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.
Return to Silence – The Wrong Man (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As The Wrong Man heads into more atmospheric and deliciously darker territory with their third single, something of the 80s echoes through the song’s...
Phantoms of Nagasaki – Vantablack (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Nick Hudson has been responsible for some of the most moving, eclectic, devastatingly beautiful, beguiling, exciting and adventurous music of recent times, probably because...
Serial Dreamers – Wren + Wilde (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Is there such a thing as dreamicana? I ask because stepping into the sonic world Wren + Wilde unlocks with the release of the...
Ghosts – Mark Newman (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Blues spans a broad spectrum, from the spacious roots sound of a simple, battered acoustic to the full-on electric band sounds made by superstars...
Snap, Crackle & Bop – Us3 (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Hip-hop and the myriad styles and sounds that it spawned have moved a long way from the soul and funk and jazz and pop...
Edge of the World – Korda Korder (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Although often immersed in a more cinematic, wide-screen, dream-pop sound, this latest one, from Korda Korder, ‘Edge of the World’, is a song whose...
Black Pearl Summer – Fanny Alexandra (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Sonically, the new one from Fanny Alexandra feels timeless. As the song breezes in on a Latin lilt, island vibes shot through with blues...
Lifers – Ryan Traster (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Maybe Americana isn’t a genre at all; maybe it is a state of mind, an attitude, both a sonic and heartfelt connection to the...
Kissing Lions – Ghost Painted Sky (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
You always know something good is going to happen when you drop the needle and are greeted by a bass line that is all...
Small Talk in Stereo – The Stray Lions (reviewed by Dave...
Rock music doesn’t have to be big, brash, and bombastic. I know it made its name on that image, but the genre has been...
In the Silence of the Hills – Moon and Aries (reviewed...
The music that this intercontinental duo makes does, by its very nature, err on the side of drifting and ambient, effortless and elegant. But...
Musical Machinations: A quick conversation with Mattias Alsander about writing songs...
With a new single from Fräulein Und Alsander just out, I caught up with the man behind the name, Mattias Alsander, to find out...
Refinement 2026 – Poke A Brain (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you needed any further proof that sounds and styles and genres and scenes are all pointless demarcations, and that the best things happen...
Sunrise State of Mind – Dave Hill Jr. (reviewed by Dave...
Sometimes it is best not to overthink things, so when Dave Hill Jr. says “let’s start again”, he isn’t talking about big relationship crises...
Long Live The Resistance – Cindy Lawson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Even on my side of the Atlantic, Minneapolis has become a beacon for civilian resistance against overreaching government power, and as a Brit, the...
Room On Fire – Fernando’s Eye’s (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
‘Room On Fire’ sounds like a place where everything that defined post-punk and the late-eighties alternative sound comes together. Not so much the heavier,...
The Fuzzy End of the Lollipop – the black watch (reviewed...
When John Andrew Fredrick says that he intends this to be the last black watch album, he does add the caveat that he has...
Holding On – The Snow Ponies (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Last time I wrote about music from Phil Dean he was a folk-rocker from Gelong. Now he is an indie kid from The Shire…well,...
My River – M3G (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Trying to stand out in a world of guitar-slinging folk-popsters and would-be hipster troubadours when you make music with just voice and guitar is...
Dark Sister – Death Dealer Union (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If you think that the trademark growling, searing, dark and demonic vocal style that defines the heavier end of the metal scene is the...
Kill or B Killed – I.K.P. (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
As hip-hop and all its sonic offspring continue to grow, expand, and explore new territory, sonic and otherwise, it moves far from its South...
Save You Now – The Summertimes (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
With a sound as warm and welcoming as the band name, ‘Save You Now’ is a shimmering slice of indie meets old-school power-pop –...
Lost Literature – The House Flies (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
While you would say that this new one from The House Flies sits easily in the current landscape, at least that space frequented by...
Get Together – Summer Fades Away/Vaudlow (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The modern world is a marvellous place. Not many years ago, the idea of a Chinese band and a US duo collaborating on a record would have been...
Identity – Lady Nade (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
When you look beyond specific journalistic labels, it is fair to say that most musical styles can be called ‘roots’ music – soul, blues,...
Summer Lovin’ : A quick chat with Peter Jakobsson about love...
Nautiluspete, the project of Swedish songwriter Peter Jakobsson has just released a song about a love worth fighting for. “The Beacon” is uplifting EDM with a...
it all burns down someday – 72 Rats (reviewed by Dave...
When pop music doesn't have the balls you want as the soundtrack to your day and rock music feels a bit too impenetrable or...
Glitching Sky – The Pixel Rain (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
‘Glitching Sky’ is the final single before London-based The Pixel Rain’s long-awaited album, A Sense of Danger, arriving at the end of the month. Since I have...
Burn – LiVES (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
With a new album, Ghosts, cued up for early next year, ‘Burn’ is here to tease the audience and test the waters, and personally speaking,...
Shadows & Light – Sean Hopkins (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I love the pitch that comes with this latest album from Sean Hopkins. “Great music – take a listen.” Five words that seem so simple, but which...
