Music at Elsewhere
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Shane Nicholson: Bad Machines (Liberation)
11 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
Nicholson is one of the finest of Australia's singers-songwriters with his feet in alt.country and Americana, but he's as comfortable with Dylanesque wordplay in a strange narrative (Blueberry Pie with its "monkey with the golden tooth") as he is delivering emotionally weighted acoustic ballads (Trick Knee Blues). And as always he gets strong support from a tight band (which... > Read more
Shane Nicholson: Famous Last Words
Maggie Bjorklund: Coming Home (Bloodshot/Southbound)
11 Apr 2011 | <1 min read
Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico have become something of a mark of quality when it comes to spacious sounding albums. They certainly showcased Marianne Dissard in that way and here -- even though they don't produce -- they appear with acclaimed pedal steel player Bjorklund from Denmark on an album which has all the spaciousness of Tucson skies, albeit a little more chilly... > Read more
Maggie Bjorklund: Insekt
Raul Malo: Sinners and Saints (Concord)
11 Apr 2011 | <1 min read
The former frontman for the seemingly defunct Mavericks continues his credible solo career here on an album which unself-consciously bridges dramatic Spanish-influenced Tex-Mex, alt.country and stinging guitar rock, and which pulls his powerful vocals to the fore. You can't turn away from a voice this nail-hard and when it is arc-welded to his equally forceful guitar playing -- as on the... > Read more
Raul Malo: San Antonio Baby
Dropkick Murphys: Going Out in Style (Born and Bred)
11 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
At one level this is another installment of raucous, shot-slamming, singalong rowdiness from Boston's Celtic-punk outfit . . . and in that it is not only effective and enjoyable. It certainly makes you want the bartender to splash another shot of whisky into your jar before you throw an arm around the shoulder of mate and bellow "burn me to a rotten crisp and toast me for a while, I could... > Read more
Dropkick Murphys: Memorial Day
Over the Rhine: The Long Surrender (GDS)
8 Apr 2011 | <1 min read
After a series of fine albums, Ohio's Over the Rhine here -- with sympathetic producer Joe Henry – deliver their most sophisticated album to date, one with an ear on their European-cabaret sounding alt.country (with exceptional players such as steel guitarist Greg Leisz) in songs of uncertainty and reassurance, and torch ballads of love lost. Singer Karin Bergquist has seldom... > Read more
Over the Rhine: All My Favourite People
Little Bushman: Te Oranga (Little Bushman)
8 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
Continuing their exploration of folk-influenced rock and the ethos, if not the actual sound, of Sixties psychedelic rock, this quartet (and friends) come over reflective and quasi-cosmic on this third studio album as they attempt to find middle ground between roots music/Maoritanga, social comment and the hi-tech world of the 21st century. That many of these are in opposition plays out... > Read more
Little Bushman: Dream of the Astronaut Girl Part II
The Fleshtones (featuring Lenny Kaye): Brooklyn Sound Solution (YepRoc)
6 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
The limited edition of this album comes with a DVD doco about this New York garageband. It's entitled Pardon Us For Living But the Graveyard is Full and that's apt, the Fleshtones have been around forever (well, at least 30 years) and in all that time they have studiously avoided anything like polish or finesse. Here they crank out B-grade rock'n'roll grounded in Eddie Cochran,... > Read more
The Fleshtones: Daytripper
Buddy Miller: The Majestic Silver Strings (New West)
4 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
Although a supergroup of guitarists is at the core here -- the great Miller (of Emmylou Harris' band and Robert Plant's Band of Joy among others) brings on board Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz whose names are on albums by Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, many alt and straight country acts as well as ECM jazz albums -- the vehicles they use might not persuade enough... > Read more
Buddy Miller et al: Meds (with Lee Ann Womack)
k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang: Sing It Loud (Nonesuch)
4 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
A common complaint amongst those who interpret the lyrics of others is that very few people write good words anymore. Incidentally Sinatra had the same gripe in the late Forties, although some might say he was just picking badly. Lang here with her new band (and they are superb, more in a minute) has no such problem with classy material, she co-write five songs with producer Joe Pisapia and... > Read more
k.d. lang: Perfect Word
Poly Styrene: Generation Indigo (Future Noise/Southbound)
4 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
The voice, face and braces of X-Ray Specs back in the punk era, Poly Styrene had a sassy line in probing and poking at convention (even the codes of punk) and despite an intermittent career ever since she bounces back with this often satirical album driven by techno-beats and Seventies synths. She nails relationships on the internet (Virtual Boyfriend), the consumer socity (I Luv Ur... > Read more
