Music at Elsewhere

RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs and Englishmen (Universal)

16 Dec 2016 | 2 min read

Some weeks back Elsewhere noticed a worrying pattern; certain artists – David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Ray Columbus, Mose Allison – died shortly after we had written about them. This thought occurred while preparing a piece about this reissue, because the band on it was put together by Leon Russell. No sooner had we started to get material together about this live album and... > Read more

Bird on a Wire

Albi and the Wolves: One Eye Open (Albi/Aeroplane)

15 Dec 2016 | <1 min read

If Albi and theWolves turn up in your town in the next few months – and they probably will, see their extensive touring schedule below – then you'll spot their singer on the street. Chris Dent aka Albi is handsomely large albino with a full white beard . . . and a white man (literally) who might be hard to ignore, especially over the sun-tanned summer months. This... > Read more

Working Hard

THE BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2016: THE EDITOR'S PICKS

12 Dec 2016 | 5 min read | 8

Okay, the best album of 2016 was . . . the one you liked the most. And you don't need a critic to tell you what that was. It might have been David Bowie's exceptional blackstar, Beyonce's Lemonade or the Rolling Stones' unexpected -- if not astonishing -- return to old form with Blue and Lonesome . . . which we haven't included below because they are such obvious choices.... > Read more

IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases

9 Dec 2016 | 2 min read

With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists, in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks up New Zealand artists. Comments will be brief. A Tribe Called Quest: We Got It From Here . . . Thank You For Your Service (Epic) Has it been 18 years since their previous... > Read more

IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases

5 Dec 2016 | 2 min read

With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists, in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks up New Zealand artists. Comments will be brief. Gillian Welch; Boots No 1, The Official Revival Bootleg (Acony/Southbound) The numerical nature of this double CDs title whets the... > Read more

Maisey Rika: Tira (Rika/Border)

5 Dec 2016 | 1 min read

It would be fair to suggest the reason the often sublime and always assured voice of Maisey Rika isn't more widely recognised is that she sings in te reo and – even now, decades on from the breakthrough of Poi E which we congratulate ourselves over – it is a language which is marginalised on mainstream radio. Little wonder then that Moana Maniapoto made an impassioned plea... > Read more

Mahorahora (ft Beau Monga)

Bob Dylan: The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert! (Sony)

4 Dec 2016 | 2 min read

Those with neither the money, time nor inclination for the 36 disc box set of Dylan's concerts in '66 – yes, thirty six discs – are referred to this fine document as a synopsis and distillation. The title of this previously unreleased material refers to the long-held misconception that it was at the RAHall where someone yelled “Judas” at him (it happened at the... > Read more

Ballad of a Thin Man

Jimi Hendrix and Band of Gypsys: Machine Gun (Sony)

4 Dec 2016 | 1 min read

As the Sixties came to a close Jimi Hendrix famously tried to recalibrate his career by letting go of the Experience and, on New Year's Eve 1969 and the following night, play the Fillmore East with his new band of Buddy Miles (drums), and bassist Buddy Cox whom he'd known from his army days. For his performances – the whole of their first night released here officially for the... > Read more

Ezy Ryder

The Eversons: “Stuck in New Zealand” (Lil Chief)

28 Nov 2016 | 1 min read

Some wit in Creem in the Seventies nailed it perfectly when he wrote, “Heavy metal is for young men without a war of their own”. To which we might add, the Eversons are for young men with tongue-in-cheek teen angst and raging hormones. The Eversons – a family band just like the Ramones -- are smart, funny, deal in broad-brush power pop/hormonal rock and write... > Read more

Emily

RECOMMENDED REISSUE: The Clean: Getaway, Expanded Edition (Merge/Southbound)

28 Nov 2016 | 1 min read | 1

Much as the Clean should be respected and honoured for their first flourish of innovative, sometimes brilliantly reductive but enthrallingly widescreen (in your head) pop-rock during the early days of Flying Nun in the late Seventies/early Eighties, it was their second coming which presented the more rewarding, demanding, exciting and fully realised music on albums like Vehicle ('90) and... > Read more

Point That Thing Somewhere Else (from Syd's Pink Wiring System)

The All Seeing Hand: Sand to Glass (Muzai)

