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
Darren Watson: Too Many Millionaires (Beluga)
25 Apr 2018 | 3 min read
Although most people might not know it, the tenacity of Darren Watson (and animator Jeremey Jones) created a landmark ruling in this country pertaining to freedom of speech and the right to express a political opinion with it being labelled as partisan and therefore a political advertisement. Watson’s song Planet Key – far from his finest musical moment it... > Read more
Hallelujah (Rich Man's War)
AN EVENING IN 1965 WITH ORNETTE COLEMAN (2018): Another British 'Judas' shouter in the audience
23 Apr 2018 | 4 min read
Among the many pleasures of Record Store Day – not the least seeing the smile and relief on the faces of store owners as the credit cards get swiped – is the rare and unusual albums which find release. The coloured vinyl versions of familiar albums is a crock designed to gouge wallets and little more – as I said to one owner at this RSD, “we... > Read more
Kimbra: Primal Heart (Warners)
23 Apr 2018 | 1 min read
Further proof of the benefits of leaving the comfort of home and a loyal local following to try your hand in the wider world. Kimbra out of Hamilton made that leap early in her career when she started to feature on Australian electronica singles (most notably on the Gotye single Somebody That I Used to Know), became as big across the Tasman – where she had... > Read more
Past Love
Death and the Maiden: Wisteria (Fishrider)
23 Apr 2018 | 2 min read
While it was only right, proper and long overdue that the Apra Silver Scroll award night should be held in Dunedin in 2017 you'd have to say it made for bloody awful television. Many of those there on the night – but by no means all from the naysaying this writer heard privately – attested to what a great night it was and -- with lashings of booze, old... > Read more
River Underground
Emily Fairlight: Mother of Gloom (usual streaming outlets)
23 Apr 2018 | 1 min read
Taking its title from a line by Martha Wainwright and with song titles like Body Below, Drag The Night In, Private Apocalypse, Sinking Ship and Loneliest Race you'd expect a fairly dark ride on the second album by this Wellington-based alt.folk singer/songwriter recorded in Austin. But with her powerfully quivering voice – at time she calls to mind Buffy... > Read more
Private Apocalypse
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE MANAGER QUESTIONNAIRE: Nick Atkinson
23 Apr 2018 | 4 min read
So how do we know Nick Atkinson, let me count the ways: One-time member of Supergroove, for his radio and television appearances, as a player/songwriter/member of Hopetoun Brown alongside Tim Stewart (now three albums into a lightning fast career), for playing on stage with Aldous Harding . . . Now we turn the spotlight onto him as he wears another hat, that of a... > Read more
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Tom Cunliffe
23 Apr 2018 | 2 min read
The London-born New Zealand singer-songwriter Tom Cunliffe made a very sound impression with his debut album Howl & Whisper in 2016 which ran the gamut from crowd-pleasing pub-folk to ballads and beyond. His new album Template For Love takes a similar but even larger worldview in its lyrics and music, and really sounds like an artist hitting his stride. We like it... > Read more
This Table is a River
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE JAZZ QUESTIONNAIRE: Kristin Berardi and Rafael Karlen of Berardi/Foran/Karlen
23 Apr 2018 | 4 min read
The Australian trio Berardi/Foran/Karlen – soon to undertake a short New Zealand tour (see dates below) – formed in 2014 in Brisbane. The group is singer Kristin Berardi (winner of the Montreux Jazz Vocal competition), APRA Jazz Award Winner Sean Foran (piano) and Churchill Fellowship recipient, saxophonist Rafael Karlen. Their debut album Hope in My... > Read more
Eddie and the Hot Rods: Teenage Depression (1976)
23 Apr 2018 | <1 min read
As their name suggests, Eddie and the Hot Rods were never really part of the UK punk scene although -- like fellow pub rockers Dr Feelgood -- they were often lumped in with it during the late Seventies. But their thing was old school rock'n'roll (on record they'd covered Sam the Sham's Wooly Bully before this single) although as the musical climate changed they revved up... > Read more
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
23 Apr 2018 | 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 and Yasmin does with EPs. Comments will be brief. . Richard X Bennett: Away From The Many (usual download... > Read more
