Music at Elsewhere

Gracie Abrams: The Secret of Us (digital outlets)

22 Jul 2024 | 1 min read

The internet is a cauldron of hatred, cruel comments, racism (most -isms in fact) and poison. And that's just the comments it lets you see, there is so much worst floating around in the dark corners, feeding like minded nasty bastards, conspiracy morons and lunatic political or religious groups. It even infects the most ordinary of aspects of culture, like pop music which for the most... > Read more

Blowing Smoke

Linda Thompson: Proxy Music (digital outlets)

22 Jul 2024 | 1 min read

People of “a certain age” speak of Linda Thompson with some approaching awe and reverence. Her albums with her former husband Richard Thompson – who has appeared frequently at Elsewhere in reviews and interviews – are the stuff of legend: marriage, love, separation all distilled into songs. However you read it, albums by the Thompson entitled I Wanna See the Bright... > Read more

Or Nothing at All

Matt Langley: As Real As You Want It To Be (digital outlets)

15 Jul 2024 | 1 min read

It has been many many years since we heard from singer-songwriter Matt Langley whose previous albums were praised far and wide (at Elsewhere, by Nick Bollinger, Simon Sweetman and others). But eight years on from his acoustic album Winterdust, and from Japan where he now lives, Langley has been back in touch because . . . He has teamed up with his former collaborator/producer/bass... > Read more

Waking Dream

Bonny Light Horseman: Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free (digital outlets)

14 Jul 2024 | <1 min read

This is a weighty 18 song double album of heartache mixed with some of life's pleasures which is best when judiciously sampled, otherwise this can feel like a long ride with the Horsemen which only occasionally breaks into a canter. The Horsemen are a folk-Americana semi-supergroup – solo artist/singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, multi-instrumentalists Eric D. Johnson (formerly of... > Read more

When I Was Younger

Peggy Gou: I Hear You (digital outlets)

8 Jul 2024 | <1 min read

We should know Peggy Gou better: her humid dancefloor hit (It Goes Like) Nanana has had more than 466 million Spotify streams and she lounges in fashion magazines. Born in South Korea, currently Berlin-based and an eclectic electronica artist, DJ and fashion icon, Gou comes across as the hippest woman in the club and the go-to gal for Kylie Minogue (whose Can't Get You Out of my Head she... > Read more

1+1= 11

Johnny Cash: Songwriter (digital outlets)

1 Jul 2024 | 1 min read

In his thorough Johnny Cash: The Life biography in 2013, the writer Robert Hilburn didn't flinch from pointing out that for a couple of decades before the American Recordings series, Johnny Cash was in a wilderness of pills, ill-health, poor decisions and pretty lousy albums. As Hilburn notes, “In the 23 years since he cut his first record at Sun, Cash's resume included some 1800... > Read more

Poor Valley Girl

Gary Harvey: Outta My Head (digital outlets)

30 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

We have previously expressed our considerable admiration for blues-rocker Gary Harvey who is one of the great journeymen in local music. He's been in bands since the 1960s and has never stopped working. Now living in Tauranga, he did there what he'd done in Auckland for decades: found like-minded musicians, got gigs and started recording his original songs while also doing the artwork and... > Read more

Name of the Father

Sean Cunningham: Whatever That Is (digital outlets)

28 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

Kaylee Bell has successfully embraced the mainstream country-rock sound of Nashville, and Nashville-based Sean Cunningham has located himself closer to the alt.country genre. Kentucky-born Cunningham is mentioned here in the Bell context because he too has a local connection, albeit a bit tenuous. In 2007 as the short-lived Atlas – with former Zed bassist Ben Campbell, his singer... > Read more

North

Earth Tongue: Great Haunting (digital outlets)

26 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

In another guise Earth Tongue's Gussie Larkin (guitar, vocals) is upfront with Mermaidens but in Earth Tongue with drummer/singer Ezra Simons she indulges in a love of Goth-kissed prog-rock and riff-heavy stoner rock (which can sometimes veer perilously close to a straight-faced Spinal Tap). Influenced by horror movies and such – title include Out of the Hell, Bodies Dissolve... > Read more

Grave Pressure

Lenny Kravitz: Blue Electric Light (digital outlets)

