Music at Elsewhere

Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly updates.

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2010 Midlake: The Courage of Others (Inertia)

12 Dec 2010  |  1 min read  |  3

This quintet from Texas -- now on their third album -- has only appeared once previously at Elsewhere, a wonderful track on the collection Secret Love 4. That piece (the sample track posted with that album) was so impressive their name imprinted itself on my memory -- and then this album turns up. In the absence of hearing much else by them this one seduces on a first hearing and it has... > Read more

Midlake: Fortune

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2010 Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses: Junky Star (Lost Highway)

12 Dec 2010  |  1 min read

The name "Ryan Bingham" has been getting a lot of eartime recently -- it was the name of George Clooney's character in the movie Up in the Air. But more importantly in the real world it belongs to one of the most interesting Americana singer-songwriters of the past deacde -- the man who picked up an Oscar for his song The Weary Kind in the film Crazy Heart (in which he also played... > Read more

Ryan Bingham: Junky Star

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2010 Marilyn Crispell and David Rothenberg: One Dark Night I Left My Silent House (ECM/Ode)

12 Dec 2010  |  1 min read

American pianist Marilyn Crispell is one of those rarities: classically trained, she jumped in at the very deep and demanding end of the jazz pool – free jazz, Cecil Taylor, the ferociously intellectual Anthony Braxton Quartet – and used her instincts and training to keep afloat. Then she struck out confidently. Crispell – now in her early 60s – has never... > Read more

Crispell and Rothenberg: Stay, Stray

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2010 Richard Thompson: Dream Attic (Proper)

12 Dec 2010  |  1 min read

Quite what has enraged the exceptional and much admired English guitarist/songwriter Richard Thompson we can only guess, but let's hope he stays angry because this blistering live album -- of all new material, recorded at various venues in the States -- finds him in top form. With a small band -- guitarist Pete Zorn also pulling out saxes, mandolin and flute; Joel Zifkin on violin --... > Read more

Richard Thompson: Sidney Wells

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2010 Arcade Fire: The Suburbs (Merge)

12 Dec 2010  |  1 min read  |  1

The first film by many aspiring directors is often a low budget affair about hookers, junkies or/and zombies. Being young they believe there is drama (or at least cool dress-ups) in these worlds -- but as many later realise there is more true human emotion and drama in that most mundane of subjects: life in the suburbs. Behind the curtains and the seeming mundane daily lives in ordinary... > Read more

Arcade Fire: Wasted Hours

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2010 John Grant: Queen of Denmark (Shock)

12 Dec 2010  |  2 min read

Although he recorded three albums with the band the Czars, we should perhaps treat this quite exceptional, moving, funny, droll and heart-breaking singer-songwriter as a new artist. And on those terms he immediately places himself in the company of early Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson and a more humorous Rufus Wainwright for songs like Sigourney Weaver in which he laments his life in terms of... > Read more

John Grant: Queen of Denmark

Jimi Hendrix: West Coast Seattle Boy; The Jimi Hendrix Anthology (Sony)

6 Dec 2010  |  3 min read  |  2

In 1964 the Isley Brothers – a doo-wop/r'n'b outfit from Cincinnati who had scored a hit with Twist and Shout – were playing a show in a baseball stadium in Bermuda. They had their own in-built support act, they simply sent their band out to warm up the crowd. But on this night there was whooping from the audience and a guy came into their dressing room and asked, “Who... > Read more

The Isley Brothers with Jimi Hendrix: Move Over and Let Me Dance (1965)

Caitlin Harnett: All in the Golden Afternoon EP (CHCD)

6 Dec 2010  |  <1 min read

Working in that vein of "sensitive singer-songwriter", Sydney-based Harnett keeps things clear and simple here in a series of six songs which -- like Flip Grater's When I'm Awake I'm At War -- deliver everything in the first person to/about the unspecified "you". Make what you will of that, I find it broadcasts on a narrow emotional frequency. That said (as with... > Read more

Caitlin Harnett: Favourite Dress

Duffy: Endlessly (Universal)

5 Dec 2010  |  1 min read  |  1

Poor Duffy. The preview tracks for her debut album Rockferry had everyone hailing her as one of the great new voices (even though she referred to classic pop and soul traditions) but when the album did arrive -- with some admittedly weaker tracks -- a section of the British press turned on her. They got in with the backlash even before the album was in stores. But not so poor Duffy --... > Read more

Duffy: Girl

Magic Arm: Make Lists Do Something (Switchflicker/Yellow Eye)

5 Dec 2010  |  1 min read

This techno-pop, Pro Tools-folktronic album by Manchester's one-man band Marc Rigelsford finally gets belated local release (it appeared in the UK a year ago). But it's timely with the Band on the Run reissue because Rigelsford's reference points are the younger McCartney and classic Beach Boys as much early Beck and pre-fame Bright Eyes (the folktronic stuff) and the woozy folkadelic pop... > Read more

