Elliot Smith

[Syk]

Has anyone heard any of his music?

IMO he sounds like a depressing Jack Johnson and I absolutely love him.

Thoughts?

[Estranged Reality]

Yes.

Elliot Smith is good, but to be honest I've gotten a bit tired of hearing about him because he's kind of the God of the Indie Kids right now - if you're an indie, you're supposed to worship and pray to Elliot Smith and listen to his albums at least twice every day. You also have to build a shrine to him and light a candle biweekly. So, some of the praise is a bit much.

Check out Nick Drake. Kind of the same, but IMO a lot better.

Edited February 25, 2008 by Estranged Reality

[Midnight Rambler]

I like elliot smith, havent listened to him for ages though. I first heard him when good will hunting first came out, was sad when he died. XOs probably my favourite of his.

[LCG]

I've been listening to him quite a lot recently; he's great.

And yes, Nick Drake is awesome! I definitely recommend listening to his music.

[Shuffle]

Yeah Elliott Smith is great Not my usual type of music but I really like his work...

And I agree with ER about the whole "all indie kids have to love Elliott Smith"-thing, it gets kind of annoying

[SunnyDRE]

Elliot Smith is good, but to be honest I've gotten a bit tired of hearing about him because he's kind of the God of the Indie Kids right now

I would have said Bright Eyes...

[Midnight Rambler]

Elliot Smith is good, but to be honest I've gotten a bit tired of hearing about him because he's kind of the God of the Indie Kids right now

I would have said Bright Eyes...

I like bright eyes but i get what ya sayin.

[Syk]

Just previewed some of Nick Drake's music.

Didnt love it, but mostly because of the fact that his voice reminded me of Jim Morrison. Not really the style I'm looking for right now.

[Estranged Reality]

Just previewed some of Nick Drake's music.

Didnt love it, but mostly because of the fact that his voice reminded me of Jim Morrison. Not really the style I'm looking for right now.

Which album did you preview?

Listen to Pink Moon. Really melancholy, semi-depressing stuff. Drake suffered from depression and took his own life. As a bit of dark irony, Heath Ledger filmed a music video for one of Drake's songs right before his own death (he directed and acted in it). The video shows him drowning himself in a bathtub. I can't remember which song it was. The video hasn't been released yet.

[stevGNR666]

He makes me so depressed.

He kind of takes everything aggressive in rock and saps it out like a sponge.

[Gash]

I dig his music. Something I have to be in the mood for though.

Whenever he is mentioned Drake is always brought up, partly because, you know, it's quite melancholy material but I think also because of the similarities surrounding their deaths. I think it's a bit condescending to Smith as an artist really, as if he was just a 90's Drake.

As for God of the indie kids, I haven't been keeping up. I'll have to visit pitchfork media again. Is post-ironic still in? Or is that uncool now?

[Estranged Reality]

As for God of the indie kids, I haven't been keeping up. I'll have to visit pitchfork media again. Is post-ironic still in? Or is that uncool now?

God, I hate that site. All my friends think it's the Bible.

The fact that they grade music to the decimal point - 8.9/10? Really? Not an 8.8 or a 9.0? - is quite laughable to me. What's more laughable is that people take it so seriously and I've seen other message boards have threads that are 20 pages long where people predict what rating Pitchfork is going to give to a new release (like Kanye's album when it came out). Really lame.

[SunnyDRE]

As for God of the indie kids, I haven't been keeping up. I'll have to visit pitchfork media again. Is post-ironic still in? Or is that uncool now?

God, I hate that site. All my friends think it's the Bible.

The fact that they grade music to the decimal point - 8.9/10? Really? Not an 8.8 or a 9.0? - is quite laughable to me. What's more laughable is that people take it so seriously and I've seen other message boards have threads that are 20 pages long where people predict what rating Pitchfork is going to give to a new release (like Kanye's album when it came out). Really lame.

I like the site along with a couple of others that are similiar in nature.

I don't know why some people seem to find that if they say " I don't read critics reviews or fuck the critics" that it makes them so much cooler. I myself personally value other peoples judgements/opinions or like to hear what other people have to say on products before or after I purchased them.

Sometimes Pitchfork gets it right and sometimes they don't; But I know for me personally I have discovered so many awesome bands from reading Pitchfork and sites similiar to it. So for that I am grateful.

I do think the sometimes they "Overhype" terrible albums (Travis-The Man Who) or that they "Over-hype" bands so much that it hurts their image i.e. The Strokes (They can pretty much thank Pitchfork for ruining their whole career).

As for the rating system. I like it. I prefer it more than "Rollingstone's 5 Star system." I have so many albums that or not 8's or 10's, but 8.5's or 9.5's.

But I guess that is just a personal preference.

[Estranged Reality]

As for God of the indie kids, I haven't been keeping up. I'll have to visit pitchfork media again. Is post-ironic still in? Or is that uncool now?

God, I hate that site. All my friends think it's the Bible.

