Music at Elsewhere
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SHORT CUTS: A round-up of recent New Zealand releases
15 Aug 2016 | 3 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
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
8 Aug 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. Chris Robinson Brotherhood; Any Way You Love We Know How You Feel (Southbound) Let's start at the bottom: Highly recommended. Anyone... > Read more
Michael Kiwanuka: Love & Hate (Universal)
5 Aug 2016 | 3 min read
Although this quite outstanding album invokes the spirits of gospel, blues, Motown and Otis Redding, touches of soul-funk and much more, there are some fundamental points of difference. Notably in the overt Marvin Gaye tropes which this Londoner born of Ugandan parents adopts and adapts. But more of that soon . . . His debut album Home Again of 2012 introduced his undeniable... > Read more
Black Man in a White World
Dinosaur Jr: Give A Glimpse of What Yer Not (Jagjaguwar)
1 Aug 2016 | 1 min read
Any band which refined and defined their sound and attitude over three decades ago is bound to have hit a burn-out/overly familiar factor some many years ago. Surely? But . . . Although Elsewhere has just written a retrospective piece about this musical idea (as much as a band) helmed by J. Mascis, we have to concede this new one sounds as thrillingly noisy, focused and as... > Read more
Lost All Day
Andrew Keoghan: Every Orchid Offering (Fuchsia Kick/Rhythmethod)
1 Aug 2016 | 1 min read
While many acts remain genre-specific -- in metal, rap, indie.guitar rock or whatever -- there has been a generational shift the past two decades where musicians blur the boundaries between styles. Artists like Beck and Bowie, unexpected characters like John Cale -- and of course TV on the Radio, Flaming Lips, Grizzly Bear and so on -- have been longtime players in this endless landscape... > Read more
No Simple Doll
Steve Abel: Luck/Hope (Kin'sland)
1 Aug 2016 | 1 min read
While it may seem contradictory to criticise Aaradhna for her downbeat Brown Girl and be favourable about this almost funereal folk, that has been Steve Abel's idiomatic reference point -- he entered and won the Saddest Song in the World compeition in Germany in '09 -- and these eight songs (coloured by scraping and lachrymose violin) are all of such a piece that they form a... > Read more
Dance
Aaradhna: Brown Girl (Universal)
1 Aug 2016 | 1 min read
After her excellent if overlong Treble and Reverb of four years ago (which picked up a shedload of awards and acclaim), expectation has been high for this new one. The title track first single – with its reference to the Jamaican children's song Brown Girl in the Ring made famous by Boney M – was a beautifully produced, clever piece of self-referencing soul and a slow burner... > Read more
Drunken Heart, Smokey Mind
Fleetwood Mac, Mirage Expanded Edition (Warners)
29 Jul 2016 | <1 min read
After the mega-success of their self-titled album in '75 and its follow-up Rumours ('77) which sold even more multi-millions, the Big Mac took a left turn with Tusk ('79, well worth rediscovering) and toured relentlessly. By the time they got to Mirage ('82) they were bickering and burning out. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham had released solo albums. Ironically, Mirage... > Read more
Brian Wilson; Brian Wilson and Friends (BMG CD/DVD)
20 Jul 2016 | 1 min read
There is certainly no shortage of Brian Wilson music about these days. We've had a couple of versions of SMiLE (including the excellent box set) and more recently the 50th anniversary reissue of Pet Sounds (again in an impressive expanded edition). Then of course he has released solo albums like No Pier Pressure (none of which have done much in the way of recapturing the old magic).... > Read more
Don't Talk (ft Mark Isham)
Various Artists: Late Night Tales, Olafur Arnalds (latenighttales/Southbound)
18 Jul 2016 | 1 min read
Elsewhere has always had an affection for compilations in the Late Night Tales series (as it did with the not dissimilar Back to Mine) because it is a triple opportunity: You can be introduced to a compiler you'd not previously encountered; it is highly likely you wouldn't know half the artists included so it's a doorway into new music and the albums segue from one piece into another so... > Read more
Orgoned by Kiasmos
SHORT CUTS: A round-up of recent New Zealand releases
13 Jul 2016 | 3 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
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
11 Jul 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. Soren Juul; This Moment (4AD): Denmark's Juul is one of the more interesting artists around, on the basis of the 2013 album Somewhere... > Read more
Julianna Barwick, Will (Dead Oceans):
11 Jul 2016 | <1 min read
Using layers of her own vocals over electronica, piano, cello and percussion, this New Yorker bridges the worlds of experimental, ambience, liturgical and art music. In a lineage which includes Popol Vuh, David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir, Brian Eno's Music for Films/Airports and with a smidgen of Meredith Monk, this collection falls readily into that much vaunted category of... > Read more
Heading Home
Helen Henderson: London (Ranui/Aeroplane)
8 Jul 2016 | 1 min read
The name of this expat might not be familiar but six years ago Elsewhere wrote favourably about her second album Twisting Wind which we said was a collection “tough, earthy blues rock/alt.country” (and had some stellar guests). A longtime LA resident, she has an interesting backstory which is worth retelling because it places these songs into the context of her life.... > Read more
River
Chris Knox: KnoxTraxFine (thokeitapes cassette/download)
4 Jul 2016 | 2 min read | 2
At the time of this writing it has been just over seven years (June 2009) since Chris Knox had his massive and debilitating stroke. In that period he has largely been a man of good cheer despite not being able to speak beyond a few words (he understands visitors and friends reasonably well) and -- being afflicted down his right-hand side -- has taught himself to paint with his left hand.... > Read more
MarineVille: Penguins Ate My Chips (bandcamp)
4 Jul 2016 | 1 min read
For the most part it's usually better to hear the debut album by a rock band than their fourth outing. On their debut they are young, hungry and working things out, by their fourth or fifth they've probably run out of puff and/or have codified their sound into something acceptable to whatever audience has supported them. Few rock bands surprise as their career progresses and you'd have... > Read more
Semiotic Rock
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
27 Jun 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. Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop; Love Letter for Fire (SubPop): Yes he's beardy Beam (Iron and Wine) and she wears a Patsy Cline dress on the cover... > Read more
The Rolling Stones: Totally Stripped (Universal CD and DVD)
21 Jun 2016 | 2 min read
So here's a question Elsewhere asked last year: Whatever happened to the Rolling Stones' bassist Bill Wyman? He appears to have been written out of recent photos of the band in their various reissue projects . . . but let's ask another question. Why doesn't his replacement Darryl Jones -- who has been an on-stage and in-studio Stone for 21 years -- yes twenty-one years -- not appear as an... > Read more
Faraway Eyes (live Brixton Academy, July '95)
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
20 Jun 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. Billie Ray Martin; The Soul Tapes (Sonnenstahl) Although this German-born singer – who has spent decades in Britain and the... > Read more
Gareth Thomas: Fizzy Milk (gareththomastunes.com)
20 Jun 2016 | 1 min read
In a cover so good you want it album-size to frame, this second solo album by Auckland songwriter Gareth Thomas – formerly of Goodshirt – really does fizz with addictive pop which exists at a very comfortable and happy midpoint between canny synth-pop and mainstream guitar pop-rock. And it's telling that the word “pop” appears there twice because Thomas and... > Read more