The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Maxine Funke
19 May 2023 | 3 min read
Maxine Funke's new album River Said may seem like a split personality pressed onto vinyl: one side delicate acoustic folk, the other sonic soundscapes with field recordings and disconcertingly atmospheric cello. But as we noted in our review, they are all part of a piece and reflect different but not disparate sides of Funke's musical personality. As Bleep said, “Peer beyond the... > Read more
Cherry Blossom Gin
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Ben Tolich aka Mali Mali
14 Apr 2023 | 5 min read
Over the years Elsewhere has listened to and favourably reviewed the interesting and unique sound of Mali Mali, which is the performance name of Auckland's Ben Tolich whose work we admired for its lo-fi and lyrical honesty. Tolich has remained uncompromisingly true to his style but his lyrics have deepened, the songs become sharper and his latest album Spirit Tide is full of his... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Damien Binder
10 Apr 2023 | 7 min read
Despite having lived in Australia for many decades, former Auckland rock musician (Second Child) turned singer-songwriter Damien Binder has frequently appeared at Elsewhere. That's because as a singer and writer he always has something interesting to say, and the songs to deliver it. With a new album Bright Side coming out on April 21 – we've heard it, it's very... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Mike Baker
16 Mar 2023 | 4 min read
Mike Baker – who records as BAkeR – has had an interesting career in and out of music. He played in bands around Auckland but then in the Eighties moved to Australia and ended up managing the import/export division of Hot Records, working with the likes of Laughing Clowns, Triffids and Celibate Rifles. At the end of the Eighties he came back to Auckland and joined the noisy and... > Read more
Star Bugz
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE . . . ifiwereme
5 Mar 2023 | 2 min read
ifiwereme is the name under which Auckland musician Costa Colachis Glass, who came here from Seattle, goes by. He grew up playing jazz sax but moved on to punk-influenced music, field recordings and now studies sonic arts in conjunction with environmental engineering. His album Water Buffalo however was all recorded live and he won over our interest when he described it as “floating... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE INNOVATORS QUESTIONNAIRE: Designer David Trubridge
6 Feb 2023 | 5 min read
We have described British-born, longtime New Zealand resident David Trubridge as a designer. Which he is. But he is so much more. He has appeared at Elsewhere previously when we offered a brief photo-essay of his innovative lighting design and sculpture. But from his studio/workshop in Hastings, Trubridge also designs and creates striking furniture and public art, writes a... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Adam Hattaway
28 Nov 2022 | 2 min read
Five albums into their career (one a double) and we finally get around to asking singer/songwriter Adam Hattaway of Adan Hattaway and the Haunters some questions. We came into their five year recording career around their third album, hailed their Woolston, Texas album of 2021 and now shine a light on their most recent release Bug Eyes. Out of Christchurch, the band have constantly... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Wailing Urei
21 Oct 2022 | 2 min read
As we mentioned when we reviewed the album Is It Me? by Wailing Urei it came at us without much context other than it was a home recording by Kyle Newman from London. But the album was an intriguing sonic landscape – a bit disturbing, melodies in there though – and so we wanted to know more. So here is what he made of our questions . . . . Where did you grow up, and... > Read more
Barcodes on a Flickering Screen
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Motte
26 Aug 2022 | 4 min read
Last week one of the more extraordinary New Zealand albums arrived, it was Cold + Liquid by Motte (Anita Clark) and of it we said her “floating vocals [were] like a siren call in the manner of the late Julee Cruise or the quieter end of Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser” and that “her melodic violin lines often have a visceral scrape in this deliberately disconcerting context,... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Brett Adams
8 Aug 2022 | 4 min read | 1
Guitarist/songwriter Brett Adams has had a long and distinguished career from the early Mockers to the Julie Dolphin in Britain with his partner Dianne Swann. On their return to New Zealand he and Swann became the core of the Bads and Adams a go-to player on numerous sessions and tours. He's recently been seen in the band for Tami Neilson but has also just released the first album under... > Read more
The Sky Beneath (from Black Clouds in Stereo
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Joy and Nat, of Joy X Libeau
