News

Last year, Nell Smith was chipping away at her debut studio album set for release in 2025 via Bella Union, the label helmed by the Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde. But in October, the young musician died at the age of 17 before any of the record could be shared with the public. Now, Bella Union has revealed plans to release the album, titled Anxious, posthumously on April 11.

“It is still very painful when I realize Nell is gone,” the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne shared in a statement. “I keep thinking I’ll...

If life is a symphony, then young musical talents like Nell Smith are the incredible notes that lend depth and emotion to the melody. At just 17, this Canadian prodigy showed us that age is just a number when you’re brimming with talent and passion.

Nell Smith in Girl in Amber | Credit: YouTube

Best known for her exceptional collaborations with the Grammy Award-winning juggernauts, The Flaming Lips, Smith was already making waves with her mature artistry before tragedy struck. Her untimely departure on October 5, 2024, left a void not just in her family’s hearts but across the entire music community.

That being said, stick around, and let’s strike a chord with Nell Smith’s extraordinary, albeit brief, musical legacy.

Early Beginnings: A Natural Talent Nell Smith in Girl in Amber | Credit: YouTube

Nell Smith was born in Leeds, England, on July 18, 2007, but soon packed her bags for Canada (via...

Nell Smith has tragically passed away at the young age of 17.

The music prodigy was best known for collaborating with The Flaming Lips and recording an album of Nick Cave covers. She was working on her debut solo album at the time of her untimely death.

Nell‘s family shared the tragic news in an Instagram post on her page.

Keep reading to find out more…

“It pains us so much to say that our feisty, talented, unique, beautiful daughter was cruelly taken from us on Saturday night,” the family said in the statement. “We are reeling from the news and don’t know what to do or say.”

They continued, “She had so much more to experience and to give this world but we are grateful that she got to experience so very much in her 17 years. She has left an indelible mark on the word and an unfillable chasm in our hearts.

Nell Smith, the young musician whose talents led to a collaboration with the Flaming Lips, has died. She was 17.

Smith’s death was confirmed via Instagram by Simon Raymonde, bassist-keyboardist for the Cocteau Twins, as well as the head of Bella Union, the label that was preparing to release Smith’s debut album next year.

“We are all shocked and devastated to hear of the sudden and tragic passing of our artist and dear friend Nell Smith, over the weekend in British Columbia,” Raymonde wrote, adding, “While we all try...

Canadian teenage music prodigy Nell Smith, best known for collaborating with The Flaming Lips, has died at 17 years old.

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne paid tribute to Smith on stage during the band’s concert in Portland on Sunday night, revealing that she had died in a car accident.

Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde further confirmed the news via Instagram on Monday. In a statement, Raymonde shared that Smith had been set to release her debut solo album on his label Bella Union next year. “We are all shocked and devastated to hear of the sudden and tragic passing of our artist and dear friend Nell Smith, over the weekend in British Columbia,” Raymonde wrote.

“Nell was just 17 and was preparing for the release of her first solo record in early 2025 on Bella Union, made in Brighton with Penelope Isles’ Jack and Lily Wolter,” he continued. “Her first release was an...

Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, Chris Stein, and many more artists have paid tribute to Tom Verlaine, the influential singer and guitarist for punk legends Television, who died following a “brief illness” at the age of 73.

Smith — Verlaine’s former partner and regular collaborator — posted a photograph of them together on Instagram. “This is a time when all seemed possible,” she captioned the Instagram post. “Farewell Tom, aloft the Omega.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by This is Patti Smith (@thisispattismith)

“I have lost a hero,” Michael Stipe wrote,...

With U.K. dream-pop pioneers Cocteau Twins, singer Elizabeth Fraser’s appeal had more to do with the way she projected raw emotions (joy, worry, uneasiness) than the songs she sang. Instead of attempting poetry, she sang in tongues, shaping her feelings with crude but often beautiful vocal sounds, and a few occasional words in English, which entwined themselves around her bandmates Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde’s fantasias. (Did she really say “silly, silly saliva”?) You didn’t listen to Cocteau Twins so much as you felt them. Fraser...

Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser will release a new EP on Record Store Day, her first new music in 13 years. Fraser is releasing the five-song EP under the moniker Sun’s Signature, her duo project with partner Damon Reece (who has drummed for Massive Attack and Spiritualized, among others).

The self-titled EP will be out via Partisan, with only 8000 copies being pressed worldwide and 3700 of those are going to North America for Record Store Day on April 23. A few of the tracks, including “Underwater,” have been floating around for several years.

Vaughan Oliver, the graphic designer whose art adorned the cover of the Pixies’ albums and whose work became synonymous with the 4Ad record label, has died at the age of 62.

