Music at Elsewhere
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My Pet Dragon: Mountains and Cities (Gimme That Sound)
30 Aug 2011 | 1 min read
About 16 months ago Elsewhere gave a Heads Up on an impending album by this group out of New York (here). As far as I can tell the impending album never arrived . . . but this seems to be it. A long time in the pot, obviously. Now a fully formed band around singer-songwriter Todd Michaelsen, this album has a chest-swelling urgency in places which belies its long gestation period. The... > Read more
Moonshine
Various Artists: Rucks, Tries and Choruses; The History of NZ Rugby . . . in Song (EMI)
29 Aug 2011 | 2 min read
Could any other country on the planet compile a disc of rugby songs? Maybe Wales? South Africa? But how many could get two discs worth of songs (comedy, serious, some sung by former players) which are this much nostalgic fun. We might take rugby seriously in New Zealand, but are clearly not that po-faced when you go through this exceptional 33 track compilation pulled together by the... > Read more
Rugby Rock (1960)
Jolie Holland and the Grand Chandeliers: Pint of Blood (Anti)
29 Aug 2011 | 1 min read
This being Holland's first album since 2008's excellent The Living and the Dead, it naturally arrives much anticipated. But while some have suggested it harkens back to her style on the very popular Escondida of '04, to these ears it sounds the natural extension of its predecessor. She again has the same producer Shahzad Ismaily, her songs have a slightly battered and emotional quality,... > Read more
Little Birds
The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient (Secretly Canadian)
29 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
From the amusing band name (yep, the bad guys won that particular war, bro) through their swooning post-REM pop-rock, this fine and play-loud album so adeptly juggles Tom Petty/Byrds, slacker alt rock and post-grunge 90s pop (Evan Dando/Buffalo Tom) you can't help but like it. And Philadelphian songwriter Adam Granduciel's has seriously smart takes on that period when the word-spewing... > Read more
Come to the City
The Bambi Molesters: As the Dark Wave Swells (Glitterhouse)
29 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
Although “surf rock” sounds a limiting description, echoing guitar twang can equally conjure up wide-open dry spaces (albums by Australia's Cruel Sea) or brooding spaghetti westerns. And this memorably named Croatian instrumental group manage sea, sky and gunplay – and more. The producer/string arranger is Chris Eckman formerly of the American alt.country folk... > Read more
Leslie Stevens and the Badgers: Roomful of Smoke (Fuse)
29 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
Although a reviewer for America's No Depression said Stevens' voice reminded of Emmylou Harris' (although confusingly added “but you will never be confused it”) Harris' crystalline sound doesn't come to mind at all for me. (Maybe Melanie's high-pitched folksiness in places.) But this former LA punk has convincingly moved into alt.country/singer-songwriter territory and... > Read more
Ballpark Lights
Brigitte DeMeyer: Rose of Jericho (BDM)
28 Aug 2011 | 1 min read
Although now five albums into her career, it is highly likely few have heard of this soulful country-rock singer who here co-produces with Brady Blade. She has a little gospel and blues in her (religion is scattered throughout) and marries that to fiddle and mandolin-coloured tunes which are instantly memorable. And many shine with the optimism which comes from having done the hard work and... > Read more
West Side Mama, South Side Me
Gotye: Making Mirrors (Universal)
24 Aug 2011 | 1 min read | 1
No New Zealander has to apologise for noting the most outstanding track on this third album by Australian wunderkind singer/producer Gotye -- aka Wally de Backer who slayed them on home turf with his '06 album Like Drawing Blood -- is the third track Somebody I Used To Know which features expat Kiwi singer Kimbra. That Kimbra has her own classy, intelligent and exceptional debut album Vows... > Read more
Bronte
Jakszyk, Fripp, Collins: A Scarcity of Miracles (MPL)
23 Aug 2011 | 2 min read
With the (almost) complete Pink Floyd catalogue being re-presented shortly, the Moody Blues arriving on our shores and bands like The Mars Volta, Radiohead and Porcupine Tree pushing the boundaries, there seems to be quite a lot of progressive rock, if not exactly old school prog-rock, out there. Of course it never really went away and certainly guitarist/experimentalist Robert Fripp, a... > Read more
The Price We Pay
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: Mirror Traffic (Domino)
22 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
The previous album by Malkmus (formerly of Pavement) with the Jicks was the very trippy Real Emotional Trash. But here, after touring again with Pavement, he gets into the studio with Beck Hansen as producer for 15 focused songs which place emphasis on, if nothing else, audability. His words -- droll, slightly self-torturing and geekish, delivered with that slight strain -- are now... > Read more
