Music at Elsewhere
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Jones: Hopeland (Meme)
30 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
The surname behind this belongs to Trevor Jones who is one half of Miracle Mile, a British outfit previously featured at Elsewhere (their Coffee and Stars) who deliver glistening, almost ambient, adult pop music which whispers and understates in a poetic, melodic manner -- and which is often rejected by those who don't hear pop perfection as a worthy goal. I do, I like Miracle Mile. This... > Read more
Jones: Girl on a Bridge
Lisa Crawley: Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between (Crawley)
29 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
Crawley is something of a rising star in New Zealand music, but I doubt it is for the astonishingly dull openers on this five-song EP. Both Brother and Back to You sound like pallid songs written for a high school (possibly intermediate school) end-of-year production. And Crawley delivers them in such a li'l girl-cutesy way you wonder if she sucked her thumb between takes. Much better are... > Read more
Lisa Crawley: Brother
Matt Joe Gow and the Dead Leaves: The Messenger (Essence)
24 Aug 2009 | 1 min read
I especially like this line in Matt Joe Gow's bio: "Like most New Zealanders with any imagination, Matt soon found himself compelled to stray beyond the boundaries of his wonderful counmtry . . ."Kind of a back-handed compliment there from an Australian, I guess. Still, no artist should ever be held to their bio and this one was clearly written for international consumption because... > Read more
Matt Joe Gow and the Dead Leaves: At the Bar
The Cave Singers: Welcome Joy (Matador)
24 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
The debut album by this trio out of Seattle, Invitation Songs, took up residence at Elsewhere for its slightly odd, alt.folk and Old Time America quality which was propelled over the finger-picking and rocking beats by Peter Quirk's somewhat . . . err . . . quirky voice. This follows a similar path: acoustic folk-rock; a sense of mystery and darkness; understatement rather than... > Read more
The Cave Singers: Shrine
Richmond Fontaine: "We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like A River" (Southbound)
24 Aug 2009 | 1 min read | 4
This exceptional, and exceptionally consistent, group out of Portland with songwriter and novelist Willy Vlautin at its core has appeared at Elsewhere previously. Way back in 2005 with the penetrating album The Fitzgerald, and later for Vlautin's stark novel The Motel Life which invites favourable comparisons with writers such as Larry McMurtry, Cormac (No Country for Old Men) McCarthy and... > Read more
Richmond Fontaine: A Letter to the Patron Saint of Nurses
Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship (UNSPK)
24 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
As the band most likely to be cited when the discussion turned to "post-rock", this five-piece from Chicago have been critically acclaimed for their magpie tendencies (they lift from prog-rock, free jazz, punk, post-punk, electronica, Can and other equally unconstrained Krautrock bands) but largely haven't connected with an audience beyond the cooler-than-thou crowd. Let it be... > Read more
Tortoise: Minors
Odawas: The Blue Depths (Rhythmethod)
24 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
Some albums are very hard to describe, this one by an ambient, slightly trippy duo from California isn't: imagine gentle Neil Young-folk coming at you from a distance but wrapped in a kind of warm synth sound like Vangelis or Kitaro (without the twee bits). Titles like Our Gentle Life Together, Secrets of the Fall, Moonlight/Twilight and Harmless Lover's Discourse only assist further in... > Read more
Odawas: Secrets of the Fall
William Fitzsimmons: The Sparrow and the Crow (Inertia)
23 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
If this hushed folk album was written after a divorce as has been suggested then that explains a lot: it is introspective; the lovely vocals barely rise above a whisper; and the lean, pointed lyrics address all manner of separation emotions (We Feel Alone, If You Would Come Back Home, Please Forgive Me, You Still Hurt Me, They'll Never Take The Good Years are among the song titles). While... > Read more
William Fitzsimmons: If You Would Come Back Home
Drive By Truckers: Live from Austin, Tx (New West CD/DVD)
23 Aug 2009 | <1 min read | 1
You would have thought live albums might have died out shortly after the arrival of MTV when people could finally see the bands whose albums they were hearing. But no, live albums still come -- although the smart bands now combine a CD with a DVD, as do Drive By Truckers, a longtime Elsewhere favourite whose previous albums (and the recent solo outing by Patterson Hood, and that by Bettye... > Read more
Drive By Truckers: Perfect Timing
Rebel Peasant: The Walls of the Well (Rebel Peasant)
23 Aug 2009 | <1 min read | 1
These mostly gentle instrumentals by a founder member of the Phoenix Foundation (a drummer, but here steering various bandmates and others through his own self-produced material in his home studio) confirms what a rich source of talent that band contains . . . and what Rebel Peasant (aka Richie Singleton) is. Like a moody, layered, slightly dubby soundtrack to movies where the tension is... > Read more
