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
COLIN McCAHON: IS THIS THE PROMISED LAND? VOL II 1960 – 1987 by PETER SIMPSON
25 May 2020 | 4 min read
When Peter Simpson left Colin McCahon at the end of the first volume of this superb series, the artist was at a turning point. McCahon had moved to Auckland after a successful career in the South Island, had turned 40 and – although he could not know this – was at the midpoint of his artistic career. Simpson now picks up this story with... > Read more
JOHN SINCLAIR: MOHAWK, CONSIDERED (2020): They gave him 10 for two . . .
25 May 2020 | 2 min read
In popular and political culture John Sinclair is best known for a small handful of things in the Sixties and early Seventies. He founded the White Panther Party, managed Michigan's MC5 and steered them into being a megaphone for radical politics (“We wanted to kick ass and raise consciousness,"), was one of the producers of the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz... > Read more
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . UTOPIA'S DEFACE THE MUSIC: So, ummm, that happened
25 May 2020 | 2 min read
It's a very odd thing to observe, but Utopia – the prog-rock band lead by Todd Rundgren from the mid Seventies – kind of did the Beatles' career in reverse gear. They went from ambitious and full blown stadium-sized prog on their debut as Todd Rundgren's Utopia – the opening Theme is over 14 minutes, The Ikon on the second side a tidy half hour –... > Read more
Everybody Else is Wrong
Oded Tzur: Here Be Dragons (ECM/digital outlets)
25 May 2020 | <1 min read
When recently invited to choose 10 formative jazz albums I had two which bridged Indian classical music and jazz, both being improvised musics. I noted that this area between two cultures and genres was often very rewarding. Here Israeli tenor player Oded Tzur – who has studied with bansuri/flute master Hariprasad Chaurasia – brings his sensibility for... > Read more
JOHN CALE, FRAGMENTS OF A RAINY SEASON, CONSIDERED (2020): The new society still ain't pretty
24 May 2020 | 3 min read | 3
Most musicians in rock culture establish their sound and reputation over a few early albums and consolidate both if their careers are of any length. The late Lemmy and Lou Reed for example released albums which became their hallmarks, and their personae – wildman Lemmy and pugnacious Reed – became our enduring image of them. That said, in each case there... > Read more
Library of Force (from M:FANS)
Souad Massi and Pascal Danae: Tell Me Why (2007)
24 May 2020 | <1 min read
This delightfully trippy exotically psychedelic song sounds like it has been beamed back to us for the late Sixties but in fact was on the excellent Essential Elsewhere album Honeysuckle/Mesk Elil album by the Paris-based, Algerian-born singer-songwriter Souad Massi. On her subsequent album O Huria/Liberty she had Paul Weller as a guest and from that album's title... > Read more
The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Kiki Van Newtown aka Giantess
23 May 2020 | 4 min read
As Elsewhere noted when we reviewed the debut album Big Woman by Giantess, the person behind it Kiki Van Newtown had appeared previously under anther guise, as part of the band Hex. But we also noted about Big Woman that there was a lot going on musically and some interesting references, so we were curious. Time to ask Kiki/Giantess some very personal... > Read more
THE TAMI SHOW (2020): The lady in lockdown
22 May 2020 | 1 min read
Given that last year was a pretty lousy one for many people (self included) many were looking forward to a fresh start in 2020. Well, then that happened . . . Few musicians were looking forward to this year as much as singer-songwriter Tami Neilson who had a fine album ready to go (Chickaboom! reviewed here), had the backing to tour internationally to... > Read more
10 INFLUENTIAL JAZZ ALBUMS IN MY COLLECTION: The shape of me to come
22 May 2020 | 6 min read
During the Covid-19 lockdown, Facebook was awash with people being asked to choose their favourite albums, books and so on. And I too was there at the invitation of Rodney Hewson, a music man from way back, who asked me to pick 10 albums that were influential on my thinking about jazz. An impossible task in many ways, but one that did get me considering. It would... > Read more
FIVE FAMOUS BUT OVER-RATED ALBUMS IN ROCK: Acclaimed often, disappointing or dull mostly
22 May 2020 | 7 min read
Picking bad albums is child's play, acclaiming classics even easier still because mostly the work has been done for you by generations of critics, fans and the foolhardy. And acclaiming some obscurity as a lost classic is a breeze because chances are most people haven't heard it so aren't in a position to agree or disagree. However picking over-rated albums is much... > Read more
