listen closer

before they were stars.

heatmiser "half right"
before elliott smith was elliott smith, err, before he recorded under the name, he was in heatmiser. while this album, mic city sons came out after his first few solo albums, it was pre-fame. this song surprisingly sounds more like post either-or elliott, and it certainly sounds more like a solo elliott song than much of heatmiser's stuff. not much more i can say about it, besides that he will be missed.
[buy the album!]

ted leo "(none)"
ted leo's first album with the pharmacists was pretty much universally trashed, and even i'll admit that his dub/noise experiments get to be a little much. they're especially frustrating since he excells at songwriting, singing, and playing guitar, so the last thing you'd expect him to do is skirt those with some noodling. well since then he got right to the point on the rest of his beloved albums, and the world is better for it. but! alas! the first album has this gem on it, it's got a little fuzz, and it's oddly recorded, but oh oh oh so good. it's a simple little guitar song, held together by some catchy phrases and ted's elastic vocals. excellently awesome. this one really grows on you.
[the album is out of print, seemingly]