Music at Elsewhere
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The xx: I See You (Young Turks)
20 Jan 2017 | 1 min read
The verdict came in very quickly in the case of this album. After their stellar 2009 debut xx –which won them Britain's Mercury Prize, an award often out of synch with taste and commercial success – came the somewhat lesser but still interesting Coexist in '12 (a case of more of the same but less so) which meant this one could be make-or-break. Right from the economic... > Read more
Lips
Simon Thacker and Justyna Jablonska: Karmana (Slap the Moon)
16 Jan 2017 | 2 min read
When we interviewed Scottish guitarist Simon Thacker in 2015 in advance of his New Zealand tour it was hard to know how describe him. “Guitarist without portfolio” seems about as close as you might get. Back home in Edinburgh he teaches classical guitar but he also helms his own Ritmata ensemble (which he brought to New Zealand) and consider them his more jazz oriented... > Read more
Obyrtac (trad Polish)
Flaming Lips: Oczy Mlody (Bella Union/Warners)
16 Jan 2017 | 2 min read
At first blush this is possibly one of those albums you want to like more than you do, just out of regard for the band's wonderfully wayward path. But the path has lead them to this? Calling it a slow grower – usually a compliment, meaning an album which will endure – is apt. The first third is laboriously slow in its dreamy psychedelia (a less clinical early Floyd)... > Read more
Sunrise/Eyes of the Young
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
16 Jan 2017 | 3 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. Douglas Dare: Aforger (Erased Tapes/Southbound) At the intersection of electronica artist and melodramatic singer-songwriter,... > Read more
SOHN: Rennen (4AD)
16 Jan 2017 | <1 min read
More lowkey pop-electronica from 4AD, this from British-born SOHN (Chris Taylor) who has relocated from Europe to LA and created these 10 gently soulful songs for his second album while on a quiet retreat in Northern California. There are some tasty groove-riding r’n’b influences here: Conrad, the leisurely pulse of Signal, the especially lovely Primary with its... > Read more
Still Waters
Phil Judd: uniQue (philjudd.com)
16 Jan 2017 | 3 min read
Few characters, if any, in New Zealand music can claim to have been involved with as many crucial bands as Phil Judd. He was a founder member, contributing writer and guitarist in Split Enz (he also did the album cover for their debut album Mental Notes), and after his departure he produced the Saturday Night single for proto-punk band Suburban Reptiles, and had a brief stint in the... > Read more
Half Japanese: Hear the Lions Roar (Fire)
13 Jan 2017 | 1 min read
Always something of an acquired taste, the avant-rock, inspired but wilful amateurism, indie cult-cum-comedic sound of Half Japanese – now more than 35 years into a “career” – can rightly claim that time caught up with them. With the embrace of shock horror films and B-grade sci-fi, outsider artists like Daniel Johnson, quirky Jonathan Richman and Fred Frith,... > Read more
Do It Now
Various Artists: (The Microcosm), Visionary Music of Continental Europe 1970-1986 (LITA/Southbound)
9 Jan 2017 | <1 min read
In a neat sidestep of other descriptions like perhaps proto-electronica, ambient, cosmic, New Age or Krautrock, the compiler of this excellent double disc – Doug McGowan out of Los Angeles – simply goes for “visionary”. And that's apt. Among the 16 artists/groups across these two-plus hours are Ash Ra Temple, Popul Vuh, Peter Michael Hamel, Roedelius,... > Read more
Le Sourire Vole/The Stolen Smile, by Ash Ra Temple (1976)
SHORT CUTS: A round-up of recent New Zealand releases
9 Jan 2017 | 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 BRIEFabout international releases. Comments will be brief.... > Read more
Various Artists: Feeling Good; Funk, Soul and Deep Jazz Gems (Red Essential/Southbound)
9 Jan 2017 | 1 min read
Bob Shad – who died in '85 – was one of those old school producers who would turn his hands and ears to every genre from jazz (Charlie Parker in the Forties, the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet, Sarah Vaughan) to pop (Patti Page, the Platters), blues (Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee) and rock (Big Brother and the Holding company, the Amboy Dukes). He... > Read more
Red Clay, by Jack Wilkins
Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie: Salero (Erased Tapes/Southbound)
