Upcoming Release: Elliott Smith's New Moon

It's so good to hear your voice again, Elliott.
We miss you.

The double-disc album named New Moon will release this Tuesday and is a collection of the late Elliott Smith's songs from 1994~1997. That was during the time when he was still in Heatmiser, but started gaining more attention for his solo work, back when he was still signed on Kill Rock Stars. These recordings could have ended up in any of his three albums he released during this time period: Roman Candle, his self-titled album or Either/Or. Larry Crane, Elliott Smith's friend, editor of Tape-Op magazine and owner of Jackpot! Recording Studio became the official archivist of the many recordings Elliott Smith left behind and is the one to thank for giving the rest of the world such a beautiful collection.

Each disc has 12 songs and includes many of the songs that were leaked online a year ago, referred by many though incorrectly(considering the songs were recorded much earlier than From A Basement On The Hill) as Basement II. The songs on New Moon sound just like what Elliott Smith would have done in the studio, in line with his usual no fuss, lo-fi recording style. The songs were left mostly untouched except for some additional light EQ and compression. Here is a clip from a Glono interview with Larry Crane on the studio work:

"Most of the ones that were tracked on the 8-track 1/2" machine were pretty well done, the same as tracks from Elliott Smith or Either/Or. I was really just balancing the mix and adding very simple, light EQ or compression to some tracks. Nothing fancy or over-the-top."

The album is a digipak, with extensive liner notes that include details on where and when each song was recorded. Also in the album sleeve are filled with words depicting fond memories of Elliott and his music from Larry Crane, Sam Coomes, Christopher O'Riley and Sean Croghan. A portion of the proceeds will go towards Outside In, a social service organization based in Portland, OR that helps low-income adults and homeless youths.

Out of the 24 tracks on New Moon are two completely new, unreleased songs:, "All Cleaned Out" and "First Timer". Both songs and an early version of what would become "Miss Misery" were from the Jackpot! recording sessions in 1997. "All Cleaned Out" is a hard acoustic-driven song that is just heart-wrenching, I've rarely heard his voice so hardened, unlike his usual whispery style: "Here comes your pride and joy/the comic little drunk/you call your boy/making everybody smile/who takes your pretty plan/and then becomes a disappearing man/after a little while..."

The early version of "Miss Misery" has a set of different lyrics and "Go By" now has lyrics, whereas the leaked version was an instrumental version. The three songs "Angel In The Snow", "See You Later" and "Big Decision" have been officially released, but only on compilations. The Big Star/Alex Chilton cover of "Thirteen" is an earlier recording than the one on the Thumbsucker's soundtrack. It's hard to get through sometimes, his voice shakes and slides off tune on occasion and reminds me of the feeling that people tried to describe when they were at some of his live performances.

The song I keep going back to is "Pretty Mary K (Other Version)" on disc two, track nine. It is a totally different song than the one we know on Figure 8. No instrumentation is added here, except faint background drums and it has different lyrics and a different melody. It has a haunting melody, like how "Independence Day" and "Condor Ave." feels. There's also a different version of Heatmiser's "Half Right" on there without drums.

The only song that Larry Crane combined different takes was "New Disaster", including a vocal take from one reel and the instrumental take from a later reel with organ and drums that he thought was meant to be put together, but Elliott just never got around to it.

"Almost Over" is a brilliant example of his unique guitar work, just listen to it, it'll bowl you over! Throughout all the songs there are his classic double vocals and additional echoes. He's most known for intricate melodies and tricky chord progressions. New Moon is a great collection of songs meant to reveal and share more of Elliott's work in the 1994~1997 period, that could have very well been left buried and unheard, but thank goodness we have Larry Crane to dig through and preserve his tapes and cassettes.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with Elliott Smith's past work, here's an anniversary post from last year that touches on his discography and hopefully convinces you to get acquainted with the music by one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.

