Barbara Manning - In New Zealand

True to her collaborative form, this "solo" effort from Barbara Manning is more like a transpacific one-off supergroup of indie rock without the goofy moniker -- not that any of the much-respected but commercially overlooked artists from New Zealand (The Clean, The 3-d's, The Verlaines) and the States (Calexico) could add hunks of prestige to the record via a stronger association with its creative genesis. To all but a few music geeks these artists speak in obscure musical tongues, so In New Zealand's truth in packaging ultimately matters little. Read More