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
Deerhunter: Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? (4AD)
19 Jan 2019 | 1 min read
America's Deerhunter – and the offshoot of projects as Atlas Sound by the band's helmsman Bradford Cox – has long been an Elsewhere favourite, in fact two of the four previous albums we reviewed – this being their eighth – were in our end of year Best of lists. Those albums might have had a few shadows but mostly they were smart and frequently... > Read more
Plains
Steve Gunn: The Unseen in Between (Matador)
18 Jan 2019 | 1 min read
If there is to be a neo-psychedelic folk-rock revival – and round here we hope so – then it could hardly be in better hands than those of singer-guitarist Steve Gunn. He served just enough time in Kurt Vile's band the Violators to be a name known to a young and hip rock audience but has also traveled interesting paths through Anglofolk (most writers mention... > Read more
Luciano
AMJAD ALI KHAN INTERVIEWED (2019): The master of the singing sarod
16 Jan 2019 | 7 min read
Among the big and familiar performers at this year's Womad in Taranaki – Angelique Kidjo, Nadia Reid, Teeks, Ria Hall and the Silk Road Ensemble to mention a few – there is someone whose name may not be well known but he's a man who is one of the most revered masters of his art. This living legend is Amjad Ali Khan who, at 73, has been acclaimed for more half... > Read more
Malkauns
TEENAGE FANCLUB CONSIDERED (2019): Big star and middle-big stars . . .
15 Jan 2019 | 6 min read
Even at the Big Day Out in Sydney in '94 -- headlined by Soundgarden (stunning), Bjork (a revelation) and the Ramones (“great, man” but actually disappointing) -- two bands stood out . . . other than Smashing Pumpkins. They were Urge Overkill who brought style, cynicism and wit to pop-rock on a small stage; and Teenage Fanclub who were riding the crest of two... > Read more
Winter (from Songs From Northern Britain)
EZRA FURMAN CONSIDERED (2019): The screen door slams, Ezra's dress waves . . .
14 Jan 2019 | 3 min read
Of all those following Springsteen melodramatically hitting the blacktop to escape the suffocation of smalltowns and Dad/the day job/the downturn, few are as unexpected as Ezra Furman. At 32 with five albums behind him with his bands the Harpoons and the Boyfriends, and a solo album (The Year of No Returning in 2012) Chicago-born San Francisco-based Furman unleashed his... > Read more
God Lifts Up the Lowly
Janet Jackson: Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)
14 Jan 2019 | 2 min read
In February 2019, Janet Jackson – alongside Stevie Nicks as a solo artist, Radiohead, the Cure, Roxy Music, Def Leppard and the Zombies – will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an accolade long the preserve of white male guitar-rock artists. The irony of that is if you look at who is up for single and album of the year at the Grammy's: it is... > Read more
Black Cat
Paper Cranes: Voices (digital outlets)
14 Jan 2019 | 1 min read
This second album by the New Zealand duo of Fraser and Naomi Brown (and fellow travelers) builds on the excellence of their debut The Road Home, sometimes with pleasing digressions into territory once occupied by the emerging Fleet Foxes but here with a quieter, front-parlour elegance (the piano ballad Follow). These are beautifully crafted and arranged songs –... > Read more
ONE WE MISSED: Blair Parkes and Cardigan Bay: Little Rapids (bandcamp)
14 Jan 2019 | 1 min read
Christchurch musician/artist Blair Parkes has appeared previously at Elsewhere but this album arrived in November just as Elsewhere was mopping up paying work and folding its tents for a while so . . . Parkes is a remarkable character, not the least for writing this life-affirming piece at the very end of last year about previously being diagnosed with cancer, love and... > Read more
Active Listener
Larkin Poe: Venom and Faith (Tricki-Woo/Southbound)
14 Jan 2019 | <1 min read | 1
Although this band fronted by Atlanta-born and Nashville-based sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell are most frequently referred to as blues there is as much raw soul and edgy alt.rock on this fourth album which is frequently freighted with dark meanings (the menacing “ride at your own risk” on the chunky Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues, references to inviting the... > Read more
Ain't Gonna Cry
Kikagaku Moyo: Masana Temples (Guruguru Brain/Southbound)
14 Jan 2019 | <1 min read
Self-described “psychedelic” rock from Japan recorded in Lisbon by a jazz musician (Bruno Pernadas) and which opens with a sitar piece? Then gets into a bit of funk? And why not, we say. Umm, here's why not. This five-piece from Tokyo on their fourth album hardly push the envelope in terms of serious wig-out or even into new areas but rather meld... > Read more
