Rare and previously unreleased recordings from Heatmiser — Elliott Smith‘s ’90s band with Neil Gust, Tony Lash, and Brandt Peterson — have been collected for a new compilation, The Music of Heatmiser, that will be out October 6 via Third Man. It features the six songs from their 1992 self-released The Music of Heatmiser cassette, their 1993 Stray 7″, plus demos, live cuts, radio sessions, alternate versions and never-before-released tracks. Check out the tracklist, artwork and a trailer for the album, below.
You can check out the cassette version of “Lowlife,” which would be re-recorded for their 1993 debut, Dead Air. “Tony found a bunch of forgotten recordings and started mixing them and sending them to me,” Neil Gust says of this recording and the compilation. “We were struck by the freewheeling energy of the band; you could hear how much fun we were having. In 1992 we could barely afford the studio so it all had to be done really fast. When we put the cassette together, we wanted it to start like a punch in the face. That’s ‘Lowlife.’”
Listen to “Lowlife” and watch a live video of Heatmiser performing the song below.
The Music of Heatmiser:
1. Lowlife (‘92 Cassette)
2. Bottle Rocket (‘92 Cassette)
3. Buick (‘92 Cassette)
4. Just A Little Prick (‘92 Cassette)
5. Dirt (‘92 Cassette)
6. Mightier Than You (‘92 Cassette)
7. Can’t Be Touched (Cavity Search Single)
8. Wake (Cavity Search Single)
9. Stray (Cavity Search Single)
10. Dead Air (Demo)
11. Sands Hotel (Demo)
12. Mock Up (Demo)
13. Cannibal (Demo)
14. Candyland (Demo)
15. Still (Demo)
16. Man Camp
17. Laying Low
18. Bloody Knuckles
19. Father Song
20. Glamourine
21. Meatline
22. Revolution
23. Black Out (Live On KBOO)
24. Bottle Rocket (Live On KBOO)
25. Dirt (Live On KBOO)
26. Still (Live On KBOO)
27. Candyland (Live On KBOO)
28. Don’t Look Down (Live On KBOO)
29. Lowlife (Live On KBOO)