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
GAVIN BRYARS: THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC/JESUS' BLOOD NEVER FAILED ME YET, CONSIDERED (2020): Music of ghosts gone by
8 Apr 2020 | 3 min read
The problem with Tom Waits singing on the 1993 recording of Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (with the orchestra arranged by Gavin Bryars) is that it is Tom Waits singing. Waits has such a distinctive voice that it is always going to be Tom Waits – in his tramp mode – that you hear. For the full melancholy and true religious import of the piece you need... > Read more
JUDY MOWATT: BLACK WOMAN, CONSIDERED (2020): A woman's strength in the concrete jungle
6 Apr 2020 | 3 min read
When the great reggae singer Judy Mowatt toured New Zealand's North Island under her own name in 1990, she was surprised to be greeted by local members of the Twelve Tribes of Israel at the airport. But after the death of Bob Marley, reggae had become embedded in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Twelves Tribes (named for the descendants of Jacob in the Old Testament) were a... > Read more
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WRITERS' QUESTIONNAIRE: Michael Botur
6 Apr 2020 | 4 min read
When we reviewed New Zealand author Michael Botur's short story collection True at the end of 2018, we noted how prolific he was. In the time it takes many authors to decide on a subject Botur has written a novel or a series of short stories and is already moving on to the next project. In part that is because he has identified his territory: it is the lives of... > Read more
Devilskin: Red (Devilskin/digital outlets)
3 Apr 2020 | 1 min read
Although this third album by New Zealand's hard rock, cross-generational quartet out of Hamilton might not to be to the taste of some Elsewhere listeners, we here are frequently in awe of their accumulated, taut musical firepower and the powerful vocals of Jennie Skulander, all of which come together on Red. Produced by Greg Haver at Auckland's Roundhead, these 12 songs... > Read more
ANOTHER SPIN OF HISTORY'S WHEEL (2020): Music in the time of solitude
3 Apr 2020 | 4 min read
About 140 years ago when Thomas Edison made a machine which captured sound he initially thought it could preserve the grand statements and speeches of great men. But he quickly realised – even before his phonograph which used wax-coated cylinders was made available – here was how music could be passed down the generations, the past always present in the... > Read more
TAYLOR SWIFT, MISS AMERICANA DOCO, CONSIDERED (2020): She got a suite and you got defeat
3 Apr 2020 | 2 min read
When Taylor Swift's Netflix documentary Miss Americana debuted in January, keyboard fury on social media accused this young pop upstart (who was 30) of appropriating the name of a genre defined by authentic American voices and music. In truth, “Americana” is just a taxonomic device, as vague as “jazz”, “pop”, or... > Read more
MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL, a doco by STANLEY NELSON (Netflix): Running the Voodoo Down again
2 Apr 2020 | 3 min read
When I interviewed Miles Davis in 1988 in advance of his Auckland concert, I punched in an improbably long line of digits to a New York number and after confirming it was him on the other end – the hoarse grunt was enough – I introduced myself and asked him about his most recent album Siesta. After a long silence the distinctively raspy voice... > Read more
KATHERINE MANSFIELD meet CHARLOTTE YATES AND FRIENDS (2020): Giving words wings
2 Apr 2020 | 4 min read
Five years ago, Northampton-based academic and Katherine Mansfield scholar Gerri Kimber discovered 26 poems by Mansfield in the Newberry Library in Chicago, only nine published previously. Written when Mansfield was in her early 20s around the time of an affair, pregnancy, an unconsummated marriage and a miscarriage, the poems made up The Earth Child cycle. In... > Read more
Grimes, Miss Anthropocene (4AD/Rhythmethod)
1 Apr 2020 | 2 min read
Some musicians transition from being an enjoyable pop figure into An Important Artist. Rare ones – say, Jimi Hendrix and Billie Eilish – arrive with a significant debut album, but most take time getting there. Even David Bowie played Zelig-like roles from Beat-era r'n'b through glam pop and faux-soul before his innovative “Berlin Trilogy” in the... > Read more
McLaney and Malik: The Old Traditions (Escape Artists/digital outlets)
1 Apr 2020 | 2 min read
Paul McLaney is doubtless among this country's most prolific musicians. But one of his finest series of albums this past decade were under the name Impending Adorations and they were seductive electronica available digitally (through bandcamp, here). And therefore they went past most people. This album was in fact recorded back in 2016 with pianist Raashi Malik,... > Read more
