Trailer for Elliott Smith Film Heaven Adores You Released
In the past 10 years, the phrase "gone too soon" has rarely been used as appropriately as it was for indie-folk artist Elliott Smith. Just as Smith was cresting on the wave of moodily delicate major-labelreleases XO and Figure 8, as wellas a prominent Oscar appearance, he fell headlong into a crippling heroin addiction. That torturous bout kept him from issuing an immediate follow-up and for nearly three years he struggled to complete 6th LP From a Basement on the Hill. Eventually that struggle became far more tragic as he died from an apparent suicide on October 21, 2003.
Next Monday, the San Francisco International Film Festival is debuting Heaven Adores You, a documentary focusing on Smith's all too short life. Directed by Nickolas Rossi, the Kickstarter-backed film will be the first Smith-centered documentary to feature his music. Along with previously unheard material, Heaven Adores You will include interviews with prominent friends of Elliott Smith including Fiona Apple-producer Jon Brion and Rob Schnapf who worked on four of Smith's albums.
Below you can see the trailer for Heaven Adores You along with footage from Elliott Smith's 1998 Oscar performance of "Miss Misery".
Lil B's "Katy Perry" Gets the Singer to Ask BasedGod to Prom
Lil B has a longhistory of celebrity-mindedsongs, but his latest simply entitled "Katy Perry" may be his most rewarding effort. In the menacing trap cut the BasedGod demands you "call me Katy Perry" in the chorus, while taking time to build an empire in the mumbled verses. In the video description for the song, B fawningly wrote "KATY BOO I LOVE YOU!!!!!! KEEP DOING YO THANG GIRL..." which apparently caught the eye of the mega-popstar. Responding to the praise Perry tweeted out "Before I lay my jet-lagged head down to sleep let me leave u w/a lovely #rare lullaby I came across today http://bit.ly/1fOuMl3#taskforce."
And if that kindliness weren't enough, Perry quickly asked B to "be my prom date." Taking it all in stride, the Lil B coolly replied: "i feel like its highschool again katy and i missed my prom so it wud mean alot, thank you love u have a good day - Lil B". Give him all the guff you'd like, he always manages to keep it #Based.
The-Dream deals with Racism in new track "Black"
While plenty of people in all corners of the media machine have had their say about bigoted L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling, perhaps one of the most unlikely was R&B-artist The-Dream. Not that the singer/producer is unqualified to speak on the issue, but because his brand of feathery music has never felt particularly combative.
And by-and-large the reflective piano marcher doesn't get aggressive. Instead The-Dream croons about his ferocious pride for civil rights leaders past and present while throwing up images of: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Harvey Milk, Marvin Gaye, Pussy Riot, and more in the accompanying video. ""Y'all got me feelin real black right now," he continually emphasizes in the song's chorus. More than a comment or a color, The-Dream makes it clear that black is a "feeling."
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Nash's song "Wake Me When It's Over," is featured in this week's Track Attack.
2011 may well be a banner year for rappers and R&B singers when it is comes to painful self-disclosures. Between Drake's drunk dialing on "Marvin's Room," J. Cole's wearisome abortion narrative "Lost Ones," and Frank Ocean's tale of love and drugs gone awry "Novacane," agonizing soul-bearing is "all the rage" this year. But for my money, one song in particular is more detached and downhearted than all the rest; it's the subject of this week's Track Attack.
The song in question this time out is The-Dream's song "Wake Me When It's Over." The track appears on The-Dream's most-recent release, a free album entitled 1977. Curiously, the album is credited to The-Dream's birth name of Terius Nash and not The-Dream, to mitigate blow-back from his label who didn't approve the release. The album itself is influenced by a time of turmoil for Nash who went through an intense public-divorce with Christina Milan. References to Milan and the divorce abound on the album, with "Wake Me When It's Over," being the pinnacle of that.
The-Dream with now ex-wife Christina Milan.
The couple went through a heated-divorce that was only recently finalized.
