Dave Clarke
Dave Clarke is the music division manager for Readings
Review — 22 Jul 2018
All That Reckoning by Cowboy Junkies
It is 1989 and I’m driving home from a friend’s 21st birthday party out in the Yarra Valley. I am a young man who feels a little out of place…
Review — 23 Sep 2014
Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone by Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams must be one of the best American artists of the past three decades, both as a songwriter and singer. Her career took a long time to get going…
Review — 24 Jun 2014
Invisible Hour by Joe Henry
I’ve been following the career of American artist Joe Henry since the release of his 1992 album, Short Man’s Room. It was an early alt-country classic, recorded with members…
Review — 30 Apr 2014
Natalie Merchant by Natalie Merchant
Natalie Merchant’s voice has always had an effect on me: deep and dark, beautiful and fragile, but also capable of great power and strength. It is a voice I have…
Review — 25 Mar 2014
Wrecking Ball: Deluxe Edition by Emmylou Harris
Back in the mid-nineties, my musical world was transformed by a handful of albums. Among them, Gillian Welch’s Revival, Richard Buckner’s Bloomed and Emmylou Harris’s Wrecking Ball each played…
Review — 22 Oct 2013
Fall To Rise by Love Over Gold
US singer–songwriter Pieta Brown and Australian Lucie Thorne have teamed up to form the international duo, Love Over Gold. Thorne has created a series of great, independently released albums, making…
Review — 24 Jun 2013
Kveikur by Sigur Ros
When Sigur Rós announced their new album earlier this year, they promised a more ‘aggressive’ sound. Kveikur certainly starts out that way: a heavy bass line dominates the first track…
Review — 28 May 2013
American Kid by Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin is an artist I have been following (obsessing about, really) ever since I heard her debut Living With Ghosts in 1996. She is quite simply one of my…
Review — 7 Apr 2013
Ghost On Ghost by Iron & Wine
The first two Iron and Wine albums were very intimate affairs. Recorded in Sam Beam’s house, The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002) and Our Endless Numbered Days (2004) are considered…
Blog post — 26 Feb 2013
AMP Prize 2013
Inspired by the British music industry and it’s Mercury Prize, the Australian Music Prize (AMP) rewards artistic excellence and is voted for by a small group of music industry experts…