Music at Elsewhere
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Elvis Presley: The Complete '68 Comeback Special (SonyBMG)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
By 1968 the man who had almost single-handedly created rock'n'roll culture just a decade previous was all but irrelevant: Elvis hadn't sung live since a concert in Hawaii in 1961; his last top selling single had been Good Luck Charm six years previous; and his recent single Guitar Man had failed to enter the Top 40. He hadn't been on television since a Frank Sinatra special in May 1960.While... > Read more
Elvis Presley: Baby What You Want Me To Do (rehearsal)
China Forbes: '78 (Inertia)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
To be honest, I don't like this as much as everybody who has heard it when it has been playing at my place. I put it on and thoroughly enjoy the lightweight pop-rock quality of it (mid-period Sheryl Crow, after she lost the edge, comes to mind) and can certainly appreciate that this singer from Pink Martini has assured pop-pipes.But it lacks a certain something. Kick, I think.The many songs of... > Read more
China Forbes: One Less Word
Bannerman: The Bannerman EP (Nice Like Pie/Rhythmethod)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
Bannerman is not former Sneaky Feelings/Dribbling Darts frontman Matthew Bannister as I assumed on seeing this EP, rather it is Richard Setford who was the mainman behind Auckland's large soul-funk outfit One Million Dollars and its offspring Batucada Sound Machine, two party-large bands that had punters up and dancing.Time for a sitdown though folks because this lo-fi, seven song collection is... > Read more
Bannerman: Head Like a River
Malcolm Holcombe: Gamblin' House (Borders)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
Your first response to this gruff-voiced, whisky-stained singer-songwriter may be, "how come I haven't heard of him sooner?"Well, diligent Elsewhere listeners may well have: he appeared on the massive and ambitious Songs of America triple set which appeared here some months back. He sang The Old Woman Taught Wisdom, a song which dates back to the 1800s -- and Holcombe can sometimes... > Read more
Malcolm Holcombe: Goin' Downtown
Cassandra Wilson: Loverly (Blue Note)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read | 1
More so than her Blue Note labelmate Norah Jones, vocalist Wilson (along with violinist Regina Carter on Verve incidentally) has redefined the parameters of what we know as "jazz" in the 21st century.Jones may be a superb jazzy singer-songwriter with a country heart, but Wilson can turn her attention to material from all across the musical spectrum (not unlike what used to happen in... > Read more
Cassandra Wilson: Gone with the Wind
Joan As Police Woman: To Survive (Liberator)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
Joan As Police Woman certainly has an arresting name (sorry!) but it is her remarkable voice that will capture you (and sorry again!).Joan Wasser's debut album Real Life of two years ago was a remarkable album and was hailed at Elsewhere and elsewhere. The Guardian said of her voice that it was "so wondrous and moving that it makes everyone else's seem ordinary and mundane".That... > Read more
Joan as Police Woman: To Be Loved
The Clean: Mashed (Arch Hill)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read
What can you say? The Clean recorded live during their '07 national tour.Really, enough said: David Kilgour's guitar just gets more mercurial and expressive over time (if sometimes pulling back from the edginess of previous decades) and Hamish and Robert create and ride these often oceanic surges of sound. But nuance is everywhere also.Magic at high volume -- and the version of Point That Thing... > Read more
The Clean: Point That Thing Somewhere Else
Jakob Dylan: Seeing Things (Sony/BMG)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
This son of Bob will be 40 next year and has a substantial career behind him with the Wallflowers (five albums) plus some high-profile guest spots. But with this debut under his own name you have to ask, "Aren't you a bit young for this?"That's because the album is a stripped-back (mostly) solo affair produced by Rick Rubin who is widely known these days for reviving the careers of... > Read more
Jakob Dylan: Something Good This Way Comes
Krista Polvere: Here Be Dragons (Inertia)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read
This Adelaide singer-songwriter may sound a little weak in a couple of places here but that hasn't stopped some high-power friends lining up in a New York studio to help out on these delicate and somewhat stately alt.country songs: Ryan Adams (who co-wrote Let's Go), cellist Jane Scarpantoni, Adam Snyder and Grasshopper from Mercury Rev, and Emmylou/Dylan producer Malcolm Burn are all here. And... > Read more
krista polvere: crying out loud
John Matthias: Stories From the Watercooler (Counter)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read | 1
No one sang stuff like this at any watercooler of my acquaintance, but maybe that's because socio-political folktronica is hard to pull off without accompaniment -- and edgy violin solos just don't sound right when hummed.Matthias is a mate of Radiohead's Thom Yorke and some have drawn a line between this album and Yorke's abrasive solo album The Eraser of a couple of years back.I'm not... > Read more