The New Existentialists: Didn't Have Time (bandcamp)
22 May 2020 | 1 min read
With the subtitle “work in progress 2019-2020” and a blurb which downplays expectations (“raw unformed things that the world was not meant to hear”) the New Existentialists neatly present 10 songs as rough drafts completed during lockdown by synth player Fraser Hunter who co-produced this with mainman George D Henderson (the Puddle). And... > Read more
The Music Convention: The Charge of the Music Convention (Frenzy/digital outlets)
21 May 2020 | 1 min read
In the late Sixties Auckland's Music Convention – originally out of the Hamilton area as the Spectres and the Trends – released one of the baddest, greatest, noisiest New Zealand singles ever. It was Belly Board Beat which was an explosion of surf rock with sitar and sounded as if it had been recorded in a beachside ashram where instead of meditating the very... > Read more
US Girls: Heavy Light (4AD/Rhythmethod/digital outlets)
18 May 2020 | 1 min read
From the ambiguous album title – is it a play on opposites, or is the light heavy? – and through these teasingly accomplished songs which reference a swathe of pop history aural references (old school soul, Michael Jackson, r'n'b, disco), this seventh outing for US Girls (Juno-nominated Meghan Remy from Toronto) covers a lot of musical terrain.... > Read more
Matthew Sweet: Girlfriend (1991)
18 May 2020 | 3 min read | 5
Bitter irony is how Matthew Sweet's small but devoted following might describe his profile and measure of success in the past decade. This gifted singer-songwriter, power-pop rocker and fine interpreter of a lyric gathered kudos for the Under the Covers albums he did with former Bangle Susanna Hoffs. Yes, it's good to know he's picking up change and the albums aren't... > Read more
Matthew Sweet: I've Been Waiting
Billy Butler and the Enchanters: I Can't Work No Longer (1965)
18 May 2020 | <1 min read
It's only Monday but this title just about sums it up . . . Except? While this wonderful post-Sam Cooke soul ballad starts off as you might expect (want to get home, we ain't getting any younger) it does take a slightly darker and more interesting turn if you are prepared to hear it that way: "I'm just another lonely man" . . . And there is... > Read more
Trrma: Earth's Relief (577 Records/Southbound/digital outlets)
18 May 2020 | <1 min read
This Italian duo of Giovanni Todisco (drums/percussion and Giuseppe Candiano (synths) comes courtesy of 577 Records out of Brooklyn which Elsewhere readers have encountered previously through albums by Daniel Carter and Treesearch. Although the promotional blurb says their inspirations are Sun Ra and classical composer Xenakis with some of Flying Lotus'... > Read more
ASTRID KIRCHHERR, BEATLES PHOTOGRAPHER, INTERVIEWED (1994): Young, free and wild.
18 May 2020 | 10 min read
At 55, Astrid Kirchherr still loves rock music and listens to it every day: The Beatles, the Doors, Bowie . . . “and Prince, he’s such a genius -- if he just wouldn’t wear those stupid clothes! I always wanted him to look serious, young and sexy. But he dressed like an old prostitute in drag.” Kirchherr laughs briefly -- the only time in... > Read more
Carter/Wilner/Toure/Ughi: New York United (577 Records/Southbound)
17 May 2020 | 2 min read
They say when you get a dealer you can trust, someone who is reliable and knows what you need, then stick with them. So it is for me with Troy at Southbound Records in Auckland who, late last year, guided me to the excellent Radical Invisibility album featuring the prolific, septuagenarian New York saxophonist/flautist/trumpeter Daniel Carter. It has rarely... > Read more
STOP THE CLOCK by GORDON McLAUCHLAN
17 May 2020 | 3 min read
It's interesting to speculate on what the writer, journalist and social observer Gordon McLauchlan – who died in January age 89 – would have made of the recent pandemic lockdown. Doubtless he would have something astute to say about the language of politicians, scientists and business people, the behaviour of the masses and some wry observation of those... > Read more
Various Artists: Blood and Dust; A Gothic Western (Venus Aeon/digital outlets)
16 May 2020 | <1 min read
Given Elsewhere's unashamed affection for the Western genre (is The Good The Bad and The Ugly the best film ever made? A. Yes) and albums like The Unforgiven's self-titled sole outing we would naturally gravitate to this collection. The best Westerns reference Greek mythology as much as gunplay mayhem, and so the darkness of Goth music works into the heroic nihilism... > Read more