The fact that they grade music to the decimal point - 8.9/10? Really? Not an 8.8 or a 9.0? - is quite laughable to me. What's more laughable is that people take it so seriously and I've seen other message boards have threads that are 20 pages long where people predict what rating Pitchfork is going to give to a new release (like Kanye's album when it came out). Really lame.

I like the site along with a couple of others that are similiar in nature.

I don't know why some people seem to find that if they say " I don't read critics reviews or fuck the critics" that it makes them so much cooler. I myself personally value other peoples judgements/opinions or like to hear what other people have to say on products before or after I purchased them.

Sometimes Pitchfork gets it right and sometimes they don't; But I know for me personally I have discovered so many awesome bands from reading Pitchfork and sites similiar to it. So for that I am grateful.

I do think the sometimes they "Overhype" terrible albums (Travis-The Man Who) or that they "Over-hype" bands so much that it hurts their image i.e. The Strokes (They can pretty much thank Pitchfork for ruining their whole career).

As for the rating system. I like it. I prefer it more than "Rollingstone's 5 Star system." I have so many albums that or not 8's or 10's, but 8.5's or 9.5's.

But I guess that is just a personal preference.

I can understand half-stars, but when it gets to the point of grading things to the degree of 8.3/10, it seems a bit silly to me.

I read Pitchfork out of amusement, but many people who read that site are active on AtEase's music forum so I get most recommendations/album download links from there. Also, last.fm's recommendations are nice.

[SunnyDRE]

As for God of the indie kids, I haven't been keeping up. I'll have to visit pitchfork media again. Is post-ironic still in? Or is that uncool now?

God, I hate that site. All my friends think it's the Bible.

The fact that they grade music to the decimal point - 8.9/10? Really? Not an 8.8 or a 9.0? - is quite laughable to me. What's more laughable is that people take it so seriously and I've seen other message boards have threads that are 20 pages long where people predict what rating Pitchfork is going to give to a new release (like Kanye's album when it came out). Really lame.

I like the site along with a couple of others that are similiar in nature.

I don't know why some people seem to find that if they say " I don't read critics reviews or fuck the critics" that it makes them so much cooler. I myself personally value other peoples judgements/opinions or like to hear what other people have to say on products before or after I purchased them.

Sometimes Pitchfork gets it right and sometimes they don't; But I know for me personally I have discovered so many awesome bands from reading Pitchfork and sites similiar to it. So for that I am grateful.

I do think the sometimes they "Overhype" terrible albums (Travis-The Man Who) or that they "Over-hype" bands so much that it hurts their image i.e. The Strokes (They can pretty much thank Pitchfork for ruining their whole career).

As for the rating system. I like it. I prefer it more than "Rollingstone's 5 Star system." I have so many albums that or not 8's or 10's, but 8.5's or 9.5's.

But I guess that is just a personal preference.

I can understand half-stars, but when it gets to the point of grading things to the degree of 8.3/10, it seems a bit silly to me.

I read Pitchfork out of amusement, but many people who read that site are active on AtEase's music forum so I get most recommendations/album download links from there. Also, last.fm's recommendations are nice.

Yeah 8.3 or 8.8 does seem a little silly.

I never heard Atease. Is it a good site? Also do you think LastFm is pretty good with its recommendations?

I just started using it and was considering checking out some the recommendations it has listed for my profile.

[highvoltage]

Check out Nick Drake. Kind of the same, but IMO a lot better.

Sound advice - advice which I offered my sister when she spent several weeks raving to me about how amazing Elliot Smith was.

Pink Moon is an absolute classic - I picked it back up a while back (hadn't listened in a few years) and fell in love with it again.

[Estranged Reality]

As for God of the indie kids, I haven't been keeping up. I'll have to visit pitchfork media again. Is post-ironic still in? Or is that uncool now?

God, I hate that site. All my friends think it's the Bible.

The fact that they grade music to the decimal point - 8.9/10? Really? Not an 8.8 or a 9.0? - is quite laughable to me. What's more laughable is that people take it so seriously and I've seen other message boards have threads that are 20 pages long where people predict what rating Pitchfork is going to give to a new release (like Kanye's album when it came out). Really lame.

I like the site along with a couple of others that are similiar in nature.

I don't know why some people seem to find that if they say " I don't read critics reviews or fuck the critics" that it makes them so much cooler. I myself personally value other peoples judgements/opinions or like to hear what other people have to say on products before or after I purchased them.

Sometimes Pitchfork gets it right and sometimes they don't; But I know for me personally I have discovered so many awesome bands from reading Pitchfork and sites similiar to it. So for that I am grateful.

I do think the sometimes they "Overhype" terrible albums (Travis-The Man Who) or that they "Over-hype" bands so much that it hurts their image i.e. The Strokes (They can pretty much thank Pitchfork for ruining their whole career).

As for the rating system. I like it. I prefer it more than "Rollingstone's 5 Star system." I have so many albums that or not 8's or 10's, but 8.5's or 9.5's.

But I guess that is just a personal preference.

