Premiers
Single Premiere: Nicht Nur – DegHerl (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I love the way that DegHerl manages to blend the big and bombastic with the deft and the delicate on their latest single, “Nicht Nur.” It...
Rock/Punk/Metal
Vicious Vultures – Empty Machines (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
You would have to say that Empty Machines, the current musical vehicle of Glasgow-based artist Thomas Crawford, perfectly encapsulates the potential there is for the modern, open-minded music...
Post Punk/Goth
War – Hollow Shift (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Taking the stark and attention-grabbing War as its title, this triptych of songs explores the concept in its various forms, from the internal battles we all...
Shoegaze/Dreampop
please – sadplanet (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Ahead of the autumn release of their debut EP, slowing down, sadplanet drops their second single from it, “please.” Here, they give us an immersive cocoon of...
Indie
Before a Fall – Bellstar (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Putting a label on a band like Bellstar or an album like Before a Fall is pointless. Not only do the songs seem to...
Pop/Power Pop
prom king – Kiki Kramer (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If the use of deftness and delicacy, restraint and understatement to create space in a song is an art form in its own right,...
Folk/Country
Why There’s Something Rather Than Nothing – Brennan Gilmore (reviewed by...
I want to start by talking about the album that this single is taken from, Brennan Gilmore’s debut, which will be out in a few...
Singer-Songwriter/Acoustica
My Tomorrow is Already Missing You Today – George Collins Band...
Some songwriters merely write songs, which is fair enough given the job title. Others, however, capture the most intimate parts of what it is...
R&B/Soul
Don’t Waste My Time (LA Mix) – 4fro Nick (reviewed by...
Given that 4fro Nick is effortlessly able to blend funky grooves and acid-soaked blues guitars with bubbling synths and the sound of tight, modern production, I...
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
Keep Dancing (remix) – Schkeuditzer Kreuz (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Even if you can’t make out the vocals, which are both minimal and obscured beneath the raw, abrasive sonics and the industrial, delirious dance...
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
Blue Side Volume 2 – Tobin Mueller and Tomás Martinez (self-released)
As the title suggests, Blue Side Volume 2 is the continued sonic adventures of Tobin Mueller and Tomás Martinez, a collaboration that runs the...
Classical/Instrumental
Ad Majorem Sathanae Gloriam – Abstract Absorption (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
With tracks such as "Ad Majorem Sathanae Gloriam," we enter some very interesting territory, a place that makes us think about what concepts such...
Avant Garde
In The Style of Dead Sparrows – AD Ozium (reviewed by...
You never set foot into Jeremy Moore’s sonic world without bracing yourself for the unexpected. In fact, the unexpected is the one thing you can...
Interviews
Punk and folk and all that jazz: Welcome to the eclectic...
With her album of covers, Born in Time, now out, it seemed the perfect time to catch up with Rachelle Garniez to find out about her influences, her...
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
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
My Greatest Disaster – Fred Presley (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Regrets, he’s had a few… as the song suggests, and “My Greatest Disaster” is about exactly that. The song is a confessional, as the...
Ad Majorem Sathanae Gloriam – Abstract Absorption (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
With tracks such as "Ad Majorem Sathanae Gloriam," we enter some very interesting territory, a place that makes us think about what concepts such...
Money For The Honey – Noir Addiction (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Echoing both early dark-edged synth-wave sounds and the vibrant beat of today’s alternative dance-rock set, digital deftness and industrial analog drive, “Money For The...
Nostalgia is fine…but… – Quiet as a Mouse (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Quiet as a Mouse sits between the worlds of the singer-songwriter and the full indie band experience. It’s an interesting place from which to work...
Raging Halls – Lyia Meta (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Some artists set out to make songs that sound raw-edged and full of rage, but nine times out of ten, they come across as...
Jerp – Maurice Brown Jr. (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It is easy to talk about music in terms of genres and styles, but sometimes it makes more sense to explain them through less...
