― Rush Rhees (Rush Rhees), Friday, 19 March 2004 21:38 (twenty years ago) link
― evan chronister (evan chronister), Saturday, 20 March 2004 01:20 (twenty years ago) link
awesome
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 23 March 2008 19:02 (sixteen years ago) link
y'mean the new one, or just in general?
― dell, Sunday, 23 March 2008 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Sun Kil Moon S/D?
― the pinefox, Sunday, 23 March 2008 20:22 (sixteen years ago) link
That thread is weird. I've never seen him play a dud show.
Also: Sun Kil Moon -- April
― dell, Sunday, 23 March 2008 20:35 (sixteen years ago) link
No love for Admiral Fell Promises? That album is just gorgeous.
― John Lennon, Monday, 8 August 2011 20:04 (twelve years ago) link
Its good, but less gorgeous than the two preceeding it.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 8 August 2011 20:15 (twelve years ago) link
I'm really enjoying the sound of nylon strings, and the classical and spanish influences on this album. It's a little shift in direction for him.
― John Lennon, Monday, 8 August 2011 20:45 (twelve years ago) link
Alesund is so gorgeous.
― streetball technician in the flesh (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Monday, 8 August 2011 21:04 (twelve years ago) link
lol at song titles for next record due out in May:
I Know It’s Pathetic But That Was The Greatest Night Of My LifeSunshine In ChicagoThe Moderately Talented Yet Attractive Young Woman vs. The Exceptionally Talented Yet Not So Attractive Middle Aged ManThat Bird Has A Broken WingElaineThe WineryYoung LoveSong For Richard CollopyAmong The LeavesRed PoisonTrack Number 8Not Much Rhymes With Everything’s Awesome At All TimesKing FishLonely MountainUK BluesUK Blues 2Black Kite
so what do you guys think of the desertshore record?? i like it. it's like "old ramon" but less lugubrious
― dell (del), Saturday, 11 February 2012 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
Those titles read like an article in The Onion!
Lugubrious, good word that. Saying something from Mark Kozelak is "less lugubrious" is like saying knife wounds hurt less than gunshot wounds, though.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 11 February 2012 17:27 (twelve years ago) link
yeah. turtle pond and mercy are not exactly "party songs"
― dell (del), Saturday, 11 February 2012 17:43 (twelve years ago) link
i think (hope) kozelek is taking the piss with those titles -- or at least the three longest ones
― mookieproof, Saturday, 11 February 2012 23:33 (twelve years ago) link
Skip to 5:40 to hear / watch Sunshine In Chicago...
http://www.southernsouls.ca/mark-kozelek/
"Sunshine in Chicago makes me feel pretty sad / My band played here a lot in the nineties when we had / lots of female fans and fuck they all were cute / now I just sign posters for guys in tennis shoes"
― Super Receptor (Barnaby, Hardly), Sunday, 12 February 2012 00:37 (twelve years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/8845-mark-kozelek/
― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 23 May 2012 23:56 (eleven years ago) link
This one might be something else from grumpy ol' Mark.
― Mule, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:42 (eleven years ago) link
sounds like the record AFTER this one might be all time great
― Iago Galdston, Friday, 25 May 2012 21:01 (eleven years ago) link
I'd like to hear the full-band again sometime, but it seems he has to grow tired of the nylon strings first. Song weren't bad, but I'm only semi-excited for this one, though I'm a big fan.
― Mule, Friday, 25 May 2012 21:07 (eleven years ago) link
i like this album a whole lot, certainly more than admiral fells promises; the immediacy and almost tossed-off-edness of the lyrics is a nice change. it's a much more eitzel-like record (long song titles, more tongue in cheek).
― akm, Friday, 25 May 2012 21:48 (eleven years ago) link
out today. some creepy lyrics!
― caek, Tuesday, 29 May 2012 15:22 (eleven years ago) link
what about the new one, "among the leaves"? the cover art is horrid but the samples sound good.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 7 June 2013 15:45 (ten years ago) link
it's pretty okay. mark kozelek getting more literally creepy in his lyrics was a development i could've done without
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 7 June 2013 15:50 (ten years ago) link
I love it. "Young Love" was one of my favorite songs of the year.
― Evan, Friday, 7 June 2013 15:51 (ten years ago) link
I dig it. It's definitely a change from his previous stuff... At least lyrically. He's much more matter of fact, self-deprecating and just plain assholish but it ends up being affecting as an album. Esp if you couple it w his new one w jimmy Lavalle
― Heez, Friday, 7 June 2013 15:54 (ten years ago) link
Loving thishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHH-pAYaMEI
― tarping, Friday, 17 January 2014 18:56 (ten years ago) link
Lovely stuff.
― djh, Friday, 17 January 2014 20:11 (ten years ago) link
normally i'm not a fan of lyrics that read like you've flipped open someone's daily-diary. a lot of teenpop lyrics read like this; it's okay, but i kinda think it's a little "artless," maybe? but mark kozelek absolutely, positively does this lyrical-style right.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Friday, 17 January 2014 20:13 (ten years ago) link
lol i really really can't follow him down this road unfortunately, though i love the sax solo
his voice has deteriorated terribly
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 17 January 2014 20:15 (ten years ago) link
i can dig the destroyer-style arrangement, but i'm not into the rapping that he's doing or whatever. maybe i'm boring but i prefer serious koz to the post-admiral fell promises goofy koz.