THE BARGAIN BUY: Roy Orbison; 60 Essential Recordings
23 Apr 2018 | 1 min read
Now that Roy walks among us again – or at least appears on stage as a hologram almost 30 years after his death – lets throw a spotlight on his early catalogue which was when he made his name with classic, almost operatic and dramatic songs such as Only the Lonely, Running Scared, Crying and Leah. He also delivered some fairly vacuous stuff (Ooby Dooby)... > Read more
Andrew Fagan: It Was Always Going To Be Like This (bandcamp)
20 Apr 2018 | 1 min read
Outside the circle of poets and writers from academia and creative writing courses anointed by a cabal of similarly inclined critics, there have always been those who find their audience by a more direct route, by a clear and unmediated connection with the broader population. In this group we have, however unfashionable and even reviled he might be today, novelist Barry... > Read more
GUEST WRITER DAVID G BROWN EXPLAINS WHY HE TRAVELLED TO THE WORLD'S WORST PLACES
20 Apr 2018 | 6 min read
Editor's note: The late David G Brown was born in Tuakau, a small town south of Auckland in New Zealand. In the course of his life -- he died in Helsinki, Finland in 2015 -- he travelled to 100 countries and among them some of the most blighted, damaged and dangerous on the planet. His collection of journeys to these places and his impressions has been posthumously published... > Read more
THE BULFORD KIWI; THE KIWI WE LEFT BEHIND by COLLEEN BROWN
19 Apr 2018 | 4 min read | 2
The question is very simple and so should the answer be, but let's ask it anyway. When World War I ended with the armistice on November 11, 1918 what happened to the thousands of New Zealand soldiers – around 40,000 stationed in Europe and Britain – who had left their homeland to fight and were now still in Europe? The answer of course is obvious:... > Read more
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING, A VIDEO ESSAY (2018): Of speed, in space and under the ground
18 Apr 2018 | 2 min read
Over three albums, a batch of EPs, impressive videos and exciting live shows, Britain's Public Service Broadcasting have created a niche for themselves between the worlds of dance, electronica, rock, art music and audio-visual spectacular. New Zealand audiences caught them at a Womad in 2015 but each of their albums -- and the attendant videos -- are mesmersing... > Read more
Tom Cunliffe: Template For Love (usual digital outlets, CD)
18 Apr 2018 | 1 min read
Anyone expecting this second album by folk-rocker (and then some) Tom Cunliffe to be more focused than its predecessor will be disappointed . . . but also perhaps pleased by the increased diversity here. If that debut Howl & Whisper seemed to have its roots in pubs (the Pogues were a reference point for a few songs) this steps sideways, right from the power-pop of the... > Read more
Primrose Hill
HAMMOND GAMBLE INTERVIEWED (2018): Of another career in the same town
16 Apr 2018 | 10 min read | 2
Trees are down, power is out everywhere, the temperature has dropped and our house is freezing. So when a conversation with Hammond Gamble is relocated to the warmth of Galbraith's Ale House in Eden Terrace it's very welcome. The purpose of meeting Gamble – one of this country's finest blues-rock guitarists, an earthy singer and a much underrated and Silver... > Read more
The Disappointments: The Disappointments (Morningstar)
16 Apr 2018 | 1 min read
Get past the self-deprecating band name and look closer: Here are singer-guitarist Hammond Gamble and bassist Andy MacDonald who, in the early Eighties co-founded one of the greatest blues-rock bands this country has ever produced: Street Talk. They toured extensively and fired off two terrific albums, their self-titled debut (somewhat knobbled by the production of... > Read more
Jack's Got Work (But It Ain't All Good)
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
16 Apr 2018 | 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 and Yasmin does with EPs. Comments will be brief. . Chris Smither: Call Me Lucky (Signature/Southbound) This... > Read more
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels: Devil with the Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly (1966)
16 Apr 2018 | 1 min read
Whatever the reason -- working class industrial, mix of races, impurities in the water -- Detroit has been a hotbed of great music. From Bill Haley and Hank Ballard in the Fifties through Motown, Bob Seger and the Stooges to the Dirtbombs, Eminem and the White Stripes, it just keeps coming. And let's not forget -- although many do -- the great Mitch Ryder and the Detroit... > Read more