Premiers
Single Premiere: Johatsu – Suneaters (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is a wonderful world-weariness about this new one from Suneaters, a nostalgic resignation which stays perfectly on the whistful side of melancholic. If the lyrics...
Rock/Punk/Metal
Modern War – Barking Poets (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Punk’s not dead. After all, how could you kill an idea, an attitude, and an outlook? And if that genre was the equivalent of...
Post Punk/Goth
Tiny Stupid Song – Transcendecadence (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Where is life taking me? Have I missed my chances? Am I getting left behind? Have I done it all wrong? Or, in the...
Shoegaze/Dreampop
Frozen Meridian – Hallucinophonics (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It is easy to build a song, a groove, a presence by layering up lots of different elements, loading it with hooks, volume, and...
Indie
How Beautiful the World Is! – Byorn Gold (reviewed by Dave...
There aren't many subjects that Byorn Gold hasn't explored through his prolific output of music; his back catalog is akin to a library where...
Pop/Power Pop
Little Epiphanies – The Kind Hills (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
One of the great breakthroughs in modern music, well, modern life in general, is the concept of long-distance collaboration. So connected is the world,...
Folk/Country
Travelin’ Heart – Joseph Turner & The Dudes of Hazard (reviewed...
The music world is full of what ifs. What if the Beatles hadn’t split up when they did? What if punk had never happened? What if Syd Barrett had...
Singer-Songwriter/Acoustica
post mortem – Melanculia (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sometimes, gaining a little insight into an artist goes a long way to explaining and understanding their music; knowing a bit about who they...
R&B/Soul
ICE Cold Killerz – Darrell Kelley (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I know that I often find myself referencing Marvin Gaye when writing about Darrell Kelley, and with good reason. Like Gaye, Kelley is unafraid...
Reggae/Ska/Dub
A Fistful of Covers – The Hempolics (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
A band releasing an EP of recordings covering their favorite songs is nothing new. A band doing that while also offering a dub reworking...
Dance/EDM
Market Miracolo – Racines (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Okay, I don't understand the language being sung and spoken here but this feels very much as if the sound IS the story. I...
Hip-hop/Rap
Mind How You Go – PanthaDogg (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Hip-hop has come a long way from its birthplace in the South Bronx all those years ago. And while all genres move with the...
Jazz/Blues
Floating Sheep – Floating Sheep (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Floating Sheep might easily be labeled as a “nu-jazz” outfit, but the emphasis is definitely on the word “nu.” Of course, jazz vibes and such...
Classical/Instrumental
Blank Slate, Open Space – Alaskan Tapes & Blu Miles (reviewed...
If the core of this collaborative album lies in hushed saxophone, spacious piano, and a 4,000-mile distance between the two main players, then the...
Avant Garde
Neither Here Nor There – Milarepa’s Cave (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The man who brought you the exploratory and inventive sonic ride that is When Mountains Speak now leads us on a new, but no...
Interviews
Worlds Within Worlds: Rolling into G-Town with GALVEZTON at the wheel
With a new album, Ocean Cabaret, now out, it felt like the perfect time to catch up with GALVEZTON, aka Robert Kuhn, to find out about his life,...
Live
The Crack – En Heat (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If, like me, you feel that mainstream music is all a bit safe, merely appealing to fads and fashions, comfort zones and marketing reports,...
Swindon
Back where it all began. A Big Day out with EXTC
Terry Chambers will always remember his twenty-first birthday. After all, who would forget being subjected to their friend’s TV show reel, fifteen minutes (well,...
News
‘Mariachi El Bronx IV’ out February 13 Marks Alter Ego of...
On February 13 LA trailblazers Mariachi El Bronx will release Mariachi El Bronx IV, their long-awaited new album, and first in over a decade. MEB is the alter...
Playlist
That Was The Music Week That Was – 080825
Another busy week at Dancing Towers, plenty of cool grassroots artists put under the pen, lots of great music mused over, and lots of...
Books
How Not To Write About Music – III: Starting the Week...
One of the joys of writing about new music is that it stops you from getting trapped in the past. Of course, bands like...
6 of the best
A Fistful of Covers – The Hempolics (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
A band releasing an EP of recordings covering their favorite songs is nothing new. A band doing that while also offering a dub reworking...
Something Nothing – Heron (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sassy, that’s the word that springs to mind as “Something Nothing’s” sonic charms pick you up and breeze you along. But “sassy” is a bit of...
Single Premiere: Johatsu – Suneaters (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is a wonderful world-weariness about this new one from Suneaters, a nostalgic resignation which stays perfectly on the whistful side of melancholic. If the lyrics...
post mortem – Melanculia (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sometimes, gaining a little insight into an artist goes a long way to explaining and understanding their music; knowing a bit about who they...
Tiny Stupid Song – Transcendecadence (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Where is life taking me? Have I missed my chances? Am I getting left behind? Have I done it all wrong? Or, in the...
Modern War – Barking Poets (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Punk’s not dead. After all, how could you kill an idea, an attitude, and an outlook? And if that genre was the equivalent of...