18 Jul 2022 | 5 min read
Now these people are interesting. Performing and recording as Joy X Libeau they are Hideto Kobayashi (aka Joy) and Natalie Joselen out of Christchurch. Their smart and highly melodic trip-hop debut album with nu-soul influences is No Rules for Ghosts and here at Elsewhere we warmed to it immediately because it is sophisticated, cinematic in places and evidence of what can be achieved by just... > Read more
Daylight
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Yuko Miyoshi of Memory Foam
3 Jul 2022 | 2 min read
The debut album Steel Magnolias by the Auckland five-piece Memory Foam very quickly landed in our Favourite Five Recent Releases for the sheer energy and post-punk/No Wave fury of the band's delivery. But there were also sharp songs – although in our review we admitted we had no idea what singer Yuko Miyoshi was on about at times. However we liked what we'd heard so much we... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Lara Robertson of Tall Folk
21 Jan 2022 | 3 min read
Lara Robertson is one half of the Dunedin rather tall folk duo called Tall Folk alongside Jack Ringhand. Because their debut album Wiser is so impressive we invited each of them to answer two different Elsewhere questionnaires. Jack from the US got the highly personal version and Lara here answers the songwriter version. Although, of course, each could have answered the other.... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Jack Ringhand of Tall Folk
19 Jan 2022 | 4 min read
Elsewhere readers will know that we have sung high the praises of the Dunedin-based folk duo Tall Folk (whom we noted in our review are indeed very tall folk). Jack Ringhand and Lara Robertson not only have exceptional solo voices but nail down classic country-folk sounds on their excellent original songs on their debut album Wiser. We invited Jack to answer this questionnaire and Lara... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE BLUES QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Tom Rodwell
22 Nov 2021 | 9 min read
With Wood & Waste, Auckland singer/guitarist and songwriter Tom Rodwell gave us one the most interesting, engaging, witty and thoughtful albums of the year. He is nominally a blues musician – that's his background as you will see – but the album roamed freely into the Caribbean and West Africa, pulled together the swamp sound of Tony Joe White and laidbackk JJ Cale, the... > Read more
Keep on Knockin'
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE COMPILER'S QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Rob Mayes of Failsafe Records
4 Nov 2021 | 16 min read
Rob Mayes was a musician in Christchurch, however his more abiding legacy to New Zealand music was the fact he recorded dozens of local artists (and Kiwi bands who passed through town) on his Failsafe label. The label was prolific in the Eighties and NIneties but Mayes has been living in Tokyo for the past 11 years where he works in audio mixing for film. He recently worked on the... > Read more
Tell You Tomorrow, by Dolphin (1995)
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Luke Buda
22 Oct 2021 | 4 min read
To describe Luke Buda as “of the Phoenix Foundation” – which we have doubtless done in the past – is to diminish him. He gets up to much other musical mischief. He has another band Teeth, there have been film soundtracks (among them Hunt for the Wilderpeople with other Foundation members), production work (notably Dave Dobbyn's Harmony House on which he also... > Read more
Private Message
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Tipene
13 Oct 2021 | 5 min read
There are plenty of very good albums and every now and again one which is excellent. But there are rather fewer which you would describe as “important” This is what Elsewhere said recently about Heritage Trail , the second album by Tipene Harmer (just Tipene to his public) which, as this is being written, sits in our Favourite Five Recent Releases. “There is a... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Meredith Wilkie and Kyla Dyresen of the Rocky Bay Midnights
1 Oct 2021 | 6 min read
We'd never heard of the Rocky Bay Midnights from Waiheke Island, Auckland until a very polite and professional e-mail message from the band's singer-songwriter Meredith Wilkie introduced them. Listening to the first two songs on their debut album Songs About People We Know made us immediately curious: here were strong and empowered songs with smart lyrics, great arrangements and playing... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Kendall Elise
27 Aug 2021 | 6 min read
Now in a sense we have passed this way before with Auckland singer-songwriter Kendall Elise. Three years ago we interviewed her when she released her debut album Red Dirt. Her tour supports for the likes of Tami Neilson, Larkin Poe, Gin Wigmore and Bic Runga tell you something about where she is on the musical spectrum: intelligent story-telling country-kissed songs which on that album... > Read more