― pearly-dewdrops' bops (monotony), Friday, 17 January 2014 20:30 (ten years ago) link
he's pretty goofy on old ramon but it's a goofy i can get with
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 17 January 2014 20:51 (ten years ago) link
more songs about your cat
He has a knack for punctuating his new, more relaxed style with really devastating lines and songs here and there - or merging the style with super depressing vignettes (see Perils From the Sea).
― Simon H., Friday, 17 January 2014 22:11 (ten years ago) link
Overall, I agree with monotony but I do enjoy this style too.
But yeah, it's like he became so fascinated with the serious guitar virtuoso/Andres Segovia and intricate/delicate melody approach on Admiral Fell Promises that he burnt himself out and has been doing something with an opposite vibe and approach since then.
And while I do enjoy this stuff so much (and it is often WAY more captivating live) either way, when I come back to AFP I'm knocked off my feet in comparison.
― Evan, Friday, 17 January 2014 23:25 (ten years ago) link
Yup, this is pretty far from the stunning brilliance of the first Sun Kil Moon album. Props for following his muse and all...
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 18 January 2014 01:40 (ten years ago) link
what is wrong with yall this shit owns
― adam, Saturday, 18 January 2014 01:53 (ten years ago) link
It's great! It just is much less great than the AFP style to me.
― Evan, Saturday, 18 January 2014 01:58 (ten years ago) link
(Just noticed, having ordered from Caldo Verde for the 2 disc version and bonus live album, that Amazon are claiming to be stocking the limited 2-disc version in the UK, for a tenner anyway).
― djh, Thursday, 30 January 2014 18:20 (ten years ago) link
i still hate nils cline
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 30 January 2014 18:49 (ten years ago) link
and nels lofgren too
― doug watson, Thursday, 30 January 2014 20:00 (ten years ago) link
For an admitted fanboy of RHP, I had a fairly pronounced dropoff with Koz circa the first SKM record. Sadly, this doesn't restore much interest for me.
― doug watson, Thursday, 30 January 2014 20:03 (ten years ago) link
somehow the wonder of life prevails
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 30 January 2014 20:05 (ten years ago) link
Admiral Fell Promises may be a top 3 favorite album ever (so far) for me. Young Love was my favorite song off of the last one, which is arguably closest to AFP. I'm sure I'll enjoy the new one a lot but I don't think it'll compare ultimately.
― Evan, Thursday, 30 January 2014 20:06 (ten years ago) link
he doesn't practice as much as nils cline.
― djh, Thursday, 30 January 2014 21:10 (ten years ago) link
lmao what the heck
this kind of rules though
― ciderpress, Friday, 31 January 2014 00:45 (ten years ago) link
oh, c'mon. he's awesome, especially when deployed as the secret-weapon in someone's pop or rock act (e.g., wilco and, on their last album, the equally-awesome tinariwen).
― Daniel, Esq 2, Friday, 31 January 2014 00:51 (ten years ago) link
I don't think it was intended as a personal attack, rather just a (misspelled) lyrical reference.
― doug watson, Friday, 31 January 2014 13:24 (ten years ago) link
i can play circles around jay farrar
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 31 January 2014 13:56 (ten years ago) link
I don't know, I think this is his best album by a distance. Songwriting is just incredible. So much detail to get lost in. Anyone know how much of his writing is based on actual people vs. invented characters?
― Position Position, Friday, 31 January 2014 15:23 (ten years ago) link
this article makes it sound like a lot of it comes from actual people
― Heez, Friday, 31 January 2014 15:38 (ten years ago) link
It's a bit inconsistent but some of it is utterly devastating (perhaps helped along by a hard-going week at work and a bottle of red). Found the bit about 4ad's Ivo strangely emotional for some reason.
― djh, Saturday, 1 February 2014 02:27 (ten years ago) link
Man, brothers just tears my heart out
― the Norwegians are leaving! (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 1 February 2014 03:31 (ten years ago) link
Ian Cohen forcing me to order that vinyl (whenever it becomes available) even more promptly. That stuff sells out quick enough as it is.
― Evan, Monday, 3 February 2014 13:12 (ten years ago) link
In case you don't know what I mean: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18860-sun-kil-moon-benji/
― Evan, Monday, 3 February 2014 13:59 (ten years ago) link
solid lol, from the interview
I can see how some of these incidents would sound odd, to say, a British journalist, or someone who is very young, or sheltered...
― Simon H., Monday, 3 February 2014 18:07 (ten years ago) link
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, March 23, 2008 7:02 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― dell, Sunday, March 23, 2008 8:18 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i meant in general
― i have the new brutal HOOS if you want it (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 3 February 2014 18:36 (ten years ago) link
Still true.
― Evan, Monday, 3 February 2014 18:38 (ten years ago) link
this is good but perils from the sea was much more in my wheelhouse songwriting-wise so it feels a bit of a comedown from that
― ciderpress, Monday, 3 February 2014 20:50 (ten years ago) link
Have you checked out the Kozelek/Desertshore album?
