Premiers
Single Premiere: Something in the Water – AudioGust (reviewed by Dave...
There is no substitute for good songwriting. Forget all the studio gimmicks, the clever tricks, and zeitgeist-driven sonic fashion statements; if there isn’t a...
Rock/Punk/Metal
Neverending Night – Rough Grind (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There can be a temptation for bands in the realm of rock music to approach every new album as if they have to reinvent...
Post Punk/Goth
Rain, Steam and Speed – Hellkern Warriors (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Those with even the smallest appreciation of art will recognize the title as taken from a famous painting by J.M.W. Turner, the personification of steam...
Shoegaze/Dreampop
Needling – Form Affinity (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If Form Affinity were going to lay out a sonic stall that shows their extreme sonic scope and scale, they couldn’t have picked a better example...
Indie
Welcome To My Heart – Zachary Mason (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
With Welcome To My Heart, we find Zachary Mason at his most vulnerable, three intimate songs that are unambiguous, not to mention brave in their openness and...
Pop/Power Pop
Mavis Sings Mavis – Flight of Mavis (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Everyone needs a break, especially from making music. Sometimes you need time to reenergize, relax, recoup, and wait for the reservoir of creative juices...
Folk/Country
How To Replace Anxiety With A Broken Heart – James White...
The fact that what starts out feeling like a snippet from the local news ends up moving through the realms of psychology and philosophy,...
Singer-Songwriter/Acoustica
unfinished conversations – Meli Foster-Turner (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
We are constantly hearing about the industry movers and shakers looking for the new Dylan or the successor to Joni Mitchell. I must admit, it all gets...
R&B/Soul
Freeze – Adrielle Bow Belle (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Singles can be just that: stand-alone pieces of music. But that isn’t always the case; something that gets slightly lost in this age when...
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
Little Gold Spark – Melissa Reed (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Music can be many things, and at its most extreme, it can shoulder the weight of the world, exploring complex emotions, difficult truths, and...
Hip-hop/Rap
00′ Shawty – Ja Fearce (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Taken from the EP of the same name, Ja Fearce's latest single, "00' Shawty", sits in a beguiling middle ground between artistry and energy....
Jazz/Blues
Mojo Maker – Jim Blair (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Jim Blair is known as the man with the slide guitar and the gravel voice, not a bad combination. For many years, either fronting bands...
Classical/Instrumental
9/8 – Leyla Romanov (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
A dance track that is tricky to dance to? Who would do such a thing? Well, that is the sort of boundaries we find Leyla...
Avant Garde
Or Will You – Wytold & Tolk (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you needed any more proof that we are living in a post-genre world, one where artists aren’t just hopping genres and dancing deftly...
Interviews
Groovers on Manoeuvres: Sgt. Splendor reporting for musical duty
With the new single, “Brave, Rough and Ready To Go,” just out, I managed to grab a few minutes with Sgt. Splendor to find out...
Live
Grasslands @ The Richard Jefferies Museum, Swindon, 4th July 26
If ever an artist and a gig location were perfectly suited, it was watching Grasslands in the shaded courtyard outside the museum dedicated to...
Swindon
Grasslands @ The Richard Jefferies Museum, Swindon, 4th July 26
If ever an artist and a gig location were perfectly suited, it was watching Grasslands in the shaded courtyard outside the museum dedicated to...
News
Chris Murphy announces new Seth Lakeman produced single, Songs From The...
Los Angeles-based Americana/roots rocker/world Musician Chris Murphy is excited to announce his new single ‘Songs From The Trees’ on June 19th. It’s the second...
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
Castles in the Sky – Alias Wayne (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
This seductively simple and wonderfully graceful new song from Alias Wayne covers a lot of ground, explores many hidden depths, and weaves together some...
Little Gold Spark – Melissa Reed (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Music can be many things, and at its most extreme, it can shoulder the weight of the world, exploring complex emotions, difficult truths, and...
Single Premiere: Something in the Water – AudioGust (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is no substitute for good songwriting. Forget all the studio gimmicks, the clever tricks, and zeitgeist-driven sonic fashion statements; if there isn’t a...
Rain, Steam and Speed – Hellkern Warriors (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Those with even the smallest appreciation of art will recognize the title as taken from a famous painting by J.M.W. Turner, the personification of steam...
Pretty Things Don’t Last – Noir Addiction (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Back in the day, the gothic sound was a sort of two-pronged attack. On the one hand, you had the formative digital experiments in...
Does Anybody Else – Steve Stinson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Although the message here is contained in slow and serene sonics, heady blends of poised singer-songwriter seductions, echoes of Americana textures and mellifluous tones,...