{We usually put three or more songs for upcoming releases, but for this one only "High Times" will be featured as a download, since it's the only one that's been officially given to the public to preview the album. I'm sure other blogs will offer other songs off this album, but what I sure hope is that you'll buy this album, if you already have some of his albums or if you're completely new/have downloaded a handful of his songs, please read that post I recommended and start with Either/Or , sorry for such a long read.}

Tracklisting:





New Moon | Elliott Smith
(Kill Rock Stars/Domino)
05/08/07







Disc One

1. Angel In The Snow
2. Talking To Mary
3. High Times
4. New Monkey
5. Looking Over My Shoulder
6. Going Nowhere
7. Riot Coming
8. All Cleaned Out
9. First Timer
10. Go By
11. Miss Misery (Early Version)
12. Thirteen

Disc Two

1. Georgia, Georgia
2. Whatever (Folk Song In C)
3. Big Decision
4. Placeholder
5. New Disaster
6. Seen How Things Are Heard
7. Fear City
8. Either/Or
9. Pretty Mary K (Other Version)
10. Almost Over
11. See You Later
12. Half Right

In other related news:

The lovely music photographer, Autumn De Wilde, who took unforgettable images of Elliott and was one of Elliott's close friends is putting together a book titled Elliott Smith. It's full of her photographs of Elliott, handwritten lyrics, a 5-track live CD of his performance at LA's Largo and conversations with his close friends/musicians, including Joanna Bolme, Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Jon Brion, Rob Schnapf, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes and more.

A portion of the proceeds will go towards the Sims Foundation in Austin and Portland's Outside In. It is available for pre-order on Amazon for $19.77 and it's slated to release in October or November of this year. I really cannot wait for this one to come out and I know it'll be definitely something worth buying, right now there's only one biography of Elliott that I know of and that's Elliott Smith And the Big Nothing by Benjamin Nugent.

Also, there is another interesting project called 33 1/3, it's a book series attempting to cover important/seminal music albums and Elliott Smith's XO was selected and will be written by Matthew Lemay. It's due out sometime in spring of 2009, so sit tight. Here's an affiliated blog that has the other featuring records listed so far.

Stream + Download + Purchase:

High Times| Elliott Smith


Links:

<<< Pre-order New Moon
>>> Sweet Adeline: Official Elliott Smith Site
<<< Read John Mulvey's thoughts on New Moon
>>> GLONO Interview with Larry Crane
<<< Pre-order Autumn De Wilde's book Elliott Smith
>>> List of featured albums on the 33 1/3 project
<<< Sweet Addy Forum, Larry Crane answers questions

~anne

Upcoming release: Night of The Furies | The Rosebuds

Duo acts are intriguing, there's only two individuals singing and playing instruments, yet they manage to make catchy sounds that put 5 piece bands to shame. Take for instance a couple of duo acts we've featured here in the Camera Crowd; the instrumentally good duo of We Will Build, and one of my favourites, Habitat from Guelph, Ontario. Another duo I'm adding on to the list is the duo act of Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, also known as The Rosebuds.

Hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina, The Rosebuds have released two full lengths and a couple of EP's and singles since then. I discovered them recently after getting a taste of "Get Up Get Out", a track from their newest album, Night of the Furies which is due out this coming Tuesday. The song just stayed in my head for days and I couldn't get enough of it. Finding out that The Rosebuds are a duo, (for tours, they have Giorgio Angelini and Matt McCaughan with them) I got even more excited about this newly discovered band, so I decided to dig deeper.

I haven't had the chance to listen to The Rosebuds' old stuff so I didn't know what to expect from Night of the Furies. So I spent some quality time with it on Rhapsody because it was available for stream, (sorry folks its not there anymore) and wondered if there are any more tracks in the album just as fun and energetic as Get up Get Out. And after a couple of listens, I couldn't find any other tracks just like Get up Get Out. What I got was eight other tracks that reminded me of one of my favourite bands Jesus and Mary Chain, hints of The Cure and an injection of today's indie pop sounds. Several tracks including "Get Up Get Out" quickly stood out. Such as "I Better Run" where we get to hear Kelly Crisp's soft and seductive voice. Another track that can easily make it to the dance floor is "Hold on To This Coat", not as energetic as "Get Up Get Out" though. And "Silja Line", a song that starts out slow and raw with Ivan Howard's voice then gets really powerful and almost Arcade Fire-like towards the end.

Night of the Furies comes out this Tuesday, so stop by your local record store or on Insound.com and get this lovely self produced pop album. The Rosebuds have a U.S summer tour starting mid May, so make sure to check their myspace page for the dates.

