Anthill http://www.anthill.ca http://www.myspace.com/anthillcanada anthill_edge@msn.com “They mix in a smattering of power pop and alt country for an alternative pop-rock album that will defy your logical reasoning about what relatively unheard of bands are capable of accomplishing” Smother Magazine “Dave Matthews vocals over an indie pop canvas. Pastel Rain sounds like a sure fire hit you would hear on pretty much any radio station that plays the likes of Good Charlotte, Ryan Adams, Dave Mathews and all points in between” Ear Candy Magazine “Anthill’s second record is a quantum leap beyond its first. There isn’t a dud on this 8 song recording. A-“Tom Harrison Vancouver Province Anthill is fun alt-country with a bit of with a bit of a harder edge, as much to John Mellencamp as it is to Oasis or Travis. Space City Rock “A cross between Counting Crows, Coldplay and Oasis, the most distinctive thing on this CD is lead singer, Mark Osachoff's vocals. They're amazing--fresh and unique, a combination of sturdy expression and grainy emotion - 4.5 stars Discovering Artists.com “These days they're virtually a power pop band all glistening melodies and big choruses. Chuck in a few top quality harmonies and you're left with an album that'll be appearing in 'lost classics' lists a decade down the line.” http://www.zeitgeist-scot.co.uk “the maturity of the band's style throughout the entirety of "Waiting For The Sun" will ensure that only a few years need go by and Anthill will be a common name.” http://www.neufutur.com/ International Band of the Year - 2006 Southern California Music Awards http://www.southerncaliforniamusicawards.com/ Nominated for Best Power Pop Single at LA Music Awards - Results Pending http://www.lamusicawards.com/ Best out of Area at Toronto Independent Music Awards http://www.torontoima.com/awards.shtml Finalist in 2006 “We Are Listening” International Song Contest - UK http://www.wearelistening.org/winners2006r1.php Selected for 2006 Billboard City Showcase – London England 2006 – Anthill was not able to attend. Included: The Trews, Catlow….. http://www.cityshowcase.co.uk/index.php?section=ListDetail&ListID=hhrRLzqoqT 2005 Billboard International Song Contest – Runners Up http://www.billboardsongcontest.com/win.html Toronto Independent Music Awards Oct. 5, 2006 Anthill won the award for Best out of Area (Best outside Toronto). The show’s producer told us that our song “Images” got the most votes from the judges for best song. The Best Song Award is reserved for artist in the Toronto area. “Images” was the first song on the awards night cd compilation. Southern California Music Awards Feb. 11, 2006 Anthill won best International Band at the Southern California Music Awards, Saturday Feb 11 in Los Angeles (just near). We were told by the show's producer that our song "Pastel Rain" was voted the top song out of 600 submissions. It was a great night and a great experience Anthill has made the Pulse Rated Play List. "Reaching an amazing 8.1 million homes in the UK via Sky Digital channel 0155, Pulse Rated is the world’s leading internet & satellite radio broadcaster playing only the very best music from new, unsigned, and emerging artists from around the world." http://www.pulserated.com/ The Anthill tracks "Alive" and "Images" are currently on their automated play list but will be on one or more of their presented shows with exact broadcast times to follow. Anthill will be featured as the DOWNLOAD BAND OF THE WEEK - W/B 09/10/2006. Aug. 12, 2006 DiscoveringArtists.com It's not the usual Canadian sound we usually report here, but Anthill made a good mark on me with this album. Their sound is a cross between Counting Crows, Coldplay and Oasis, the most distinctive thing on this CD is lead singer Mark Osachoff's vocals. They're amazing--fresh and unique, a combination of sturdy expression and grainy emotion. In "Waiting for the Sun" his vocals soar and tell a story about not knowing why a struggle occurs and not letting anyone close. I liked all of these tracks. They had a great acoustic background and a studio-refined sound that you'll most likely enjoy. Favorite Tracks: Waiting for the Sun, Believe Rating: 4.5 stars http://discoveringartists.com/html/reviews/cds/#anthill-waiting_for_the_sun A Lost Classic http://www.zeitgeist-scot.co.uk Anthill - Waiting For The Sun Album number 3 from the former Canadian heavy rockers. Um, I mean, they're still Canadian but have left their nineties rock music far behind them. Right. These days they're virtually a power pop band all glistening melodies and big choruses. Chuck in a few top quality harmonies and you're left with an album that'll be appearing in 'lost classics' lists a decade down the line. When they slow it down a bit they go all American Music Club, which is high praise indeed. Eight tracks of pure pleasure, this is a proper grown up album you won't be ashamed to play at your next proper grown up soiree. http://www.zeitgeist-scot.co.uk "Within these pages we celebrate all that is good in music and culture, regardless of genre." Smother Magazine Review – Sunday May 28, 2006 Anthill is your traditional singer/songwriter affair. Well maybe not so much as you’d think. They mix in a