Rebel Peasant: Affair at Fabyan
Dr Colossus: Dr Colossus (Independent EP)
23 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
As with the Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band which also borrows from gypsy music, klezmer, flat-tack Russian folk and so on, this 4-track EP (actually just three, the 35 second thing at the start is just scene-setting) is mostly high on energy and enjoyment, but seems to be all over the place. In a good way if you are knocking back vodka slammers, I guess. The addition of Sixties surf guitar... > Read more
Dr Colossus: Arrrpegiator
The Eels: Hombre Lobo (Vagrant)
22 Aug 2009 | 2 min read
Just as it’s more interesting to follow an actor who pursues demanding roles rather than a comfortable career, so it is with the music of Beck, Radiohead, Conor (Bright Eyes) Oberst and other risk-takers. They may sometimes falter, but daring missteps are more enjoyable than the pomp-laden predictability and heavy boots of, for example, careerists like U2. Over almost two... > Read more
Joe Henry: Blood From Stars (Anti)
18 Aug 2009 | 1 min read
There is something pointless and not a little depressing writing about another fine Joe Henry album: the 18 people who love his work probably already know of the album, and as for the rest . . . ? I guess Henry is always destined to remain something of a private passion, but it is one that Elsewhere would (again) like to share. His last album Civilians was a Best of Elswehere 2007 pick, and... > Read more
Joe Henry: This is my Favourite Cage
Chris Eckman: The Last Side of the Mountain (Glitterhouse/Yellow Eye)
18 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
Eckman has been one of the cornerstones of the long-running and very credible alt.country outfit the Walkabouts, has released solo albums, and been a member of the ever-evolving Willard Grant Conspiracy. All of which should recommend him if you follow this particular path of string-augmented, soul-baring songwriting. But the material for the bulk of this album comes from an unusual source:... > Read more
Chris Eckman (with Anita Lipnicka): Who Will Light Your Path?
Cybiont: A Trilogy of Random Thoughts and Considerations (Cybiont)
17 Aug 2009 | 1 min read
First let it be noted that this album by a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Northland is not an easy proposition, and nor does it give up its manic diversity that easily. The title is some kind of clue and you may well think, as I do, that someone outside the project might have been brought in for a little editing as Cybiont doesn't seem capable of it himself. That said... > Read more
Cybiont: Whakaarahia!
Judith Owen: Mopping Up Karma (Courgette)
17 Aug 2009 | 1 min read
This album came out many months ago and for some reason slipped my attention: it might have continued to sit in the pile while more pressing albums came along were it nor for the alarming inner sleeve which I just discovered in which Owen looks like a slightly younger but equally buttoned-up-in-leather version of Frau Blucher in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Not that such an image should... > Read more
Judith Owen: Message From Heaven
Opensouls: Standing in the Rain (Dirty)
17 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
To be honest, I wasn't expecting to like this quite as much as I do. Certainly some songs lack a soulful punch and you'd wish for more power in the vocals of Tyra at times. But these people write a good tune -- albeit it grounded in Motown classic riffs and shifts -- and the edgy guitars elevate it a little more than I had anticipated. It is soul with a subtle injection of rock, and that's... > Read more
Opensouls: Dollars
Willie Nelson: Lost Highway (Lost Highway)
16 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
Another month, another Willie album, huh? This 17 track collection of songs from his period on the Lost Highway label (and some unreleased material) comes hard on the heels of his American Classic album (a sequel of sorts to his excellent Stardust of many years ago, Willie on standards) and prior to that there was the natural pairing with Asleep at the Wheel, the less-than-natural teaming... > Read more
Willie Nelson: Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other
Black Sabbath: Greatest Hits (Universal)
16 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
There's no particular reason for mentioning this 14 track collection (which includes Paranoid, Iron Man, War Pigs etc) given that it isn't the first or probably the last such collection: but Elsewhere has always had a special affection for early Sabbath and so we refer you to Paranoid at Essential Elsewhere for further reading and relevant noises. > Read more
Black Sabbath: Never Say Die
Malcolm Middleton: Waxing Gibbous (Pod)
10 Aug 2009 | <1 min read
This somewhat eccentric Scottish singer-songwriter Middleton is not "an acquired taste" (which has a pejorative meaning) rather a taste that few in this country have acquired: despite being in Arab Strap and widely hailed by UK critics for his solo albums (this is his fifth) he has barely made a ripple outside of Britain -- although could have changed if his hilariously bleak but... > Read more