Tracklisting:

1. My Punishment for Fighting
2.Cemetery Lawns
3. I Better Run
4. Get Up Get Out
5. Silence By the Lakeside
6. Hold On To This Coat
7. Silja Line
8. When The Lights Went Dim
9. Night Of The Furies


Get Up Get Out | The Rosebuds

I Better Run | The Rosebuds


Links:
>>> Official Site
<<< Myspace ( for more songs and tour dates)
>>>Buy the CD


-Charlie

New Release: Explosions In The Sky returns with All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone

We have waited two and a half years for another album to satisfy our hunger of new songs, new cover art, a new shiny jewel case, new sounds to sit by the speakers and today is that very day. Today is the day you are going to walk yourself to a record store and pick up All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone. It isn't only this particular album that will make anyone in the vicinity of the speakers immediately realize they have found true {music} love, but it is this particular band that will truly change your life.

No Natalie Portman you got it all wrong, the answer is not The Shins. It is Explosions in the Sky! Now this band is made up of only four people armed with only the basic two guitars, one bass, a set of drums, but they can create a cinematic-like sound that seems to fill up the Milky Way and beyond into the infinite, endless space.

Their music climbs, crashes, burns and then gets smothered quietly into soft strokes of lullabies...have you ever heard a guitar whisper? It is as if they reached out with gigantic hands and waved across the sky, blurring the blues, reds, yellows, whites of clouds, those gray days, those rainy days, those Sundays, the sunsets, the sunrises, the many lunar phases, all in all smudging reality, filling the empty spaces left with pieces of their own dreams. They show us what will be the loudest and the quietest moments of our lives. They re-create planet Earth for an hour or two. You'll find when listening to them, time will become irrelevant since they seem to have found the power to make the hands of a clock slow or speed up and in the most heart-wrenching moments...they'll make time stop.

So now that I have either embarrassed myself or enticed some sort of curiosity...let's talk about their new album.

All Of A Sudden I Will Miss Everyone has a theme of solitude and the songs represent that theme for the most part, what I mean is don't be surprised when the first few seconds of their album makes their grand entrance by a towering, looming distortion storm cloud. You can't recognize the quiet parts without knowing what loudness sounds like anyways. This is their fourth album and is the follow-up to their 2003 album, The Earth Is Not A Dead Cold Place. Their new album was produced by John Congleton (The Paper Chase). The album was written in their hometown, Austin and recorded in the summer wilderness of Minnesota last year. The beautiful artwork is done by Esteban Ray who is not a stranger to their music, he drew the artwork for their first and third album.

What makes this album different than their last three? The melodies are allowed more time to elaborate, uncovering new ways to manipulate the main melody. There is also a new instrument welcomed into the fold, a piano is used frequently throughout the album, but it's more prominent in "What Do You Go Home To?" and "So Long, Lonesome". They use the piano just as a good post-rock band should, playing the piano as a way to make a sound have a texture. The soft falling of the notes sound like raindrops drumming on the pavement or pitter-pattering against your bedroom window. That softer sound contrasts with the harsher instruments such as the crashing of the cymbals or Chris's flurried drumming. On "Catastrophe and the Cure" there is a 'chorus' or rather frequent melody in it, in which they synchronized the drumming with the ascending guitar notes and it's breathtaking, like watching a flower bloom or an airplane takeoff.

If you want more info about Explosions In The Sky's current tour read our Anticipate: Explosions in the Sky's gearing up for a long tour for new album post. There's also another post titled, Why You Should Listen To: Explosions In The Sky, which is like an introductory post to anyone new to Explosions In The Sky, it summarizes their last three albums, talks about the history of Explosions, a bit of information on their new album, it's basically me trying to again, explain their 'greatness'.

For anyone who is in Houston and subscribes to the Houston Chronicle, flip to today's Entertainment section, I wrote a short review of their new album on the Yo! page. The Yo! page is all written by teenagers and is in the Entertainment section every Tuesday.

I will also be attending their Houston show at Numbers on Wed. March 7th with Eluvium opening. So if you haven't bought your tickets, you should probably do that before they sell out!

