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
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,...
Post Punk/Goth
Play Along – Cable Street Riots (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I will start with a confession. I will start by admitting that it is the band/artist’s name that first caught my eye. History buffs...
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
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,...
Pop/Power Pop
I Will Be Alright – Monique Grimme (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I probably said as much when I put pen to paper for Monique Grimme's previous single, "Honey Gold," but having established herself with a signature,...
Folk/Country
Album Premiere: Lay Fallow – Flutes & Low (reviewed by Dave...
There is something both elemental and ethereal about the music that greets you as the needle drops on this debut record from Flutes & Low, something...
Singer-Songwriter/Acoustica
Put It Behind Me – Kevin Driscoll (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you are one of those people who likes to say things like “it’s good man, but I struggle with his voice,” when you...
R&B/Soul
How Dare You Ignore Their Cries? – Darrell Kelley (reviewed by...
Thankfully, we are seeing more and more artists using their creative space to appeal to the better angels of the world—music made in response...
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
Avoidance Moon – Zabus (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As I head into the opening titular track of the new and sixth Zabus album, Avoidance Moon, I get the strange sensation that I am listening to...
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
Rooks – M3G (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The word ethereal is used a lot in music. Too much, really. Not least by overly-verbose scribblers like me. But sometimes no other word will do....
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
I Will Be Alright – Monique Grimme (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I probably said as much when I put pen to paper for Monique Grimme's previous single, "Honey Gold," but having established herself with a signature,...
Compromise – Reduction in Force (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It’s sad to think that Reduction in Force might be right, that compromise might be life’s only constant. Sad but true, after all, they aren’t the...
Songs In The Key Of Blue – The Swamp Stomp String Band (reviewed by...
If you are, like me, tired of everyone and their uncle rebranding their music as Americana, or worse, British Americana to keep up with...
There Will Be Bread – Sharkeologist (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
How the wonderfully named Sharkeologist manage to mine so many sonic seems…or even scenes, weave together so many threads and still come out with something that...
Weight Will Unwind – Findlay Birch (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It isn’t hard to imagine some of the music you might find in the more regularly played end of Finlay Birch’s record collection. Listen to...
Hourglass – The SKBs (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As the first glimpse, a teaser, a taster, and a tester of the water for the band's second album, The Next Stop, "Hourglass" does...
