Premiers
Video Premiere: Sweeter Than Before – Scott Allen & The List...
As I probably said when reviewing their splendid album, June, Scott Allen & The List has a timeless, almost genreless sound, or at least...
Rock/Punk/Metal
The Mechanics of Falling Apart – ÅHM (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Numerous influences, six great tracks, two accomplished music makers and one fantastic release! Right, that’s the numbers out of the way; let’s get down...
Post Punk/Goth
Lions and Ore – The House Flies (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If the gothic and post-punk sounds were largely predicated on an urban vibe, music that suited the faded glamour and electric glare of cold...
Shoegaze/Dreampop
We’re All Dead – Kramies (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Four years on from Kramies being christened Dreampop Troubadour, we still find him drifting through the more ambient end of the pop world, wandering...
Indie
Elegy – Hollow Star (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Given the joyous jangling cascade that tumbles out of that guitar, the post-punk beat and bass, the slight air of melancholy, and that sweet-spot...
Pop/Power Pop
Dreamer – JES (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you prefer your pop music to come with a side order of grace and cinematics – a very big side order at that...
Folk/Country
Two Swans – John Dorian (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If I can hear the slight echo of the original version of ‘Song To The Siren’ haunting the depths of this utterly romantic song,...
Singer-Songwriter/Acoustica
Flowers – Kelley Smith (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is something special about music that doesn’t feel the need to announce itself, that trusts a melody, a voice and the exact few...
R&B/Soul
Law of Attraction – Sun Atlas (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If there is a place on the musical map that Sun Atlas doesn’t pass through via The Law of Attraction’s scintillating suite of sounds,...
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
Rising Empire – Lord Conrad (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
While some artists build their musical worlds around familiar sounds and styles that fall easily into existing comfort zones, Lord Conrad prefers something altogether...
Hip-hop/Rap
For Us – Ja-Wan (ft. Karis Lovechild and YG Teck) (reviewed...
With his latest release, ‘For Us,’ Ja-Wan balances conscious hip-hop and harder-edged street rap, allowing them to share the same space without either becoming...
Jazz/Blues
Cry For Love – The Heard Eye (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
You have to admire the way that The Heard Eye effortlessly mix optimism and hope with the grooviest of music. And you can tell...
Classical/Instrumental
Oceans – Alexander Laing (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If music with a lyrical component tends to draw you to the artist’s intended conclusion – actually, more than that – it pushes you...
Avant Garde
Phantoms of Nagasaki – Vantablack (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Nick Hudson has been responsible for some of the most moving, eclectic, devastatingly beautiful, beguiling, exciting and adventurous music of recent times, probably because...
Interviews
Music and Memory: a conversation with Kimme
With a couple of singles out recently and an album committed to vinyl, Kimme has had a busy time, so I sat down with...
Live
Deadlight Dance/Flowers of Sacrifice @ The Tuppenny, Swindon 17th Sep ’26
Ahh, those were the days, my formative years spent in basement rock clubs drenched in dry ice, the smell of patchouli, the floor sticky...
Swindon
My River – M3G (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Trying to stand out in a world of guitar-slinging folk-popsters and would-be hipster troubadours when you make music with just voice and guitar is...
News
Latest single ‘So Keen’ from Indie punk band Poets Corner is...
Following a great bunch of reviews & a host of radio plays for previous single She’s Got You Now, Hull’s authentic indie outfit Poets Corner are back with...
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
Playing the Changes – George Collins (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is something wonderfully appropriate about using music as the backdrop to a story about picking up the pieces of a shattered life. Music,...
6 of the best
Sugar On Top – The Bamboos (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is a fine line between masterfully drawing on the golden age of soul for inspiration and simply polishing up its most recognisable moments....
Viva El Monstro – It’s Snakes / Others – Goddamn Wolves (reviewed by Dave...
There is something wonderful about a split single, that is, two bands sharing space on one physical release, something at odds with the modern...
what should we do today? – Forget, Forget (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is something rather appealing about a band that suggests the answer to life's many questions might be to slow down, stay in and...
The Fine Art of Falling: A conversation with Sharpe & Jones
Having just dropped their latest single, ‘The One To Fall,’ there seemed no better time to sit down with Swedish duo Sharpe & Jones to...
Wither Without – Akaba (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Whilst you could call Wither Without, the second album from Akaba, a concept album, fear not: you won’t be confronted by prog-rock wizards writing...
Wide Awake – AloneKitty (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sometimes it isn’t about finding a prettier, more publicly pleasing, or more easily palatable sound; sometimes it’s about appreciating the beauty in more challenging...