Graphic designer Adrian Shaughnessy, who co-edited the book Vaughan Oliver: Archive, first announced Oliver’s death on Twitter, noting he “died peacefully today, with his partner Lee by his side.” The Pixies also confirmed Oliver’s death. No cause of death was provided.

“We are incredibly sad to learn of the passing of Vaughan Oliver; there was no-one else like him,...

World premieres of Michael Almereyda’s Escapes and Moby Longinotto’s The Joneses will screen at the 59th edition of the festival, set to run from April 21-May 5.

Organisers at the San Francisco Film Society (Sffs) announced on Tuesday the full programme and announced that from April 20, members will be able to stream select films and Filmmakers360-supported projects on the Sffs website and app via the Online Screening Room.

Festival selections include the international premiere of Susanna White’s Our Kind of Traitor, the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, Jason Bateman’s The Family Fang, Maggie’s Plan, and the documentary Weiner, about disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner’s comeback run for the mayor of New York.

This year’s Irving M. Levin Directing Award will be presented to Mira Nair, who will participate in an on-stage discussion followed by a first look at footage from her upcoming film Queen Of Katwe starring Lupita Nyong’o and [link...

World premieres of Susanna White’s Our Kind Of Traitor starring Ewan McGregor, Naomie Harris and Damian Lewis and Escapes by Michael Almereyda will screen at the 59th edition of the festival, set to run from April 21-May 5.

Organisers at the San Francisco Film Society (Sffs) announced on Tuesday the complete line-up and said that from April 20, members will be able to stream select films and Filmmakers360-supported projects on the Sffs website and app via the Online Screening Room.

Festival selections include the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, Jason Bateman’s The Family Fang, Maggie’s Plan, and the documentary Weiner, about disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner’s comeback run for the mayor of New York.

This year’s Irving M. Levin Directing Award will be presented to Mira Nair, who will participate in an on-stage discussion followed by a first look at footage from her upcoming film Queen Of Katwe starring Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo, and a...

The world premieres of Our Kind Of Traitor starring Ewan McGregor, Naomie Harris and Damian Lewis and Escapes by Michael Almereyda are among the full programme of the 59th edition of the festival, set to run from April 21-May 5.

Organisers at the San Francisco Film Society (Sffs) announced on Tuesday the complete line-upand announced that from April 20, members will be able to stream select films and Filmmakers360-supported projects on the Sffs website and app via the Online Screening Room.

Festival selections include the international premiere of Susanna White’s Our Kind of Traitor, the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, Jason Bateman’s The Family Fang, Maggie’s Plan, and the documentary Weiner, about disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner’s comeback run for the mayor of New York.

This year’s Irving M. Levin Directing Award will be presented to Mira Nair, who will participate in an on-stage discussion followed by a first look at footage from her upcoming...

Cocteau Twins The Cocteau Twins are the trio of extraordinary Scots founded by vocalist Elizabeth Fraser, guitarist/producer Robin Guthrie, and bassist Will Heggie. Simon Raymonde took on bass duties in 1983. The group has been graced by Ben Blakeman, Benny Di Massa, Lincoln Fong, Dave Palfreeman, and Mitsuo Tate. The Cocteau Twins have been making records since the early '80s and have over a score of original releases to date. Although the unit disbanded by 1998, a steady flow of reissues carries on its legacy with distinction. Remember "Alice," originally recorded in 1996, from their 2006 release Lullabies to Violaine, Vol. 2 (Remastered). Buy: Lala.com Genre: Alternative Artist: Cocteau Twins Song: Alice Album: Lullabies to Violaine, Vol. 2 (Remastered) Tim Buckley Psych-folk-rock-jazz singer/songwriter Tim Buckley came out of the '60s Orange County music scene as a gentle-voiced phenom. Born in postwar Washington, D.C., he relocated to California...

When the music documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man made its North American premiere in Austin in 2007, I interviewed its out filmmaker Stephen Kijak (Cinemania). As a full-fledged proselytizing Scott Walker freak, I would have liked the fact that Stephen has the gay to be enough to get our readers to give it a click, but let's get real. The audience for documentary films about obscure ex-pat musical geniuses is neither large nor disproportionately well-represented on our site.

I found a way to get around that little problem when the publicist for the film sent out a note that one of its associate producers was also available for press events in Austin: actor and AfterElton.com hot 100 listee Gale Harold (Queer as Folk, Desperate Housewives). I interviewed him; the article did well, so my editor was happy; I got to write about one of my musical obsessions, so I was,...