Music at Elsewhere

Derek Lind: Solo (Someone Up There)

19 Oct 2015 | 2 min read

For two decades from the mid Eighties, Derek Lind confirmed himself as among this country's finest singer-songwriters. He had a Herald entertainment cover for his exceptional '90 album Slippery Ground, an album of resonant songs which stand up today for their lyrical depth, insight and allusive breadth. There were further albums its equal, all of which were acclaimed by those who... > Read more

The Only Song I Got

Battles: La Di Da Di (Warp)

19 Oct 2015 | <1 min read

Once you come to terms with the taut but sometimes meandering and shapeshifting six-plus minutes of the opener The Yabba here, the intent of this incarnation from New York's electronica experimentalists Battles becomes more clear. On this, their third album, they have dispensed with guest vocalists as on their previous Gloss (2011) and so hone their sound down to cosmically-inclined... > Read more

Summer Simmer

IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases

19 Oct 2015 | 2 min read

With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists, in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks up New Zealand artists. Comments will be brief. Low; Ones and Sixes (SubPop): Now 20-plus years into their career and the band that defined the slowcore movement, Low here deliver a... > Read more

Kid in the Corner by Low

Freddy Fudd Pucker; Hourglass Wine (Monkey)

19 Oct 2015 | 1 min read

When Tom Young from Dunedin emerged as Freddy Fudd Pucker many, many years ago he'd chosen a name which seemed determined to condemn him to the margins. FFP either sounds rude, like he's a comedy act or, for any curious American, something to do with a hamburger chain. That he was none of these (although his humour could be acerbic) just made it more of a shame that he got little serious... > Read more

The Sorrow Finds Its Song

Opposite Sex: Hamlet (oppositesex)

12 Oct 2015 | 1 min read

If the previous album by this Dunedin-based trio (plus pals) was a little hard to get a bead on, this intriguingly fractured and sometimes fractious follow-up makes it no easier. But that's what rewards repeat plays here, even if singer Lucy Hunter is stretched to the very edge of her limited range . . . and then goes beyond it on the harrowing Oh Ivy which, for Elsewhere's money, is... > Read more

She Said

SHORT CUTS: A round-up of recent New Zealand releases

11 Oct 2015 | 2 min read

Facing down an avalanche of releases, requests for coverage, the occasional demand that we be interested in their new album (sometimes with that absurd comment "but don't write about it if you don't like it") and so on, Elsewhere will every now and again do a quick sweep like this, in the same way it does IN BRIEF about international releases. Comments will be brief.... > Read more

Goodbyes by Amiria Grenell

IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases

5 Oct 2015 | 2 min read

With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists, in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks up New Zealand artists. Comments will be brief. This is the Kit; Bashed Out (Brassland): Although much acclaimed in UK folk circles, this third collection of literate songs by Kate... > Read more

All in Cahoots by This is the Kit

Various Artists: Loop Select Mixtape 0004 (Loop)

2 Oct 2015 | <1 min read

More goodness from Loop . . . another in their series of free mix tapes. Yep, free to stream or download. Tracks by Mark de Clive-Lowe, Electric Wire Hustle, Cahmbres and more. Here's who is on it. 01. Take It From Me by Bailey Wiley 02. Rising One by Sacha Vee 03. Sundae by BAYNK 04. Circles by Commune 84 05. Smokelight (Instrumental) by Chambres 06.... > Read more

Keith Richards: Crosseyed Heart (Republic)

28 Sep 2015 | 2 min read | 1

Before we answer the only question anyone seems to be asking about this album — “Is it any good?” – let's just declare our hand: For many decades it's been our firmly held opinion Richards' ragged solo spots on Stones albums were often the highpoint beyond the hits. Cracked classics like Coming Down Again and All About You for example captured a piece of... > Read more

Robbed Blind

Sunken Seas: Glass (digital only)

25 Sep 2015 | <1 min read

This Wellington two-piece impressed Elsewhere mightily with their 2012 debut album Null Hour, notable for its controlled intensity and sonic density. It was nominated for Taite Award in 2013. Their follow-up EP Cataclysm got them international notices and they've opened for The Black Angels, Wooden Shjips and Bailterspace, all travelers in similar territory. This new album -- the band... > Read more

Poppy

Kurt Vile: b'lieve I'm goin (deep) down (Matador)

