>crushing lyrics
>classically trained
>literally made up chords for his music, rather than rely on preconceived progressions
>did *all* the instrumentation on his albums. ALL OF IT.
>kickass melodies
>could do pretty much any style
>died in a super badass way
>fragile spiderweb voice
>philosophy references
>qt shy boi
R.I.P Elliott
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what are you fucking faggot
>qt
Don't know about that one, senpai.
yeah he was a cool dude with good tunes
what was the point of this thread?
he was a qt in personality and sometimes he looks cute don't like his wrinkles much tho or his greasy fkin hair
>died in a super badass way
>being stabbed by your gf is badass
not proven, so I'm free to believe he stabbed himself in the chest
Tbf, getting stabbed by your girlfriend on the way back to healthiness or stabbing yourself in the heart twice because of how sad the world makes you are both quite romanticed ways to die, though dying sucks anyway and romanticising it is silly.
had patrician taste, too bad he was a cry baby youtube.com
Either/Or [Kill Rock Stars, 1997]
he could too be popular--he just doesn't want to be, that's all ("Rose Parade," "Say Yes") *
XO [DreamWorks, 1998]
high tune, low affect ("Waltz #2 [XO]," "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands") *
is this why he committed suicide
>literally made up chords
what do you mean by that
>literally made up chords for his music, rather than rely on preconceived progressions
Really makes you think
>crushing lyrics
Mediocre lyricist
>classically trained
Can't argue with this
>literally made up chords for his music, rather than rely on preconceived progressions
Impressive if true
>did *all* the instrumentation on his albums. ALL OF IT.
No he didn't. Look up the credits for XO
>kickass melodies
True
>could do pretty much any style
He literally did sad folk and sad pop his whole career.
>died in a super badass way
True
>fragile spiderweb voice
True
>philosophy references
And?
>qt shy
3/10 at best
Robert "5 words counts as a review" Christgau
>3/10 at best
that's just bollocks
it means OP doesn't know anything about music
>>literally made up chords for his music, rather than rely on preconceived progressions
>Impressive if true
I love ES to death but you don't know shit about music if you think this point holds any value- you don't "make up" chords, you rearange or add intevals to preexisting chords that have been around since the 12 tone scale existed. His progressions are interesting but op doesn't know what he's talking about
also ES was a qt
>dying sucks
pleb spotted
>Crushing lyrics
you're retarded, I mean he used chord progressions that no one ever used in music before. Like how Scriabin 'invented' the 'mystic chord'. You'd be pedantic enough to say OHWELLREALLYITALREADYEXISTED.
sure, it already "existed" in some form but if no one uses it it's not really there in music is it?
Well, you can make weird chords that aren't related to ordinary triads, but pretty much any combination of notes has been used and documented at some point.
>he used chord progressions that no one ever used in music before
any examples
Lots of people do that though.
you're going to have to point out to one- i guarantee you're wrong
also
wesscholar.wesleyan.edu
the guy played with tonics a lot and the tonal center is pretty hard to find, he likes to sneak in 'odd' chords
not op but i also think elliott is really cute. not in a traditional way but in the way that like a pug is really cute. he's like a shy pug but a man.
>mediocre lyricist
ok some tracks can kiss the edge of cheesy but if you really believe this i'd like to know who you think could express self-loathing at the frequency he did without coming across as tacky.
So it's true that his songwriting is a lot more unique than his contemporaries, but these are still documented techniques that have been used before. I'm not even knocking Elliot Smith, he's a good songwriter, but he didn't invent anything that had never ever been done before. Few people have
well, really between late romantic music, impressionism, modernism and jazz, harmony has covered about all there is to cover
if you want to do something different you need to start writing microtonal music
Honestly, he was the best songwriter of the 90s. When New Moon came out in 2007, I was fucking stunned that an album of outtakes that he didn't consider good enough was a 10/10. Never wrote a bad song.
This is a good point. Smith wrote with same moods a lot, but has the skill of language and command of images to keep it new
>ok some tracks can kiss the edge of cheesy but if you really believe this i'd like to know who you think could express self-loathing at the frequency he did without coming across as tacky.
