Elliott Smith

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Watch and download: Elliott Smith, live at Green Street Grill in Cambridge in 1998 (full show)

Merry christmas from Mary Lou Lord: she just uploaded the full 45-minute video file -- complete with classic Billy Ruane intro -- of a legendary...
By Carly Carioli | December 23, 2011

Nervous guy

In his better solo songs and the majority of the material he’s made with the alt-country band Old 97’s, Rhett Miller is a big-mouthed wannabe playboy on the verge of collapse.
Rhett Miller’s anxious and irresistible pop songs
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 26, 2010

Quasi | American Gong

I don't know what it is about the top left corner of our country that moves its indie-rockers to cuten up their miseries into adorable little creatures (see: Death Cab, Built To Spill, Elliott Smith, and my favorite specimen, Quasi), but it's a trick tha
Kill Rock Stars (2010)
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | February 26, 2010

MP3: Unreleased Elliott Smith, "Cecilia/Amanda"

Elliott Smith's yearbook photo. Source.I'm hoping this doesn't turn into one of those situations where material ELLIOTT SMITH recorded before his untimely death in 2003...
By Ryan Stewart | December 15, 2009

Bard in the USA

"You know," Paulus observes, "we are the American Repertory Theatre, and we haven't spent a lot of time in the repertoire on American drama."
Next season's greetings from the American Repertory Theatre
By CAROLYN CLAY | April 17, 2009

Papercuts | You Can Have What You Want

Hidden under reverb and aggressive analog production, the first sung lyrics on You Can Have What You Want belie what seems to be a cheery record title: "Once we walked in the sunlight three years ago this July."
Gnomonsong (2009)
By DEVIN KING | April 17, 2009

This way out

This week, we study the Portland diaspora, and Hudson Eakin has gone to Worcester, of all places. Isn't that like all the worst parts of Maine and none of the best?
Hudson Eakin's solo project reaches for the Bandages
By SAM PFEIFLE | March 25, 2009

Hot Box experiment on themselves

We’ll get to Stolzenberg’s band in a minute; right now I’m engrossed in her PhD work at Boston College.
Lab Rats
By MATT PARISH | March 23, 2009

Live free or die!

If I asked you to name six bands from New Hampshire, you'd probably draw a blank. Understandable.
Wild Light will be in New Hampshire if you need them
By RYAN STEWART | February 17, 2009

Dig it!

According to the invoice, 500 copies of the Diamond Mines’ brand new EP, Pave the Whales for Oil , were sent from Syracuse to Boston on January 6 — two whole days ahead of the projected ship date!
Diamond Mines shine all month at the Plough
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | January 27, 2009

Review: Drew Brown | Tiago La Is Losing the Plot

You know how Brian Eno is supposed to have said something like, "Only 5000 people ever bought a Velvet Underground album, but every single one of them started a band"?
Lex (2009)
By GUSTAVO TURNER | January 13, 2009

Dirge overkill

Against the grainy mix of plucky guitars and water-drop bells in "Burning Hearts," Flora Reed recalls a long-ago tryst that she traces from Paris cafûs across tarmacs and ancient ruins.
The sad songs of Winterpills
By MATT PARISH | December 09, 2008

Fest lite

From Thursday, November 20, to Sunday, November 23, the International Pop Overthrow (IPO) makes its annual trek to Boston.
The return of the International Pop Overthrow
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | November 12, 2008

Cerf-Volantes

At its climax, those emotions were fully realized as Frederick broke into a three-part harmony, nearly screaming repeatedly, “Ready or not.”
Music Seen: The Dooryard, August 4, 2008
By SONYA TOMLINSON | August 05, 2008

Campaign lies

It’s impressive that your editorial in favor of the national popular vote did not even hint at any possible downside.
Letters to the Boston editor, August 1, 2008
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | July 30, 2008

The call of the wild

It’s not easy being in a band whose two primary songwriters have quite different ideas about how to write an indie-rock song.
Wolf Parade get instinctual
By BEN WESTHOFF | July 28, 2008

Funny business

“Ashlee Simpson’s new album sold so poorly,” snorted the headline on Yahoo! this past week, that “it was beaten by a comedy album.”
As the AltCom Festival arrives at the Somerville Theatre, we look at the roots of the indie comedy boom.
By MIKE MILIARD | May 07, 2008

The power of love

Carl Wilson’s recent entry into Continuum’s esteemed 33 1/3 series — a series of books by critics and musicians devoted to canonical pop albums — is framed by an irresistible concept.
A respected music critic contemplates Celine Dion and has a crisis of conscience
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 19, 2008

Less is best

González possesses the will power and the patience to dig into each of his songs until he has exhumed its bleeding heart.
The spare science of José González
By SHARON STEEL | March 04, 2008

Easy, tiger

It’s been interesting to, however briefly, listen to songs I’ll likely still enjoy in twenty years.
Reconsidering hipsterism, sensitivity, and Ryan Adams’s legacy
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | September 12, 2007

Three for the road

Maybe it’s Larry Klein’s world and the rest of us just live in it.
Herbie Hancock, Renee Rosnes, and Luciana Souza
By JON GARELICK | August 21, 2007

So wrong they're Righteous

Less than two years into their existence, the Self-Righteous Brothers already have a press kit worth of raves.
These brothers make their own rules
By BRETT MILANO | July 25, 2007

Joan as Police Woman

Ex-Bostonian Joan Wasser spent more than a decade carrying other musicians’ trains.
Real Life | Cheap Lullaby
By RENÉ SPENCER SALLER | July 02, 2007

Couples

The Eternal Feminine gets a workout this week.
Kiki & Herb; Lucia’s Chapters; Our Son’s Wedding
By CAROLYN CLAY | June 19, 2007

The bright stuff

After putting in calls to a manager, a publicist, and a record label to set up an interview with Winterpills, I’m finally on the phone with their vocalist and keyboardist. Winterpills, "Hide Me" (mp3)
The indie-pop smarts of Winterpills
By IAN SANDS | April 17, 2007

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