Elliott Smith

New Moon - Kill Rock Stars With his second posthumous release New Moon (a double disc no less), Elliott Smith is now in the running to be the Tupac of Indie Rock. Smith is best known for "Miss Misery," his Academy-Awardnominated song from the film "Good Will Hunting," or for his version of the Beatles tune "Because," which played as the credits rolled in American Beauty. But his body of work earned him a legion of fans and emulators. With New Moon, the E. Smith vaults have been mined for what sounds like home recordings, with the acoustic guitar and vocal-only tracks dominating the two dozen songs here. They were recorded from 1994 to 1997, a period that many fans would consider his best. Songs from New Moon are almost all previously unreleased tracks, and there is a wonderful cover of the Big Star song "Thirteen." Smith's music on New Moon makes me think of an insecure Simon and Garfunkel rolled together with a bit of the White Album-era Beatles. In short, the record sounds a lot like the records that Smith made when he was alive and on the Kill Rock Stars label. It is a great, long-lost Elliot Smith record, and if there are more like this one in the vaults then bring 'em on.