Beginning with cavernous drums and a two-stepping synthesizer, Nash immediately cuts in "Wake me when it's over." Within a matter of seconds, we as listeners who may not be familiar with the Milan drama still know that something is wrong. After repeating the sentiment several times, Nash further elaborates on what he longs to sleep through. "I hate it when you go, I love to watch you leave. I hate the way you talk to me, I love you in them jeans." With this couplet we know more about Nash's mindset, he's clearly conflicted, but we're still in the dark. Nash moves to a litany of questions being asked of him: "What have you been drinking? What have I been doin'? Where I was last night?" With that final inquiry, Nash retorts, "Do you mean who I been screwin?" In one turn-of-phrase, we now know he is being indicted for infidelity.
Most men in Nash' situation would attempt to evade the question or mince words, but he admits to "looking like a devil." That self-criticism doesn't last long and he is soon on the offensive, "you're wearing the red dress, holding the shovel." He dials it down again and confesses to "trying to keep it hush." Nash knows he can't run from the situation, because he's guilty of everything he's being accused of. With the coming of the chorus, Nash confirms the end of the relationship dejectedly singing, "you knew that it was over. I knew it was over. Everyone knew it was over."
"Long Gone"- !977
A spiritual companion to "Wake Me When It's Over;" mining similar themes.
At this point, we would assume that Nash would call it quits and leave, but he can't. He continues to dwell on the relationship, crafting arguably one of the finest verses of any singer this year.
"I love the way you smell, but you're always on some bulls**t. I love how your body feels, why must we do this? Stop with the excuses, I hate procrastination. You never had no one like me, well why you so complacent? Now I'm feeling crazy and foolish, I hate that I'm impatient, why must we do this?"
The complacency line is particularly poignant and is Nash's greatest strike back at his former love. If her sentiment holds, and he's the best she's ever had, then why is she so quick to let him go? In Nash's own mind, that should be enough, but he admits he's "feeling crazy and foolish." So in essence, Nash defeats his own argument, his own "impatience" dooming him as much as any physical sin he committed.
After the magnificent second verse, an auto-tuned bridge appears and the music dies down, taking the song's despondency to new depths. In this moment, Nash is starting to see things more clearly, though still not entirely owning up. "It was all downhill when we let them in our business." Even now, Nash is only seeing part of the problem, while his public-nature had a lot to do with his downfall; it was betrayal that "did him in."
Nash with assistant Melissa Santiago.
Photos like this represent the, "life on the Internet," Nash is referencing in the song.
After another chorus, Nash goes in attack-mode one final time, but dials it down near the verse's end as he hearkens back to a prior line, "I'll take the bullets, you can pull it," referencing "biting the bullet," from earlier in the song. In that encapsulating moment, Nash takes responsibility for his transgressions and reflects a final time on everyone who "knew it was over." The song then speeds up to highlight this moment clarity, before fading away.
As I said before, 2011 has been a near banner year for self-disclosure with the difference between "Wake Me When It's Over," and the other songs being in the details. J. Cole comes the closest to Nash on narrative, as abortion is never an easy subject to tackle, but unless the song is from J. Cole's perspective and not an unnamed narrator, the personal touch is lost. In the case of "Novacane," feeling for Frank Ocean dissipates within seconds, as he admits to "getting what he wanted." Finally, Drake is bringing on his own destruction, calling up an ex trying to ruin her current happiness for his own temporary pleasure. While these are all dire straits to be in, "Wake Me When It's Over," stands out not just because it happened, but because all that Nash could do was "sleep" through the worst. When confronted with situations like this, we all long to go to sleep and wake up when the storm has past. The harsh truth though is like Nash we can't, we have to be held accountable and "bite the bullet."
The-Dream's most recent release 1977 now has its first video.
As part of his recent online-album 1977, Terius Nash aka The-Dream recorded the song "Ghetto" featuring G.O.O.D. Music member Big Sean. The "celebratory song," which stands in stark contrast to the otherwise glum material of the rest of the record, now has an accompanying video that can be found below. Meanwhile, his next official release The Love IV is slated for a December release.
