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. Welcome . . .
Latest posts
MEREDITH MONK: DOLMEN MUSIC, CONSIDERED (1981): Sing, shout, let it all out
17 Jan 2022 | 3 min read
When Meredith Monk performed at New York's Town Hall on West Forty-Third in January 1973 she had only recently turned 30 and this was, after years of experimental music, dance and multi-media projects, a big moment for her. She had rented the 1500-seat theatre and her only instrument – aside from her astonishing voice – was a wine-glass which she played in... > Read more
Travelling, from Dolmen Music
Houeida Hedfi: Fleuves De l'Ame (Phantasy/digital outlets)
17 Jan 2022 | 1 min read
For further evidence that some of the most interesting music comes when genres or cultures collide you need only look at Elsewhere's list of the best albums of 2021. The albums by Tararua, Arushi Jain, Mdou Moctar, Circuit Des Yeux, Jane Weaver, Namgar, Arooj Aftab, Joy Harjo and others were confirmation. And the list our readers provided includes further examples.... > Read more
Various Artists: Songs inspired by the film The Beatles And India (Silva Screen/digital outlets)
17 Jan 2022 | 1 min read
On paper this double CD by Indian artists, among them Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale, makes sense because when the Beatles were at the Maharishi Mahesh Yoga's ashram at Rishikesh in early 68 they wrote a swag of songs, many appearing on The Beatles (aka The White Album). The 2020 film, based on 54 informal Beatle photographs by 23-year old Canadian Paul Saltzman also... > Read more
The Kinks: Dancing in the Street (1965)
17 Jan 2022 | 1 min read
Even their most generous fans would have to concede that – unlike their peers the Rolling Stones, Small Face, Who, Animals and other – the Kinks didn't have a natural feel for black American r'n'b. This was the music of the club circuit in Britain but the few times the Kinks attempted to do those songs in the studio they came off very flat when compared to... > Read more
Elsewhere Art . . . Leo Ferre
17 Jan 2022 | <1 min read
When I wrote a column Five French Albums I'm Surprised I Own I could just have easily made it 10, 20 or 30 albums. Or a few dozen singles, 10'' or EPs. As I mentioned, the School of Music library at the University of Auckland was downsizing and putting out boxes, literally dozens of albums at a time, of records it no longer needed. Free to a good home. My... > Read more
THE DREAM SYNDICATE, REVISITED: (2022): Fifty-one shades of Grey
16 Jan 2022 | 2 min read
In mid-'86, the LA indie-rock band the Dream Syndicate released their third album Out of the Grey. The critical consensus had it as their best to date – and in retrospect still their finest studio moment – but as so often happens, it didn't sell as expected. And expectation was high because songwriter Steve Wynn (who went on to a very creditable solo career... > Read more
Dying Embers
Sunn O))): Metta, Benevolence (Southern Lords/bandcamp)
14 Jan 2022 | 1 min read
The wall of sound and distortion which bands like Japan's Boris and Seattle's drone metallers Sunn O))) deliver is not for everyone. Although in the case of the latter it was for the late Scott Walker who recorded Soused with them. It was the meeting of outliers who went even further outwhere. We liked it but don't play it a lot.. These three pieces were recorded... > Read more
Tall Folk: Wiser (digital outlets)
14 Jan 2022 | 2 min read
As their name implies, this country-folk duo of Jack Ringhand and Lara Robertson out of Dunedin are indeed towering and leggy figures. On this 10-song debut Tall Folk arrive as fully formed and impressive songwriters who shift effortlessly from downbeat political folk (Empire) to the jaunty sounding but lyrically wry (Could Be Worse) and the downright gorgeous soundscape... > Read more
I'D LOVE TO TURN YOU ON (2022): The psychedelic year of 1967 in Britain
12 Jan 2022 | 9 min read
