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
What A Way To Go – Shawn Brown (reviewed by Dave...
If Bruce Springsteen made pop records, this is what they’d sound like. Okay, that is a bit of a throwaway, rhetorical statement, but it does get...
Post Punk/Goth
In The Blur (remixed) – Waves Crashing (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As I have stated many times before, I am a big fan of the remix. I’m old enough to remember when remixing tracks was...
Shoegaze/Dreampop
Sky Bleeds – MothBreath (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Most of the music that lands on my desk is merely work. Of course, I put the effort in, but at the end of...
Indie
Tides – The Bergamot (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I have waxed lyrical about Nathaniel Paul’s gorgeous and graceful music many times before on this platform, so it was fantastic to read that The Bergamot is...
Pop/Power Pop
Flo Crowe & The Dilemmas – Flo Crowe & The Dilemmas...
As “Bigger and Brighter” explodes from minimal chill-step into a bigger and brighter (ha!) electro-pop soundscape, you realize that what you thought might be...
Folk/Country
Make America – Charlotte Morris (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It is very easy to be enraged by world events; the fractures and entrenchment in America at the moment are perhaps the most conspicuous...
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
Freeze – Adrielle Bow Belle (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Singles can be just that: stand-alone pieces of music. But that isn’t always the case; something that gets slightly lost in this age when...
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
Little Gold Spark – Melissa Reed (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Music can be many things, and at its most extreme, it can shoulder the weight of the world, exploring complex emotions, difficult truths, and...
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
9/8 – Leyla Romanov (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
A dance track that is tricky to dance to? Who would do such a thing? Well, that is the sort of boundaries we find Leyla...
Avant Garde
David – Mazmere (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
David is an EP of music connected by a stark theme: loss. It wasn’t intended that way, but both via subject matter and collaboration,...
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
Light. Hope. Faith. – Cara Paige (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Devotional music is often thought of as speaking only to those who share the artist's beliefs, but the finest examples transcend faith, drawing on...
Stuck – Camille K (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As a “music writer,” I tend to have a high-falutin ‘ opinion of myself, as if I’m using my accumulated years of scribbling experience...
Sky Bleeds – MothBreath (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Most of the music that lands on my desk is merely work. Of course, I put the effort in, but at the end of...
Flo Crowe & The Dilemmas – Flo Crowe & The Dilemmas (reviewed by Dave...
As “Bigger and Brighter” explodes from minimal chill-step into a bigger and brighter (ha!) electro-pop soundscape, you realize that what you thought might be...
You Can’t Spell Sweetheart Without Thea – carolesdaughter (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is a clever conundrum at the heart of the music found on You Can’t Spell Sweetheart Without Thea, a juxtaposition of music that is...
Violin Songs – Maura Dunst (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you are going to cover other people’s songs, then you need to bring something new to the table; otherwise, what is the point?...