― Evan, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:01 (ten years ago) link
yeah that one's solid too, dude's on a roll lately
― ciderpress, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:03 (ten years ago) link
'i watched the film the song remains the same' is the highlight so far
lyrics on this are as good as the pfork review etc insist but he's given up on writing vocal melodies half the time which irks me a bit since that was a strength of April and last year's records
― ciderpress, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:07 (ten years ago) link
this got a 9.2 omg
― Daniel, Esq 2, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:10 (ten years ago) link
i dunno. i like kozelek a lot, and a guitar album about the sadness, desperation, regrets, and dignity of aging seems tailor-made for me. but i have a hard time imagining this is better than ghosts of the great highway, and that's after hearing about three or four songs from benji.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:12 (ten years ago) link
^ could not be more otm
― alpine static, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:16 (ten years ago) link
like i came here to basically post what you did almost word for word, except insert "one or two" for "three or four"
― alpine static, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:17 (ten years ago) link
Who said it's better than Ghosts?
― Evan, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:26 (ten years ago) link
its not better than his past successes, no, but it's also kind of evading comparison by doing something pretty different. his lyrics are more prose than poetry now and he doesn't really aim for catharsis
― ciderpress, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:31 (ten years ago) link
p4k review strongly implied it (and may have actually said it)
― Daniel, Esq 2, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:45 (ten years ago) link
Who gives a fuck about pitchfork reviews?
― nostormo, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:47 (ten years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/ds80lOC.png?1?9390
literally no one good point
― i have the new brutal HOOS if you want it (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 3 February 2014 21:53 (ten years ago) link
wait you're saying that pitchforkmedia.com's numerical score isn't an objective and universal indicator of quality?
dammit.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:56 (ten years ago) link
yeah i meant it as yet another criticism about the phenomena known as people/hipsters still fascinated by an album getting a high score from Ian Cohen or whoever from pitchfork.
― nostormo, Monday, 3 February 2014 21:59 (ten years ago) link
no offense, Daniel, i know you are not one pf them.
― nostormo, Monday, 3 February 2014 22:00 (ten years ago) link
― nostormo, Monday, February 3, 2014 4:47 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
insound.com does.
I don't care what they give it. I linked it because it means higher sales from what I've seen.
― Evan, Monday, 3 February 2014 22:07 (ten years ago) link
still blown away pfork linked to his yes cover
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/836
"A journalist recently compared my playing to Steve Howe’s. It’s taken 15 years for that to happen."
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 3 February 2014 23:01 (ten years ago) link
it's the sound of his newer stuff, more than the lyrics (but that, too), that makes me say ghosts of the great highway is better (from what i've heard so far). ghosts has this massive, hypnotizing wall of sound, and a menacing, dangerous undercurrent. the newer stuff -- while very good, don't get me wrong -- sounds smaller, less ambitious, intentionally more slight, and the focus on mundane, everyday subjects in the lyrics reinforces the idea that the songs are smaller. to be fair, that's largely me focusing on the last album, which had some high-points, but sounded really awkward to me at times. maybe it was a transitional album, leading to benji. i'm still excited to hear new kozelek, and this album in particular.
hard to imagine anything will ever equal this song, tho:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKRA7weVyLs
Sorry that I could never love you back I could never care enough In these last days __________________________Can't count to All the lovers I've burned through So why do I still burn for you I cannot say
__________________________
Can't count to All the lovers I've burned through So why do I still burn for you I cannot say
my god, those lyrics still kill.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 00:14 (ten years ago) link
All true. Though I think the delivery and phrasing is what makes it seem more powerful lyrically. Themes of death should be more crushing but the compositions and conversational approach does make it feel much smaller.
― Evan, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 01:04 (ten years ago) link
I might suggest that part of the idea is that death IS small, which is one of the reasons it's frightening and devastating. It's here all the time, a bit of a paradox b/c its omnipresence both makes it mundane and possibly, when you think about that, more disturbing. Death is small because we're all small, here one moment and gone the next.
― Mark, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 01:25 (ten years ago) link
that's interesting, and there's a lot of truth to it. i'm going to think about that when i begin listening to this album.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 01:28 (ten years ago) link
I'm struggling to think of another rock album in which a comparable number of specific biographical details and banalities are included. You get an incredibly comprehensive picture of who Kozelek is and what he cares about. (I realize that many will not find this notion endearing or interesting.)
I still prefer Perils From the Sea, though.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 4 February 2014 02:02 (ten years ago) link
The idea that *this one* might be his late-career breakout is kind of hilarious, actually. It's a pretty strange album.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 4 February 2014 02:41 (ten years ago) link
It's a pretty strange album.
i've only sampled part of it, but i bet this is right.
I can live with the sky falling out from aboveI can live with your scorn, your sourness, your smugI can live growing old alone if push comes to shoveBut I can't live without my mother's loveI can live flying 'round at an impossible paceI can live with the bad ettiquette that's falling on this placeI can live with anything you've got to throw in my faceBut I can't live without my mother's embraceMy mother is seventy fiveShe's the closest friend I have in my lifeTake her from me I'll break down and bawlAnd wither away like old leaves in the fallYou can be cruel all you want talk bad on my brothersShoot me full of holes and I won't by botheredJudge me for my ways and my slew of my ex-loversBut don't ever dare say a bad word 'bout my mother.When she's gone I'll miss her how slowly she walksPlaying scrabble with the chimes of the grandfather clockI'll even miss the times that we foughtBut mostly I'll miss being able to call her and talk.I can live without watching the classical fightsI can live without a lover beside me at nightI can live without what you might call a charmedBut I can't live without my mother providing her lightMy mother is seventy fiveOne day she won't be here to hear me cryWhen the day comes for her to let goI'll die off like a lemon tree in the snowWhen the day comes for her to leaveI won't have the courage to sort through her thingsWith my sisters and all our memoriesI cannot bear all the pain it will bring.
