Whatever (Folk Song in C)

A lovely, understated tune recently released on Elliott Smith's posthumous collection of outtakes, "New Moon" on Kill Rock Stars. Being an obsessive fan of Smith's, I figured I'd upload my cover in tribute. It doesn't come close to matching his briliance but then, who does? Also I flubbed the solo a bit, just so you know.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by inoculatedcities (4 comments total)

Sadly, I've never heard of Elliot Smith. But that's ok because this is some great picking and singing. At the beginning I was wondering if you would sing. Well, I wasn't disappointed at all when you fired it off.

The recording is a bit rough, but your skills are not. Thanks for posting this!
posted by snsranch at 7:42 PM on May 20, 2007

Jeebus, that's almost uncanny! Great stuff!
posted by TwoWordReview at 5:14 AM on May 21, 2007

Very good song and very nice version. I haven't heard the original, but knowing it's Elliot Smith's I think your recording goes very well with it, that soft hiss gives it a nice intimacy, rather than take away quality.

One last thing. A completely personal opinion, hope you won't get offended: your electronic stuff is very well done, but your acoustic guitar + voice stuff is what I like most.
posted by micayetoca at 7:08 AM on May 21, 2007

Thanks all for the nice words. After hearing it again after a day I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't re-take the doubled-up vocals one octave lower that are in the chorus. Some awful dissonance there! Ah well, next time I'll pay more attention. Funny how quickly listening fatigue sets in and you lose all perspective on the recording.

micayetoca - No offense taken at all. I used to do a lot more electronic stuff because I liked playing around with synthesizers and samplers. In the past year or so I've been almost exclusively playing guitar and trying to iron out my vocals (which I still think are pretty insufferable), but I feel more pride in even these substandard guitar/vocals recordings than the electronic stuff because it's more organic, more genuine than just piling on the samples and making a groovy texture, you know? So I agree with you 100%. Luckily, as with the strings on the "Tecumseh Valley" cover I uploaded last, there are times when my arranging and sampling skills can come into play on these recordings too. Thank you again for the nice words. Great to know someone's enjoying my stuff.
posted by inoculatedcities at 12:37 PM on May 21, 2007