Music at Elsewhere
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They Might Be Giants: Join Us (Rounder)
19 Sep 2011 | <1 min read
Like Jonathan Richman and Weezer, New York's They Might Be Giants had nerdy charm when they emerged some 15 albums ago and it was fun to hear them on the theme to Malcolm in the Middle and record some songs for a Disney kids' show. Two years ago they did a science-themed children's album (Here Comes the Science). They seemed to be successfully amusing themselves, and the Giants'... > Read more
2082
Tom Russell: Mesabi (Proper)
19 Sep 2011 | <1 min read
Although American singer-songwriter Tom Russell's name isn't as widely known as that of Joe Ely, Townes Van Zandt and others, his songs have been covered by Johnny Cash, Peter Case, Iris DeMent and many more, and his story-telling tied to a backbeat has consistently drawn praise from critics and peers. Jerry Jeff Walker, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Eliza Gilkyson... > Read more
Sterling Hayden
Jerry Jeff Walker: Jerry Jeff Walker, Expanded Edition (Raven)
13 Sep 2011 | <1 min read
First released in 1972 and only now available on CD (here expanded with five extra songs including a 2002 version of his classic Mr Bojangles), this album was one which introduced Texan Walker as part of the left-field non-Nashville country acts of the day alongside Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark and Waylon Jennings. In the liner notes Walker -- who has actually recorded... > Read more
Hairy Ass Hillbillies
Ry Cooder: Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (Nonesuch/Warners)
12 Sep 2011 | 1 min read | 1
Ry Cooder's last three outings were the occasionally rewarding but often hard haul through his concept album trilogy Chavez Ravine (Mexican LA in the Forties), My Name is Buddy (Depression era America) and I Flathead (sci-fi Fifties with cool cars). Great songs scattered throughout, but . . . For this one however Cooder re-enters the present and it is the better for it.... > Read more
No Hard Feelings
Nick Lowe: The Old Magic (Proper)
12 Sep 2011 | 1 min read | 1
Perhaps after the series of excellence on his albums The Impossible Bird (1994), Dig My Mood ('98, Elsewhere's pick), The Convincer (2001) and At My Age (2007), it was maybe too much to expect the standard from Nick Lowe could remain as high again. But The Old Magic -- while including some beautifully delivered bitter-sweet songs couched in country-influenced Fifties-like standards --... > Read more
Stoplight Roses
Pajama Club: Pajama Club (Isaac)
12 Sep 2011 | 1 min read
From the deliberate domesticity of the band name/album title, this album which began as a knockabout home sessions between Neil Finn and his wife Sharon comes with some coy downplaying. I guess Neil would be aware of the subtext of the words "Linda McCartney". But here with Neil on drums and guitar, Sharon on bass and SJD on electronica -- and former Smiths guitarist... > Read more
Golden Child
Pretty Wicked Head and the Desperate Men; New Age Savage (Independent distribution)
12 Sep 2011 | 1 min read | 1
My southern informant tells me this album by the Invercargill band with one of the best-ever names was originally released in 1990 and picked up two years later for national distribution in New Zealand by BMG. Mostly recorded in Vancouver when the band were touring there for three months in '89, it has here been remastered and repackaged with a live DVD of a Canadian show and some... > Read more
It's Okay It's Clean
Drive-By Truckers: Ugly Buildings, Whores and Politicians; Greatest Hits 1998-2009 (New West)
12 Sep 2011 | <1 min read
Those who have missed the career of Drive-By Truckers out of Athens, Georgia are advised to just dive in at their Southern Rock Opera of a decade ago (which gets four of the 16 tracks on this chronological collection), The Dirty South (three tracks here) and/or Brighter Than Creation's Dark (two). Grounded in Southern rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and soul (courtesy of Muscle Shoals connections and... > Read more
Carl Perkins' Cadillac
Dave Lisik: Donated by Cantor Fitzgerald; A Threnody (Rattle)
11 Sep 2011 | <1 min read
If you are reading this in New Zealand on September 11, 2011 -- the 10th anniversary of 9/11 -- Canadian-born, Wellington-based composer Dave Lisik will have performed this evocative, hour-long work in Virginia yesterday for re-broadcast on a New York radio station on the 11th as part of the day-long commemorations there. Recorded in Wellington with pianist Amy Rempel, tenor... > Read more
Donated by Cantor Fitzgerald (extract)
Cut Off Your Hands: Hollow (Speak N Spell)
5 Sep 2011 | 1 min read
Frankly, when I first encountered Cut Off Your Hands two things struck me: First, how do you do that? (You get one off and then . . .), and more importantly how their bouncy pop-rock would travel. When I heard they were going to the UK I thought, "coals . . . Newcastle". I understand things didn't entirely work out over there and that was a shame. Their debut You and I was... > Read more
