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
I Would Die – Dead Horse (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Love songs don’t have to be all sweetness and light; they don’t have to rhyme “moon” with “June,” and they certainly don’t have to...
Post Punk/Goth
EP3 – Loser Demon (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Some riffs, some songs, sound like instant classics, as if you have been listening to them for half your life, as if you have...
Shoegaze/Dreampop
The Noise Is Ours – Seasurfer (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As the chiming, crystalline vocals of ‘Flurry Glory’ give way to equally chiming and crystalline, yet dark and dense shoegaze textures, we find Seasurfer leading us...
Indie
Apocalypse Queen – Wormogenic (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
“Out of the mouths of babes”, that’s what they say, don’t they, when describing the innocent honesty that only comes from those not old...
Pop/Power Pop
Sabbatical SeaSon – BeaVoys (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
BeaVoys seems to drop new music at a rate more associated with an earlier era, which is quite pertinent given the blissed-out, 60s pop...
Folk/Country
The Inner Temple (Songs of Transformation) – Monique Grimme (reviewed by...
It has been fascinating to watch Monique Grimme's music gradually move from the more mainstream, rock-leaning territory of her earlier work into something increasingly...
Singer-Songwriter/Acoustica
Vitamins – Lucy Frost (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As ‘Maybe It’s Me’ opens this album, you can’t help but fall for Lucy Frost’s simple, fragile, graceful sound, a feeling as much as it...
R&B/Soul
Always Be Mine – Ed Sykes and Friends (reviewed by Dave...
A lifetime of listening thanks to the day job (there is a pun in the band name if you look deep enough) means that...
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
Parakeets – Oaken Wires (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I really enjoyed Oaken Lee’s run of spacious, modern-folk singles that drifted into the review pile last year, but this latest release, which sees him...
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
Walk of Life – Lurleen Ladd (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is an assumption, perhaps held by those outside the creative sphere, that covers are just a way of cashing in on something already...
Classical/Instrumental
Gelino – Satoshi (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you wanted any further proof that music is a constant force in the world, one that moves and evolves through the ages, changing...
Avant Garde
The Shadows of Alienation – Spectrum of Disorder (reviewed by Dave...
Beyond the questions and themes raised by the spoken words and lyrical fragments on this EP, there is a broader question that faces the...
Interviews
The Method in the Musical Madness: A conversation with Anastasiya Bazhenova...
Less a debut album, rather what Anastasiya Bazhenova prefers to call her “first complete artistic statement”, the release of From Mendelssohn to Madness was the perfect opportunity to sit...
Live
Speak to Me – Kathy Sabol (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Although the songs on Speak to Me were written over several years, they took on new meaning following Kathy Sabol's life-threatening illness last year....
Swindon
The Shadows of Alienation – Spectrum of Disorder (reviewed by Dave...
Beyond the questions and themes raised by the spoken words and lyrical fragments on this EP, there is a broader question that faces the...
News
A Shared Experience – recollections of Jimi Hendrix
The authors of a new book on Jimi Hendrix are looking for your help. Following the well-received first volume of 'A People's History of...
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
Apocalypse Queen – Wormogenic (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
“Out of the mouths of babes”, that’s what they say, don’t they, when describing the innocent honesty that only comes from those not old...
Coming Home – The Real Anthem (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sitting in a space that touches the generic fringes of all the sounds that have been a constant in my life – post-punk, alt-rock,...
Airport Road – Violet Love (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is something easy, for want of a better word, about this new single from Violet Love, something effortlessly accessible, something gently infectious, an ability...
Practiced Lines – French Inhaler (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It is fair to say that recent singles from French Inhaler, namely ‘TV Love’ and ‘Plastic Ocean’, piqued my interest in this Chicago trio, and after all,...
The Noise Is Ours – Seasurfer (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As the chiming, crystalline vocals of ‘Flurry Glory’ give way to equally chiming and crystalline, yet dark and dense shoegaze textures, we find Seasurfer leading us...
Speak to Me – Kathy Sabol (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Although the songs on Speak to Me were written over several years, they took on new meaning following Kathy Sabol's life-threatening illness last year....
