[Area Premiere] Elliott Smith documentary “Heaven Adores You” to screen at 2015 Independent Film Festival Boston (April 22nd-29th)
Posted on March 31, 2015 at 4:49 pm | No Comments
When this year’s lineup for the annual Independent Film Festival Boston is officially announced tomorrow, there will undoubtedly be a couple dozen movies I’ll add to my personal viewing list. Seeing as many as I can between opening night on April 22nd and the closing film on the 29th becomes a lesson in impossible time management and tough choices.
One choice has been made easy, since nothing could possibly trump the screening that was confirmed today: The New England Premiere of “Heaven Adores You: A Documentary Film About The Life & Music Of Elliott Smith” on Friday, April 24th.
The fan-funded film, which was successfully Kickstarted in late 2011, made its debut last May at the San Francisco International Film Festival before hitting more than two dozen fests worldwide… but never Boston. When the news that the film would be released globally to theaters this coming May 7th, I quickly checked the online list and… nope, no Massachusetts. While I still held out hope that the film would come around, I started to accept that I’d have to wait until a digital or DVD release to get a look. Fortunately, thanks to the all-volunteer crew at IFFBoston, the long wait has been made much shorter.
Directed by Nickolas Dylan Rossi, the film includes appearances and interviews with some familiar names and faces, including Larry Crane (Tape Op, Vomit Launch, Jackpot! Recording), photographer Autumn de Wilde, Jon Brion, Heatmiser drummer Tony Lash, Sean Croghan (Crackerbash, Jr. High), Pete Krebs (Hazel), Joanna Bolme (the Jicks, Quasi, Jr. High, etc), and many more. Bandmates, friends, & collaborators all, the film is sure to be a moving and insightful look into Elliott’s life and musical career.
Expressing my love and appreciation for the songwriting of Elliott Smith, and the pain of losing him in 2003, would take more time than I have to write it or you have to read it. And I still wouldn’t get it right. If you’re a fan, you get it, and you won’t need any convincing to join me at the “Heaven Adores You” screening in a less than a month…
Keep an eye out tomorrow for the full IFFBoston lineup, which will include a few more music-related documentaries that I’ll be covering in my annual fest preview post in a couple weeks.
In other ES-related news, Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield‘s full-length tribute to Elliott arrived last week, and while I’m generally skeptical of other artists interpreting his work, these two pretty much nail it. Their versions are gorgeous, understated, and sincere, and their admiration shines through clearly. Here’s a KEXP-recorded live version of one of the most beautiful songs ever written, the heartbreaking “Pitseleh“…
[Nac Faves Followup & Giveaway] My Favorite EPs, 7-inches, Reissues, & Live Shows of 2014
Posted on February 20, 2015 at 9:57 am | 2 Comments
As a post-script to my list of favorite full-lengths of 2014, I thought I’d (yes, belatedly) share a catch-all collection of everything else: The short-players, 7-inches, reissues, and digital releases that spent the most time in my ears, along with a run-down of the stand-out live sets I caught during the calendar year. Narrowing down that last list was… not easy. That was a bountiful dozen months of shows.
Seems a good time to dole out some free stuff, too: A couple of my favorite vinyl releases of ’14 along with a t-shirt from a (reunited) band who put on one of last year’s most welcome performances. Scroll to the bottom for the giveaway details.
