THE MAGAZINE FOR CURIOUS PEOPLE
Elsewhere is a concept and a place, and for many years Graham Reid has been going there for his wide angle travels, writing, music review columns and interviews with writers, musicians and artists.
Elsewhere is an ever-expanding on-line magazine for people curious about new music, different travel, interesting arts and much more. This site is dedicated to the diversity and possibilities of Elsewhere. It is an equal opportunity enjoyer. Subscribe here (it's free) for a weekly newsletter and be in to win CDs, DVDs, books and more. Welcome . . .
Latest posts
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Ria Hall
28 Feb 2020 | 4 min read
Ria Hall's previous album Rules of Engagement in 2017 was one of this country's most impressive debut albums in terms of its musical and lyrical scope which included spoken word and archival recordings woven into songs – in English and te reo – which reflected history and culture in Aotearoa in way few other albums could even thing of approaching. That means... > Read more
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The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE: Marina Satti
26 Feb 2020 | 2 min read
One of the highlights – probably unexpected – at this year's Womad (see details below) will be Greek singer/performer Marina Satti and her polyphonic group Fones. They play on the opening and closing nights. Satti has a deep love of theatre, design and song. Her upbeat track Mantissa became an anthem of hope in the Northern summer of 2017 and... > Read more
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE: Francis R Cambuzat of Ifriqiyya Electrique
25 Feb 2020 | 3 min read
As Womad arrives on the doorstep of Taranaki in March (dates and details below) we are pleased to introduce another group playing there, Ifriqiyya Electrique who bring the sounds of the electric sub-Sahara in their hypnotic trance music. Formed in southern Tunisia and recording now for the wonderful Glitterbeat label, they are bound to be one of the highlights of the... > Read more
NILS LOFGREN, THE EARLY CAREER RECONSIDERED (2020): Head over heels for Nils
24 Feb 2020 | 6 min read
It's likely that most people who know Nils Lofgren for his brief periods with Neil Young (After the Goldrush, Tonight's the Night, Trans) and his long tenure in Springsteen's E Street Band would also be aware of his parallel solo career. But many might not be familiar with this talented singer, songwriter, guitarist and trampolinist and some excellent albums under his... > Read more
Pictish Trail: Thumb World (Fire/digital)
24 Feb 2020 | 2 min read
British psychedelic music has always been a very different animal to that of America's (and let's not get into the Italians at this point!). Often grounded in weird folk, classical music, British whimsy and eccentricity, during its heyday in the late Sixties it spawned artists as diverse as the Incredible String Band, Procol Harum and early Pink Floyd (before Dark Side).... > Read more
Slow Memories
kate can wait: Veraniegas (Grimalkin/bandcamp)
24 Feb 2020 | <1 min read
This is certainly something different which we introduce because the artist is interesting, the Grimalkin label out of Virginia is doing good work for various human rights causes related to gender issues, and the songs here are very seductive in both English and Spanish. Some background then to this acoustic guitar/soft synths album. The artist is Molly Kate... > Read more
Orphan Maker
ONE WE MISSED: Michal Martyniuk: Resonate (SJ Records/digital outlets)
24 Feb 2020 | 1 min read
Released at the end of last year when Elsewhere was winding up, this album by Polish-born New Zealand pianist Michal Martyniuk becomes timely now because he is playing an Auckland concert on March 15 (details below). Recorded with his Polish group of Jakub Skowroński (tenor), Kuba Mizeracki (guitar), Bartek Chojnacki (contrabass), Kuba Gudz (drums) – who... > Read more
FRESH FOLK FROM THE FAR NORTH (2020): Warm music coming in from the cold
23 Feb 2020 | 3 min read
As we should expect, traditional and contemporary folk music from a region which encompasses Scandinavia to Siberia is going to sound different, and often fresh, to ears more attuned to Anglo-folk or Americana. Because of Elsewhere's on-going engagement with world music, Christian Pliefke out of Germany got in touch because he has three labels which release music from... > Read more
ALY COOK, AT AUDIOCULTURE (2020): Highways and red dirt roads on the way
22 Feb 2020 | 1 min read
Aly Cook is a self-starter, more acclaimed outside New Zealand than at home. And although she is very big in Australian country music circles, she grew up in the beachside suburb of Tahunanui in Nelson, the city in which she still lives. A self-managed country singer-songwriter, Cook has crowd-funded her three albums. With the release... > Read more
QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT REVIEWED (2020): Doing a time warp again
22 Feb 2020 | 1 min read