Stick Figures in Love
Simon Comber: The Right to Talk to Strangers (CPR)
22 Aug 2011 | 1 min read
On singer-songwriter Comber's earlier album Endearance there was an exceptional song, Please Elvis (which you can read about here), and it alerted the listener to the poetic shifts in his lyrics. This EP confirms Comber's lyrical smarts and in places goes even deeper than that impressive album. His voice sounds more resonant, stronger and deeper in places also -- and that makes for a... > Read more
Twin Insomniacs
Phil Spector: Wall of Sound; The Very Best of Phil Spector 1961-1966 (Sony Legacy)
22 Aug 2011 | 1 min read | 1
This judiciously selected, 19-song collection arrives half a century after Spector's distinctive "wall of sound" started to make an impact on the charts and his "little symphonies for the kids" changed the way people thought about how to use a recording studio. And what talent Phil Spector had on his hands at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood and later in New York: Gene... > Read more
Walking in the Rain
Jeff Bridges: Jeff Bridges (Blue Note)
18 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
After his multiple awards-winning turn as broken down country singer Bad Blake in Crazy Heart, and the spin-off T Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack, there should be interest in this (also produced by Burnett) where Bridges again sings persuasively on originals and material by John Goodwin, Stephen Bruton (who wrote most of the Crazy Heart soundtrack), Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey. Although... > Read more
Nothing Yet
Wilberforces: Vipassana (Muzai)
17 Aug 2011 | 1 min read
Not having heard the first album by this group -- which appears to have "well documented" problems with a changing line-up around singer/writer/guitarist Thom Burton -- is no particular disadvantage. But apparently the Auckland indie label Muzai thought so highly of their '09 debut Haunted that it sought Burton out and was delighted when he signed with them. Here's the reason... > Read more
Bones Bones Dead Down
Ricardo Villalobos/Max Loderbauer: Re: ECM (ECM)
17 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
The usually restrained ECM isn't a risk-averse label -- how well some remember the textural noise of Lask and the guitar abuse of David Torn -- so when they open the vaults for manipulation you know the result will be nothing like the Verve and Blue Note remix albums. Here this Berlin-based electronica duo improvise with pre-existing tracks by John Abercrombie, Miroslav Vitous, Enrico... > Read more
Rebird
Trembling Bells: The Constant Pageant (Fuse/Border)
16 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
This Glasgow quartet fronted by the powerful folk-vocals of Lavinia Blackwall have previously delivered folkadelia but right from the ringing guitars of this, their third album, they have moved more firmly into the psychedelic rock area where Celtic hippies roam wind-swept moors and have anthemic Jefferson Airplane and Fairport Convention turned up to 11 on their ghetto blasters. New... > Read more
All My Favourite Mistakes
Giant Sand: The Love Songs (Fire)
16 Aug 2011 | 1 min read
One of the most interesting (and lengthy) interviews at Elsewhere this year has been with Howe Gelb of Giant Sand. During that long and digressive conversation I asked Gelb which albums of the massive reissue campaign of his 25 year career he would recommend to newcomers. He singled out Center of the Universe of '92 saying it was the post-separation album and the only one where he... > Read more
Wearing the Robes of Bible Black
The Nudge: Big Nudge Pie (Keen)
15 Aug 2011 | 1 min read | 2
The primal, almost otherwordly moan most often over a relentless thudding rhythm – the sound of rural blues – or a gutteral growl which harks back to something more primitive have seldom been heard from New Zealand bands. Blues artists here generally aim for the raw edge of Chicago blues or the tough twang of Texas rock-blues. But this trio out of Wellington -- which... > Read more
It All Becomes Clear
Punches: Etheria (Punches/Arch Hill)
15 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
Singer/bassist Kelly Sherrod and guitarist/singer James Duncan – both formerly in Dimmer among other previous band experiences, she now based in Nashville – follow the dreamy folk-psychedelia of their self-titled 2006 EP with this beguiling, hypnotic album recorded long distance and lowkey in distant home studios, which makes remarkable . . . although also a product of our... > Read more
Tools of the Trade
Various Artists: Waiata; Maori Showbands, Balladeers and Pop Stars (EMI)
15 Aug 2011 | <1 min read
After the interest in -- and award-winning success -- of Chris Bourke's marvellous every-home-should-have-one book Blue Smoke, this double disc collection seems almost mandatory. It scoops up a swag of showbands (the Maori Troubadours, the Quin Tikis, Dalvanius and the Fascinations, the Maori Volcanics) and many mainstream performers (Jay Epae, John Rowles as Ja-Ar and also with with his... > Read more