The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE INNOVATORS' QUESTIONNAIRE: Al Fraser
5 Aug 2019 | 3 min read
Al Fraser has been described as the foremost taonga puoro player of his generation, that is someone who plays and explores the sounds of traditional Maori instruments. In recent years he has also been making them. Over a series of albums and in collaborations, he has taken the evocative and sometimes primeval sounds of these instruments into sonic landscapes, and on his most recent... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Steph Casey
29 Jul 2019 | 2 min read
It has been six years since indie-folk artist Steph Casie released her debut album Whisper and Holler, and album which went top five on the New Zealand Independent Music chart and earned her some strong international notices. Her new album The Seats in My Car fond her most dialing things down into intimacy at Lee Prebble's studio in Wellington. With some fine musicians on call, the album... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Wade Wu of Wukong the Monkey KIng
26 Jul 2019 | 3 min read
Very few New Zealand bands can claim to be banned in China, but Auckland's Wukong the Monkey King – who recorded a previous album in Beijing and have songs in Mandarin and English – wear that badge. The band's bassist Kyle Ranudo tells Elsewhere they initially wanted to publish their songs in China but “they didn’t pass the reviewing process, many songs were removed... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE JAZZ QUESTIONNAIRE: Jan Preston
16 Jul 2019 | 4 min read
Earlier this year when pianist Jan Preston released her Play It Again Jan album and toured, we reviewed the album and peppered in some of her background: Red Mole Cabaret, Midge Marsden's Country Flyers, Coup D'Etat, soundtracks, awards . . . Born in Greymouth but a longtime resident of Australia, she returns to New Zealand for further dates to pick up where that earlier 88 Pianos I Have... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Andrew Masseurs
15 Jul 2019 | 2 min read
Wellington singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Masseurs is one of those rare talents, but very few people seem to know of him. Back in 2005 he and Mathew Powell were featured in the Play It Strange documentary Songstar and he seemed to take that as a sign. Good. Because he then went on to front the rock band Ammp which picked up some NZonAir grants for... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Oscar Mein of Soaked Oats
28 Jun 2019 | 4 min read
With their Sludge Pop mini-album, Dunedin-based quartet Soaked Oats rather neatly push the parameters of pop-rock into interesting corners which gently have reference points in alt.country, post-New Wave atmospherics and moody dream-pop. They are crafted, sometimes unpredictable songs which betray a band of considerable maturity – average about mid Twenties – with a lot of... > Read more
Shuggah Doom (Extended Mix)
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE INNOVATORS' QUESTIONNAIRE: Julianna Barwick
7 Jun 2019 | 2 min read
Those with keen eyes will note the heading on this particular questionnaire, it is a series of questions we have had to devise for artists like American singer- composer Julianna Barwick (who plays Auckland's Tuning Fork on June 19 with harpist Mary Lattimore). LA-based Barwick has collaborated with Philip Glass, the Flaming Lips, Yoko Ono and others, written for dance, recorded in Iceland... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE MARKETING QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Anna Loveys of Saint Lachine
20 May 2019 | 2 min read
Anna Loveys is music graduate of Auckland university, worked for three years for the music PR company The Label handling A-list clients and then set up her own marketing and PR outfit Saint Lachine which has enjoyed immediate and high profile successes with local artists. This coming weekend she joins self-managed musician Mel Parsons, online wizard Harry Pettit and Matt Harvey (of Concord... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE MANAGERS' QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Matt Harvey
19 May 2019 | 2 min read
Manager Matt Harvey knows the music industry from two key perspectives, as one half of Concord Dawn and as a manager of Shapeshifter and Nick Dow. He has toured globally and so when he speaks in the Music Managers Forum panel discussion this Saturday at the Herald Theatre in Auckland's Aotea Square he brings a wealth of experience. He is on the panel which will address marketing and... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Andre Manella (aka Sonic Delusion)
9 May 2019 | 2 min read
Sonic Delusion is the impressive one-man band/promoter/facilitator and all-round ball of energy Andre Manella who has just released his fifth album, Anything Goes. He lives works and plays around Taranaki (with sojourns to Europe) and delivers serious songs and upbeat danceable funk-pop guaranteed to make you smile as he bottles summer sunshine . . . but also has something to say.... > Read more