"Tune in, turn on, drop out" -- LSD advocate Dr Timothy Leary THE MUSICAL JOURNEY FROM MARIJUANA TO LSD: '66 TO THE SUMMER OF LOVE IN 1967 after years of British dominance in the middle of the decade as we noted in this article, the focus moves back to the US Psychedelic music inspired or influenced by the consciousness changing drug LSD aka acid... > Read more
Wadada Leo Smith/Henry Kaiser/Alex Varty: Pacifica Koral Reef (577 Records/bandcamp)
10 Jan 2022 | 1 min read | 1
Guitarist Alex Varty said this recording from 2018 – a 55 minute improvised piece – began life as what looked like a painting more than a score by trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith who refers to his graphic work as “Ankhrasmation”. “Ankhrasmation is a musical language, as opposed to a musical notation system,” Smith told music... > Read more
Pacifica Koral Reef preview
JUDY COLLINS: WILDFLOWERS, CONSIDERED (1967): Respect it, can't love it
10 Jan 2022 | 3 min read
Elsewhere's shelves are weighed down by albums, some shameful, some in shameful covers, others just plain odd and some unusual 10'' records. There are also excellent records of course, the rare free jazz albums, masses of Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, the Beatles and Stones and . .. There is Laura Nyro and Dory Previn, punk and country, rare... > Read more
Albatross
THE BEATLES AS CHANGELINGS and MID-SIXTIES POP, 1965-66. (2022): The pivotal period from pop to rock
10 Jan 2022 | 15 min read | 2
"I've met them. Delightful lads. Absolutely no talent" -- actor/writer Noel Coward on the Beatles. "The thing with them is that almost every track on each of their albums is memorable. When they arrived at the beginning of the Sixties there was a lot of dross in the charts, and the Beatles legitimised coming from England in the face of all this brilliant... > Read more
Elsewhere Art . . . Vini Reilly of Durutti Column
10 Jan 2022 | <1 min read
A few years ago I spent a lot of time listening through to new material and especially reissues by Durutti Column, the UK band lead by singer-guitarist Vini Reilly. I'd heard some of their late Seventies/early Eighties albums at the time but a reissue of them prompted me to go back again. Then not long after, by sheer chance, another Durutti Column album came to... > Read more
David Bowie: Rubber Band (1966)
10 Jan 2022 | 1 min read
Although Ray Davies is rightly credited as the great British documentarian/songwriter, it's worth checking out David Bowie's songs before 1968. During that period he was flaying about and trying on different styles, one of which was a kind of wry, sometimes humorous but at other times melancholy storytelling. What was distinctive was not just the very English –... > Read more
Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Barn (Reprise/digital outlets)
5 Jan 2022 | 1 min read
Last February Neil Young – who turned 76 in November – released a superb album Way Down in the Rust Bucket with the band Crazy Horse. It went past most. Hardly surprising given in recent decades Young, in addition to releasing new albums, has been hauling releases from his voluminous vaults. A month after Rust Bucket– 145 minutes recorded... > Read more
COVER STORY: 100 BEAUTIFUL, STRANGE AND FRANKLY INCREDIBLE NEW ZEALAND LP COVERS. VOL. ONE by STEVE BRAUNIAS
3 Jan 2022 | 4 min read
In this informative album-sized collection of local record covers, writer Steve Braunias wisely doesn't try to make the case for much of the music wrapped in the covers he has chosen. Far too frequently writers, critics and commentators fall for the myth of Kiwi exceptionalism, that what we do is the equal if not better than others. But Braunias' wry eye and sharp... > Read more
THE BEAU BRUMMELS' COMPLETE RECORDINGS 1964-1970 (2022): Beat-pop out of LA, destination Nashville
3 Jan 2022 | 4 min read
Like their peers the Beat-era Buckinghams from Chicago, the Beau Brummels out of San Francisco formed in the wake of the British Invasion and adopted the look, style and a name which ensured that they would be mistaken for another great UK pop-rock band. Needless to say they would insist that much of this wasn't deliberate – yeah, like naming yourself after an... > Read more