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
Time in the Light – Strawhouses (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Fifteen years between albums is a bit long, to be honest. It’s not quite Sisters of Mercy territory (36 years and counting), but you could argue...
Post Punk/Goth
Dancing With The Spirits – MatAre (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Although MatAre has made a name for himself blending the more pop-infused, polished end of the post-punk sound into music suited to the current age, his...
Shoegaze/Dreampop
Human – Tallulah Rendall (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Tallulah Rendall makes music that comes from a very delicate place and never more so than with her latest single, ‘Human.’ This time out, the...
Indie
Being Here – Litvar (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Experiencing certain significant life events often makes us look at the world differently. Similarly, they can make musicians approach their craft with new resolve, exploring...
Pop/Power Pop
Change – Lee Miller Matsos (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
“Change,” the new one from Lee Miller Matsos, is a song with many sonic moods. Not just moods, but various pacing and variable poise, clever...
Folk/Country
The Roots Run Deep – Willow Layne (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The term country rock is always one, like most genre tags, to be fair, which falls short of its task, conjuring either rock hands...
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
Road Less Traveled – Circus Mind (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Circus Mind have been teasing the tracks of this album out, one succulent single at a time, for the past year, a great way to...
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
Thank You For Your Feedback (i) – Cognitive Constellation Corps (reviewed...
Thank You for Your Feedback (i) is a transformative affair, in many senses of the word. Even the title is a great example: such a...
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
Get Up Ya Honky Tonk – Cam Cole (reviewed by Dave...
It is perhaps, in part at least, the process of modernisation and homogenisation, sanitisation and bastardisation that has taken place in blues music in...
Classical/Instrumental
Things Fall Apart – Nathan Amundson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Music and literature are my twin passions, so it is always great when the two occupy the same space for me. Not only is Nathan Amundson's...
Avant Garde
The Shadows of Alienation – Spectrum of Disorder (reviewed by Dave...
Beyond the questions and themes raised by the spoken words and lyrical fragments on this EP, there is a broader question that faces the...
Interviews
The Method in the Musical Madness: A conversation with Anastasiya Bazhenova...
Less a debut album, rather what Anastasiya Bazhenova prefers to call her “first complete artistic statement”, the release of From Mendelssohn to Madness was the perfect opportunity to sit...
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
The Shadows of Alienation – Spectrum of Disorder (reviewed by Dave...
Beyond the questions and themes raised by the spoken words and lyrical fragments on this EP, there is a broader question that faces the...
News
A Shared Experience – recollections of Jimi Hendrix
The authors of a new book on Jimi Hendrix are looking for your help. Following the well-received first volume of 'A People's History of...
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
Midnight Blue – Scroungy Dogs (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I know it is pretty much my job, but I have got to a point where I’m less concerned with genre demarcations, sonic pack...
The Roots Run Deep – Willow Layne (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The term country rock is always one, like most genre tags, to be fair, which falls short of its task, conjuring either rock hands...
The Conviction – The Buddyrevelles (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As the conclusion of the three-year, three-EP mission to boldly go where music may have gone before, but rarely this deftly, The Buddyrevelles drop the final...
Dancing With The Spirits – MatAre (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Although MatAre has made a name for himself blending the more pop-infused, polished end of the post-punk sound into music suited to the current age, his...
Important Questions – Carl Krausnick (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Anything that reminds me of Wilco is obviously going to be a sound that I gravitate to. Now, I’m not saying that Carl Krausnick is plundering or plagiarising...
Enemy Within – Bloodkin (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
This first taste of Bloodkin’s latest album, ‘Enemy Within’, is a song that works on several levels. The most honest and immediate one is the...