All Good Things
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Kendall Elise
2 May 2019 | 3 min read
With two well-received singles – the broodingly aching and atmospheric The Clock Tower and country-rock of Valentine Street, both about growing up in South Auckland's Papakura – singer-songwriter Kendall Elise has announced herself as someone who reflects on memory, childhood and growing up. Her debut album Red Earth confirms this with songs entitled Kirk's Bush (“a section... > Read more
Valentine Street
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE RADIO QUESTIONNAIRE: Rachel Ashby
30 Apr 2019 | 3 min read
And in a special occasion at Elsewhere we introduce a new questionnaire – one for radio people who are, despite streaming services, still tastemakers and shapers . . . and are more passionate about music than most a-log programmer could ever be. This is Elsewhere's chance to bring to attention those who are not idiot children styling themselves as “influencers”, but... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Sophie Mashlan
26 Apr 2019 | 3 min read
With an impressive debut album Perfect Disaster just released and a tour about to begin (see dates below), Auckland singer-songwriter Sophie Mashlan is well out of the starting gates on a very promising career. Her album was recorded with Ben Edwards In Lyttelton (Marlon, Aldous, Nadia, Delaney, Tami etc) and you can guess he could be very choosy. The evidence of the album – which... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Caroline Easther
2 Apr 2019 | 3 min read
Singer/songwriter and drummer Caroline Easther can hardly be called a late bloomer given she was there in the early Verlaines and Chills back in the Eighties and has been in a number of bands since. But it has taken her until now to release an album under her own name, Lucky. With nine originals and a cover of I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (with Barry Saunders), the album has a lovey,... > Read more
I Believe You Tonight
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Claire Cowan
25 Mar 2019 | 3 min read
Claire Cowan might not be a familiar name to many – as a musical director she is not front'n'centre – but she is an award winning composer and multi-instrumentalist. She has created scores for theatre with Red Leap Theatre, Auckland Theatre Company, Touch Compass, Thread Theatre, and for TVNZ series ‘Hillary’ as well as various film music for NZ International Film... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Graeme James
24 Mar 2019 | 3 min read
Expat Kiwi singer-songwriter Graeme James answers these questions from somewhere in the USA, because that's the kind of itinerant guy he is. But this man who has had more than 20 million streams for his traditional-meets-modern folk-rock – and has a new album The Long Way Home just released – is making his way back home. Probably the long way. He has an extensive tour... > Read more
To Be Found By Love
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Wallis Bird
11 Mar 2019 | 3 min read
Berlin-based award-winning Irish-born singer-songwriter Wallis Bird comes with a lot of hyphens, right? At 37 she has five studio albums behind her as well as a couple of EPs and live one, but has been quiet on the recording front since her 2016 album Home which was nominated for Ireland's Choice Music Award and has overcome considerable early adversity. As a left-hander she lost four... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: A.U.R.A
11 Mar 2019 | 2 min read
AURA is a man (Albert Mikolaj) and AURA is a band touring soon (dates below) to back up the excellent new Secret Intelligent Light album. It is a finely crafted album of songs given interesting and appropriate settings of quasi-ambience or lightly-delic sounds from multi-instrumentalist Mikolaj and produce Ben Lemi. Mikolaj manages to locate his songs between the chill-out room and... > Read more
Nature/Nurture
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Amanda Cheng of Wax Chattels
4 Mar 2019 | 4 min read
Auckland's Wax Chattels -- the “guitarless guitar music” trio of bassist Amanda Cheng, vocals/organ Peter Ruddell and drummer Tom Leggett -- not only have an impressive and powerful stage presence but their self-titled debut album of May 2018 picked up critical acclaim internationally, especially in the US where it was released on Brooklyn's Captured Tracks. The band members met... > Read more
It (from the EP Live At Part Time Punks)
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Quaint of Polar Extremes
4 Mar 2019 | 2 min read
Where to begin with Quaint of the New Zealand band Polar Extremes? Well, we haven't a clue because we know so little about him (other than his real name which he doesn't use for this project) that all we can do is point to the weirdly engrossing, funny and serious debut album Strange Visions 1. It has received praise from many (although some suspiciously look to be friends) but we... > Read more