Dave Franklin
Musician, scribbler, historian, gnostic, seeker of enlightenment, asker of the wrong questions, delver into the lost archives, fugitive from the law of averages, blogger, quantum spanner, left footed traveller, music journalist, zenarchist, freelance writer, reviewer and gemini. People have woken up to worse.
Bel Esprit – Canary Complex (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The world of Canary Complex is one built from a collage of all the most beautiful and romantic aspects of the modern age, not...
The Powers That Be – J-Dynamite (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Jeff Silverman might not be a household name, but he has been a guiding hand in the soul and funk scene for over three...
Lovers’ Lane – Timothy Morris Lane (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Is this a concept album? If so, it certainly makes you rethink what the term means. If the concept album was once the much-maligned playground...
Hoochie Coochie Coo – Joe Boris (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It seems that in this day and age, we have forgotten what blue is all about. I mean really about. Too many superstars in...
She’d Tell Me Over and Over – Duane Hoover (reviewed...
Even if you didn’t do your research on Duane Hoover (although I definitely did, honestly), you would learn a lot about him by simply...
No (Country For Old) Kings – The Sean Shiff Project (reviewed...
At the heart of Sean Shiff’s songwriting is a great philosophy: before you add all the whistles and bells the recording studio offers, a...
Desdemona – The Quixotics (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
What's the difference between retro and nostalgic? Well, I'm no lexicographer, but in musical terms at least, to me the former tries to sound...
Searching for the Soul of Marianne Moore – Desire Machines (reviewed...
We hear so much about artists going on a journey, implying that making a record is a spiritual learning curve or a quest for...
Heavy Is The Crown – Blacklist Union (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As a music scribbler, I spend my day trying to make whatever record passes under the pen sound exciting, marketable, and necessary, even when...
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...
Old New Feelings – Felix Rockey (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Rock and soul and heartache and memory all mix and merge in this new one from Felix Rockey; opposites attract, and emotions that should...
A Moon of Mercury – Dylan Taganas (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Wow, that’s how you kick off an album, and as a recent single, ‘Rattle Stones’ emerges out of a swirl of arabesque vibes, crashing...
Alive – The Heavy North (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
We’ve all been there: that feeling of falling, of infatuation, of love and longing, those moments of not knowing if that person feels the...
Modern World – Molly Gone Mad (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I have, to my shame, only heard one song by Molly Gone Mad before this album landed in the review pile, and it is...
Cocoon – Steve Stinson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Any music that carries meaning will always reflect something about the person making it. Those who make music just for the sake of it,...
One Thought Away – Richard Tyler Epperson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If ever there was a song, and indeed an artist, that sums up what making music in the post-genre world is all about, it...
Video Premiere: Not Punk – LiVES (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
‘Not Punk’ is, ironically, very punk. However, you might find it hard to find two people who agree on what punk actually is. But...
Social Touch – Sacha Mullin (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sacha Mullin might make pop records, but it is pop that comes from a much more discerning place than most of the competition. After...
Storm – Tom Hartman (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Too many folk artists, for want of a better word, head for the extremes of the genre when trying to make music that they...
FAMILY – The Race (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
We might start out thinking rock and roll is all about rebellion and changing the world, that we should wield our guitars like gunslingers...
More People Than Teeth – The Early Swerve (reviewed by Dave...
Remember when songs were as much about telling stories as they were about making cool sounds? Remember when songs were populated by interesting characters...
A Day of Unrest – Eleven 76 (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
In a world where gatekeepers of taste and style seem hell-bent on shoehorning music into this fad or that fashion, labelling it a certain...
Rev It Up – Divergent (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I know that art, and obviously music is included in such a label, can be about holding a mirror up to who we are;...
Civilization – Forgotten Garden (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Such a poised song, such a poignant theme. As the title perhaps suggests, this latest song from this Scottish-Portuguese duo takes a look at...
Gloom – Cabbage Patch Kill Dolls (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is something about the repetitiveness of the lyrics and the restlessness of the music that sets up an inherent tension at the heart...
The lost art of making friends – Messy Eater (reviewed by...
'The lost art of making friends' makes for a cool song title, but it also gets to the heart of one of the problems...
Fire in the Master’s House – Sheykh Forever (reviewed by Dave...
As always, as you head into anything Sheykh Forever releases, I find myself shedding many trappings – musical expectations, the caress of sonic comfort...
Blue Alchemy – Catie Turner (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Catie Turner has certainly done a fair few miles in the music industry in the not-quite-a-decade since she caught the public imagination opening the...
The Highs and The Low: a conversation with Sean Kiely about...
With his latest album Long Live the Low now out, a tour lined up, and memories of sharing stages with some iconic names still...
HISTORY is written by the winners: A chat with the band...
HISTORY has made a name for themselves by taking classic Swedish songs and reworking them in their own inimitable rock and roll style. I...
