kill rock stars blog: December 2009

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Elliott Smith reissues, FREE unreleased mp3

Kill Rock Stars is very excited to announce that on April 6th, 2010 we will be adding Elliott Smith’s Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill records to our catalog.

Roman Candle is Elliott Smith’s first solo album and was originally released on Portland’s Cavity Search Records in 1994.

Roman Candle had quite an impact on Slim Moon, Kill Rock Stars' founder: "In 1994, I had been asked to be on this five-person solo-act tour called Pop Chord with Tammy Watson, Carrie Akre, Sean Croghan and Elliott Smith. The first night at the Crocodile in Seattle, I didn't pay too much attention and people talked all thru Elliott's set. Sean Croghan got up next and said "all of you people who just talked through Elliott's set are bummed because you just misssed something very very special." The next night of the tour, at The Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco, I listened very closely to Elliott's set, and it was basically one of those life-changing moments. Instead of watching the rest of the performers, I went out to the tour van and popped Roman Candle into the player, and listened to it on endless repeat for the rest of the evening and beyond. It completely blew my mind. I have never heard music as heartwrenchingly, gut-checkingly honest, intimate, and wise - before or since."

Roman Candle has been remastered for the re-release by Larry Crane, editor of Tape Op Magazine and archivist for Elliott's family.

Larry explains, “The intention that I had was to make the album more listenable. I felt that a lot of the guitar “squeaks” were jarring and very loud, and that many of the hard consonants and “S” sounds were jarring and scratchy sounding. I felt by reducing these noises that the music would become more inviting and the sound would serve the songs better. When I went to Roger Seibel's SAE Mastering, he proceeded to equalize the tracks a small amount and to make the volume slightly louder. We never tried to make this CD as loud as current, over-limited trends, but just to match the volume of the rest of Elliott’s KRS catalog in a graceful way. Please note that none of this album is “remixed” from the master tapes - it is still composed of the mixes Elliott created himself.”

We will also be releasing Roman Candle on vinyl for the first time in the U.S.

From a Basement on the Hill was released posthumously in 2004 on ANTI- records.

With the addition of these two records Kill Rock Stars is now the home for all of Elliott Smith’s independent releases: Roman Candle, Elliott Smith, Either/Or, From a Basement on the Hill, and New Moon.

To celebrate the addition of these amazing records we are giving away a free, previously unreleased song entitled "Cecilia/Amanda". It was recorded at Jackpot! Recording Studio in 1997 by Larry Crane. An earlier version of this song was initially written and recorded by Elliott's high school band, Stranger Than Fiction, and was known as "Time is Ours Now". "Cecilia/Amanda" is a reworking of that song with almost completely different lyrics. Download/listen here.

Our Elliott Smith back catalog is also on sale until January 4th in our mail order and on iTunes.