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.
No FEAR – Paul Archer (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
“No FEAR” might be taken from Paul Archer’s debut album, but that doesn’t mean that he is new to the sonic fray. Anything but. With bands...
Rising From The Ashes – Brunhilde (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Backed up by a run of European gigs starting later this month, Brunhilde’s latest release, “Rising From The Ashes,” reminds us of all the things...
Broken Vein – Outpost Drive (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Outpost Drive is perhaps one of few bands that actually deserve the title, “Transatlantic Americana”, which is as much a description of their music as it...
Telling Stories – ALLEY the band (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It’s always fascinating when, having heard only one song by a band, you are faced with a more complete array of their music. Was...
The Most Beautiful Lie – Holly Woodlove (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
The fact that this album opens with a song that sounds like a half-forgotten West Coast (a clue in the name, perhaps?) mainstream hit...
Eat Your Flesh Like Fire – Mickelson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There seems to be a resurgence of musicians remembering the power of their art right now. A wave of creatives realising they have the...
Stepping Off The Crag – Black Cat Habitat (reviewed by Dave...
The deft and delicate funkiness that is wrapped around a gentle sense of infectiousness that greet you as “Dove” opens the album is a...
Heartbreak High – The Danphes (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I love it when I get a piece of music under the pen, and it is an excuse to break out all my favourite...
The Grief – The Sway (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Cards on the table, I wasn’t aware of The Sway back in the day, well, you can’t be everywhere, can you, and I suspect that back...
Visions From the Frontier – Noise Factory United (reviewed by Dave...
As you work your way through the six songs that make up Noise Factory United’s Visions From The Frontier, you quickly realise that the frontiers that...
Rust Mountain (Monochrome Piano Version) – Aptøsrs (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
It is one thing to listen to and enjoy a song; it is another to understand it, or at least get a feeling for...
The Laws of Life – Lois Powell + Night Wolf (reviewed...
This fourth collaboration between Lois Powell and Night Wolf sees the two artists pushing their already hard-to-pin-down sound, but hey, isn’t that the whole point? As a famous...
Ur Cure – Royal Blush (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Feeling like a modern piece of music made at the alt-rock/power-pop divide yet seemingly following the tenets that made so much nineties sound and...
Bad Feeling – Rowhome (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I love songs that sit on the cusp, or in the case of this latest one from Rowhome, many cusps. I get it if you like...
Home From Home: Ben E Davis talks London, LA, his musical...
With the single “Hometown” dropping, I caught up with Ben E Davis to talk about being that American Boy in London, how he got started in...
Perpetual Light of the Void – Daphne Parker Powell (reviewed by...
Coming ahead of her album, The Death of Cool, which features an array of New Orleans, Mississippi, and Muscle Shoals musical royalty, “Perpetual Light of the Void” is a...
Someone To Blame – Holy Death Temple (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Before I get stuck into the song’s specifics, “Someone To Blame” is a reminder that all that dark, post-punk stuff, all that gothic invention...
Call Me Crazy – Gregory Ackerman (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
I’m not sure if “Call Me Crazy” is an echo of a golden age of music past or a sonic signpost to a better...
Snapshots – Deja Dead (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Reflection, especially self-reflection, is a powerful tool. And it is this idea that forms the basis of “Snapshots,” the latest single from multi-media, multi-disciplinarian Deja...
Sunday Knockout – Yard Sale (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Reference points are all about age, I guess, and I’m probably older than this band’s target audience. (Though I like to think that they...
Elements of Air – Octavian Winters (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
There is something about Octavian Winters’ ability to build the most exotic and exciting, dark and beguiling soundscapes that sets them apart from most of...
The Ripple Effect – Jaime French (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Although already known as a comedian and YouTuber, Jaime French is set to conquer new territory with the release of her debut EP, The Ripple Effect. But...
Powerlines – Jana Pochop (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Most music has at its heart a sense of place. Well, good music does, at least. There is very often something of the landscape,...
I Am Not Myself – trainboy (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Trainboy's I Am Not Myself is a collection of songs that seems to sit in that intriguing space between the intimacy of the singer-songwriter...
Electric Gloom/Fire and Smoke – Hollow Shift (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Given that my formative musical days, that learning curve which informed my lifelong tastes and sonic attitudes were formed at a time when the...
The Last of Men – SPKtR (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
They say that good things come to those who wait, but I’d say that nearly forty years between releases is pushing things a bit....
Say My Name – Landroid (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Taken from the upcoming album, Constellation, that incorporates everything from the Gnostic creation myth of the Demiurge Yaldabaoth to a Tarantino-esque tale of gun-slinging lovers holding up a bank, it...
What You Said – Myles Cochran (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
We are all the product of our environment; that much is obvious, but perhaps that is more so in the case of musicians and...
A New Moon – Joseph Turner & The Dudes of Hazard...
Music from the Dutch delta? Yes, please. Especially if it is all going to be as cool as this one from Joseph Turner & The...
Back where it all began. A Big Day out with EXTC
Terry Chambers will always remember his twenty-first birthday. After all, who would forget being subjected to their friend’s TV show reel, fifteen minutes (well,...
