Music at Elsewhere

Father John Misty: Mahāśmaśāna (digital outlets)

25 Nov 2024 | 2 min read

The first three singles released in advance of this new album by Josh Tillman (Father John Misty) were so majestic they seemed to herald something special on his sixth album Mahāśmaśāna, which apparently means “the great cremation ground” in Sanskrit. There was the heroic, seven minute Screamland (with Low's Alan Sparhawk on guitar) which offered “and you could say... > Read more

She Cleans Up

RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Ray Charles: Crying Time (digital outlets)

25 Nov 2024 | <1 min read

There are any number of great Ray Charles albums (notably the two volumes of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music) and numerous compilations, but this seminal album from 1966 has just been remastered and reissued so we bring it to attention. It included the slightly notorious (and hit) Let's Go Get Stoned but it is the Buck Owens title track with strings which is the real key.... > Read more

Crying Time

Arthur Ahbez: Arthur Ahbez and the Flaming Ahbez (digital outlets)

23 Nov 2024 | 1 min read

We have it on sort-of reliable authority that Arthur Ahbez is this local artist's real name, not a homage to the fascinating proto-hippie Eden Ahbez who wrote, among other things, the jazz standard Nature Boy. If Eden was proto-, Arthur sounds more post- because this album roams freely through psychedelic pop, country, folk-rock and more. It's quite a trip and if the destination is... > Read more

A Simple Medication

Adam Hattaway and the Haunters: High Horse (digital outlets)

22 Nov 2024 | 1 min read

No one could accuse Ōtautahi Christchurch's Adam Hattaway of coasting. Since his 2018 debut album All Dat Love with the Haunters, they've released five albums of Hattaway originals and co-writes, 2021's Rooster a double. They've ranged from swaggering Stones-like rock'n'roll and dancefloor disco-rock to power-pop and alt.country. The compilation Anthology... > Read more

Mercy for the Weak

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Dwight Yoakam: Brighter Days (Via Records/digital outlets)

18 Nov 2024 | 2 min read | 1

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this double album in a gatefold sleeve with lyrics and track credits and in a classy cover. Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . In the rush to embrace new alt.country or young mainstream artists it's easy to overlook the career of someone like the... > Read more

If Only

Fazerdaze: Soft Power (digital outlets)

18 Nov 2024 | 1 min read

One of the most deceptively clever and memorable local pop songs of recent years was the Lucky Girl single by Amelia Murray (aka Fazerdaze). It had a gleaming and upbeat sound but a close listen revealed layers of uncertainty within it. It was on her excellent 2017 debut album Morningside where the classy, mostly upbeat guitar-driven pop belied a downward arc of insecurity in a... > Read more

Cherry Pie

Tessa De Lyon: Tessa's Album (digital outlets)

15 Nov 2024 | <1 min read

We encountered Tessa De Lyon under her given name Tessa Dillion as the singer and songwriter for the excellent Mystery Waitress. Their recent album Bright Black Night is wonderful and we concluded, “Bright Black Night – the title encapsulating the dichotomies in Dillon's astute, refined lyrics – is a rare one. It rocks as much as it penetrates”. De Lyon is the name... > Read more

Rain Swim

Blair Parkes: Blue Cloud (digital outlets)

11 Nov 2024 | 1 min read

Multi-instrumentalist/producer Blair Parkes has appeared a number of times at Elsewhere under his own name and as part of Running Club. He's not easy to pigeon-hole because he has effortlessly shifted ground from dense alt.rock to motorik pop and sometimes an amalgam of those + noise. This time out with longtime collaborator Miss Mercury (vocals) and bassist Marcus Thomas he announces... > Read more

Umlaut

Goodwill: Kind Hands (digital outlets)

11 Nov 2024 | <1 min read

By happy coincidence Goodwill -- Ōtautahi's Will McGillivray formerly of alt.rockers Nomad , not to be confused with the electronica artist The Nomad -- produced and mixed Mousey's impressive third album Mothers which we also review this week. And here he steps out with a debut album of lo-fi alt.folk pop which spotlights an aching and sometimes anguished vocal delivery atop... > Read more

I Will Never Let You Down

Mousey: The Dreams of Our Mothers' Mothers! (digital outlets)

11 Nov 2024 | 1 min read

Ōtautahi Christchurch's Sarena Close (aka Mousey) has appeared at Elsewhere for all of her albums, no surprise given we said of her debut Lemon Law, “even just a cursory listen would tell you there is a great depth of lyrical, vocal and songwriting talent here” We interviewed her at the time and subsequently published her thoughts on the making of her second album My... > Read more