John Matthias: I Will Disappear
Sigur Ros: Meo suo i eyrum vio spilum endalaust (EMI)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read | 1
The good thing about this being disappointing is that I doubt I'll have to type the album title (which apparently means "with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly") too many times.After their oblique sonic landscapes and the superb CD/DVD Heima, this time out these post-rock Icelandic musicians have gone for more economic "songs" in many places (11 tracks in total) and while... > Read more
Sigur Ros: Ara Batur
Bonnie Prince Billy: Lie Down in the Light (UKSpin)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read | 1
After establishing himself as the downbeat and somewhat gloomy singer-songwriter living in a half-lit corner of oldtime Americana, Will Oldham (aka Bonnie Prince Billy, Palace, Palace Brothers etc etc) sounds like he has changed his listening habits and maybe gone into a sun-soaked cornfield.Some will find this disappointing and it does need to be said that this feels very lightweight in... > Read more
Bonnie Prince Billy: Keep Eye on Other's Gain
Neil Worboys and the Real Time Liners: Some Day Soon (Ode)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read | 1
The blues gets short shrift in the New Zealand critical community (see comments about Billy TK Jnr) and my guess is that most writers think it is somehow easy to play. Or is sort of "imported" (and reggae, indie.rock and alt.country ain't??)Anyway these guys from Wellington play that terminally unhip music -- and play it well.Singer Worboys has a career which goes back to the Bulldogs... > Read more
White Swan Black Swan: White Swan Black Swan (Arch Hill)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
An excellent earlier EP by this Auckland duo and friends made repeat appearances at Elsewhere previously -- and this follow-up is their "double mini album".W/B Swan are Sonya Waters and Ben Howe who have long and illustrious careers (in bands such as the Instigators, ICU in London, Orange, Superette) and they were together in the acclaimed Fang. Bassist Ben Furniss and drummer... > Read more
White Swan Black Swan: Castle of Useless Junk
Tyler Ramsey: A Long Dream About Swiming Across the Sea (Shock)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read
In equal parts drawing from early acoustic Neil Young, ambient Brian Eno and a touch of the Jackson Browne singer-songwriter tradition, this album by the guitarist in Band of Horses (an Elsewhere favourite) redefines understatement.With a small and often barely present band (upright bass, drums, violin, cello, pedal steel etc) he eases his way through a dozen songs notable for his deft... > Read more
Tyler Ramsey: These Days
Hacienda Brothers: Arizona Motel (Southbound)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read | 1
A sad shadow hangs over this album by a traditional country outfit whose two previous albums have found a place at Elsewhere: singer-songwriter and frontman Chris Gaffney died of liver cancer in April after this album was completed.With his musical partner Dave Gonzalez, Gaffney formed the Hacienda Brothers six years ago and their exceptional debut album What's Wrong With Right was produced by... > Read more
Hacienda Brothers: Used to the Pain
Brian Wilson: That Lucky Old Sun (Capitol)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
In what sounds like another step in his on-going recovery programme, this album from the former Beach Boy doesn't much change that well-established formula of layered vocal harmonies, uplifting or reflective melodies, and classy orchestrations.What makes this of interest though isn't that it is a kind of song-cyle about his beloved California (complete with B-grade post-Beat spoken words bits)... > Read more
Brian Wilson: Midnight's Another Day
James Yorkston: When the Haar Rolls In (Domino/EMI)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
For someone who makes the only kind of alt/indie.folk music I like and respect, I'm astonished this Scottish singer-songwriter with all the right connections for me (Beta Band, KT Tunstall, Bert Jansch, John Martyn, opening for Turin Brakes, Lambchop and Tindersticks) seems to have largely gone past me.He has released three studio albums (some live ones too I think?) and prior to this I'd only... > Read more
James Yorkston: Tortoise Regrets Hare
Eliza Gilkyson: Beautiful World (Red House/Elite)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
Given the tone of some of the 11 songs here -- political disillution, desperate love, a song called The Party's Over and one about the inevitability of the Great Correction -- you'd have to assume the album title is slightly ironic.Yet this Austin-based singer-songwriter never dips into the dark without leaving room for light, and even the aggressive cynicism of the porno prostitute on Dream... > Read more
Eliza Gilkyson: Great Correction
Brett Dennen: So Much More (Rhythmethod)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
This great album came out so long ago that I had it at Elsewhere about a year back and then deleted it because I just assumed it was lost to all (except me) and I needed to free up some space.Lord knows why it has now reappeared in a different cover and with "PRIORITY RELEASE!" emblazoned (three times) across the top of a promo flyer.I guess -- because this new version comes with six... > Read more