I can live flying 'round at an impossible paceI can live with the bad ettiquette that's falling on this placeI can live with anything you've got to throw in my faceBut I can't live without my mother's embrace
My mother is seventy fiveShe's the closest friend I have in my lifeTake her from me I'll break down and bawlAnd wither away like old leaves in the fall
You can be cruel all you want talk bad on my brothersShoot me full of holes and I won't by botheredJudge me for my ways and my slew of my ex-loversBut don't ever dare say a bad word 'bout my mother.
When she's gone I'll miss her how slowly she walksPlaying scrabble with the chimes of the grandfather clockI'll even miss the times that we foughtBut mostly I'll miss being able to call her and talk.
I can live without watching the classical fightsI can live without a lover beside me at nightI can live without what you might call a charmedBut I can't live without my mother providing her light
My mother is seventy fiveOne day she won't be here to hear me cryWhen the day comes for her to let goI'll die off like a lemon tree in the snowWhen the day comes for her to leaveI won't have the courage to sort through her thingsWith my sisters and all our memoriesI cannot bear all the pain it will bring.
interesting in its hyper-confessional nature. when it's good, it has the power of neil young's best, most bracing, most direct lyrics.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 02:53 (ten years ago) link
gonna ruin somebody's day by saying this but when kozelek gets to near-rapping he sounds like the dude from Everclear
― da croupier, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 03:08 (ten years ago) link
you have dishonored the name of "kozelek."
― Daniel, Esq 2, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 03:09 (ten years ago) link
a lyric snippet out of this (otherwise edgy, interesting) richard ramirez song illustrates the highs-and-lows of kozelek's lyrics:
i don't like this gettin' older stuffhaving to pee 50 times a day is bad enoughgot a nagging prostate and i gotta bad backwhen i fuck too much i feel like i'm gonna have a heart attack
so, the overall theme about the scariness and dignity of aging is a good focus for a record, and an artist. and a lot of times, kozelek nails that feeling perfectly. but the laundry-list of ailments feels a little artless and kvetch-y. and trying to squeeze in the extra words in the last line ("i'mgonnahaveaheartattack") makes it awkward.
to some extent, this is over-complaining. the just out-of-sync vocal harmonies and the dark, heavy-sounding guitar lines give the song an evil vibe. and that, i love.
at 53 richard ramirez died; but in 83, he was very much alivehe was the scariest killer in the landhad a pentagram in the center of his hand
kozelek's songs sometimes drip blood, which is a good thing.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 03:28 (ten years ago) link
― da croupier, Monday, February 3, 2014 10:08 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lol this is pretty otm
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 03:30 (ten years ago) link
It's not just the lyrics that are noteworthy for their oddness. Those backing vocals on "I Love My Dad" for instance are, uh, a choice. I guess. And I could have gone with more Will Oldham and less multitracked Koz.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 4 February 2014 03:32 (ten years ago) link
so, lyrically, here's where sun kil moon is at its best. there's this hazy, hypnotic guitar-driven song, with kozelek singing about loving mundane things, like watching late-night cable and debates over which old pro-boxer was more hated or more loved, and nostalgic things, about behaving like his dad before him. it's wistful, a little sad, a little sweet, and makes me think about what it means to grow older. then, bam.
I buried my first victim When I was nineteenWent through her bedroomAnd the pockets of her jeansAnd found her letters That said so many thingsThat really hurt me badI never breathed Her name againBut I like to dream About what could have beenI never heard her calls againBut I like to dream
I never breathed Her name againBut I like to dream About what could have beenI never heard her calls againBut I like to dream
now maybe this is a metaphor for kozelek breaking up with a girlfriend. that's a possible reading. but it seems too literal to me for that. and what a swerve. most of his lyrics i love for the reasons appearing above the block-quote, but kozelek has the ability to really surprise.
by the way, setting aside the serial-killer lines, the rest of the song today made me think of how much i miss my maternal grandfather (died when i was 10) and grandmother (died when i was in my 30s), how much i'd give to speak to them, even one more time, again, and how much they'd love my daughter.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Thursday, 6 February 2014 22:15 (ten years ago) link
I'm loving this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejBfyKd3WSs
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Thursday, 6 February 2014 23:05 (ten years ago) link
Daniel I've had pretty much the exact same feelings about that song. The murder angle is jarring but so well done. And the nostalgic imagery just before it has always grabbed me in the same way.
― Evan, Thursday, 6 February 2014 23:23 (ten years ago) link
the live version of "I Love My Dad" on the bonus disc is hilarious
Kozelek - "Do you guys get that reference or not? Edgar Winter was an albino..."
Lone audience member - "woo!"
Kozelek - *annoyed grunt*
― Number None, Friday, 7 February 2014 18:20 (ten years ago) link
Hahaha! Picking this up today at the shop I used to work at.
― Evan, Friday, 7 February 2014 18:41 (ten years ago) link
this album is really fucking good
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Friday, 14 February 2014 05:00 (ten years ago) link
can't stop listening to this
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 04:20 (ten years ago) link
iiiii haaaaate thissss recorrrrd
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 04:21 (ten years ago) link
lol
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 04:23 (ten years ago) link
why
is the nels cline hating a joke?