6 Jan 2017 | 1 min read
One of the more interesting and left-field labels around is the London-based Erased Tapes, now entering its 10th year of operation and with a roster of more than 20 artists (some solo players also appearing in, or under, band names). Elsewhere has been picking up on a few of these releases and all have had a sense of thoughtful introspection but also an engagement with the wider world... > Read more
Lithium, The New Era
Brian Eno: Reflection (Warp/Rhythmethod)
1 Jan 2017 | 1 min read
Funny story for you. When I bought my first CD player there were only about five discs in Marbecks you could actually purchase. This must have been about 1985 because one of them was by Brian Eno whose early solo albums post-Roxy Music I had loved, and his Apollo from a couple of years previous was on repeat play. So, passing lightly over Dire Straits and whatever the other few... > Read more
THE BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2016: THE READERS' CHOICES
19 Dec 2016 | 15 min read
Okay, as editor of Elsewhere I have had my say on the best albums I wrote about this past year -- while freely conceding I did not, could not, hear everything. Doubtless you heard some music which moved you and wish to tell others about. Here is your chance. You could look at what Elsewhere covered in 2016 if you need some reminders or guidance (just start at this... > Read more
THE BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2016: THE YEAR IN REISSUES
19 Dec 2016 | 3 min read
It has been more than 60 years since “the blues had a baby and they called it rock'n'roll”. Which means that there are decades and decades of music to be discovered, rediscovered and re-presented. It's cheap to sell music which has already been recorded and perhaps had its shelf-life, but some of the reissues this past year have been classy and re-ignite interest in the... > Read more
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RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs and Englishmen (Universal)
16 Dec 2016 | 2 min read
Some weeks back Elsewhere noticed a worrying pattern; certain artists – David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Ray Columbus, Mose Allison – died shortly after we had written about them. This thought occurred while preparing a piece about this reissue, because the band on it was put together by Leon Russell. No sooner had we started to get material together about this live album and... > Read more
Bird on a Wire
Albi and the Wolves: One Eye Open (Albi/Aeroplane)
15 Dec 2016 | <1 min read
If Albi and theWolves turn up in your town in the next few months – and they probably will, see their extensive touring schedule below – then you'll spot their singer on the street. Chris Dent aka Albi is handsomely large albino with a full white beard . . . and a white man (literally) who might be hard to ignore, especially over the sun-tanned summer months. This... > Read more
Working Hard
THE BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2016: THE EDITOR'S PICKS
12 Dec 2016 | 5 min read | 8
Okay, the best album of 2016 was . . . the one you liked the most. And you don't need a critic to tell you what that was. It might have been David Bowie's exceptional blackstar, Beyonce's Lemonade or the Rolling Stones' unexpected -- if not astonishing -- return to old form with Blue and Lonesome . . . which we haven't included below because they are such obvious choices.... > Read more
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
9 Dec 2016 | 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. A Tribe Called Quest: We Got It From Here . . . Thank You For Your Service (Epic) Has it been 18 years since their previous... > Read more
IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases
5 Dec 2016 | 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. Gillian Welch; Boots No 1, The Official Revival Bootleg (Acony/Southbound) The numerical nature of this double CDs title whets the... > Read more
Maisey Rika: Tira (Rika/Border)
5 Dec 2016 | 1 min read
It would be fair to suggest the reason the often sublime and always assured voice of Maisey Rika isn't more widely recognised is that she sings in te reo and – even now, decades on from the breakthrough of Poi E which we congratulate ourselves over – it is a language which is marginalised on mainstream radio. Little wonder then that Moana Maniapoto made an impassioned plea... > Read more