File under: Too Good To Be True. An entire album’s worth of Elliott Smith unfinished recordings and outtakes from From A Basement On The Hill has leaked. I’ll be talking more in depth about it (and the glut of recent Elliott leaks, which are all totally awesome) once I’ve had the chance to absorb them, but given my love of Elliott’s covers, it’s amazing to find another one in this tracklist — a version of the Beatles’ “I’ll Be Back.” [Correction: The track was mislabeled and is not "If I Fell"] Elliott’s version is faithful but ragged and noisy as most of the Basement leaks have been, a quality I wish had been more evident on the final version of the album. It’s among his best covers; considering we ought to be scraping the bottom of the barrel of Elliott’s posthumous material here, I can only marvel at the man’s sheer talent and hope that someday other musicians will aspire to be this great.
Elliott Smith – “I’ll Be Back” (Beatles cover):mp3 Elliott Smith – From A Basement Outtakes and Unfinished Tracks: zip (left-click)
I only do these kids of posts for my favorite bands (and Animal Collective), so thank Rawkblog animals-of-choice Grizzly Bear for some fresh art. Veckatimest is due May 26 (the same day as the future Mrs. Ryan Adams‘ new album, Amanda Leigh). Live jams “Two Weeks” and “While You Wait for the Others” are confirmed for the tracklist, as well. If you’re hungry for more Grizz, you can peep Ed’s latest favorite recipes right here. (Daniel Rossen photo by David Greenwald)
The choppy analog video is perhaps too ADD for the hypnotic lope of Here We Go Magic’s “Tunnelvision,” but if you haven’t heard this song yet, take four minutes and enjoy. I haven’t had the chance to review HWGM’s debut yet, but in short, it’s great — nobody’s making this comparison, but it strikes me as a more avant-garde Summer at Shatter Creek. Probably because nobody likes Summer at Shatter Creek (but I do!). Update: Go to the SASC MySpace and listen to “Home For The Holidays,” you’ll see.
Spoon’s Britt Daniel doing demos with Jon Brion: Best news ever. Jon, you’ll remember, produced Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga standout “The Underdog.” Spoon’s next album may not be ready till 2010, which means they’ll get to duke it out with the National for album of the year again. [Texas Monthly]
I’ll be performing songs by and talking about the Softies and the Microphones on The International Pop Underground! show on UCLARadio.com tonight from 8-10 p.m. PST. I will probably embarrass myself.
It seems Boston indie-rock heroes the Main Drag have gotten a bit weirder since releasing 2007′s stellar Yours As Fast As Mine. “Teeth Face Outerspace” retains the punk-posse singalong exuberance of their cover of LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends,” but blasts the music out to the stars, widening into Flaming Lips-esque cosmos-scraping. Up, up and away.
And for those who don’t know, the band’s “Jagged Gorgeous Winter” made it into Rock Band 2 — and apparently a Target ad, which I’ve just discovered and handily posted after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Iron & Wine releasing amazing rarities comp: Lots of these tracks are out there in some form or another, and having heard most of them as an obsessive I&W archivist, Around the Well (5/19, Sub Pop) will be pretty incredible. [Billboard]
File under: Too Good To Be True. An entire album’s worth of Elliott Smith unfinished recordings and outtakes from From A Basement On The Hill has leaked. I’ll be talking more in depth about it (and the glut of recent Elliott leaks, which are all totally awesome) once I’ve had the chance to absorb them, but given my love of Elliott’s covers, it’s amazing to find another one in this tracklist — a version of the Beatles’ “I’ll Be Back.” [Correction: The track was mislabeled and is not "If I Fell"] Elliott’s version is faithful but ragged and noisy as most of the Basement leaks have been, a quality I wish had been more evident on the final version of the album. It’s among his best covers; considering we ought to be scraping the bottom of the barrel of Elliott’s posthumous material here, I can only marvel at the man’s sheer talent and hope that someday other musicians will aspire to be this great.
I only do these kids of posts for my favorite bands (and Animal Collective), so thank Rawkblog animals-of-choice 
I’ll be performing songs by and talking about the Softies and the Microphones on The International Pop Underground! show on 