― akm, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 08:24 (ten years ago) link
What do you have against Nels Cline? This is the second time you’ve brought him up in one of your albums. Has he tried to retaliate? Do you secretly like him?Honestly, I don’t know anything about him. I saw Wilco live only once, in New Orleans, and on TV once. I decided to name off a bunch of guitarists I liked, in the chorus of “Bramble,” but then thought it would be more dynamic if I named a few I hated. The thing is, I don’t hate anybody. His name just rhymed with whatever came before it, and people laughed. So on Benji, I did it again. I do things twice, sometimes, like how I did “UK Blues” and “UK Blues 2.”
Honestly, I don’t know anything about him. I saw Wilco live only once, in New Orleans, and on TV once. I decided to name off a bunch of guitarists I liked, in the chorus of “Bramble,” but then thought it would be more dynamic if I named a few I hated. The thing is, I don’t hate anybody. His name just rhymed with whatever came before it, and people laughed. So on Benji, I did it again. I do things twice, sometimes, like how I did “UK Blues” and “UK Blues 2.”
― Number None, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 09:04 (ten years ago) link
i dont understand why someone would hate this record, unless you dont like mark kozelek's music. and if thats the case, then why the fuck are you listening to it?
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 16:24 (ten years ago) link
I can understand someone loving ghosts and not liking this record
― the Norwegians are leaving! (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 16:25 (ten years ago) link
he also mentions Panera Bread twice and his uncle twice on this record
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 16:26 (ten years ago) link
that is fantastic
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 16:29 (ten years ago) link
i have a little trouble reconciling the deep-redneck trash-burning uncle and the presumably exurban panera bread flirting dad. maybe they are from different branches of the family. kozelek cosmology. also this record is great.
― adam, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:06 (ten years ago) link
I don't know where you're getting "exurban" -- it says elsewhere on the record that he was an eighth grade dropout. Panera Breads are everywhere. You see truckers getting coffee at rest-stop starbucks. I feel like you're speaking from kind of a narrow idea of what a working/middle class family might look like.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:08 (ten years ago) link
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 11:24 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― the Norwegians are leaving! (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 11:25 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yeah within the Kozelek world this record is very distinct, even if the MK/Desertshore record was a direct "warm up" that lead to it.
AFP and Benji are so similar on the outside but are so very different in context.
― Evan, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:38 (ten years ago) link
Some people have been pointing out the Newtown song as the weak spot of the album, but I think he does something kind of neat with it that relates to a larger theme of the record. When he talks about the Norway killer, there's a great moment where he says "they didn't really care, but I did (pause) cause I got a lot of friends out there." At first you think "but I did" is a self-righteous thing, but it's actually about his personal connection to the tragedy. In the same way, he writes about Newtown not because he heard it on the news, but because a fan (from Newtown I think) wrote to him and asked him to pray about it, so once that connection was made he felt compelled to do something. It all ties back to the line in Song Remains "whenever anything close to me at all in the world died/ To my heart, forever, it would be tied." Same force that motivates him to write a song for the second cousin he didn't know well, and for his dad's friend who he spent the day with.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:46 (ten years ago) link
he doesn't rap on ghosts
― caek, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:51 (ten years ago) link
Yeah I totally read that song to drive the concept that we shouldn't let moments of tragedy leave our thoughts even when time has passed or something happy is happening to us personally. As a way to stay grounded? Not necessarily to keep depression perpetual throughout our lives- which a Kozelek non-fan might joke.
― Evan, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 18:04 (ten years ago) link
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 15:20 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Same. So good.
― sonderborg, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 21:47 (ten years ago) link
I love the short, descending string melody (mandolin?) in Carissa - it's like he gave her her own "theme" as part of the eulogy.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 22:20 (ten years ago) link
sry it's nylon string guitar
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 22:24 (ten years ago) link
i tried to listen to this in the shop but somehow i think there is a maximum of kozelek albums you need in your life and i have surpassed it. in the end it is always the first ep and the rollercoaster album i come back to. his vocal delivery on the new one really turns me off. he has completely given up singing, it is not even sprechgesang anymore here. and i am not too interested in his personal stories.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 22:51 (ten years ago) link
they have panera bread at truck stops?
― adam, Wednesday, 19 February 2014 01:59 (ten years ago) link
http://linktown.wcnc.com/biz/panera-bread/amherst/oh/44001/15641266
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 02:03 (ten years ago) link
it's even in ohio. story checks out.
http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/82ec9715-e9d8-44d0-9dab-4491465ef816.jpg
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 02:07 (ten years ago) link
http://www.mightysweet.com/mesohungry/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/03-Panera_Ohio.jpg
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 02:09 (ten years ago) link
is that a picture of heaven?
it is so beautiful.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Wednesday, 19 February 2014 02:12 (ten years ago) link
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 02:17 (ten years ago) link
"Whut the hell is a Panera Bread. I'm hungry, I'mma go keel me a possum"
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 02:18 (ten years ago) link
serves the possum right. they're super-gross.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Wednesday, 19 February 2014 02:20 (ten years ago) link
xp wait is that supposed to be someone from Ohio?
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 02:23 (ten years ago) link
no it's supposed to be someone's ridiculously wrongheaded idea of a "redneck" in the 21st century
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 16:52 (ten years ago) link
ah, i get it now
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 17:04 (ten years ago) link
nels lived in SF for ages I'm surprised he doesn't know anything about him.
