Music at Elsewhere
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Neil Young and the International Harvesters: A Treasure (Reprise)
4 Jul 2011 | 2 min read | 2
While many of us would wish Neil Young release the next long-awaited installement of his Archives series (ho ho ho, like that'll happen any time soon), in his wilful and non-chronological release schedule it was almost expected a follow-up to the terrific and raw Le Noise would be . . . a country music album. But even so, A Treasure is a little unexpected as it comes from his on-going... > Read more
Flying on the Ground is Wrong
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis: Smoking in Heaven (Sunday Best)
4 Jul 2011 | <1 min read
While some have be quite taken by KD&Lewis' retro look and sound -- which is undeniably entertaining on the surface and live -- I have remained immune and indifferent to their charms. And nothing on this album of all originals can persuade me to be otherwise. These songs sound lame when they aren't just plain dull, or working out some tropes which so many others have not only done... > Read more
I'm Going Back
Various Artists: Watch the Closing Doors (Year Zero/Southbound)
4 Jul 2011 | <1 min read
This ambitious double disc compilation of New York's musical melting pot (1945-59) by writer Kris Needs – who delivered the free-wheeling collection Dirty Water; The Birth of Punk Attitude – scoops up jazz (Ellington, Armstrong, Mingus), pop (Frankie Lymon), folk (Dave Van Ronk), blues (Sonny Terry, Big Maybelle) and Latin (Machito). Disc one ends with John Cage reading... > Read more
Autumn in New York
Various Artists: LateNightTales; Trentemoller (LateNightTales)
4 Jul 2011 | <1 min read
Another installment in the on-going LNT series, this compiled by Danish electronica artist Trentemoller who opts for a dark, almost suffocating and disturbing evening at home by many less familiar but very interesting artists (The Black Angels, Chimes and Bells, Darkness Falls, Thee Oh See's) alongside a few moody notables (This Mortal Coil, Low, Mazzy Star, Velvet Underground, M.Ward,... > Read more
Science Killer
Mickey Newbury: An American Trilogy (Saint Cecilia Knows/Southbound)
28 Jun 2011 | 1 min read | 1
Not many people know about Texan Mickey Newbury, who died almost a decade ago, age 62. Maybe it's enough Elvis (who made Newbury's medley An American Trilogy a cornerstone of his latter performances) did. And that Mickey's songs were covered by Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Joan Baez and dozens of others. Often spoken of in the same sentence as Kris Kristofferson... > Read more
33rd of August/When the Baby in My Lady Gets the Blues
Urge Overkill: Rock&Roll Submarine (Redeye)
27 Jun 2011 | 1 min read
Possibly the most coolly knowing, confidently aloof band since Steely Dan, Urge Overkill out of Chicago were touring mates with Nirvana and Pearl Jam but their stylish and increasingly power pop sound (and cover of Neil Diamond's Girl You'll be a Woman Soon which was used in Pulp Fiction) took them to a mainstream, but small, audience. This, their first album in over 15 years, and has... > Read more
Poison Flower
Highway: Highway (Ode)
26 Jun 2011 | 2 min read
A decade or so ago there was a major excavation undertaken of New Zealand pop and rock of the Sixties, thanks to enthusiasts like John Baker and Andrew Schmidt, and Chris Caddick at EMI who actioned a series of terrific compilations. Some of the work of these people spilled over into the early Seventies. Thierry Pannetier at EMI was responsible for the three decade-bridging double discs of... > Read more
New Day
Tamar McLeod Sinclair: The Heart Notes (TaMartin)
22 Jun 2011 | 2 min read
No one would accuse this Auckland-born graduate of Wellington's Massey University Conservatorium of Music of lacking ambition. This, her debut, is the result of her internationalism (she has worked in various parts of Europe for over five years) and the songs were written everywhere from Sydney and parts of Italy to Scotland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic (where it was recorded, as well as... > Read more
Thankful
Apanui: Matariki (Frequency)
21 Jun 2011 | <1 min read
Ngahiwi Apanui, formerly of the seminal reggae band Aotearoa, was in the vanguard of the use of taonga puoro (traditional instruments) with his autobiographical solo album Te hono ke te Kainga/The Link with the Homeland in '89 which also brought in reggae and folk. A staunch advocate of te reo and cultural pride, he opens this album with an electro-thump call for everyone to support... > Read more
Apanui: Ko Ko/Call Call
Spa: Spells for Travelling Forth By Day (Sarang Bang)
20 Jun 2011 | <1 min read
On a cursory listen, this album by the Auckland three-piece Spa (Steven Tait, Hayden Sinclair, Brian Donnelly) plus guests seems a little slight and unfocused. An acoustic instrumental opens proceedings, later there is indie.pop, alt.rock, a touch of Plastic Bertrand/Ramones-like punk-pop (Lionel Lopez, about a former sports star?), a little shoo-wop pop . . .. But -- and might we mention... > Read more
