Music at Elsewhere

Sean Cunningham: Whatever That Is (digital outlets)

28 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

Kaylee Bell has successfully embraced the mainstream country-rock sound of Nashville, and Nashville-based Sean Cunningham has located himself closer to the alt.country genre. Kentucky-born Cunningham is mentioned here in the Bell context because he too has a local connection, albeit a bit tenuous. In 2007 as the short-lived Atlas – with former Zed bassist Ben Campbell, his singer... > Read more

North

Earth Tongue: Great Haunting (digital outlets)

26 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

In another guise Earth Tongue's Gussie Larkin (guitar, vocals) is upfront with Mermaidens but in Earth Tongue with drummer/singer Ezra Simons she indulges in a love of Goth-kissed prog-rock and riff-heavy stoner rock (which can sometimes veer perilously close to a straight-faced Spinal Tap). Influenced by horror movies and such – title include Out of the Hell, Bodies Dissolve... > Read more

Grave Pressure

Lenny Kravitz: Blue Electric Light (digital outlets)

24 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

Some artists have a style so distinctive they become an adjective: Dylanesque and Lennonesque (the the manner of Bob and John respectively), Waitsean (after Tom) and so on. Such descriptors provide a convenient shorthand. One of the most -esque/-ean/-like artists has been Lenny Kravitz who has the uncanny ability to appropriate from myriad sources (Prince, Marvin Gaye, Hendrix) and... > Read more

Let It Ride

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Georgia Lines: The Rose of Jericho (digital outlets)

24 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes with an insert explanatory message from Lines and credits. Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . These should be good times for Georgia Lines: two years ago she picked up most promising artist at the annual music and recently was awarded Te... > Read more

Wayside

Freddy Trujillo: I Never Threw a Shadow At It (digital outlets)

22 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

The name of this Portland-based Californian might not be familiar but the bands he plays bass in – the Delines and Richmond Fontaine – means we should be interested in this, his fourth album which features various Delines. Along a similar axis as those bands, Trujillo sings of his Chicano background (I Didn't Cross the Border, The Border Crossed Me), experiences of Chicano... > Read more

Corpus Christi

RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Terror of the Deep: The Airport Underneath the Dome (limited edition vinyl)

17 Jun 2024 | 2 min read

Now this vinyl record has interesting history, but let's start with the bad news which the band republish to their own amusement. When this album by the Wellington band was released on CDR and cassette in 2010 it was considered the “four-piece trying their hand at geeky chic to varying degrees of success,” by NZ Musician. The reviewer went further (“not too sure that... > Read more

Two Wizards

La Luz: News of the Universe (digital outlets)

16 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

One of the Elsewhere Best of the Year albums of 2023 was the intimate folk album Manzanita by Shana Cleveland, a founder and sole original member in the US surf rock band La Luz. The journey and offshoots of that Seattle band were worth following as they moved from twanging surf guitar and girl group rock'n'roll roots on their 2013 debut It's Alive through line-up changes... > Read more

Good Luck with Your Secret

Kelley Stoltz: La Fleur (digital outlets)

14 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

San Francisco's Kelley Stoltz disappeared off our radar after his To Dreamers album although we've name-checked him a few times since. A man who can craft sublime if sometimes referential jangle pop, rock and power pop, here he gets in a more fuzzy, psyched up and anxious mood for a dozen songs which have all those references mentioned but are agitated, which coincidentally is name of the... > Read more

About Time

Mel Parsons: Sabotage (digital outlets)

10 Jun 2024 | 2 min read

With the title track of her previous album Slow Burn, Mel Parsons offered a useful shorthand to her style and career. With Sabotage she's been slow-burning over six albums, numerous songwriting nominations and wins in folk and country categories, and the respect of her peers. For someone who has built a more than respectable catalogue of songs however, Parsons still hasn't quite connected... > Read more

Hoping for Rain

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Paul Weller: 66 (digital outlets)

