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.
Out of Camo – Ken Tran (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Poetry and music have always made for easy bedfellows. After all, what are lyrics if not just a layer of poetry running across the...
Walk Through The Fire – Criminal Hero (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Just because music genres move on doesn’t mean there isn’t still a rich seam to be ploughed through old inspirations, influences, and especially old...
Constellations Strange – FarFarAway (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Ever since Dylan went electric and a lone voice in the crowd shouted that forever-misquoted line, ‘Do you know any Judas Priest,’ and thus rock music was born,...
Part-Time Preacher – Lisa Michelle Anderson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
With her latest album, Spend A Little Time, just around the corner, Lisa Michelle Anderson’s new single lands with perfect timing to remind us of what makes...
Surrender – August Benjamin (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
You could say that, though the very act of making music, August Benjamin has inherited the family business. Having spent his formative years soaking up the...
Rain Steam Speed – Nils Lassen (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Three words that say so much. Anyone who has even the slightest appreciation of Western art will read that title and immediately picture J. M....
Conversations With My Heart – E.J. (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
They say you should write about what you know, and that relatability and authenticity matter as much as the actual sonic moves of the...
Livin’ – Son of Jacob (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I know the term ‘Beatle-esque’ gets bandied about a lot- too much, really and is usually wrongly applied to music that falls well below...
Mariana Trench – Paul Garside (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The ‘Mariana Trench’ is, of course, a metaphor: this place where warm Pacific waters plunge into the deepest, darkest, most remote, and near-lifeless depths...
You Are So Real – Jon Scott (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Undeniable echoes of the golden age of soul cascade through this new one from Jon Scott: those lush, warm and nostalgic sounds of liquid piano...
Old Blighty – Last Night Watchman (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Even before you get to the music, there is something quintessentially English about the themes that run through Last Night Watchman’s music – everything from...
Far Away – Ron-Ian Cottam and Hotdog4theMoon (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
‘Far Away’ feels like a song that has fallen into the present from some sort of psychedelic-pop, dayglo, paisley-patterned past, a place that is...
Inches From Sin – Sometimes (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sometimes a song can make an impression on its own; in fact, the main job of any song released as a single is to...
Power Ballads – James Howard (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Despite the title, thankfully, this new single from James Howard is miles away from the conclusions you might be drawing from the title alone. (Books and...
From Where We’re From – Royal Blush (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you can’t find a sonic reference to your favourite rock and roll style doing its thing and working its way through this new,...
Liminalland – Pray Silence (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I love the idea of liminal spaces. Everything from music made on those fringes to the idea of actual places that seem to exist...
Latest single ‘So Keen’ from Indie punk band Poets Corner is...
Following a great bunch of reviews & a host of radio plays for previous single She’s Got You Now, Hull’s authentic indie outfit Poets Corner are back with...
Pack It Up – The Venus Children (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sitting somewhere between the sass of indie and the classiness of soul, blending such extremes as guitar intensity and a more understated, bass-driven serenity,...
Members of Sunshine Blind and The Wake join forces for gun-slinging...
Sometimes the most interesting musical collaborations are the ones that sound less like a carefully assembled project and more like a group of friends...
Almost – Frank Joshua (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you have the impression of Frank Joshua as a maker of dreamscape, ambient-infused indie music, often with more than a hint of wistfulness and perhaps...
What a Little Moonlight Can Do – Tom Minor (reviewed by...
Tom Minor’s songs might often seem like they come from a similar place to Chas ‘n’ Dave’s cheeky-chappery, but that would be to miss the...
Beginning to Break – Dusty Edinger (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If I say that Dusty Edinger trades in sounds that are both familiar and fresh, new music woven from styles with a proven track...
Mortal Eyes – SCooby Trillion (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
You can't say that SCooby Trillion isn't eclectic. If my first encounter saw him delve into the ancient and diverse sounds of Africa and...
Summer in Galt – Sky Is Alright (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As the opener and lead single from Sky Is Alright’s first album in five years, FINITE, ‘Summer In Galt’ is a great reminder of what we...
Satellite Heart – Mark Emsley (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Rock music often casts itself as the rebellious outsider, the mysterious stranger from the wrong side of the tracks; bands that make such music...
Bourbon – Los Tres Mortales (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you ever wondered what the incidental music would sound like as you watched The Man With No Name ride through a blasted post-apocalyptic scrubland into...
Dark Cells – Lost Velvet (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
While modern bands present their music to the listener in the form of a song, there is, or at least there should be, much...
Take It or Leave It – Alysha (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
“Old goths never die..” that’s what we used to say back in the day. And it is true; the echo of their music can still...
Album Premiere: Plantano Macho – Leathers (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I love the fact that Leathers have fallen into a (seemingly at least) fairly simple (though not simplistic) sound and managed to get so much mileage...
Memory Serves – Cave Shine (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As the sonic threads of ‘Nightblooming’ gather and grow, brood and bind, you can’t help but await that shimmering sonic explosion, that glorious sonic...