Dog Park

Gurrumul: Banbirrngu – The Orchestral Sessions (digital outlets)

9 Nov 2024 | 2 min read

When the late Aboriginal artist Gurrumul (now referred to as Dr G Yunupingu) from the small and remote Elcho -- an island off the north coast of Australia near Darwin (population 2300 at the time) – emerged as a solo artist in the 2000s he was a great story, in part because he was blind and rarely spoke to the media. He was shy as many Aboriginal people are, and even though writing... > Read more

Wiyathul

Tom Irvine Band: Under the Wharf (digital outlets)

5 Nov 2024 | 1 min read

For many decades – from Warren Cate and Warren Love back in the Nineties and early 2000's to Danny McCrum more recently – we've noted a strong thread of accomplished, mainstream pop-rock writers and performers who get very little traction at radio. In part that may be because they are often undemonstrative artists although their music would fit playlists on stations which play... > Read more

Love Gone Bad

Springloader: Just Like Yesterday (Failsafe, digital outlets)

4 Nov 2024 | 1 min read

The excellent, on-going Failsafe reissue/release programme continues with this bright, blazing collection of disciplined, assertive and loud power pop with hooks so huge you could haul out a Great White with one. The band is a vehicle for Failsafe's Rob Mayes whose guitar playing here is something quite extraordinary. There's an interesting backstory to this album: the original band of... > Read more

All That I Want

Fat Freddy's Drop: Slo-Mo (digital outlets, vinyl)

4 Nov 2024 | 2 min read

In late September a column at Elsewhere titled The Groove In The Middle of the Road concluded with a consideration of the new album Waves by Toi, we noted how local artists seem to avoid contentious issues in favour of blandishments wrapped in a reggae-soul vibe and with uncontroversial lyrics. We said, “It is populist music which is undeniably popular because it doesn't provoke or... > Read more

Slo Mo

Jim Nothing: Grey Eyes, Grey Lynn (digital outlets)

28 Oct 2024 | 1 min read

It is no exaggeration to say that every week Elsewhere sees half a dozen singles from new young local artists being highly touted and almost the same number of album from those who have just started to make an impression. “It's a hard world to get a break in”, as the song says and unfortunately we'd observe the overselling a young artists' talents by well-meaning PR people might... > Read more

Raleigh Arena

The Hard Quartet, The Hard Quartet (digital outlets)

28 Oct 2024 | 1 min read

It's strange to remember a time when musicians couldn't just guest on other people's albums, like Eric Clapton having to go uncredited on While My Guitar Gently Weeps and George Harrison appearing under a pseudonym on the Eric/Blind Faith album. These days rock is much more like jazz where players move to new bands, configurations or fellow travellers to extend themselves. Bands like U2... > Read more

Our Hometown Boy

The Linda Lindas: No Obligation (digital outlets)

21 Oct 2024 | <1 min read

Few would claim this all-women quartet from California -- most of them stall in school -- do much that is original. But their enthusiastic, sometimes bratty, pop is infectious, works some familiar tropes with enthusiasm and they carve out some very good songs, usually with something to say. It's punk, power pop and just enough New Wave (Blondie) in the melodies to make you smile if not... > Read more

Don't Think

Mr Blackwatch: Mary, Me (digital outlets)

21 Oct 2024 | 1 min read

So why not a concept album in 2024? The idea has been steadily coming back (Steven Wilson and others in the nu-prog arena) and this one by Doug Mackey out of Tacoma is certainly a handsome double CD package in a gatefold cover with a liner note by the “Rev Loren Skaggs” about how the Mary of the title had to escape her family and life on the farm in a small town. Almost a... > Read more

Hampton's Freezer

Corben Simpson: The Collection (Frenzy)

21 Oct 2024 | 2 min read

In some circles singer/songwriter Corben Simpson is best know – and perhaps only known – for his hippie-era hit Dance Around the World based on a Margaret Mahy story and which was a finalist in the Loxene Gold Disc Awards in 1972. Others can add more to that: he was a member of the Blerta and appeared naked at the 1973 Ngaruawahia festival. But his story – neatly told... > Read more

Dance All Around the World

Courtnay and the Unholy Reverie: Mercy (digital outlets)

18 Oct 2024 | 2 min read | 1

Every now and again when Elsewhere discovers an album which has been out there for a little while – up to a month maybe – we review it as ONE WE MISSED. Perhaps we also need to do something similar about those we get to very early, like singer/songwriter and blistering guitarist Courtnay Lowe out of Taranaki. She first came to our attention in March on the album Hold My Gun... > Read more