24 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

Some artists have a style so distinctive they become an adjective: Dylanesque and Lennonesque (the the manner of Bob and John respectively), Waitsean (after Tom) and so on. Such descriptors provide a convenient shorthand. One of the most -esque/-ean/-like artists has been Lenny Kravitz who has the uncanny ability to appropriate from myriad sources (Prince, Marvin Gaye, Hendrix) and... > Read more

Let It Ride

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Georgia Lines: The Rose of Jericho (digital outlets)

24 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes with an insert explanatory message from Lines and credits. Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . These should be good times for Georgia Lines: two years ago she picked up most promising artist at the annual music and recently was awarded Te... > Read more

Wayside

Freddy Trujillo: I Never Threw a Shadow At It (digital outlets)

22 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

The name of this Portland-based Californian might not be familiar but the bands he plays bass in – the Delines and Richmond Fontaine – means we should be interested in this, his fourth album which features various Delines. Along a similar axis as those bands, Trujillo sings of his Chicano background (I Didn't Cross the Border, The Border Crossed Me), experiences of Chicano... > Read more

Corpus Christi

RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Terror of the Deep: The Airport Underneath the Dome (limited edition vinyl)

17 Jun 2024 | 2 min read

Now this vinyl record has interesting history, but let's start with the bad news which the band republish to their own amusement. When this album by the Wellington band was released on CDR and cassette in 2010 it was considered the “four-piece trying their hand at geeky chic to varying degrees of success,” by NZ Musician. The reviewer went further (“not too sure that... > Read more

Two Wizards

La Luz: News of the Universe (digital outlets)

16 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

One of the Elsewhere Best of the Year albums of 2023 was the intimate folk album Manzanita by Shana Cleveland, a founder and sole original member in the US surf rock band La Luz. The journey and offshoots of that Seattle band were worth following as they moved from twanging surf guitar and girl group rock'n'roll roots on their 2013 debut It's Alive through line-up changes... > Read more

Good Luck with Your Secret

Kelley Stoltz: La Fleur (digital outlets)

14 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

San Francisco's Kelley Stoltz disappeared off our radar after his To Dreamers album although we've name-checked him a few times since. A man who can craft sublime if sometimes referential jangle pop, rock and power pop, here he gets in a more fuzzy, psyched up and anxious mood for a dozen songs which have all those references mentioned but are agitated, which coincidentally is name of the... > Read more

About Time

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Paul Weller: 66 (digital outlets)

10 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes in a gatefold sleeve (art by Sir Peter Blake) with an insert of lyrics and a large fold-out poster of the still handsome and dapper Paul Weller. Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . In the late Seventies I started buying every single by the Jam... > Read more

Nothing

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Sam Bambery: Rubricator (digital outlets)

9 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes in a matt carboard sleeve with an insert slip of credits and a surreal piece about what a rubricator is (most of which is bewildering and tangential!) Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . Until we send experts to sample the water or embed... > Read more

Mountain and Me

Late Slip: I Love You (digital outlets)

9 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

With a snappy retro-rock'n'roll-cum-rockabilly attitude beamed in from the Fifties on songs like I'll Be Okay (“thought he should be with me but he did not agree”) and Tidal Wave, New York's joyful Chelsea Nenni sounds like a whole lot of fun at parties where they play Wanda Jackson, the Ronettes and Brenda Lee. She'd be on the dancefloor and grabbing the mike at karaoke, and... > Read more

New York City

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Polite Company: Please Go Wild (digital outlets)

8 Jun 2024 | 2 min read

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this album which comes in a ridiculously cute cover (front and back) and has an insert sheet of the excellent lyrics. Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . The key name in this band is singer-writer Alan Gregg, formerly of the Dribbling Darts of Love... > Read more

Perfectly Good Explanation

Crowded House: Gravity Stairs (digital outlets)

3 Jun 2024 | 2 min read

Few people these days would still cling to the belief that bands should have a stable line-up like the Beatles and U2, or that they need adopt that famous “last gang in town” attitude of the Clash. Band line-ups these days are more like the Rolling Stones (now down to just two original members) or Fleetwood Mac who can count more than a dozen former members. One of those Mac... > Read more