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.
Soul Doctor – Matt Oestreicher (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
What do you do when you find that you are not practicing what you preach? This was the dilemma facing Matt Oestreicher as he...
Mirror Song – Burning House (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It’s an odd combination, intensity and beauty, you feel that they should be mutually exclusive concepts but amongst the wall of shoe gazing guitar...
I Need You – The Stone MG’s (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The Stone MG’s make music that sits at the point where rock muscle meets soul sass. Vocally it tips its hat to a Motown...
Sabbath – Evi Vine (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Anything that puts me in mind of All About Eve is going to be good with me. That may be a lazy way to...
Like A Cat – Nadia Kazmi (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is something wonderfully bohemian about this latest sonic blast from Brooklyn based Nadia Kazmi. It’s in the sultry delivery, the referencing of the...
The Sight of an Eagle – Through Infinity (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you like your music to come with a heavy dose of drama and no small amount of pathos then Through Infinity are definitely...
Taeb Ecnad – Jamit (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Say what you like about Jamit but you can’t fault the speed at which he turns out new material. It seems as if there...
The Weather Up Here – Niki Kennedy (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
That Niki Kennedy is no stranger to musical theatre and stage productions is evident in her voice right from the start. That combination of...
Vastness – Christopher Sky (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Space, the final frontier. Yes, we all know the tag line from that famous sci-fi franchise, but it is a phrase which is also...
Timberline and Mountain Crest – Forest Robots (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Interesting things happen when worlds collide. Sometimes the results are catastrophic and earth-shattering, sometimes they are unexpectedly compatible and beautiful. Forest Robots has always...
WOMAD early bird tickets available today
WOMAD festival organisers are delighted to announce that Early Bird Tickets go on sale for the UK’s 37th edition of the World’s Festival on Wednesday 21...
Confusion Species – Oxygen Thief (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I like a good pun. Who doesn’t? So even before I have dropped the virtual needle into the digital groove the titles alone of...
Nivuru – Alessio Bondi (reviewed by T. Bebedor)
It must be difficult selling a foreign-language album into the already saturated market of English-speaking releases, sure we all like an occasional ‘Gangnam Style’...
What We’re Looking For – The Jet Reds (reviewed by T....
A few weeks ago, I was in a pub chatting about music with a friend of mine and we were discussing how there don’t...
Push The Button – Marc Payne (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If any genre is allowed to be self-referencing and creatively recyclable then you have to give hip-hop a pass on that score. Any genre...
Laika – Angus McOg (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is something wonderfully Gilliam-esque about the video that accompanies Angus McOg's Laika, that same strange, surreal cut and paste style that used to...
EP One – Mat Caron (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is a wonderful and inherent bleakness to Mat’s music in general and this latest release in particular. But where as many artists seem...
Fake News – Revelever (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
For a man who admits to an equal love for the rock antics of The Who and Led Zeppelin as much as the likes...
Morning – Dino Pitoski (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Morning seems to sit at any number of musical crossing points. But then again all of the most interesting music does. It moves from...
Can It Wait? – Ignacio Peña (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The joy of Ignacio Peña's music is exploring the layering and depth of the messages involved. As an audio blast, the lyrics may be...
I Think I Saw You on the Street – MARBL (reviewed...
See, this is exactly what I have been talking about for years. Folk music and indie music make the perfect match, the deft and...
Sean McGowan 2019 tour tickets on sale tomorrow
The ever-grafting son of the smith, SEAN McGOWAN, is barrelling into 2019 via his favourite place: the road.
With 2018 an indelible highlight and highpoint...
The High Cost of Living Strange – Ben De La Cour...
The Southern states of America have always been reflected, and promoted, as where the honest, God-fearing folk of America live. The vast farmland for...
Life Is Wonderful – Clark Twain (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If the single Fly High (Like Richard Branson) was shot through with musical references from throughout the decades and across the generic spectrum, then...
Mr. Fix It – Brooke Josephson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If ever a song was the sound of the modern clubland dance floor it is this. It seems as much built of sass and...
Miles Away – Mark James (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Some music looks to the past, re-invents the wheel or perhaps merely polishes it in the hope that this new found sparkle will ensnare...
Call of War – Millytae ft. Gwaii (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It is nice to know that in this world were a lot of rap and hip-hop has been dumbed down to mumbling bedroom wannabes...
Outsiders – The Senton Bombs (reviewed by T. Bebedor)
Blackpool is famous for it’s Tower Ballroom, it’s illuminations and seaside rock, and boy do these lads from Blackpool know how to rock!
If you...
Two – John Lindsay (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There are so many classic hallmarks and cleverly nostalgic moments to be found on Two that it is hard not to think that you...
Love at the Community Centre – Ratts (reviewed by T. Bebedor)
With all the modern tricks and effects producers can add to songs to make the mundane sound fantastic it comes somewhat as a refreshing...