Harry Styles, Fine Line (Sony)
31 Mar 2020 | 1 min read
In early 2017 Harry Styles – formerly of One Direction (the guy with tousled hair) and briefly a Taylor Swift boyfriend – released his self-titled debut album. It must have been galling for those dismissive of 1D that it was so good. It was a smart, chart-busting pop record and Styles proved he possessed considerable vocal and emotional range. With... > Read more
THE BEE GEES: ODESSA, CONSIDERED (2020): All at sea in separate lifeboats
30 Mar 2020 | 4 min read | 1
In 16 months from early 1967 when they returned to Britain after a trip back home to Australia, the Bee Gees cracked out a remarkable six hit singles and three albums. Their writing, recording and touring schedule was extraordinary, perhaps only matched by the Beatles' work ethic who were for a time their real chart rivals. But for a group which crafted tight radio... > Read more
Beat Rhythm Fashion: Beings Rest, Finally – Rarities (Failsafe)
30 Mar 2020 | 1 min read
In the early Eighties, Wellington's Beat Rhythm Fashion delivered up spiky post-punk pop with Nino Birch's disdainful or cynically bored vocals up front. Not Necessary – which opens this 16 track collection of mostly live material impossible to find these days, is a litany of things not required: jobs (“I don't want to work”), a... > Read more
None in the Universe
GUEST MUSICIAN LUKE HURLEY shares a portrait of the artist as a young itinerant
30 Mar 2020 | 3 min read | 1
Ed Note: Luke Hurley is a well-known New Zealand musician, prolific recording artist (his new album Happy Isles is reviewed here) and has been a common sight as a busker. He is everywhere, and yet few know of his fascinating upbringing which he shares here. Rather than change Luke's words, spelling and style we leave it just as he wrote it. . Born Kisumu Kenya... > Read more
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Ferocious
30 Mar 2020 | 2 min read
Ferocious is the trio of Bill Direen, Johannes Contag and guitarist Mark Williams. Ferocious is also the name of their debut album which Elsewhere highly recommends for its mix of poetry, spoken word, song, experimental musical settings and dark intellect. In our review we noted the backgrounds to the players and here the trio speak with one voice as they answer... > Read more
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . LIBBY HOLMAN: Sex, scandal, shooting and suicide
30 Mar 2020 | 3 min read | 1
When they found singer Libby Holman dead in her Rolls Royce of carbon monoxide poisoning in 1971, her suicide brought an end to a life marked by scandal, sexual promiscuity, one dead husband and a murder trial, overt bisexuality, the death of a son, depression . . . and some pretty steamy blues songs, although among her repertoire was the uncharacteristically domestic... > Read more
Why Was I Born?
Aaron Diehl: The Vagabond (Mack Avenue)
30 Mar 2020 | <1 min read
In a classic trio setting with bassist Paul Sikivie and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, the classically-trained and award-winning jazz pianist Aaron Diehl – still only in his early Thirties – here delivers an elegant, inventive third studio album. It touches obliquely on his broad range of influences, from Art Tatum and the more mainstream but often overlooked... > Read more
Yumi Zouma: Truth or Consequences (Polyvinyl/digital outlets)
30 Mar 2020 | 1 min read
About now we might have expected this New Zealand band to be touring on the back of this new album, but as with many artists they've had to take to the internet to play for their audience. Good on them. But let it be said, this third album is a very lightweight slice of synth-pop which frequently has about as much texture as a meringue and is just as overly sweet.... > Read more
BOB DYLAN: MURDER MOST FOUL, CONSIDERED (2020): Mind out of time
29 Mar 2020 | 15 min read | 2
On December 13 1963, just three weeks after President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Bob Dylan – who had watched the coverage on television and was depressed by the death of the optimistic Kennedy era – attended a fund-raising dinner in New York for the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee. On the basis of his songs like Blowin' in the Wind... > Read more
John Prine: The Missing Years (1991)
29 Mar 2020 | 6 min read | 2
Around the time in the early 90s when he went from cult figure to frontline, American singer-songwriter John Prine got a nice kiss-off line to his entry in the Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music: “His live solo act is spellbinding,” the final sentence of his brief career synopsis stated baldly. Well, he’d had plenty of years to get it right. For a... > Read more