By Your Side
Panther and the Zoo: More Fun (download)
5 Sep 2011 | 1 min read
The 2009 EP by this delightfully melodic, Auckland pop-rock outfit Think About It Not Exploding was a mere four songs . . . but was one of those enticing little tasters which left you wanting more. Much more, in fact. So at last here is the nine song album (short, and smart again, you are left wanting more) and you cannot help admire songwriter Graham Panther's lightly gentle but assured... > Read more
Maybe You Get What You Want
The Jayhawks: Mockingbird Time (Universal)
5 Sep 2011 | 1 min read | 1
Something to speculate on. What if John Lennon had quit the Beatles around the time of Help!/Rubber Soul when it was clear he and Paul McCartney were going in different writing and personal directions. Say he'd gone off into more personal and introspective writing and Macca had steered the band along a more pop route? No Revolver for a kick-off. In a sense something similar happened... > Read more
Pouring Rain at Dawn
Various Artists: After Hours, The Collection; Northern Soul Masters (Rhino)
4 Sep 2011 | <1 min read
Northern Soul was a British phenomenon in the late 60s/early 70s when clubs in the north played beat-driven American soul for pilled-up patrons of venues like the famous Wigan Casino, the titular subject of a terrific doco by Tony Palmer. The music was rarely from mainstream labels like Motown and much of it came on long lost or deleted singles. A decade ago the archive label Rhino... > Read more
Something's Burnin'
The Smithereens: 2011 (eone)
4 Sep 2011 | 1 min read
It was probably helpful for the long-running power-pop/rock Smithereens out of New Jersey to remind themselves what year they are in with this album's title. Their most recent outings have been covers of the Beatles' first US album Meet the Beatles! (Meet the Smithereens!), one of Beatle b-sides then a truncated run through the Who's Tommy. Fun for them, but you did wonder why.... > Read more
Rings on Her Fingers
Aly Cook: Brand New Day (Ode)
3 Sep 2011 | 1 min read
As with Katie Thompson, this mature and intelligent New Zealand singer-songwriter raised money to fund her debut album through the Sellaband scheme. And she's already on her way to raising money for her follow-up. You have to hand it to her, in her late Forties she isn't going to wait around for fortune to come a-knockin', she is out there being proactive. And you can hear why people might... > Read more
Country Storm
FleaBITE: In Your Ear (Jayrem)
3 Sep 2011 | 1 min read
Everyone is allowed to have fun, right? Which is why Elsewhere sometimes includes bizarre or just plain stupid stuff when it pulls From the Vaults. And also why we posted the Fatcat and Fishface album for kids (C'mon, tell me that isn't Yoko Ono on the posted track). And that is also why we are posting this by FleaBITE -- from the Fatcat and Fishface family -- who are smart enough to... > Read more
You're a Drip
Tim Finn: The View is Worth The Climb (Universal)
2 Sep 2011 | 1 min read
Some argue that the best songs emerge from anxiety, emotional dislocation and melancholy -- but more mature songwriters know that not to be true. As Lucinda Williams noted in this interview, it is possible for an artist to conjure up states of mind from experiences. People like Williams -- and Tim Finn -- have a wealth of life experiences to draw on. Finn's albums often sound best when... > Read more
Opposite Signs
Bierut: The Rip Tide (Pompeii)
1 Sep 2011 | 1 min read
Within the very bland cover - despite the gold impressed lettering -- lies the typically colourful, romantic sound which we have to come associate with Zach Condon and his associates who bring accordion, horns, a touch of "South of the Border" as well as ukulele and pump organ. Although scrupulously crafted -- you don't write horn lines like these without considerable skills --... > Read more
Goshen
Randy Crawford: The Best of Randy Crawford (Rhino)
31 Aug 2011 | 2 min read
Gosh and oh gee. Another Randy Crawford compilation. Is there no end to these things? They seem to come around about every five years or so -- and of course the track listing is always much the same. So rather than "review" this one here is an interview with Randy from '99 in advance of a New Zealand tour which you might take some amusement from . . . On the line from her... > Read more
Rainy Night in Georgia
Meredith Monk: Songs of Ascension (ECM New Series)
30 Aug 2011 | <1 min read | 1
Meredith Monk's ethereal vocal music often seems to exist between the chapel and the arthouse, at home being bookended by a choral group and Laurie Anderson. Over the decades her work has extended from its minimalist origins into instrumental works, theatrical productions, opera (Atlas) and film (Book of Days), and yet its spare, skeletal structure is commanding by virtue of its... > Read more