Music at Elsewhere

Russkaja: Kasatchok Superstar (Chat Chapeau)

27 Oct 2008 | <1 min read

Not sure whether the ska/guitar rock/folk-dance of this Russian/Balkan/German seven-piece from Vienna (sometimes, they tour for about two-thirds of the year) will catch on -- but my guess is once they have been sampled live they will, as they say, tick all the right bpoxes. Those boxes being: energetic (yep); danceable (yepyep); enjoyable (natch) and slightly exotic (well, they are pretty... > Read more

Russkaja: Bojko-Bojko

Ray LaMontagne: Gossip in the Grain (SonyBMG)

24 Oct 2008 | 1 min read

Frankly, after his last album - the excellent Till the Sun Turns Black which was acclaimed at Elsewhere and probably elsewhere - this is a little disappointing, but not in the way you might think. Where Sun was a muted and often melancholy affair which in places sounded close to Nick Drake and an early but glum Van Morrison, this one goes the whole soul-blues route and it might be fair to... > Read more

Ray LaMontagne: I Still Care For You

Dengue Fever: Venus on Earth (Southbound)

21 Oct 2008 | 1 min read | 1

The back-story of this band may be be known to many Elsewhere readers but here's a brief synposis: the Holtzman brothers Ethan and Zac from LA decided to form a band to play Cambodian pop-rock after Ethan returned from a trip to that country and had been inspired by the sounds on old cassettes he'd picked up. They hooked up with expat Cambodian Chhom Nimol who was singing in LA clubs (in Khmer)... > Read more

Dengue Fever: Laugh Track

Rodriguez: Cold Fact (Rhythmethod)

21 Oct 2008 | 1 min read | 3

A couple of years ago at Elsewhere, mostly for my own amusement, I started posting tracks by this Mexican-American Seventies cult figure who only did a couple of albums (although also managed a 1993 At His Best compilation long after he had faded from view) I had been introduced to his stoner charms by an Australian. Which makes sense because Rodriguez was never big in the US and after this... > Read more

Crucify Your Mind

Jackson Browne: Time the Conqueror (Inside)

21 Oct 2008 | 1 min read

This album title partially reflects the thoughtful Browne's frame of mind in many tracks here: he's 60 and a greybeard so it isn't surprising he might be in reflective mode - as he is on the title track, where he looks back to when “there was change in the air, it was love everywhere” and sings of an innocent love of his youth on the quite beguiling Giving That Heaven Away. But... > Read more

Jackson Browne: Off of Wonderland

Space Case: Retrospective (Ode)

20 Oct 2008 | <1 min read | 1

Just a quick acknowledgement here of this excellent double-disc collection of the three albums by Auckland's early-to-mid 80s jazz-rock outfit Space Case which formed around drummer Frank Gibson, saxophonist Brian Smith and keyboard player Murray McNabb. To that core were added some fine players: bassist Bruce Lynch on their 81 debut album Executive Decision which came in a cover designed to... > Read more

Space case: Recurring Dream

Bonnie Prince Billy: Is it the Sea? (BBC)

15 Oct 2008 | 1 min read

Recorded live in Edinburgh before the release of his last album Lie Down in the Light (which as noted here was a slightly more upbeat if not uptempo outing for this prince of dark places) this is an exceptional release in the ever-expanding Billy (aka Will Oldham) canon. With a small band of folk-locals Harem Scarem and guest voclaist Alex Neilson, Oldham reaches right back to some material... > Read more

Bonnie Prince Billy: Wolf Among Wolves

Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue (Lost Highway)

15 Oct 2008 | <1 min read

Frankly I'm a bit ho-hum about too much of this by the woman who brought us the terrific Rabbit Fur Coat (with the Watson Twins). When it is good it is very, very good (the eerie alt.folk of Pretty Bird, the fragile Bad Man's World with stabbing cello, the dsriking title track) but then in other places she veers off into alt.rock (The Next Messiah is an ordinary slide guitar blues rock),... > Read more

Jenny Lewis: Godspeed

Oasis: Dig Out Your Soul (Sony BMG)

14 Oct 2008 | 2 min read

Well, no one - least of all the man himself - ever said Noel Gallagher was a wizz with a lyric, but this rowdy and sometimes thrillingly psychedelic album hits some new lows when it comes to raiding his beloved Beatles or just going for the bleedin' obvious. Among the laugh-out-loud moments here are references to "revolution in her head" (Revolution in the Head was a fine... > Read more

Oasis: Falling Down

Jolie Holland: the living and the dead (Anti)

14 Oct 2008 | 1 min read

There are no liner notes on the advance copy of this album I received some weeks back, but it would be interesting to speculate which of these songs from this San Francisco-based singer-songwriter were penned while on a writing retreat in New Zealand: the throwaway Enjoy Yourself ("it's later than you think") at the end perhaps where she giggles away? While there is still the... > Read more