***Someone tell Pitchfork they made another mistake by giving this album a mere 6.0 when it really deserves a 9.0+, preferably the big 10.0, but I'm not going to be that demanding. Really Pitchfork...a 6.0? Not exactly sure why Explosions would reinvent their sound when it works so well and anyways even that is your reason, they did change a few things with this album.***


Stream + Download + Purchase:

{Click on play button to stream, song title to download & band name to purchase}

Welcome, Ghosts| Explosions in the Sky

Links:

>>> Explosions in the Sky's Official Site
<<< Buy All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
>>> Full list of tour dates and links to buy tickets
<<< (great) Explosions in the Sky fansite (footage&audio of live shows, frequent updates)
>>> Interview w/Michael & Munaf on new album, 2004 tour by A Slice of The Shiny
<<< Eluvium's Official Site

~anne

Upcoming release: Memphis's A Little Place in the Wilderness

∞

Although Canada is America's next-door neighbor, we still have not even skimmed the surface of the Canadian music scene. It is time to extend a hand and help them cross over this great divide. I have a feeling this long distance relationship will work. Maybe this is because I use to live in Toronto for five years, but also the Canadian bands that have crossed the border have been nothing but a breath of fresh air. Note: Arcade Fire, The New Pornographers, Stars, Do Make Say Think Metric, Feist, Broken Social Scene and now Memphis! Here's to making this list longer.

{If you are in a hurry, skip to "on the album..." paragraph.}

Where it all started...
On the gray streets of New York City where dreams are said to come true Torquil Campbell met Chris Dumont and formed a band with some of Campbell's childhood friends: Chris Seligman, James (Jimmy) Shaw and Adam Marvy called Luxe, this was in the early '90s. After awhile Seligman and Campbell moved onto the beloved Stars, while Shaw teamed up with Emily Haines forming Metric in 1998.

Dumont, who was originally from North Carolina continued working as a carousel operator in New York's Central Park. Campbell invited him to Vancouver one summer and Memphis arrived into the world. The two released an EP called A Good Day Sailing in 2002 and for the next two summers was filled with writing and recording for Memphis's first full-length album, which was released in 2004 on Paper Bag Records. They recorded their sophomore album, A Little Place in the Wilderness, in a Vancouver hotel room and at Studio Plateau located in Montreal during the winter. Canada had its hands on this album since August, but we will still have to wait to see it on shelves in early 2007.

On the album...
There are too few albums that I know of, which I can play the whole way through without skipping a track or two. Good thing Memphis's upcoming album, A Little Place in the Wilderness falls into that category. I can pop it in the stereo and sit back comfortably without lifting a finger. And as I sit back and ponder with the welcoming laid-back pop sounds that will make listeners dreamy-eyed and hopeful, I feel a soft, airy atmosphere that will wrap around even innocent bystanders.

This airy feel is partly from Torquil Campbell's unique voice that sounds weightless and smooth paired with the subtle echoes that makes it sound like there are two Torquil Campbells instead of one! Fear not, there are playful jazzy songs like "Incredibly Drunk on Whiskey" incorporating a saxophone and clarinet and a lively, fun "I'll Do Whatever You Want" that may feel more like it belongs in the Stars catalog.

There is a lone violin that will dip and soar throughout, but unlike the climatic feel of Stars, there is a gentleness in all the instruments on the album, like the yearning of the pedal steel and the long notes by Jimmy Shaw (Metric) on trumpets and bass. Even the drums sound somewhat distanced from the listener with its faraway crashes of cymbals. This all helps the listener sink into Campbell's voice and dream away.


Track by Track

{Hover over the track title for a short description and right click to download}

A Little Place In The Wilderness | Memphis

1. I Dreamed We Fell Apart
2. In The Cinema Alone
3. Incredibly Drunk On Whiskey
4. Time Away
5. A Ghost Story
6. A Little Place In The Wilderness
7. I'll Do Whatever You Want
8. Swallows And Amazons
9. In The Highest Room
10. The Night Watchmen
    

Links

>>> Memphis's Official Site
<<< Hear more songs on MySpace
>>> Buy the import!
<<< Watch video of "I'll Do Whatever You Want" directed by Daniel Handler who wrote the Lemony Snicket series

Word of advice: since there is not a set release date decided (early 2007...sometime) for this album just yet, you can go sign up on their mailing list so you won't miss it when it does. Just go to their site and click on news, type in your email address and you're all set.

~anne