Premiers
Single Premiere: Be the Light – Mother Coyote (reviewed by Dave...
If anywhere needs a song of hope at the moment, it is Minneapolis. There are many troubled places and turbulent events taking place across the world,...
Rock/Punk/Metal
Bring It On – Criminal Hero (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I love Rick Harkness’s resilient rock-and-roll vision. Not for him a complicated or convoluted mission to rebuild the genre. There is no year zero agenda,...
Post Punk/Goth
The Ones Who Love – Zero Swann (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Having just tried to unpick and process Jeremy Moore’s more avant-garde project, Bell Barrow, The Ones Who Love from Zero Swann, another of his musical outlets, feels almost like a...
Shoegaze/Dreampop
Snake Charmer – Moon Construction Kit (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The wonderfully named Moon Construction Kit feels like a return to the past’s psychedelic and dreampop sounds and simultaneously a search for their next chapters. And...
Indie
Day Trip – Sssstephen! (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
“Day Trip” is the definition of a song built on a majestic and marvellous slow-burning evolution. Starting in a sort of indie-folk cosmic haze,...
Pop/Power Pop
Last Train to Midnight – Bleach Dreamer (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There are two sets of vibes at work in this latest single from Bleach Dreamer, one musical, the other purely atmospheric. The former seems to...
Folk/Country
Echoes of Our Past – Medusa’s Wake (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
For reasons too complex and often too distressing to fit into a short music review, the people of the Celtic fringes of Western Europe...
Singer-Songwriter/Acoustica
To Cold To Swim – Art Schop (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is always a deeper story running through Art Schop’s songs, not for him throwaway lyrics or offering up merely more of the same old,...
R&B/Soul
Some Kind of We – Every Us (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It is quite telling that the captain of the Every Us ship, Ryan Jones, has spent years living in cities around the world, absorbing, understanding, and collaboratively...
Reggae/Ska/Dub
Album Premiere: Lost Files – JaDon Blaxx (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If Dancehall arrived in the seventies as reggae's leaner, faster, more street-charged younger sibling, then Lost Files is a clear snapshot of where that...
Dance/EDM
Furtiva – FREZYA feat. LPSV (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It is perhaps quite telling that the single's cover shows the image of a strawberry-shaped, golden hand grenade because "Furtiva" does sound like someone...
Hip-hop/Rap
Mind How You Go – PanthaDogg (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Hip-hop has come a long way from its birthplace in the South Bronx all those years ago. And while all genres move with the...
Jazz/Blues
Video Premiere: Hearts Like Caves – Dilly Dally Alley (reviewed by...
As I sit here writing, the spring sun streaming through the window, the cat following the warm spot across the floor, green things sparking...
Classical/Instrumental
Single Premiere: Amanda On The Bed – Seven Crows (reviewed by...
I have struggled to express what i love so much about instrumentel music many times as I put pen to paper on its behalf,...
Avant Garde
True Human Trough – Bell Barrow (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Comfort zones? Who needs them? Well, not Bell Barrow that’s for sure. Anyone already familiar with any music that Jeremy Moore has made under this or any other...
Interviews
New York City Boy: Talking to M. Spano about delivering Something...
With a new single, “Something Different,” just dropped, I sat down with M. Spano to find out about his roots, his style, and his...
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
‘Mariachi El Bronx IV’ out February 13 Marks Alter Ego of...
On February 13 LA trailblazers Mariachi El Bronx will release Mariachi El Bronx IV, their long-awaited new album, and first in over a decade. MEB is the alter...
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
Joni Mitchell Smile – The Buddy System Forever (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I know that my reference points need updating and that few even knew The Pursuit of Happiness at the time, but there is so much going...
Always – RISE (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Big music doesn’t have to resort to brash and bombastic tricks to make its presence felt. You can go that route, if you like,...
Free Everybody – The Heard Eye (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
A cynical mind might accuse The Heard Eye as being idealists, but their message of freedom and love is exactly what the world needs...
Day Trip – Sssstephen! (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
“Day Trip” is the definition of a song built on a majestic and marvellous slow-burning evolution. Starting in a sort of indie-folk cosmic haze,...
Scars – Jonny Black (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Anything that gives out serious “Into My Arms” vibes is obviously a song worth spending a bit of time getting to know. I’m not...
Want Me To – Betty Moon (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Too sophisticated to be rock, too clever to be pop, too original to be labelled merely indie, Betty Moon sits in one of those unique and...
