Music at Elsewhere
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Grinderman: Grinderman 2 (EMI)
The black wings beat at the window and there is a smell of sulphur in this dark southern land where crazed prophets and murderous mountain men walk . . . From a distance, through the leafless trees comes what sounds like the voice of judgement and doom. A man in black is declaiming filthy sex and raw passion, killing and redemption. Must be Nick Cave, right? Ever since he left the... more >>
Added: 13 Sep 2010
The Yardbirds: Shapes of Things, The Best of the Yardbirds (Music Club/Triton)
Aside from the obvious ones -- the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and arguably the Small Faces and perhaps the Animals -- was there any other group in the mid-Sixties which was such a magnet for, and breeding ground of, talent? And it's not just the roster of guitarists who passed through its ranks -- Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page -- or that in their closing overs (with no... more >>
Added: 13 Sep 2010 
1 Comment
The Coral: Butterfly House (Shock)
Sometimes sounding like an odd collision in the studio of early Echo and the Bunnymen and America, Liverpool's the Coral here deliver their big songs (big on melody, choruses, drama and references) with enjoyable passion but never quite approach that frisson they had on their thrilling self-titled debut album of '02. However these lightly-delic and powerfully pop-conscious songs (produced by... more >>
Added: 13 Sep 2010
Eels: Tomorrow Morning (Shock)
The story of Eels - aka E, or Mark Oliver Everett -- has been one of the most interesting, and often autobiographical, journeys to follow in recent years. There were many, rather too many, dark days in Everett's earlier life and he scrupulously recorded them in a way which made them universal. His candour and lyrical directness was not only courageous but affecting. He was also hard on... more >>
Added: 13 Sep 2010
JJ Grey and Mofro: Georgia Warhorse (Alligator/Southbound)
Grey and his companions out of Florida have been pulling Southern funk, Memphis soul and dirty blues together for the best part of a decade now and their 07 Country Ghetto album should have gained them a lot of mainstream attention. But it didn't. This one – with guest vocalist Toots (of the Maytals), and hot young blues guitarist Derek Trucks laying sweet and spooky slide on... more >>
Added: 13 Sep 2010 1 Comment
Annemarie Duff: Music for Sleep and Creativity (Mmdelai)
Because I confess a love for Brian Eno's ambient music -- and that what I call "massage music" isn't unfamiliar in my home (my wife does massage) -- I have heard my share of music which can be either vacuous or beguiling . . . and there's a fine line betweeen them. New Age spawned a lot of music which was also neither, it just was. But wasn't really. Duff out of Christchurch... more >>
Added: 12 Sep 2010 1 Comment
Various Artists: Head Over High Heels; Strong and Female 1927-59 (Trikont/Yellow Eye)
Much as some might like to think strong females arrived with Madonna (or maybe in the late Sixties with feminism), there were always those independent, tough-minded and free-spirited women out there -- especially in the world of jazz and blues. This collection which opens with Pearl Bailey and You Can be Replaced (from her album Pearl Bailey Sings for Adults Only, 1959) and closes with... more >>
Added: 12 Sep 2010
Various Artists: The Ideal . . . Dinner Party (Global Journey/Rajon)
And now for something completely different, just because we can. I spotted this series of CDs with recipes and they are absurdly cheap, so . . . This series by chef Bettina Samain offers you simple four course, themed dinner party recipes for Mexican, Italian, Chinese, French, Indian and Thai evenings. The recipes are alarmingly simple -- chefs among you will embellish, more chilli... more >>
Added: 12 Sep 2010
Endless Boogie: Full House Head (Shock)
In his rock'n'roll essays and fiction collection The Boy Who Cried Freebird, the American writer Mitch Myers traces the notion of “boogie” from its name (having sex, basically) through the blues (John Lee Hooker's Boogie Chillun in 48) and boogie-woogie piano a building block of early rock'n'roll and then into those endless jams which longhaired guitarists get down'n'boogie on... more >>
Added: 6 Sep 2010
The Magic Numbers: The Runaway (Shock)
By abandoning the pure pop-economy of their terrific, 05 self-titled debut for the more embellished and ambitious sound Those the Brokes in 06, this English outfit of two sets of siblings lost followers, and momentum. But where that debut was a radio/car album, Brokes was a headphones experience. The openers here – a string-enhanced five minutes of The Pulse and the gently... more >>