― akm, Wednesday, 19 February 2014 20:36 (ten years ago) link
i also took the noodly guitar stuff after "i hate nels cline" to be parody
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 21:06 (ten years ago) link
which would require some familiarity
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 21:07 (ten years ago) link
I have no doubt he knows him better than he lets on, but I doubt there's any big story behind it
― Number None, Wednesday, 19 February 2014 21:11 (ten years ago) link
mark kozelek auditioned for wilco in 2004 when he was beaten in a crossroads-style guitar battle with nels cline
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 21:14 (ten years ago) link
I just figured he was a good figurehead for muso guitarists within his relative musical universe, and also his name fits lyrics well.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 21:15 (ten years ago) link
It's funny to say "I'm no Nels Cline" because of the particular position Nels Cline occupies. It's better than saying "Yngwie" or something like that.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 21:16 (ten years ago) link
i work at it every day, and i can bake a mean pumpernickel. but i'm no panera bread.
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 19 February 2014 21:26 (ten years ago) link
so "Ben's My Friend" is basically kozelek's remix of "Semi-Charmed Life"
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 20 February 2014 21:01 (ten years ago) link
I don't mean this as an insult, but you could basically write "RILY: Eels, Soul Coughing, Everlast" about this record and it wouldn't be wrong
― Evan R, Thursday, 20 February 2014 21:03 (ten years ago) link
Indie rock fans in being confused about what "rapping" sounds like non-shocker. I mean, I can't help but immediately dismiss any praise or criticism for this record that says Mark is "rapping".
― an enormous bolus of flatulence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 20 February 2014 21:10 (ten years ago) link
Most of the criticisms of this record are suspiciously just criticisms of the one song they actually heard (Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes)
― Evan, Thursday, 20 February 2014 21:19 (ten years ago) link
i have heard the whole thing and i wish he would write or sing a vocal melody and would edit himself enough so that the syllables of each line didn't spill over bc it's so awkward and diaristic. i don't think this unedited linear and mundane approach really produces the novel apprehension of death or whatever that people seem to be responding to here. for instance on carissa he spends a lot of time outlining his intentions for the song (honor someone he barely knew and engage with the intricacies of her life and death), and imo the song does nothing except outline itself over and over. i'm sure that's what kozelek wants out of his own music at this point but i can't get with it. the songs are unearthly long and are powered by half-composed ideas. it's exhausting.
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 20 February 2014 21:28 (ten years ago) link
I think we're both victims of confirmation bias- clearly there are vocal melodies in some cases and vocal melodies are lacking in others for example. I totally agree there isn't as much craft overall and lyrically it's all first-draft-journal-entry but the approach as a whole is really doing a lot for me. Reasons why have been explained upthread better than I would right now.
― Evan, Thursday, 20 February 2014 21:37 (ten years ago) link
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, February 20, 2014 4:28 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I don't understand what you mean by "sing a vocal melody" -- how are the vocal melodies of these songs not "vocal melodies"? I realize some songs, like Carissa, are more "talky" but otoh there's "I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love" or "Micheline." As for "editing" himself, I just think you are mistaking artless style for artlessness, because if you listen to the songs enough they seem pretty well thought out individually and as an album.
I can't really argue with you about Carissa because the things you don't like about it are part of what I like about it. But I do think you're missing some of what's going on in the song, in that (1) the song is very much about why he wants to go back to Ohio and go to the funeral and find out more about Carissa and narrated at the point when he hasn't done so yet, and (2) there are some subtle details about her that tell you a lot, like the fact that she got pregnant at 15 and was an RN at 35 -- a wild child who managed to turn her life around as a (presumably) single parent.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Friday, 21 February 2014 01:01 (ten years ago) link
Which Soul Coughing album sounded like this? Must be El Oso b/c I never heard that one.
― Mark, Friday, 21 February 2014 01:57 (ten years ago) link
that could be it--el oso is from 98 which is right about when panera bread began their national expansion from their humble beginnings as a st louis-area bakery chain so that checks out (SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA)
― adam, Friday, 21 February 2014 02:04 (ten years ago) link
"El Oso" is spanish for "The Bread Bowl"
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Friday, 21 February 2014 02:06 (ten years ago) link
I think the distinction about whether you like this album or not as a Kozelek fan is whether you interpret this record as him trying something new vs. him not trying at all.
― Evan, Friday, 21 February 2014 03:07 (ten years ago) link
― an enormous bolus of flatulence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, February 20, 2014 4:10 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― caek, Friday, 21 February 2014 04:24 (ten years ago) link
Huh, so even though I had a Red House Painters CD back in the day, somehow I never got around to checking out Sun Kil Moon. This Ghosts of the Great Highway is pretty great, isn't it?
― o. nate, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 03:16 (ten years ago) link
yes it's very good. april is pretty good too, and admiral fells promises has it's good points.
― akm, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 04:08 (ten years ago) link
I had basically never checked out this dude at all so when I got sick of having Benji on repeat I checked out Ghosts of the Great Highway, and yeah it's good. Carry Me Ohio is an earworm. Kind of struck by how different Benji is from that one and his other stuff though.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 25 February 2014 04:13 (ten years ago) link
This Ghosts of the Great Highway is pretty great, isn't it?― o. nate, Monday, February 24, 2014
― o. nate, Monday, February 24, 2014
if i had to make a short list of landmark rock albums of the 00s, ghosts would be on it.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 04:39 (ten years ago) link
Well, I've drunk enough red that "Benji" sounds incredibly touching (for all its faults).
For reasons that I can't quite fathom, I love that Ivo is acknowledged in song.