Magic Arm: Move Out

Edwyn Collins: Losing Sleep (Shock)

5 Dec 2010  |  1 min read

Scotland's Orange Juice fronted by singer-songwriter Edwyn Collins only had one persuasive album (You Can't Hide Your Love Forever in '82) and one UK hit (Rip It Up from the album of the same name, also in '82) but their arch, often ironic and non-threatening pop has recently occasioned a 6CD/DVD collection, a reflection of the high regard in which they were held. Since they split in... > Read more

Edwyn Collins: Searching for the Truth

Renee-Louise Carafice: I Will Raise a Bird Army (Bird Army)

29 Nov 2010  |  1 min read

There is no doubt life has been difficult for Renee-Louise Carafice, her previous album (here) was born out of clinical depression and time in an institution . . .  and this one addresses the break-up of a relationship (which she concedes was always flawed) in chilly Chicago. Art wrought out of such personal crises can often be therapetic of itself but may not necessarily engage an... > Read more

Renee-Louise Carafice: Radars Dead

Various Artists: Kris Needs Presents Dirty Water; The Birth of Punk Attitude (Future Police/Southbound)

29 Nov 2010  |  1 min read

This excellent, wayward and musically diverse double disc is like a mix tape/vanity project from a friend who just wants to get down his/her favourite raw rock'n'roll/mad attitude songs in the one place for you, the stuff that has been inspirational and still stands up. Here UK rock journalist (Zigzag) and sometimes band frontman Needs takes a broad view of the word "punk" to... > Read more

The Flamin' Groovies: Teenage Head

Barry Saunders: Far As The Eye Can See (Ode)

28 Nov 2010  |  <1 min read

More than just a compilation of tracks from his various albums and radio sessions (including some from his excellent Zodiac album), this collection of songs by country-inflected singer-songwriter Saunders was a prompt for various painters and visual artists. Wellington curator Ron Epskamp of Exhibitions Gallery (here) invited 14 artists to interpret Saunders' lyrics -- and their works are... > Read more

Barry Saunders: Black Eyed Girl

Cassandra's Ears: The Cassandra's Ears Story (Blind Date)

28 Nov 2010  |  1 min read

Early in 2010 the women who had been in the late-Eighties Kiwi band Cassandra's Ears got together for a gig and to their delight discovered that James Moss of Jayrem (which had released their two EPs Private Wasteland and Your Estimation) still had the master tapes. Jan Hellriegel -- Ears' singer -- had pursued a creditable solo career after the band broke up in 1990 and had her own label,... > Read more

Cassandra's Ears: Crystal

Israel Cannan: Walk (Poets Corner)

28 Nov 2010  |  <1 min read

Cannan from the east coast of Australia has ben itinerant for some while -- hence the title of this album -- and has spent his time looking, writing and finally recording this quietly impressive album. There's a folk-rock quality at work mostly  (although he veers alarmingly close to early REM on To The Left) but he is also something of a road philosopher-poet on material like On My Way... > Read more

Israel Cannan: Let It Rain

Fistful of Mercy: As I Call You Down (Hot)

28 Nov 2010  |  <1 min read

Further proof – if required – that something less than a supergroup can deliver something considerably less than super. And this group – Ben Harper, the far-too-prolific singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur and Dhani (son of George) Harrison – come up so far short on every front that their folksy I Don't Want to Waste Your Time (“but I will, yes I will”)... > Read more

Fistful of Mercy: I Don't Want to Waste Your Time

Antony and the Johnsons: Swanlight (Spunk)

28 Nov 2010  |  1 min read

This fourth album by Antony confirms what many already suspect, that a little of this divine, sublime voice can go a long way. All that high drama and quivering vocals, the allusive lyrics, the symphonic strings . . . It's all high-wire emotion and, as with Rufus Wainwright's All Days Are Nights, over the long haul it becomes demanding and undifferentiated. To his credit however Antony... > Read more

Antony and the Johnsons: Swanlights

Various Artists: Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah; 70s New York Disco (Backbeats/Triton)

28 Nov 2010  |  <1 min read

Some music -- even from the first few bars -- is time-specific. The merest whiff of a particular drum sound and guitar can conjure up rockabilly of the Fifties, and some beats plus swooping strings or a horn part can just scream "disco" at you. In that case, this 11 track compilation is unnecessarily subtitled because you get its straight away: New York + Seventies. It's disco,... > Read more

The Ripple: The Beat Goes On And On

Kelley Stoltz: To Dreamers (SubPop)

26 Nov 2010  |  1 min read

Let's say this for San Francisco's Kelley Stoltz, he's done his homework: his thoroughly enjoyable album Circular Sounds (here) came off like a potted history of pop for them what missed the classes on UK 1965-68 and the Beginners Guide to Songwriting (with special reference to Boyce and Hart, Harry Nilsson and Paul McCartney). This time out with a full cast of players he adds a bit of glam... > Read more

Kelley Stoltz: Pinecone