It’s a holiday weekend, so it’s a fine time to catch up on some #longreads before heading back to work tomorrow.
Pitchfork had an interview with Sub Pop co-founder Bruce Pavitt about his new book of photographs documenting Nirvana’s 1989 European tour. It’s a great first-hand account of “the calm before the storm”, before everybody had an idea what grunge was or where Seattle was even located.
A different era of Nirvana
The Guardian has an excellent interview with Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. It’s a wide-spanning interview, covering her early career with the band to her new work with Body/Head and other venues for her art. The end of her marriage to Thurston Moore and the breakup of Sonic Youth are still clearly sore subjects, so don’t read this expecting juicy gossip.
Stereogum has a ranking of the Elliott Smith albums from worst to best. I know it’s merely opinion, but let me say this: it’s just wrong (beyond the fact that there is no “worst” Elliott Smith album). Feel free to read it anyway, because it’s always good to talk about Elliott Smith’s work. The subject is definitely worthy of a TL;DR post later on, but here is the correct ranking, in order of increasing awesomeness:
- 7. New Moon
- 6. Elliott Smith
- 5. Roman Candle
- 4. Either/Or
- 3. From A Basement On The Hill
- 2. Figure 8
- 1. XO
And finally, Beck has a new album coming out next week. We’ll have a long review of his career so far later this week, but for those of you who don’t mind jumping the gun, NPR has a stream of Morning Phase available on their site. Also, it’s a good reminder to note that we have a Tumblr, because apparently that’s what kids do these days, where we posted the link earlier.
Rust Is Just Right 
That list would change from month to month for me,But I think Either/Or is a #1 album for me,Probably of all time.The only thing I don’t like about that album is that Alameda was not the opening track.Still.the man just oozed talent from every orifice.The look on his face on the album cover,No airbrushing or photoshop there,The subtle little “fuck you”written under the mirror,I assume the pic was taken in a backstage band room in a club somewhere,Or some studio or jamspace…The philosophical reference of the title,Either/Or,not coming across as pretentious,Ever.Just Elliott Smith being his awesome self.minimal overdubs,lo fidelity,no guest mc’s,no twerking,Absolute Music….”Your first mistake was thinking that you could relate”….anyways….I’ve gotta go to 7-11 now….Piece.