Poly Styrene: I Luv Ur Sneakers
Peter Bjorn and John: Gimme Some (Cooking Vinyl)
4 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
By giving themselves three thumbs up on the cover of this, their sixth album, Sweden's pop-friendly outfit are doubtless hoping for some similar critical consensus for their return to a more power pop sound after the rather more interesting but failed experiment of the darker Living Thing two years ago. Nothing here will rattle rafters or make anyone rewrite the book of pop, but these are... > Read more
Peter Bjorn and John: Down Like Me
Ben Ottewell:Shapes and Shadows (Shock)
1 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
The name might not be familiar but from the first bar the voice certainly is. It belongs to that rusty balladeer in Gomez who here steps out with a classy, soulful solo debut of originals co-written with Sam Genders of the rather bent UK alt.folk outfit Tuung who have barely raised a ripple in this country. With a sound as distinctive as any in rock, Ottewell could get away with... > Read more
Ben Ottewell: Chose
Chris Hurn: Too Busy Dreamin' (Monkey)
1 Apr 2011 | 1 min read
While owing a clear debt to Paul Simon, the young Dylan, early Donovan and others in the acoustic singer-songwriter category, this young guy from Lower Hutt just north of Wellington, New Zealand brings a pop sensibility to his writing (the openers here Watch Got and Only One I Need hook you immediately) and often a deliberately light touch (whistles, handclaps). Maybe that is in part due to... > Read more
Chris Hurn: Day of My Escape
Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis and Norah Jones: Here We Go Again (Blue Note)
29 Mar 2011 | 1 min read
This cross-generational/cross-genre superstar triumvirate isn't as unusual as it appears on paper: There are two or fewer degrees of separation between the protagonists. Jones has toured and performed with Nelson (here); Willie and Waylon got together for their less-than-thrilling Two Men with the Blues project (CD/DVD); and Jones began life in Wynton's hometown of jazz. Given all that... > Read more
Willie, Wynton and Norah: I Love You So Much It Hurts
Sean Rowe: Magic (Anti)
28 Mar 2011 | 1 min read
Because of the nature of his burred baritone -- and these profound and emotionally deep songs -- it would be wrong to say this debut by New York singer-songwriter Rowe is "exciting". That might give the impression of pulse-racing music . . . and this isn't like that at all. Quite the opposite, it can be heart-stopping. But it is genuinely exciting to hear such a mature,... > Read more
Sean Rowe: Wet
Will Crummer: Shoebox Lovesongs (Ode)
28 Mar 2011 | 1 min read | 1
Perhaps because my father-in-law was a member of the short-lived and largely anonymous Sixties band the Samoan Surfriders (one album, a gem, no names on the cover) or maybe because I came to New Zealand from the chillier climes of Scotland, I have always felt a great affection for music of the Pacific. Probably not helped by my dad being in a danceband in New Zealand -- Roy Reid's... > Read more
Will Crummer: Naringa Koe
Who Slapped John: She Had Picasso's Child (UrbanHeadMusic)
28 Mar 2011 | 1 min read
On a late-night (for him) phone call from the UK, Allan Evans -- who is Who Slapped John -- says although he hasn't lived in New Zealand for decades he still feels himself a Kiwi. Which is unusual for someone who was born in Liverpool, emigrated to New Zealand with his parents in the early Sixties, played in bands at high school and around Auckland (among them the Snipes which played at... > Read more
Who Slapped John: In Your Shadow
The Blind Boys of Alabama: Retrospective (Stem/Southbound)
27 Mar 2011 | <1 min read | 1
With this long-running gospel-cum-doo wop group due in New Zealand for a concert in April with Aaron Neville and Mavis Staples, this triple disc originally released in 2007 gets a timely re-release. The Blind Boys have been around in name since 1939 and recording since the late Forties -- a couple of their founders only died in the past decade -- and they extended their repertoire from... > Read more
The Blind Boys of Alabama: He's Got What I Want
The Thomas Oliver Band: Baby, I'll Play (Rhythmethod)
23 Mar 2011 | 1 min read | 1
As with his fellow Wellingtonian Darren Watson, Thomas Oliver is a finalist in the blues category of the International Song Writing Competition to be judged in April 2011. The song is Goin' Home - which kicks off this rootsy, bluesy and alt.country-tinged album -- and the video of it released a year ago was named among the top 30 internationally at the Rushes Soho Shorts in London, and it... > Read more
The Thomas Oliver Band: Bad Talkin' Man
The Low Anthem: Smart Flesh (Nonesuch)
21 Mar 2011 | 1 min read | 2
Sin and death and guilt; archaisms like "apothecary", "Gatling gun" and "player piano"; harmonica, pump organ, violin, saw and cello; whiskey and gin; recorded in a freezing cold room in winter . . . all the right elements would seem to be in place for more rustic music grounded in an older America from educated urbanites. Smart Flesh is another mood piece of... > Read more