Graham Reid | | 6 min read
It's the middle of the year and progress cards are being sent out. Here Elsewhere singles out excellence from the many dozens of albums we have written about so far this year.
But note, these are only chosen from what we have actually reviewed: we heard more but didn't write about them.
And we also didn't hear albums which are doubtless your favourites from the past six months. That's as it should be. As the subtitle says, this is just an opinion.
However we feel these albums are ones we'll be returning to for many years to come. So have a look . . . and start writing that letter of outrage to the editor or your local MP.
Anyway, here's what we believe to be among the finest we're drawn attention to so far in 2023. In no particular order . . .
Tom Lark: Brave Star
We said, “Brave Star is an album adrift on a sea of memory bliss, cleverly produced and like a sonic mood-piece. It's an album which gives dream pop a very good name.”
Read the full review here
Ratso: Live in Otautahi
We said, “Light touchpaper and stand well clear. Or get up close to the explosion.”
Read the full review here
Tania Giannouli: Solo
We said, “There is a considerable interest in improvised solo piano and we'd hope that those who enjoy the challenge and rewards of the idiom wouldn't hesitate to come to this.”.
Read the full review here
Dead Famous People: Ballet Boy
We said, “Another classy album of new material, and one the great comebacks in New Zealand music.”
Read the review here
Josephine Foster: Domestic Sphere
We said, “Unless you have tuned in to Josephine Foster previously – probably through Elsewhere – we can confidently say you won't have heard anything quite like her.”
Read the full review here
Bob Dylan, Shadow Kingdom
We said, “As unexpected as it it is interesting . . . like a companion volume which sits alongside Rough and Rowdy Ways. Yet another new way to hear Bob Dylan.”
Read the full review here
Shana Cleveland: Manzanita
We said, “Manzanita is a species of Californian trees and shrubs with culinary uses and medicinal properties, a key reference for this entrancing album bearing that name.”
Read the full review here
Aftab, Iyer and Ismaily: Love in Exile
We said, “Iyer's playing manages to convey the spiritual music of the broad Indian subcontinent, Aftab glides in with seemingly effortless grace and Ismaily's bass – very prominent in places as a strong root – holds everything in place.”
Read the full review here
Tiny Ruins: Ceremony
We said, “Small things observed, big conclusions drawn, celebrations of life (the oblique spiritualism of In Light of Everything) alongside the personal (Seafoam Green). Lean in. Again.”
Read the full review here
boygenius: the record
We said, “The enticing boygenius suggest calm and secure waters, but there are deep, self-empowering undercurrents beneath the surface.”
Read the full review here
Vera Ellen: Ideal Home Noise
We said, “here's edgy beauty (Carpenter, the airy A Grip) and uplifting melodies as she channels her shifting sensibilities into an approachable, sharper version of her indie.rock.”
Read the full review here
Lankum: False Lankum
We said, “This is not for everyone (especially if you are uneasy on the ocean) but this extraordinary, demanding and transfixing double vinyl album confirms this four-piece from Dublin can grip with a skinny hand and glittering eye, deliver ancient stories of mariners and watery graves, and leave you sadder and wiser.”
Read the full review here
US Girls: This Mess
We said, “Meg Remy is one of the smartest lyric writers around but has increasingly married her words to music which is immediately attractive. But once you're hooked, she gently reels you in.”
Read the full review here
Joe Henry: All the Eye Can See
We said, “All The Eye Can See can be demanding for its lyrical density, sparseness and fragmented imagery. But many nuggets glitter among the pervading melancholy.”
Read the full review here
The Veils: And Out of the Void Came Love
We said, “Although [Finn] Andrews still wears something of his influences, the ambition, refinement and guiding intelligence here suggest he, and we, should be glad he didn't hang up his big stupid hat.”
Read the full review here
Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy
We said, “Put Young Father's fascinating kaleidoscope of mashed sounds to your ear and see what you hear. Or hear what you see.”
Read the full review here
.
John Cale: Mercy
We said, “John Cale opens his soul on Mercy.”
Read the full review here
Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World
We said, “Thoroughly enjoyable album by one of the long distance runners in indie.rock.”
Read the full review here
Rose City Band: Garden Party
We said, “they make the sound of a breeze across the warm asphalt and evoke the ease of a long highway which leads to a holiday destination or just somewhere away from where you don't want to be.
Read the full review here
Maxine Funke: River Said
We said, "An album of different, equally intriguing halves."
Read the full review here
Jonathan Bree: Pre-Code Hollywood
We said, “the mask drops to reveal . . . just more lethargic, jaded reserve.”
Read the full review here
The Lemon Twigs: Everything Harmony
We said, “The first Lemon Twigs album where you won't be listening for boxes ticked but will be seduced by the very clever Lemon Twigs themselves.”
Read the full review here
The National: First Two Pages of Frankenstein
We said, “Elegantly delivered despondency.”
Read the full review here
The Circling Sun: Spirits
We said, “Utterly entrancing”
Read the full review here
Kiki Rockwell: Rituals of the Bank of a Familiar River
We said, “She's not avant (in fact in her themes she's going the other way) and while not attached to genre constraints, she welds all her concerns and influences into something dramatic – sometimes melodramatic – to create her own universe.”
Read the full review here
Dixon Nacey/Kevin Haines: Conversations
We said, “Conversations is full of heart and soul”
Read the full review here
Natalie Merchant: Keep Your Courage
We said, “A painter, single mother of a teenage daughter, self-funding recording artist, filmmaker and activist, 59-year old Natalie Merchant has found her voice again. It is confidently beautiful and perhaps -- given it mentions "love" at least 26 times -- even necessary at this time.”
Read the full review here
AND THE FOLLOWING
(box sets, reissues or essay reviews)
Paul Simon: Seven Psalms
We said, “Some suggest it's a farewell statement for its intimations of mortality, the judgement to come and contemplation of a life lived.”
Read the full essay here
Various Artists: Proud (reissued on vinyl)
We said: “Here was a collection which lived up to its name, was a platform for talent and gave voice to the voiceless. It could have come from nowhere else but Niu Sila.”
Read the full essay here
Durand Jones: Wait Till I Get Over
We said, “It's an enjoyable, often familiar, melange of classic soul manoeuvres but like the best soul has depth and heart.”
Read the full essay here
Gramsci: Permanence, Object and Like Stray Voltage (vinyl reissue)
We considered all three albums individually here
U2: Songs of Surrender
We said, “These reverse-engineered versions sound like classy, downbeat demos.”
Read the full essay here
Bob Dylan: Fragments; Time Out of Mind Sessions (box set)
We said, “Three decades after albums like Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde redefined the possibilities of popular music, Time Out Of Mind began a new and even lyrically deeper phase of Bob Dylan's long career. Fragments illuminates how – courtesy of producer Lanois – that was crafted and achieved”
Read the full essay here
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