted.

Between the likes of Flux Pavillion and Skrillex (also on the 2012 BBC list), there's one thing you can count on in 2012 (beside the Olympics), and that's a good, healthy abundance of bass.

Superbad is available to download on iTunes now.

Dry The River - The Chambers & The Valves / Shallow Bed

2012, and something exciting is spilling forth from London's East End. No, not just the Olympics, but Dry The River, arguably one of the most promising new UK bands to spring up from the capitals run of indie nights - for them, 2012 is the year they stand as part of the prestigious BBC Sound Of... list.

It's an accolade they can wear with pride - the five-piece's tunes are steeped in lush, sumptuous harmonies, basking in idyllic soundscapes of promise and hope that make forthcoming debut album Shallow Bed seem even more tantalisingly distant - it's not released until March.

Recent single Weights & Measures is precisely the kind of big, folky soup of loveliness that seems to be all the rage at the moment, blending the best of Mumford & Sons' epic chorus overtones with the darker, more moody elements of Fleet Floxes.

It's a hearty broth, the sort of warming, wholesome stuff that feels perfect for the winter months. As 2011 ticks over into 2012, three singles releases and a UK-wide tour behind them, now more than ever seems to be their moment to shine.

New single The Chambers & The Valves is without a doubt their strongest effort to date - vibrant and uplifting, it lilts towards an inspiring new upbeat angle, ripe with halcyon sunshine-spilled guitar licks. Dry The River have always sounded like an organic band, one at one with their surroundings and the feyness of the world - but here, they appear positively steeped in the essence of the effervescence of the countryside.

With the weight of the BBC Sound of 2012 longlist nomination behind them, that tumbling babbling brook is growing stronger - no mere stream anymore, Dry The River now run at full flow.

The Chambers & The Valves is released on the 27th February, followed by the album Shallow Bed on the 5th March.