I can understand half-stars, but when it gets to the point of grading things to the degree of 8.3/10, it seems a bit silly to me.

I read Pitchfork out of amusement, but many people who read that site are active on AtEase's music forum so I get most recommendations/album download links from there. Also, last.fm's recommendations are nice.

Yeah 8.3 or 8.8 does seem a little silly.

I never heard Atease. Is it a good site? Also do you think LastFm is pretty good with its recommendations?

I just started using it and was considering checking out some the recommendations it has listed for my profile.

Well, technically AtEase started out as a Radiohead fan site, but their music subforum became hugely popular - mainly because a lot of albums began to be posted there for download and admins/mods on the site don't delete the links - and many people who post there now (such as myself) aren't even huge Radiohead fans to begin with. Here's the direct link to their music forum: http://www.ateaseweb.com/mb/index.php?showforum=10

I'd register there and check it out if I were you. I can't tell you how many recommendations I've found, not to mention albums. The thing that's cool is people posting links there have a real passion for music, and it's kind of like swapping CDs with friends. There was this huge 20 + page jazz thread where people were just posting links to classic, obscure, and/or out of print albums. I don't feel quite as "bad" downloading there - morally - as I do when I used to just use P2P networks to download songs. The people there all love music. Plus, AtEase has turned me onto a lot of artists I've later bought CDs from anyway.

Last.fm's recommendation system is great, but I don't use it very often. If you are the sort of person who's morally against downloading music without paying for it, then last.fm is even better and I'd probably be using it more. But I should mention the recommendations get better with the more music you listen to - they become more personalized - if you start out only playing a few artists on last.fm, your recommendations will be pretty generic.

[LCG]

As a bit of dark irony, Heath Ledger filmed a music video for one of Drake's songs right before his own death (he directed and acted in it). The video shows him drowning himself in a bathtub. I can't remember which song it was. The video hasn't been released yet.

Indeed. The song was Black Eyed Dog.

Edited February 27, 2008 by LCG

[SunnyDRE]

As for God of the indie kids, I haven't been keeping up. I'll have to visit pitchfork media again. Is post-ironic still in? Or is that uncool now?

God, I hate that site. All my friends think it's the Bible.

The fact that they grade music to the decimal point - 8.9/10? Really? Not an 8.8 or a 9.0? - is quite laughable to me. What's more laughable is that people take it so seriously and I've seen other message boards have threads that are 20 pages long where people predict what rating Pitchfork is going to give to a new release (like Kanye's album when it came out). Really lame.

I like the site along with a couple of others that are similiar in nature.

I don't know why some people seem to find that if they say " I don't read critics reviews or fuck the critics" that it makes them so much cooler. I myself personally value other peoples judgements/opinions or like to hear what other people have to say on products before or after I purchased them.

Sometimes Pitchfork gets it right and sometimes they don't; But I know for me personally I have discovered so many awesome bands from reading Pitchfork and sites similiar to it. So for that I am grateful.

I do think the sometimes they "Overhype" terrible albums (Travis-The Man Who) or that they "Over-hype" bands so much that it hurts their image i.e. The Strokes (They can pretty much thank Pitchfork for ruining their whole career).

As for the rating system. I like it. I prefer it more than "Rollingstone's 5 Star system." I have so many albums that or not 8's or 10's, but 8.5's or 9.5's.

But I guess that is just a personal preference.

I can understand half-stars, but when it gets to the point of grading things to the degree of 8.3/10, it seems a bit silly to me.

I read Pitchfork out of amusement, but many people who read that site are active on AtEase's music forum so I get most recommendations/album download links from there. Also, last.fm's recommendations are nice.

Yeah 8.3 or 8.8 does seem a little silly.

I never heard Atease. Is it a good site? Also do you think LastFm is pretty good with its recommendations?

I just started using it and was considering checking out some the recommendations it has listed for my profile.

Well, technically AtEase started out as a Radiohead fan site, but their music subforum became hugely popular - mainly because a lot of albums began to be posted there for download and admins/mods on the site don't delete the links - and many people who post there now (such as myself) aren't even huge Radiohead fans to begin with. Here's the direct link to their music forum: http://www.ateaseweb.com/mb/index.php?showforum=10

I'd register there and check it out if I were you. I can't tell you how many recommendations I've found, not to mention albums. The thing that's cool is people posting links there have a real passion for music, and it's kind of like swapping CDs with friends. There was this huge 20 + page jazz thread where people were just posting links to classic, obscure, and/or out of print albums. I don't feel quite as "bad" downloading there - morally - as I do when I used to just use P2P networks to download songs. The people there all love music. Plus, AtEase has turned me onto a lot of artists I've later bought CDs from anyway.

Last.fm's recommendation system is great, but I don't use it very often. If you are the sort of person who's morally against downloading music without paying for it, then last.fm is even better and I'd probably be using it more. But I should mention the recommendations get better with the more music you listen to - they become more personalized - if you start out only playing a few artists on last.fm, your recommendations will be pretty generic.

Cool.

Thanks for the info.