25 Sep 2015 | <1 min read

Vile's previous Wakin on a Pretty Daze captured an audience for its benign tripped-out vibe and although this isn't as strong he should consolidate his fanbase with these slightly ambling, sometimes downbeat songs which also have flashes of humour (check Dust Bunnies) and the accomplished diversity. Some of these songs are self-indulgent or lyrically shallow: The stoner opener Pretty... > Read more

Life Like This

Girl Band: Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade)

25 Sep 2015 | <1 min read | 1

Here's how you subvert expectation. Call yourself Girl Band and give your debut album a cute title like Holding Hands With James . . . then deliver atonal noisecore, aggressive thrash and declamatory lyrics over lo-fi sonics. This all-male Dublin four-piece might have emerged in the post-punks days alongside The Fall, Chrome, Pere Ubu and clank'n'grind experimentalists, but here... > Read more

Baloo

Tami Neilson: Don't Be Afraid (Neilson Records)

21 Sep 2015 | 2 min read | 2

The backstory to this album -- how Neilson's singer-songwriter fatherRon died earlier this year, a little over a month before she went in to record -- has been much essayed, and she mentions it in the brief liner notes. But far from being a maudlin collection (some songs were written already) this typically excellent collection kicks up its heels at times, notably on the lively... > Read more

Holy Moses

In BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases

21 Sep 2015 | 2 min read

With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists, in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks up New Zealand artists. Comments will be brief. Bryce Dessner/So Percussion; Music for Wood and Strings (Brassland): One of the most innovative and exploratory guitarists around,... > Read more

When the Nights Are Cold by Joe Ely

Destroyer: Poison Season (Merge)

14 Sep 2015 | 1 min read | 1

While the world may be awash with pretty good albums which are enjoyable in their own right, every now and again something comes along which you recognize as not just a keeper but one which reveals more on each hearing. Dan Bejar of Destroyer -- who, despite the name, are as far from black metal as you can imagine -- has created an album of odd dimensions built around three separate and... > Read more

Archer on the Beach

Triumphs: Beekeeper/Bastardknocker (Monkey Killer)

14 Sep 2015 | 1 min read

This Dunedin duo of John Bollen and Mat Anderson (guitars and drums respectively) here aim for a big subject, an instrumental concept album which "pays tribute to New Zealand's forgotten history of psychedelic mountaineering". That's not a territory many will have previously encountered, however here it is in all its widescreen drama and gritty grandeur across tracks with titles... > Read more

Everest Was The First Pyramid

Beirut: No No No (4AD)

14 Sep 2015 | 1 min read

Although some writers would have you believe this assured-sounding new album by Zach Condon/Beirut (one of Elsewhere's favorites) is something of a major musical departure, it is not quite extreme as a few have made out. The endearing elements of Condon's pan-global style and sometimes swooning delivery are all intact (the horns, strings, allusions to various Borderland and Eastern European... > Read more

At Once

Lance Canales: The Blessing and the Curse (Music Road/Southbound)

7 Sep 2015 | <1 min read | 2

In these dreadful days when we see desperate migrants on the nightly news and a US presidential candidate says he'd build a wall along the Mexican border, Lance Canales' raw version of Woody Guthrie's Deportee here (“We died in your hills, we died in your deserts . . . some of us are illegal and some are not wanted”) has a powerful resonance. Especially as he names the... > Read more

Sing No More

Girls Pissing on Girls Pissing: Scrying in Infirmary Architecture (Muzai)

7 Sep 2015 | <1 min read

This charmingly named Auckland outfit got a few points in for their previous album Eeling which was rather demanding but showed some real flickers on 21st century post-punk declamatory experimentalism. Those reference haven't changed much but this albums feels a whole lot more focused and in places even considered. Pollen Moon and Darwinning here are compellingly bleak and raw and... > Read more

Pollen Moon

Public Image Ltd: What the World Needs Now . . . (PiL Official/Southbound)

4 Sep 2015 | <1 min read

While John Lydon will always have points in for the Sex Pistols, the early PiL albums and even the 2012 This is PiL, he's certainly done his best to lose them without much effort. Like this one which -- when it isn't engaging in juvenile politics (Betty Page about the evil USA) or banging around on post-punk ideas which were best explored by the Pop Group (whose drummer Bruce Smith is... > Read more