Majupose
Buddy Holly: Blue Days Black Nights (1956)
14 Jan 2019 | 1 min read
In the year before he became famous with the hit That'll Be the Day in mid '57, Buddy Holly – who was killed in that plane crash 60 years ago in February – unsuccessfully recorded a number of songs in Nashville. Signed to record deal he and his ring-in band went to that hub of conservative country to try to record music which was part-country but influenced... > Read more
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Darren McShane of Superturtle
7 Jan 2019 | 2 min read
Singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Darren McShane has previously appeared on an Elsewhere questionnaire – five years ago – but on the back of the new Superturtle album which arrived at the end of last year we thought it time to give him a different set of questions. The new album is Student Flat Reunion and with its keyboards, slamming electrobeats... > Read more
The Industry
The Bleeding Allstars: Uneasy Listening (Thokei Tapes/bandcamp)
4 Jan 2019 | 1 min read
When the former members of Sneaky Feelings – one of the finest and musically most durable of the first wave of Flying Nun – found themselves in close proximity after many decades they reformed and delivered the damn fine Progress Junction. The Sneakies major weapon was having a number of songwriters in their ranks and here one of them, David Pine, steps out... > Read more
Oh It's Been Forever
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . Z'EV: He bangs the drum, and then some
2 Jan 2019 | 3 min read
When a couple of writers from the then-recently launched Re/Search tabloid went to visit the experimental percussionist known as Z'EV in 1981, the conversation was esoteric and philosophical. The fact Z'EV banged on odd objects to make a noise hardly entered the discussion. Re/Search – which was founded by V. Vale in San Francisco after his influential punk... > Read more
Piece H, from My Favourite Things
ROSS MULLINS PROFILED, AT AUDIOCULTURE (2018): The poet of the suburbs
29 Dec 2018 | 1 min read
When pianist-singer Ross Mullins released his seventh album The Poet and the Fisherman in 2016 it was certainly long overdue but perhaps not long-awaited. It had been 17 years since his previous album and for all of his long career which dates back to his debut in 1985, Mullins has been below most listeners’ radar. In part that’s because his first three... > Read more
Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen on Broadway (Sony)
29 Dec 2018 | 1 min read | 2
When Bruce Springsteen took up residency at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York for a year of his autobiographical one-man spoken word and song shows, there was unanimous acclaim for it. He told a selected version of his life through anecdotes and acoustic reworkings of some of his classic songs over more than two hours. Night after night. He'd avoided the... > Read more
Dancing in the Dark (spoken word intro)
YASMIN BROWN'S BEST EPs of 2018
28 Dec 2018 | 4 min read
2018 has seen an unprecedented number of outstanding releases across all genres. The music industry is continuing to morph into something that would have been unrecognisable even five years ago, and while it would be easy to criticise these changes, I’m more inclined to think that music has benefited as a result.Many of the EPs I’ve reviewed this year have been a... > Read more
EPs by Yasmin Brown
27 Dec 2018 | 4 min read
With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column by the informed and opinionated Yasmin Brown. She will scoop up some of those many EP releases, in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks up albums by New Zealand artists, and IN BRIEFdoes for international artists. You can read her previous... > Read more
Jimi Hendrix: Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne (1969)
24 Dec 2018 | <1 min read | 1
"And so this is Christmas, and what have you done?" Time for reflection amidst (hopefully) enjoying family and friends . . . and we will all do that in our own way. Jimi did it this way. This was part of some long studio jamming, the first two songs here were recorded in December '69 with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox in the Record Plant in... > Read more
Barbecued Duck Breasts
22 Dec 2018 | 1 min read
These days I, like most people, can toss together a very serviceable and reasonably impressive red curry with duck in just a matter of minutes. It helps when you have a shop selling cooked duck within a few minutes walk. But this recipe is something rather more challenging and I have to admit I stole it from a calendar that we were sent about two years ago. Goes... > Read more