Elliott Smith: Inside The YouTube Jungle

Today, Kill Rock Stars Records is reissuing Elliott Smith’s final album, From A Basement On A Hill, as well as his 1994 debut, Roman Candle, which has been remastered by Roger Seibel and Tape Op editor and Smith music archivist Larry Crane. Listen to an unreleased Elliott Smith song, “Cecilia/Amanda,” here.

It’s easy to think of Smith as a brooding, melancholy hermit, crafting amazing soundscapes while glowering dolefully. But video evidence suggests otherwise.

In this first clip, a video of the artist in the studio cutting gorgeous versions of the Beatles’ “Because” and “Figure 8” from School House Rock, we find him moonwalking and moving the faders with a banana, which kind of goes against his established image.

In the next, Smith does his best to offer a songwriting lesson to anyone who needs one. “I don’t always think about it in terms of language…I think about it more like shapes,” he says. “I’m really into chord changes.”

And If you like classical guitar music, listen to this rendition of Elliott’s “Everything Means Nothing To Me.” So good…