Added: 6 Sep 2010
John Prine: In Person and On Stage (Oh Boy)
The great John Prine falls somewhere between folk and country, but also has a rare downbeat sense of humour and his wry observations have always elevated his albums. Here on a collection of live tracks -- essentially a greatest hits by a man who has rarely had a hit -- he has some grin-inducing anecdotes at times which are kinda downhome'n'aw-shucks country. But don't be fooled -- when he... more >>
Added: 6 Sep 2010
TrinityRoots: Music is Choice (Rhythmethod CD/DVD)
There was good news for Flight of the Conchords fans this week: Jemaine Clement confirmed, yet again, there wouldn't be another series. Strange as that sounds, some things are so perfectly formed they are best left alone: Fawlty Towers and the English version of The Office . . . or the never-ending Lost and drearily drawn out V? Great bands deserve an enclosed lifespan. Those... more >>
Added: 6 Sep 2010
Eru Dangerspiel: Great News for Modern Man (Loop)
The Eru Dangerspiel rock'n'rolling caravan of soul, funk, reggae and more is helmed by Riki Gooch, formerly of TrinityRoots and here, recorded live at the Auckland Town Hall in August '09, the whole huge ensemble invited you to "leave your shit at the door" and get down with their good time grooves. With an extraordinary line-up of talent -- Jonathan Crayord on keyboards, jazz... more >>
Added: 6 Sep 2010
Simon Comber: Endearance (CNZ)
Halfway through this slowly engrossing New Zealand singer-songwriter's album is the gently penetrating song Please Elvis, which opens with the singer asking the King not to make his mother cry as she again plays one of his dusty old 45s, but then the song unfurls into a darker and more deep story of family life: "she's twirling a brandy balloon . . . a family will drive you wild, she's... more >>
Added: 5 Sep 2010
Jon Langford and Skull Orchard: Old Devils (Bloodshot/Southbound)
Langford was in the UK punk-era Mekons way back but has in more recent times embraced a kind of folk-punk Americana and played with the likes of Ryan Adams and Alejandro Escovedo. Chicago-based, he's also a well-known artist (lots of covers for the Chicago label Bloodshot). With Skull Orchard he parlays a rough-edged country-rock with a punk/Clash urgency -- but although he has a way with... more >>
Added: 30 Aug 2010
Timothy Blackman: I've Never Lived (Home Alone)
Singer-songtwriter Blackman appeared at Elsewhere previously with his very interesting EP Modern Sprawl, and this is his short (half an hour) nine-song debut album recorded in Berlin in December last year -- which must have been cold. With sole assistance from a drummer in a few places, these are Blackman's naked ruminations (some philosophical, some imagistic) and while there is a... more >>
Added: 30 Aug 2010
Ben Vaughn: Designs in Music (Vampisoul/Southbound)
It's not like Ben Vaughn needs a calling card into the world of television soundtracks, his music has apparently been used in That 70s Show and Third Rock From the Sun. But this delightfully referential album -- recorded with the cream of LA session players who are in on the game -- includes nods to everyone from Ennio Morricone to whoever wrote the theme to The Jetsons, Henry Mancini and... more >>
Added: 30 Aug 2010
Dylan LeBlanc: Paupers Field (Rough Trade)
From the understated openers with their gentle backbeat, soft organ and steel guitar, LeBlanc -- barely 21, out of Louisiana -- announces himself as part of a long lineage which stretches back to the country-soul out of Muscle Shoals studio (where his dad was a session musician) and the country-rock of the early Band, but which also reaches to more contemporary names such as Jim James (of... more >>
Added: 29 Aug 2010
Leonard Cohen: The Essential Leonard Cohen (Sony)
The British rock writer Nigel Williamson, considering the career of Leonard Cohen, recently observed, “We often describe singer-songwriters as being 'Dylanesque', a band with great harmonies you might describe as 'Beatlesque'. We even talk about someone being 'Waitsean', after Tom Waits. “But have you ever heard the word 'Cohenesque'? It doesn't exist, and that says it... more >>
Added: 29 Aug 2010
Melissa Etheridge: Fearless Love (Island)
From the opening title track here – a windblown open-road rocker and statement of ferocious independence – Etheridge confirms her credentials as someone who performs open-heart surgery on the emotions while backing it up with powerful songs. As with Springsteen, she also drops into characters (the unfulfilled housewife in The Wanting of You, the lonely inner life of a... more >>
Added: 23 Aug 2010 1 Comment
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