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.
Scene and Heard – CCCXXXV : Be Careful What You Listen...
Imagine if Frank Zappa was still with us and carving out a career for himself in the underground fringes of the alt-pop, synth-pop, industrial...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXXIV : West Coast – Yam Haus...
It’s all very well making music which is intricate and introverted, dense and technical, big and clever but some times you just want a...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXXIII : Head vs. Heart – Dreams...
Head vs Heart was the second single from the bands Reject University, Pt.1: Freshman 15, so it isn’t exactly new but it was a...
Gypsy Blood – Tamsin Quin (reviewed by T Bebedor)
Devizes-based singer-songwriter-guitarist Tamsin Quin is one of those artists that seems to be doing the right things at the right time and has been...
Fat Panda Tuan – Shinobi Tempura (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Hip-Hop has come along way from the street corners and community centres of late 70’s South Brooklyn and whilst musically it still holds on...
Little Billy Died – Strangely Alright (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I made the point before when the wonderful All of Us Are Strange found itself under my reviewing pen but I’ll say it again,...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXXII : Losing Our Control – Astronomique...
Somewhere near the point where 80’s soft, focus pop meets modern synth-driven indie, where swirling dream-pop meets ambient, late night dance, you find Astronomique...
Don’t Be Alarmed – Olivia Awbrey (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The real charm of Olivia Awbrey’s music is the multi-tasking that goes on. It is enough that she deftly hops genres - alt-rock, psychedelia...
Born in Da LBC – Lee Perreira (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
That will teach me to jump to conclusions, to judge books by their covers…or at least songs by their titles. Anytime I see slang...
Be On Time – Brother Jon Band (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If last time out the Brother Jon Band showed their slick and sassy bar room blues licks via the wonderful Bobby’s Blues, this time...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXXI: (Now We’re) Done – The Solsters...
The Solsters make a fascinating point with (Now We're) Done. Break up songs don’t have to be depressing! You hear the phrase and you...
Black and Blue – Annie Fitzgerald (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is no place like home, or so they say, and by her own admission it would seem that a return to her native...
Change Up – Ben Green (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is one line in particular that stands out on this debut from Ben Green, "Don’t go dumb while the world goes stupid, gotta...
Sakura Flower – Chris Selahoo (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I guess it is fair to say that in the musical world this is the equivalent of fan fiction, a celebration and missive on...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXXI : Hummingbird – Daxuva & Nina...
Pop music doesn’t have to be big and boisterous, bombastic and overblown. I mean, it can be if you like that sort of thing,...
Unbridled and Ablaze – Zialand (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Whilst many bands chose references and soundbites which say more about what they think they sound like rather than what they actually do, Zialand’s...
Destined to Fall – Stepping Sideways (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Making music is often a case of taking the references and influences from the past and moulding them into a new music sonic experience...
April Towers release One Night ahead of new album
Recorded at Soho’s legendary Dean Street Studios (in the same room David Bowie recorded Diamond Dogs) over the course of last year, the album...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXX : Wicked Vicious – Nasty Little...
One of the fun things about reviewing new music is the chance to make up intriguing, though ultimately pointless, new generic descriptions about the...
Why Anything? Why This? – Shriekback (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is no template for a Shriekback album, we worked that out a long time ago. They have that brilliant way about them, a...
Crimen release six years in the making debut album
Silent Animals may be the debut album from Italian trio Crimen, but it arrives over a decade into their career. Simone Greco (bass, voice, sound...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXIX : Ndakwikundira – Nattyva (reviewed by...
Rwandan born Nattyva is a great example of the cross-cultural nature of today’s music. Mixing the heat of her African roots with the more...
Soulmates – Lauren Waller (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Clever pop music! That isn’t a phrase that you come across very often. In this world of throw-away music, it is the most commercial,...
Flow – Flow (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Just as some of the best and most unique experiences happen when you go off grid, as it were, where the generic road runs...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXVIII : In My Arms – Simon...
Simon Lunche does something rare in modern pop music, though there is much more going on here than mere pop. In My Arms is...
Feel Fearless – Carolee Rainey (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I keep reading reviews which compare Carolee Rainey’s sound to Fleetwood Mac in general and Stevie Nick’s in particular. And whilst there is something...
The Climb – Matthew De Ver (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Music obviously has a fluidity to it, a quality that means that the same piece can evoke a different set of reactions in different...
Hard To Be Sad in Nashville – Chris Pietrangelo (reviewed by...
If there is one form of music that seems best equipped to do the whole love, loss and longing routine, country music seems to...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXVII : The Dancin’ Spy – Pekkanini...
Right from the off, as that first resonant riff drops into place, Pekkanini nails his musical colours to the sonic mast and sails this...
Scene and Heard – CCCXXVI : This Burning – Cream VIII...
No matter what anyone tells you about current musical fashions, what the zeitgeist might happen to be blowing in from cooler taste making circles,...