Please Let Me Down
The Wronglers with Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Heirloom Music (Neanderthal)
20 Jun 2011 | <1 min read
Jimmie Dale Gilmore possesses one of the most distinctive voices and when deployed on lachrymose ballads he can tear your heart out. But this is an odd and old time project, Gilmore out front of a band of mixed abilities (interesting, but not interesting enough) and performing mostly songs from the Thirties and Forties, some of which come from bluegrass, others from blues and country. And... > Read more
If I Should Wander Back
Greg Brown: Freak Flag (YepRoc)
20 Jun 2011 | 1 min read
When you get to your 24th album you probably aren't expecting a major breakthrough in terms of having a whole new audience find you. And nothing on this fine album sounds like either a departure, or capable of taking this poet/singer beyond those who already know of him. Formerly the musical director on the famous A Prairie Home Companion radio show, married to Iris De Ment and with a... > Read more
Rain and Snow
Known Associates: Penny Love (Warcat)
15 Jun 2011 | 1 min read | 1
Auckland singer/writer/guitarist Warren Cate of Known Associates has made some fine and deliberately unpolished rock albums under his own name in the past but here, with a team of equals who hunkered down for weekly sessions last year to toughen themselves up and work out material, he excels himself. Cate always possessed a slightly dangerous edge in his vocals but here he sounds angry and... > Read more
Made of Blue
Various Artists: Forbidden Planets Vol 2 (Chrome Dreams/Triton)
13 Jun 2011 | 1 min read
Subtitled "More Music from the Pioneers of Electronic Sound", this double disc with a booklet will not be for everyone. But if the original theme to Dr Who, the Bebe and Louis Barron soundtrack on the film Forbidden Planet and even the more demanding music in 2001: A Space Odyssey (nope, not the Strauss) held any appeal then you should sign up for this collection. Much electronic... > Read more
Serenata (1924)
Seasick Steve: You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks (Liberator)
13 Jun 2011 | <1 min read | 1
Steve – who makes or adapts his own guitars, counted Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain as friends and had Grinderman, Ruby Turner and KT Tunstall on his raw 08 album Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most of It Left – has been a hobo, busker and record producer in his time, and his blues-infused albums reflect stories of a hard life. He got his break on an '06 Jools... > Read more
Treasures
Boris: Attention Please (Sargent House)
6 Jun 2011 | 1 min read
Witnessing the full firepower of this Japanese psychedelic drone-rock band at Sydney's Vivid Festival last year – earplugs supplied – was a revelation. When they were loud they were very, very loud but when guitarist Wata stepped up to bring her ethereal voice into play they were dreamily psychedelic and rather special in a cinematic prog-rock way. This, their 17th studio,... > Read more
Party Boy
The Webb Sisters: Savages (Proper)
6 Jun 2011 | <1 min read
Best known in the wider world as part of Leonard Cohen's touring band – the backing vocalists, multi-instrumentalists and cartwheelers – Charley and Hattie from Kent have at the studio desk here uber-producer, heavy-hitter and fan Peter Asher (James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, longtime senior vice-president at Sony). And you can guess they aren't short of studio talent either:... > Read more
Calling This a Life
The Feelies: Here Before (Pop Frenzy)
30 May 2011 | 1 min read
When a band which made one your favourite albums three decades ago -- Crazy Rhythms, an Essential Elsewhere album (here) -- gets together for their first album in 19 years you enter with trepidiation. You know things can't and shouldn't be the same, and you remind yourself that after some dodgy stuff Wire of the same era delivered a more than merely creditable album last year. The... > Read more
On And On
Holly Throbsy: Team (Spunk)
30 May 2011 | <1 min read
There has been an audible trend in blockbuster movies to employ actors who speak in a constant whisper which is then amplified for the big screen. The normal speaking voice of these actors we do not know. It happens in music too and a couple of tracks here are little more than amplified whispers (prime offender It's Only Need), and much of this album is in the barely-there category in its... > Read more
To See You Out
Gurrumul: Rrakala (Skinnyfish)
29 May 2011 | <1 min read
With his full name on his debut album Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu reduced to more manageable Gurrumul, this blind Aboriginal singer-songwriter (a former member of Yothu Yindi and the Saltwater Band) here continues his way into global domination in the world music/folk genre. Unlike many Aboriginal performers who use traditional instruments or deliver bog-standard reggae, the... > Read more