There is such a mis-match (and such a fine line) between Kozelek-the-arsehole and Kozelek-who-writes-the-most-beautiful-of-songs, isn't there?
― djh, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 23:04 (ten years ago) link
yes, there is. what red are you pairing with Benji?
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 26 February 2014 00:00 (ten years ago) link
The whole thing sounds like he went with the first draft of every song. That approach works really well with the subject manner throughout the record.
― Evan, Wednesday, 26 February 2014 00:15 (ten years ago) link
I remember reading The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart and discussing how artists who paint the most beautiful and touching things are often seen as being sensitive, caring people. In reality, they are just as human as anyone else and at times far worse human beings. It's their craziness that helps them create such beauty to begin with.
I think it applies to musicians, as well.
But what do I know.
Also, some tracks off his new album really resonated with me.
― ∞, Wednesday, 26 February 2014 00:17 (ten years ago) link
Various xp's
Yes, I was giving it another listen this morning and most songs cut off abruptly. There is no 'outro', so to speak. But he does this enough to make me believe he's doing it on purpose. Almost like a musical prosody on that album.
― ∞, Wednesday, 26 February 2014 00:19 (ten years ago) link
Query to all: Since I don't know Kozelek, I can't vouch for the authenticity of the songs. Suppose it turned out that most every event and person referenced in these songs were fictitious. Would your esteem for Kozelek as songwriter grow or diminish? Would your opinion of the songs themselves change?
― MV, Friday, 28 February 2014 02:39 (ten years ago) link
neither grow nor diminish, and no, my opinion would not change. I had actually had that thought - "What if it turns out he made all this shit up."
FWIW, someone linked me to a news article about the burning death of a Carissa in a small ohio township in the right region that I'm pretty sure is his cousin.
― james franco tur(oll)ing test (Hurting 2), Friday, 28 February 2014 02:56 (ten years ago) link
we confirmed that the Panera Bread exists if the Panera Bread exists it all must exist he ate blue crab cakes
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 February 2014 02:58 (ten years ago) link
this panera bread is my body/ this crab juice is my blood
― MV, Friday, 28 February 2014 03:11 (ten years ago) link
*lifts up Panera bread to the sound of multiple overlaid nylon string guitar arpeggios*
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 February 2014 03:28 (ten years ago) link
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/sound-check/Content?oid=18915321
― stranded, Friday, 28 February 2014 08:32 (ten years ago) link
"They were good people". Sort of sums up this record's themes, I feel.
― Mule, Friday, 28 February 2014 09:01 (ten years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/234-sun-kil-moon-benji-glossary/
― Evan, Friday, 28 February 2014 14:50 (ten years ago) link
^ made me chuckle.
― djh, Friday, 28 February 2014 18:18 (ten years ago) link
note comment after stranger interview:
How in god's name have you not yet written about the absolute catastrophe of his show at the neptune? one would think he was doing a tony clifton routine.Posted by bdrlgion on February 25, 2014 at 12:51 PM
― MV, Friday, 28 February 2014 18:37 (ten years ago) link
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/soundposts/2014/02/22/sunkilmoonlive/
― MV, Friday, 28 February 2014 18:58 (ten years ago) link
"Misreading his frustration as contempt, some showgoers started heckling Kozelek, casting a pall of negativity over a night meant to celebrate the 47-year-old artist’s current renaissance."
I wonder what specifically happened/was said.
― Evan, Friday, 28 February 2014 19:32 (ten years ago) link
Both on Mark's show of frustration and the resulting heckling. Curious.
― Evan, Friday, 28 February 2014 19:33 (ten years ago) link
But...it seems pretty clear that the people aren't fictitious. The Carissa thing, the Jim Case thing, the existence of Ben Gibbard, these things are internet verifiable. I mean, I guess I'll just have to take his word on the experiences he lays out in Dogs and the story about the albino on the dad song, and things like that.
In any case, I never understand hypotheticals like this, questions along the line "What if this the reality of this record were something totally different? Would you like this record as much?" I see it most frequently in "If X were by a new artist, you wouldn't like it at all!" or alternately, "If a new artist had put out X, it would be called album of the year!"
― intheblanks, Friday, 28 February 2014 19:54 (ten years ago) link
In any case, I might even like the record more if the whole thing was made up
― intheblanks, Friday, 28 February 2014 19:55 (ten years ago) link
If the whole thing were made up, I would regard it as a Nabokovian tour de force instead of a Carveresque tour de force.
― MV, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:03 (ten years ago) link
why would the sun kil the moon anyway?
― Daniel, Esq 2, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:04 (ten years ago) link
Well it's not necessarily equivalent to other questions like that. In this case, this record is extremely raw and sounds like the lyric/instrumental compositions weren't fussed over at all, at least compared to past efforts. So you have the striking unfiltered directness of the stories doing all of the heavy lifting. If the stories were all fiction I think there would have been more criticism regarding the comparatively unfinished/first-draft sounding compositions.
― Evan, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:04 (ten years ago) link
― Evan, Friday, February 28, 2014 11:32 AM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Evan, Friday, February 28, 2014 11:33 AM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
“I’m spilling my guts up here and you guys won’t shut up.”
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 February 2014 20:14 (ten years ago) link
Kozelek's use of "you guys" = further evidence for his Ohio roots
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 February 2014 20:15 (ten years ago) link
you guys
I don't see what the difference is between weaving a great song out of "true" facts and weaving a great song out of false ones.
