Premiers
Album Premiere: Mindmap of a Madman – Dull Fantastique (reviewed by...
With thirty-five songs ranging from one and a half to over eight minutes. Mindmap of a Madman feels less like an album in the usual sense...
Rock/Punk/Metal
A Taxi Ride – Betty Moon (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Blending groove and grace, funk and sophistication, “A Taxi Ride” sits on the edge of so many worlds, musically and otherwise. Raw rock guitars...
Post Punk/Goth
Hollow Heart – Everything But the Everything (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I have to say that I appreciate the brilliantly named Everything But The Everything’s ability to sound like both the most cutting-edge slice of rock...
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
Vulnerable Forms – Jak Lizard (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
How Jak Lizard manages to make music that, from one song to the next, feels eclectic, taken as a whole, feels so adventurous, genre-hopping, and boundary-pushing,...
Pop/Power Pop
Home – Sonnen Blume (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
“Quiet pop”. That’s a phrase I haven’t come across before, but it is perfect for the music that Sonnen Blume make here on Home. For if pop is...
Folk/Country
CaliAmericana Vol. IV (A Compilation Inspired by the Music of James...
The remit of Santa Barbara Records in general and the CaliAmericana series of recordings in particular is both clever and simple: promote roots artists...
Singer-Songwriter/Acoustica
The Vine – Richard Neuberg (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Whenever I see certain names on an accompanying artist blurb, names such as Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake, and especially when Richard Hawley makes an appearance, I tend to...
R&B/Soul
State of Mind – Darryl Scotti and Big Yard (reviewed by...
If the original version of “State of Mind” ran on a soul-soaked strut and gentle boogey-some rhythms, 2026 sees it reemerge as a more...
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
High Noon – Moon and Aries (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If music associated with deserts usually comes at us in the form of spaghetti western soundtracks, Turaug blues albums, or Palm Desert rock bands, Moon...
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
Récif – Rorksha (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Allegory is everything. The alluded-to image here is that of the reef (Récif), a literal and metaphorical rock, in the form of someone who...
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
Récif – Rorksha (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Allegory is everything. The alluded-to image here is that of the reef (Récif), a literal and metaphorical rock, in the form of someone who...
A Taxi Ride – Betty Moon (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Blending groove and grace, funk and sophistication, “A Taxi Ride” sits on the edge of so many worlds, musically and otherwise. Raw rock guitars...
Vulnerable Forms – Jak Lizard (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
How Jak Lizard manages to make music that, from one song to the next, feels eclectic, taken as a whole, feels so adventurous, genre-hopping, and boundary-pushing,...
It’s Nothing – RESIDUAL HEAT (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I know that almost every band feels the need to push boundaries, to be first to embrace the next big thing, to be a...
Oh My God – The Snow Ponies (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The music world really is a small place, as proven by the blip of The Snow Ponies on my sonic radar. Main pony wrangler, Phil Dean, is...
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...
