Noticias

Legendary indie songwriter Elliott Smith’s final album, From a Basement on the Hill, has been remastered and reissued for its 20th anniversary by Kill Rock Stars. Hear the new versions of the songs below, and pick a physical copy here.

Originally released via Anti- Records on October 19th, 2004 — almost exactly a year after Smith’s passing — From a Basement on the Hill has become an integral part of the Elliott Smith canon, both showcasing his incredible talent and hinting at what artistic directions he might have taken in the future.

The new reissue was overseen by Larry Crane, Smith’s official archivist, and remastered by Crane and Adam Gonsalves. The two engineers, who previously collaborated on the remasters of Either/Or and Elliot Smith, used digital transfers from Rob Schnapf and Joanna Bolme’s original 1/4-inch tape mixes.

“When comparing the new transfers against previous ones, plus the existing CD master,...

When you ask Steve Albini, owner of the recording studio Electrical Audio and underground-rock iconoclast, how he’s doing these days, he sounds like he’s joking at first. “You know everything is awful, right?” he says sarcastically. But then he reveals the full scope of how the Covid-19 pandemic has upended his life. “It has been a fundamental failure of the Trump administration not to provide businesses like ours with guidelines about how we can operate safely under a pandemic,” he says in a mid-October interview, a few weeks before the election.

Elliott Smith’s 1995 self-titled second album will be reissued with a previously unreleased live album, Live at Umbra Penumbra, to mark the record’s 25th anniversary. The set will arrive August 28th via Kill Rock Stars.

To preview the collection, Kill Rock Stars shared Smith’s gripping and restless rendition of “Big Decision” from Live at Umbra Penumbra. The concert took place September 17th, 1994, at the Portland cafe Umbra Penumbra, and the record captures the earliest known recording of Smith performing as a solo act.

Along with Live at Umbra Penumbra,...