smattering of power pop and alt country for an alternative pop-rock album that will defy your logical reasoning about what relatively unheard of bands are capable of accomplishing. What we have here is a total winner from beginning to end. Crafty songwriting, purely brilliant melodies, and catchy hooks populate Waiting For the Sun making it a truly great album. http://www.smother.net/reviews/modernrock.php3?ID=1637 Ear Candy Magazine - Aug. 24, 2006 Dave Matthews vocals over a indie pop canvas. Pastel Rain sounds like a sure fire hit you would hear on pretty much any radio station that plays the likes of Good Charlotte, Ryan Adams, Dave Matthews and all points in between. These guys are a force to be reckoned with in the indie pop world and should be taken highly seriously by the major label powers that be. Review by J.R. Oliver http://www.earcandymag.com/reviews49.htm Neu Futur Magazine - Nov. 22, 2006 The soft rock sound of Anthill quickly moves into something a little more intense during the second part of "Pastel Rain". While only a few individuals have heard of Anthill at this current moment, the maturity of the band's style throughout the entirety of "Waiting For The Sun" will ensure that only a few years need go by and Anthill will be a common name. Even when Anthill slows things down, as is the case for "Waiting For The Sun", the style is still similar in quality to a Third Eye Blind or Fuel. The disc only has eight tracks to sate listeners, but each one of the songs on "Waiting For The Sun" is crafted in such a way to involve the widest swath of listeners. Perhaps the king of kings during this album is "Song For You", a track that has the intensity of a Fear Factory while still having the softness and nuance of an Uncle Tupelo. Anthill has their own style throughout "Waiting For The Sun" that only rarely shows influences of prior acts on the band. Simply put, Anthill is at the quality of a Coldplay. The tendrils of lighter rock that wrap around listeners during the band's "Avenue" is just another testament to the band's ability. While individuals may not be the biggest fans of Anthill's style, the simple fact is that individuals cannot do anything but give the band props for their deft arrangements and harmonies present on this album. The inclusion of a little more psychedelic to their song "Alive" further differentiates the band's skill set. The disc ends at the twenty seven minute mark, but individuals will undoubtedly feel as if they have been a fan of Anthill for eons longer than that. The replay value of "Waiting For The Sun" is high, and individuals will have this disc in their CD players until that time where Anthill releases their LP. The eight tracks on this EP are enough in number to give listeners a good idea where Anthill will be at the end of a full length. There are no covers, but if Anthill wanted to do that, I have little doubt in my mind that the act will be able to guide the cover track into something that is completely their own. Check out Anthill's website, purchase "Waiting For The Sun", and give it a spin or two. http://www.neufutur.com/ Space City Rock – Nov. 23, 2006 Anthill has been growing on me. One of the difficulties of reviewing a bunch of stuff at the same time is that it’s easy to get hooked on the album that creates the biggest splash or that makes the strongest first impression. This framing effect is even stronger when the other albums are less accessible, more complex, take longer to grow on you, or just suck. “Waiting for the Sun” doesn’t suck (not even close), but it is a slow grower. It took me a good ten or so listens before I really started to get it. After about the fifth listen, I was really enjoying the hooks, and by the tenth I had it included in my daily listening playlist. Anthill is fun alt-country with a bit of with a bit of a harder edge, as much to John Mellencamp as it is to Oasis or Travis. Singer-Songwriter, Mark Osachoff clearly dug into the vein of Wilco but is not as depressing or lacking in lyrical content. Musically you could stand Adam Duritz and one might never realize that it wasn’t The Counting Crows. That isn’t a negative by the way, just an observation. I also hear a bit of Toad the Wet Sprocket and a bit of Mathew Sweet. “Sleepers” is the weakest song on the album, turning on the lame phrase “dreaming is only for the sleepers”, and reads like a teenager’s first trip to a hotel hook-up with his girlfriend. It does recover with a nice vocal counterpoint, however. “Symbiotic Sun” has an REM “The One I Love” vibe, probably the most obvious nick of the album. Overall, a good EP, that shows a ton of promise as they mature. Andrew Perkins 11/23/06 Space City Rock http://www.spacecityrock.com/reviews/rev-1106.shtml#anthill1 ANTHILL – WAITING FOR THE SUN: Anthill is a six man band from Canada. The group includes three guitarists and three vocalists. In 1998, they started out as a heavy rock band but overtime Anthill has defined their sound to a more dynamic, pop-oriented style. They have won a number of awards and are captivating live audiences. Waiting For The Sun is Anthill's third release featuring an inventive blend of alternative country, British power pop and 90's rock. They site a variety of influences including Oasis, The Cars and Wilco. Anthill's eclectic style is a combination of classic and contemporary textures and tones in melodic compositions with catchy hooks. All eight tracks rocked but I particularly liked the energized 'Alive', the dreamy 'Sleeper' and the thoughtful 'Believe'. All featured strong songwriting and interesting instrumentation. Anthill is an industrious and introspective band and their latest CD is delightful like a warm sunny day!