Jolie Holland: Sweet Loving Man

Lila Downs, Shake Away (EMI)

7 Oct 2008 | <1 min read

The new album by the US-Hispanic singer should get a good reception here given her popularity at the last Womad (see tag for interview) -- but this one sees her embracing a more centrist rock position with piercing guitars and a sharp backbeat in places, and at other times reaching for Nashville and New Orleans. Of course the Mexican elements remain prominent: there is a striking cover of... > Read more

Lila Downs: Black Magic Woman

Paul Motian: Conception Vessel (ECM)

6 Oct 2008 | <1 min read

Another in the mid-price reissue of early albums on the ECM label, this one from 1973 under drummer Paul Motian's name is an oddity in the ECM catalogue: unlike virtually every other album on the imprint where stable groups or studio-arranged line-ups present a cohesive music, this one has only Motian as the constant. And it is almost a primer into free jazz as it opens with a quite lovely... > Read more

Paul Motian and Keith Jarrett: Conception Vessel

David Gilmour: Live in Gdansk (SonyBMG)

5 Oct 2008 | 1 min read

Although perhaps only the most dedicated Pink Floyd fan might want this double disc (or the double CD-double DVD version, or the collectors edition which is a five disc set!) let's get a little focus on this exceptional guitarist and his place in the pantheon. From the moment he joined Pink Floyd and more so immediately the band had cut loose Syd Barrett, Gilmour proved to be a player unlike... > Read more

David Gilmour: Astronomy Domine

Reb Fountain: Holster (Fountain)

5 Oct 2008 | <1 min read | 1

This Auckland-based singer-songwriter impressed Elsewhere greatly with her debut Like Water, but this album is a real step up on every front, from the elaborate and evocative cover art, through the supportive musicianship from the likes of Sam Prebble (aka Bond Street Bridge), Dylan Storey, Simon Gooding and others. But with Fountain writing everything and playing guitars everywhere, this... > Read more

Reb Fountain: Wrecking Ball

Rodney Crowell: Sex and Gasoline (Shock)

1 Oct 2008 | 1 min read | 1

Crowell's 2001 album The Houston Kid -- hard-won narratives in passingly autobiographical songs - hinted that he was getting a late-career second wind after some pretty indifferent albums in the late 80s/90s. This album confirms that, after The Outside of 2005, his songwriting and story-telling skills certainly haven't deserted him and in fact when it comes to crafting a bitter... > Read more

Rodney Crowell: The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design

Dub Asylum: Ba Ba Boom! EP (www.dubasylum.co.nz)

1 Oct 2008 | <1 min read | 1

If I've been tardy getting to this terrific EP of beats, hip-hop meets reggae culture, and much more it's that I have been so busy backloading the archives. But let it be said that in downtime from that seemingly endless - but endlessly enjoyable - task I have been cranking these five tracks up way, way loud. Largely the sole project of former Hallelujah Picassos-man Peter McLennan these... > Read more

Dub Asylum: Ba Ba Boom!

Salmonella Dub with the NZSO: Feel the Seasons Change (Virgin)

30 Sep 2008 | 1 min read

To be honest, I have always been vaguely suspicious of the rock-meets-orchestra thing. For a kick-off I wonder who such events/albums are made for. But then again I had Deep Purple's terrible Concerto for Group and Orchestra as a formative experience and have since listened to various orchestras attack rock songs, and have found very little of interest in those much bannered symphonic... > Read more

Salmonella Dub and the NZSO: Love Sunshine and Happiness

Frightened Rabbit: The Midnight Organ Fight (FatCat/Rhythmethod)

30 Sep 2008 | <1 min read

This three-piece from Glasgow have an urgent delivery which puts you in mind of the Waterboys at their best, but of course this is very Scottish. Tossed out with garage band energy and a rare passion, they sound like they could play local halls to mature audiences (the charming Old Old Fashioned) as well as post-punk clubs where a wee bit o' headbuttin' wouldn't be uncommon. Driven by an... > Read more

Frightened Rabbit: Fast Blood

Yule: Aaaarrrggh!!! (Scandal Street)

26 Sep 2008 | 1 min read

"Interesting" is a word which suspends judgement ("Do you like my new dress?" "Hmmm, it's interesting") but to say that this debut album by a young New Zealand singer-songwriter who seemed to have done his apprenticeship in flats in Grey Lynn and Dunedin is "interesting" means that it is of genuine interest. He opens with a lo-fi complaint about... > Read more

Yule: Night Night

Fatcat and Fishface: The Bestest and Horriblest Songs for Children (Jayrem)

26 Sep 2008 | <1 min read | 2

We here at Elsewhere don't disapprove of children (three, and a full stop) but rarely want to be subjected to kids' music which can actually be worse than tweenies music for sheer mindless repetition. But in the spirit of being a good citizen I bring this amusing item to your attention if you have people in your house you wouldn't let near a toaster with a fork, or your DVD player. Know... > Read more