Bob Dylan, Ian Curtis, Bright Eyes, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen
I really don't get why people love ES lyrics so much
>Mediocre lyricist
Absolutely wrong. If you listen to From A Basement on the Hill and call the lyrics on that mediocre, you're fucked.
Bright Eyes is extremely tacky.
Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave are no where near the same level of self-loathing as Smith, Curtis and Oberst.
News flash: Curtis and Oberst were both tacky at times.
depending on who you are you'll either call bright eyes the great value elliott smith or call elliott smith the great value bright eyes.
i'm in the former category. sorry. i do love everyone else u mentioned but ?? who doesn't
t. teenage girl
Curtis was sincere, but he was melodramatic at times. I wouldn't call him tacky. Oberst I'd agree with though.
>Directions oh so plain to see
>A loaded gun won't set you free... so you say.
Sorry man but that's Tacky with a capital T.
Yeah should stick to the three word Sup Forums reviews of "pleb it sucks"
Agree to disagree then.
What's his best album?
Oh fuck off with that. Go listen to When The President Talks to God and get back with me
the delivery is half the tackiness
I'll take polished artifice over overwrought sincerity any day
as far as I know Elliott Smith always made a point to say that his lyrics were storytelling rather than specifically autobiographical
they might have been informed by various experiences but they're not strictly confessional
Elliot Smith can get his message across with out sounding like he drowning in his own tears.
>literally made up chords for his music, rather than rely on preconceived progressions
What the fuck does this even mean? Every "made up" chord can be described through music theory.
It means he studied music theory.
I think that was the case at first but towards the end of his life, the lyrics started getting more and more confessional. From A Basement is honestly hard to listen to because he sings about drugs taking over his life, getting molested, his friends leaving him, and even admitting he probably won't live much longer. Hell, a lot of songs where so brutal that they got cut from the record when his family put it together (Stickman, Abused, Suicide Machine, Dancing on a Highway).
ES is good, but pretty much every musician has studied music theory to some degree. Either formally or through their instrument
and actually a lot of people who never studied music formally can write really adventurous and harmonically interesting stuff
I was surprised to learn that Tim Gane of Stereolab apparently doesn't have a lot of formal knowledge. He always comes across as extraordinarily proficient.
How old are you lmao?
That song is like mediocre good lyricism, which is a good description for all of Bright Eyes stuff.
Yeah he's objectively good but the bar has raised and lyrical devices have gotten more nuanced and conor never got the memo.
The guy was my hero when I was like 16 but once you're older and know more songwriters you'll understand
yeah he's kind of at a Starbucks level of quality: acceptable, pretty good, never really amazing
I prefer Molina desu.
Hit a lot of the same emotional notes as Elliott, but was so much more visceral with it. Elliott's poppy Beatles worship could be a bit overbearing at times.
I mean they're both genius, but Elliott was occasionally too pretty for his own good. Molina wasn't afraid to really dig down deep into the shit.
also he was pretty qt when he shaved the unibrow
checking in here
if elliott was alive today i would kiss him and also let him fuck me in the butt.
same
Molina is a forgotten genius and I hate that. I wish more people could get into him because he pumped out great records like it was nothing.
Self-titled or XO
>>literally made up chords for his music, rather than rely on preconceived progressions
wrong
right about the rest of it tho
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks that Smith and Molina have similar vibes
He really wasn't a bad looking guy
...
now thats funny
>He literally did sad folk and sad pop his whole career
I know you're shitposting but
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such a sweet fuckin guy. can't believe he's dead :(
Out of all the sort of canonical "tortured" musicians, Jason and his eventual death is by far the most heartbreaking.
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He never wanted or tried to wallow in his pain. He really made an effort to beat it, and it's palpable in his music. He just couldn't.
Robert "I gave Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water a one-word review with a B rating" Christgau
honestly just with how much he's written and how lazy he is with albums he doesn't like, Christgau has to have blood on his hands at this point
checkt
can't disagree with quads
This, the nigga was fucking ugly