Beneath today’s creative, often innovative music across the spectrum lies a bedrock audience that prefers the comfort of the familiar. Witness Sir Elton John on his three-year victory-lap-cum-farewell tour, playing to capacity crowds hits that are almost half a century old. The suggestion of a new Abba album this year – almost 40 years since their last... > Read more
Pangaea: Pangaea (digital outlets)
20 Feb 2020 | 2 min read
Amidst the recent noise made at the suggestion Radio NZ's Concert programme would be shifted to AM and do away with presenters, we heard some curious accusations thrown at classical music: That it was elitist (we embrace “elite” in sports, right?), it was only for an older white audience (that was laughably easily to disprove) and that it was just boring music... > Read more
Various Artists: Mansfield (CYP/digital outlets)
20 Feb 2020 | 1 min read
Anyone who endured Katherine Mansfield short stories in high school or is cynical about the growth industry of books, theses, research projects and such around this famous New Zealand author might like to set aside prejudice for this collection. Another project by Wellington singer-songwriter Charlotte Yates – following similar collections of words by Witi... > Read more
ELTON JOHN REVIEWED (2020): Still a Captain Fantastic, despite everything
17 Feb 2020 | 5 min read
Back at the dawn of recorded time, 1971 in fact, I saw Elton John's first New Zealand appearance when he played at Western Springs. And there were a few worrying moments last night at Mt Smart when I thought I might be seeing his last. Fresh from playing the Mission Estate show the previous night Elton and his crack band – dark suits, white shirts, skinny black... > Read more
Tame Impala: The Slow Rush (Fiction)
17 Feb 2020 | 1 min read
The retro-synth psychedelic dance-pop of Tame Impala's previous album Currents won over Elsewhere and it ended up in our Best of 2015 list (and in a few Readers' Choices too). Tame Impala is Kevin Parker who you suspect probably has albums by Funkadelic, Giorgio Moroder, the Bee Gees and the Alan Parsons Project alongside mid-period Prince, late... > Read more
PETER GREEN, IN THE SKIES and LITTLE DREAMER RECONSIDERED (2020): The slight return in the late Seventies
17 Feb 2020 | 4 min read
The sad story of Sixties singer-guitarist and songwriter Peter Green (born Peter Greenbaum in 1946, of Bethnal Green) probably needs little repeating but the bare facts look like this. After playing in a few local groups as a bassist (one featuring drummer Mick Fleetwood and briefly singer Rod Stewart), he emerged as one of the great blues guitarists in the mid... > Read more
Bonny Light Horseman: Bonny Light Horseman (37d03d/Southbound)
17 Feb 2020 | 1 min read
You'd have to be well embedded in the genre to know that this trio of songwriter/playwright Anais Mitchell, Eric D Johnson (of Fruit Bats) and Josh Kaufman are an American “folk supergroup”, but among the many contributors are perhaps more familiar names such as Aaron Dessner (the National), Bella Blasko and Justin Vernon among many others on hand across these 10... > Read more
10,000 Miles
Jake Shimabukuro: Trio (Music Theories/digital)
17 Feb 2020 | 1 min read | 1
It has been 12 years since I picked up the album Gently Weeps album by the Hawaiian ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro, largely to see what he did with the George Harrison title track. You can make up your own mind on that here, but for me that was all the impetus I needed when this album (with bassist Nolan Verner and guitarist Dave Preston) turned up.... > Read more
When the Masks Come Down
HENRYK GORECKI, THE SORROWFUL SYMPHONY (1993): Capturing the spirit of the age, and marketing
16 Feb 2020 | 9 min read
When Billboard magazine – the bible of the international music industry – put classical music on its cover in September '92 with the heading “It’s Cool Again!” there was only one mention of Polish composer Henryk Gorecki in the 18-page insert supplement. And that reference was only to say that despite a stagnant market (unit sales in Britain... > Read more
Gorecki: String Quartet #2 Opus 64, Il Deciso: Kronos Quartet
THE COVFEFE VIRUS (2020): More dangerous than SARS and the Coronavirus
14 Feb 2020 | 3 min read
An announcement today by WHO (World Health Officers) has confirmed that the Covfefe Virus is now a global pandemic as it spreads unchecked. The virus – which is considered an extreme and aberrant form of what was called Benito's Disease which appeared in the Thirties in Italy – has spread at an alarming rate in the past five years. It now infects most... > Read more
Favourite Five Recent Releases
TAMI NEILSON, THE CAREER AND CHICKABOOM!: (2020) It's the Tami show, again
14 Feb 2020 | 5 min read | 1
At the end of 2019 I was approached by Tami Neilson to ask if I would write some PR for her to use with her forthcoming album Chickaboom! This was the album she had recorded with brother Jay and she wanted something to introduce her to international audiences, because the album was going to get a serious push. I was delighted and somehow that morphed into some PR... > Read more