•Recommended Tracks: (5,6,8) [CANADA 2006 - web] (Review by Laura Turner Lynch for Kweeva http://www.kweevak.com/rd_cd_reviews.php Vancouver Province - Tom Harrison Tuesday March 21, 2006 A- “Waiting For the Sun” Review Anthill's second record is a quantum leap beyond its first. Not that the initial album was bad but undistinguished by comparison. This one has much better songs, starting off with "Pastel Rain," a buoyant three minutes of melody that indicates Anthill has learned how to write a pop-rock song. It's in a classic mould and the band plays it as though it has confidence in the material. There is no disguising these songs in gimmicks or whatever is trendy. There isn't a dud on this eight-song recording and the last song, "Believe," is especially affecting if slightly reminiscent of Green Day. Anthill Biography: This is Mark Osachoff’s dream: it’s a sunny day, and he is sitting on a grassy bank somewhere in Europe watching “great bands whose names I don’t know from places I can’t pronounce.” Then, Osachoff and his band Anthill open for The Verve (who have reunited for his dream) and Wilco to thunderous applause. Later that evening, he gets to watch the headliners from backstage seats and “maybe meet Jeff Tweedy.” Considering the critical acclaim and growing fan base Anthill is experiencing, it may be a dream realized in the not-too-distant future. As a musician, Osachoff is light years away from the day he decided to learn a few cover songs. After getting tired of covering Neil Young and R.E.M., he started writing his own music. “I felt like a misplaced office worker,” he says, “so my songs tended to be dark.” . His development came from “hours upon hours of practice with a guitar in an isolated room” and an important personal revelation. Osachoff: “I learned to listen and observe the environment around me—not just in musical situations, but in real life, too. I'm still working on this skill, but sometimes I still wish that everybody would shut the hell up and listen to me. I guess that's why I initially loved performance, but today it's not just about me.” The relationship between him and his band has undergone a similar metamorphosis. “I guess we're light years from those early days of getting loaded and playing angry rock songs.” he says. “So much more has happened: a greater variety of music and people have entered my world, and I find I have a deeper pool of emotions and experience to draw on when writing and recording.” He has a band that complements that introspective approach. The lineup—Brian Minato, bass; Graham Tuson on keyboards, piano and vocals: JJ Blood on guitar and Brock Pytel on drums--comprises musicians who are writers and creators in their own right. The sound has become more eclectic while retaining memorable melodies at its root. That familiarity is, in large part, the reason that Anthill has had an uncommon level of success both in live performances and with airplay. “Anthill songs are still written for the average person on the street--we haven't re-invented rock and roll,” he says. “The metaphors and sounds used to deliver the music change but the underlying messages are conveyed with simplicity.” The band has many influences—Stereophonics, Oasis and Wilco among them—but their sound defies description. Listening to Anthill is at once a new experience and something familiar. “I'm not saying we're terminally unique,” he says,“ but our sound is hard to pigeonhole. “The unique sound may be a function of their method of writing music. “The songs start on an acoustic guitar with a melody. After a lot of cigarettes and coffee and neurosis the lyrics are written,” he says. After that, Osachoff takes the song to his producer, where they try various musical ideas. The result is rarely a literal translation of the original intent, and Osachoff may find himself rewriting lyrics and melody two or three times when the music takes the song in a new direction. Their audiences and critics like the approach. In February 2006, the band won Best International Band at the Southern California Music Awards; then took runner-up in the “We Are Listening” 2005 Singer Songwriter Awards for “Avenue.” Tom Harrison of The Province called their upcoming release “a quantum leap from the first [album].” In June, Anthill will release Waiting for the Sun, a new EP with an eclectic mix of eight quirky pop/rock tracks recorded at The Bunker with producer Ryan Hauschild; and mixed by Shawn Cole of Lab Monkey Sound. Anthill’s goal is to continue to build its fan base and working toward the day when they sign a deal to record a song on a major label. Until then, Osachoff is keeping the dream that drives him alive—and his fans will get the benefit.