10 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes in a gatefold sleeve (art by Sir Peter Blake) with an insert of lyrics and a large fold-out poster of the still handsome and dapper Paul Weller. Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . In the late Seventies I started buying every single by the Jam... > Read more

Nothing

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Sam Bambery: Rubricator (digital outlets)

9 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes in a matt carboard sleeve with an insert slip of credits and a surreal piece about what a rubricator is (most of which is bewildering and tangential!) Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . Until we send experts to sample the water or embed... > Read more

Mountain and Me

Late Slip: I Love You (digital outlets)

9 Jun 2024 | <1 min read

With a snappy retro-rock'n'roll-cum-rockabilly attitude beamed in from the Fifties on songs like I'll Be Okay (“thought he should be with me but he did not agree”) and Tidal Wave, New York's joyful Chelsea Nenni sounds like a whole lot of fun at parties where they play Wanda Jackson, the Ronettes and Brenda Lee. She'd be on the dancefloor and grabbing the mike at karaoke, and... > Read more

New York City

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Polite Company: Please Go Wild (digital outlets)

8 Jun 2024 | 2 min read

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this album which comes in a ridiculously cute cover (front and back) and has an insert sheet of the excellent lyrics. Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . . . The key name in this band is singer-writer Alan Gregg, formerly of the Dribbling Darts of Love... > Read more

Perfectly Good Explanation

Crowded House: Gravity Stairs (digital outlets)

3 Jun 2024 | 2 min read

Few people these days would still cling to the belief that bands should have a stable line-up like the Beatles and U2, or that they need adopt that famous “last gang in town” attitude of the Clash. Band line-ups these days are more like the Rolling Stones (now down to just two original members) or Fleetwood Mac who can count more than a dozen former members. One of those Mac... > Read more

The Howl

Various Artists: Let Me Take You Down . . . Under. Volume 2 (Frenzy)

3 Jun 2024 | 2 min read

Traveling down the Beatle path means you invariably pass some familiar landmarks, so we'll acknowledge first that we previously reviewed Volume 1 of Let Me Take You Down . . . Under, this new edition subtitled “Another Celebration of Kiwi Artists Covering the Songs of the Beatles”. Once again archivist Grant Gillanders has unearthed a couple of dozen Beatle covers by New Zealand... > Read more

Ticket to Ride Part 2, by the Rebels

St Vincent: All Born Screaming (digital outlets)

3 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

Under a title almost designed to confront and in typically striking cover art, Texas-raised Annie Clark (St Vincent) puts yet another stake fiirmly in the ground with this seventh studio album, a decade on from her self-titled fourth album which took her to a huge audience and was critically acclaimed. Although she has a sometimes singular vision she has also been a keen collaborator,... > Read more

Big Time Nothing

Beth Gibbons: Lives Outgrown (digital outlets)

3 Jun 2024 | 1 min read

If the name is unfamiliar you are forgiven because it has been a very long time since she was part of the conversation, and this is her debut album under her own name at 59, some decades on from when her voice was so familiar. Beth Gibbons was the voice of Portishead who defined British trip-hop in the Nineties. Now she steps out under her own name and certainly has something to say as a... > Read more

Lost Changes

Richard Thompson: Ship to Shore (digital outlets)

31 May 2024 | 2 min read

There are any number of very creditable artist like Richard Thompson – and we've mentioned Nick Drake in this regard also – for whom no amount of favourable reviews, well intentioned interviews and profiles will much shift the needle on their audience base. They will always – barring the accident of a hit – command a small but loyal following, somewhere between not... > Read more

The Fear Never Leaves You

Park Rd: The Novel (Loop/digital outlets)

25 May 2024 | 1 min read

This Auckland five-piece have established themselves as live favourites at festivals here and in Australia, and drawn attention to this 13-song debut album by releasing five strong – possibly even their strongest – songs already. Singer Tom Chamberlain has one of those pleading voices which nudges into soulful hurt (Hey Hello, the interesting Asleep:Awake, Tonight I, I Don't... > Read more

Miss French: The Trials and Tribulations of Miss French Pt Two (Spirit of Play/digital outlets)