28 Nov 2016 | 1 min read

Possessing the kind of live firepower usually reserved for conflict zones, Wellington's All Seeing Hand deliver a menacing clash of electronics/turntables, smashing drums and throat-singing which can sound like Tibetan monks on speed or feedback. They had people pinned to the walls of a silo when they played this year's Laneway. Much of this album – which has a broad concept... > Read more

Gravity

Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker: Overnight (Rough Trade)

28 Nov 2016 | 1 min read

Anyone who likes toned down and thoughtful singer-songwriter music but is a bit weary of the familiar dusty paths and rural routes of Americana must be applauding just how much British indie.folk is appearing these days. From older names in reissue (Nick Drake, Bert Jansch) to newer faces (Kate Rusby, James Findlay), the long tradition is being explored and added to in ways which... > Read more

Sweet the Sorrow

Various Artists: C'mon (Frenzy)

25 Nov 2016 | 1 min read

One of the most popular areas at the current Volume; Making Music in Aotearoa exhibition at the museum in Auckland -- even for shy Kiwis -- is the mock-up of set for the television series C'Mon, the sequel to the earlier Let's Go. If you feel so inclined you can dance on the set. It was exactly half a century ago that the C'mon series was launched and, again under the guidance of... > Read more

Funky Street by Leo De Castro

Howe Gelb: Future Standards (Fire/Southbound)

25 Nov 2016 | 2 min read | 1

Elsewhere has long been smitten by the wide-ranging gifts of Tucson-based Howe Gelb who helmed Giant Sand (and offshoots) and writes with as much confidence in a Spanish style (with his Band of Gypsies) as he does in mainstream country, alt.country and psychedelic-styled rock. This time out however he shifts into a new (but not unfamiliar) direction, that of the piano ballad as... > Read more

A Book You've Read Before

Candice Milner: Evergreen (Lyttelton/Southbound)

23 Nov 2016 | 1 min read

Although this album is spring from the same Lyttelton soil which gave rise to artists like Marlon Williams, Delaney Davidson and others we casually refer to as alt.country (can we get “Kiwicana” going perhaps?), this impressive debut comes from another corner entirely. Frequently evoking the thread of spiritual and romantic Anglofolk, Milner's spare acoustic melodies are... > Read more

Gallery

Myele Manzanza: OnePointOne (First Word)

21 Nov 2016 | 1 min read

Knowing only that drummer Manzanza was formerly in New Zealand's electronica-soul outfit Electric Wire Hustle doesn't prepare you for this vigorous and out-there second album under his own name. Recorded live at the Blue Whale in LA with keyboard player Mark de Clive-Lowe, bassist Ben Shepherd and singers Nia Andrews and Charlie K (plus the exceptional Quartetto Fantastico string... > Read more

Absent Fade

RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Free; Live! (Universal)

21 Nov 2016 | 1 min read | 1

By the time this album was released in late '71 the original band had broken up. But theirs had been a remarkable run with four studio albums in two years, an appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival and relentless touring which ensured the reputations of singer Paul Rodgers (still frontman for Bad Company) and guitarist Paul Kossof, the inspired blues-rock player who died in '76. Their... > Read more

The Hunter

Ultimate Painting: Dusk (TIM/Southbound)

14 Nov 2016 | 1 min read

A little bit of a stretch here but let's get into reference points for this British duo of Jack Cooper and James Hoare, the former sporting a perfect mid Sixties comb-forward fringe. This is mostly measured, mesmerisingly melodic and quiet jangle-pop . . . with less of the jangle. Music for dusk, perhaps? Think folksy Stills and Nash who'd only heard McCartney and not... > Read more

A Portrait of Jason

IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases

14 Nov 2016 | 3 min read

With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists, in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks up New Zealand artists. Comments will be brief. Agnes Obel: Citizen of Glass (PIAS) This Berlin-based Danish singer-songwriter came to Elsewhere's attention two years ago when... > Read more

SHORT CUTS: A round-up of recent New Zealand releases

8 Nov 2016 | 5 min read

Facing down an avalanche of releases, requests for coverage, the occasional demand that we be interested in their new album (sometimes with that absurd comment "but don't write about it if you don't like it") and so on, Elsewhere will every now and again do a quick sweep like this, in the same way it does IN BRIEF about international releases. Comments will be brief.... > Read more