Rather than write a bit about each release (and delay this post another month), some quick commentary…
Read on, and scroll way down if you want to try and snag some free vinyl from David Bazan, Survival Knife, or a Replacements t-shirt…
My favorite EPs, 7-inches, & digital releases…
David Bazan – “Volume 1” monthly 7-inch/digital series
[ Stream at Soundcloud / Buy at Undertow ]
Kim Deal – “Solo Series” self-released 7-inches
[ Sample songs & buy singles at her site / “Biker Gone” video ]
Tanya Donelly – “Swan Song” Series Vol. 5 (digital EP release)
[ Stream & buy songs at Bandcamp ]
50 Foot Wave – “Night Blooming” digital works-in-progress series
[ Download the tracks / Become a supportive ‘Strange Angel’ ]
[ Buy from Wichita / “Jane” video on YouTube ]
Heathers – “I Know” (Wedding Present covers – Cassette EP)
Krill – “Steve Hears Pile In Malden and Bursts Into Tears” EP
Krill / Lvl Up / Ovlov / Radiator Hospital – Split 7-inch
“Or Thousands of Prizes” – Merge Records 25th anniversary 7-inch series
[ Buy & stream at Exploding In Sound’s Bandcamp ]
Pile – “Special Snowflakes” 7-inch
[ Stream & buy at their Bandcamp ]
Polyvinyl – “4-Track Single Series” Vol. 1
Survival Knife – “Survivalized” EP
[ Stream & buy at Chunklet’s Bandcamp / or try and win it below ]
My favorite reissues & live LPs…
American Analog Set – “Know By Heart” vinyl reissue
[ Buy from Barsuk ]
Bedhead – “1992-1998” vinyl box set
Camper Van Beethoven – “Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart” vinyl reissue
The House of Love – “Live at the Lexington 13.11.13”
[ Buy from Cherry Red Records / Limited Vinyl ]
Scruffy the Cat
“Time Never Forgets: The Anthology (’86-’88)”
and
“The Good Goodbye: Unreleased Recordings 1984-1990”
[ Buy the Anthology via Amazon / Buy the Unreleased Recordings from Omnivore ]
Silkworm – “Libertine” vinyl reissue
[ Stream at Bandcamp / Buy from Comedy Minus One ]
Slint – “Spiderland” Remastered Box Set
[ Buy from Touch & Go Records ]
Songs: Ohia – “Journey On: Collected Singles” 7-inch box set (RSD release)
[ Buy digital version from Secretly Canadian ]
Unwound – “Rat Conspiracy” & “No Energy” vinyl box sets
Yo La Tengo – “Extra Painful” LP reissue
Reissue/box set I wish I’d been able to afford before it sold out…
The Go-Betweens – “G Stands For Go-Betweens Volume One” box set
My favorite live shows of 2014…
… along with links to photos from each.
(my goal of trimming this down to 10 faves failed miserably)
Throwing Muses and Tanya Donelly at The Sinclair in
Cambridge, MA on Friday & Monday, March 7th & 10th, 2014
[ Photos from March 7th / Photos from March 10th ]
Tim Rutili of Califone – live solo in an
Allston living room on Monday, April 21st, 2014
Dean Wareham & his band with openers Quilt
at the ICA Boston on Friday, July 11th, 2014
Guided By Voices at the Paradise in
Boston, MA on Saturday, July 12th, 2014
Merge 25th Anniversary Fest
Wednesday, July 23rd through Saturday, July 27th, 2014 in North Carolina.
[ Photos Set 1 / Photo set 2 / Photo set 3 / Photo set 4 ]
The Replacements live at the Boston Calling Music Fest
in City Hall Plaza on September 7th, 2014
The Afghan Whigs at the Royale in Boston, MA
on Tuesday, September 30th, 2014
Wheat performs two sets at Atwood’s Tavern in
Cambridge, MA on Saturday, October 11th, 2014
Low live at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, RI
on Friday, October 24th, 2014
Slowdive with openers Asobi Seksu at the Royale
in Boston, MA on Sunday, October 26th, 2014
Girlpool, Slutever, Saralee, & Ursula at the Blaq Lodge
in Allston MA on Tuesday, October 21st, 2014
Best shows that I should probably exclude because I played in one of the bands,
but were great independent of our inclusion…
I’ll finish up this long-overdue post with some free stuff: A vinyl copy of David Bazan’s gorgeous team-up with the Passenger String Quartet, Survival Knife’s killer “Survivalized” EP on wax, and an XL-sized Replacements t-shirt (the “Hate Us On Facebook” edition). Each will go to a different (North American) reader, so drop me a note at giveaways [at] bradleysalmanac [dot] com, and choose one of these three email subjects: “BAZAN”, “SURVIVAL KNIFE”, or “REPLACEMENTS”. Make sure it hits my inbox by next Friday, 2/27 at 10am, when I’ll pick one winner for each and get in touch for your mailing address.
Up next, and hopefully soon (yeah, yeah), my big ol’ annual list of records I’m looking forward to hearing this year. Some of which are already out and are fast favorites. Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you, Krill.
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