― james franco tur(oll)ing test (Hurting 2), Friday, 28 February 2014 20:16 (ten years ago) link
one great song is composed of "true" facts while the other is composed of false ones.
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 February 2014 20:17 (ten years ago) link
True, just suspecting there's more to it. The article implies tension first started between staff and Mark, then between audience and Mark, then that quote happened...
― Evan, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:19 (ten years ago) link
http://theabbeycatering.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/crab-cakes-cl-1665282-l.jpg
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 February 2014 20:19 (ten years ago) link
the stage was set with a table and a chair. he walked out and tucked a napkin into his shirt. he ate some blue crab cakes. he put his fork down and turned to the crowd:
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 February 2014 20:23 (ten years ago) link
that sounds like almost every show I've seen Kozelek do w/out RHP, which is one of the reasons I don't go see him anymore. It also sounds like half the shows Eitzel used to play, but surprisingly he never acts like that (in SF anyway) anymore. It's like they've switched places.
― akm, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:27 (ten years ago) link
the crowd is always loud? he is correct in yelling at them.
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 February 2014 20:32 (ten years ago) link
Nah just saw him in October and it was nothing like that. Except for the asshole who kept belting "WOOO!!" during a few songs...
xp
― Evan, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:32 (ten years ago) link
i saw kozelek a couple years ago w/out really knowing much about his music and he was extremely prickly from that start. sometime in the middle of the show he started monologuing about how being on the road is hard and lonely, i guess as an excuse for his mood. then someone in the audience with outstanding comic timing was like "why don't you write a song about it?"
― call all destroyer, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:38 (ten years ago) link
sometimes he's not being as serious as people think, too, I suspect. like, he's acting like a dick but it doesn't mean he's really in a terrible mood. at any rate, I don't like seeing him without a band enough to bother these days. Glad I went to RHP shows when I could.
― akm, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:44 (ten years ago) link
xpost @Evan
I don't think the "striking, unfiltered directness" "doing all of the heavy lifting" comes only from the lyrics. The sound of his voice and the way he's delivering these lyrics are doing as much lifting as any lyric on this record.
― intheblanks, Friday, 28 February 2014 21:27 (ten years ago) link
I mean, I'm sure there are some people who like this because it's "real," but I think a lot of people find it compelling because it's full of resonant little details, and the vocal delivery that is part conversational and part super-sincerity adds up to a pretty interesting mix.
― intheblanks, Friday, 28 February 2014 21:33 (ten years ago) link
His delivery is great yeah, but I really believe this record is being carried by the stories that are that much more moving because they're real, and that he is telling real stories with brutal honesty. Otherwise, the song-craft is way way less refined than on previous albums. But those elements work together because the whole thing sounds like him getting everything off his chest without fussing too long over how.
― Evan, Friday, 28 February 2014 23:40 (ten years ago) link
I understand what Evan is saying, but it can also be argued that Koz is using the kind of 'art of raw truth' and detail and confessional poetry and stuff to bring on some emotion on the listener's part. I mean, it's not as black and white as some are explaining it here.
I guess if he were just using it as an artifice, people might get offended (I don't know why, to be honest), or feel he is being too disingenuous, but I don't mind it at all.
I love the tunes for what they are. They are raw and direct. Whether the stories are real or not, he seems to want to do this to evoke specific emotions by maybe pretending the stories are true--but that is part of his art. It's like seeing a photo or a movie of someone burning, while it being just an act. I don't think less of the artist because the person wasn't really burning. I let the art piece take me for the ride it wants to take me on.
― ∞, Saturday, 1 March 2014 03:22 (ten years ago) link
I don't really understand how anyone can assume there's "less craft" here or that he worked on the songs less or "edited" them less or "just wrote down his first thoughts" or whatever. That seems really naive and also presumptuous.
― james franco tur(oll)ing test (Hurting 2), Saturday, 1 March 2014 04:54 (ten years ago) link
yeah. Even if the songs give a loose feel, I think they are songs from a better musician, songwriter, etc.
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 1 March 2014 04:57 (ten years ago) link
This album feels like Tonight's the Night if Neil just kept a more Harvest sound for that phase. And the deaths were his relatives.
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 1 March 2014 04:58 (ten years ago) link
Feel like doing tiny cities was a turning point for his songwriting. He's had an early modest mouse feel to his lyrics ever since. Substitute Panera bread for orange julius.
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 1 March 2014 05:01 (ten years ago) link
― james franco tur(oll)ing test (Hurting 2), Friday, February 28, 2014 11:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Well, on this one and on MK/Desertshore, some lyrics imply that the songs are extremely fresh prior to recording "James Gandolfini died at 51 that's the same age as the guy coming to play drums" (from memory).
Besides, if you compare the guitar lines and poetry to that of his work on Admiral Fell Promises, it's evident to me that he didn't "craft" these new songs as much overall.
That being said, I am in no way saying that Benji is not as good for any reason. I acknowledge it as a totally different approach and I love it.
― Evan, Saturday, 1 March 2014 14:43 (ten years ago) link
― 4. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bruce Berry "Eat Soup" at "Panera Bread" (3:37)
― MV, Saturday, 1 March 2014 18:29 (ten years ago) link
Absolutely love 'Benji'.
Long time follower of MK. Brutally honest and Grade A tune age
don't care if it's a piss take.
― Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Sunday, 2 March 2014 20:47 (ten years ago) link
I always hear "bacon powder" instead of "baking powder"
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 5 March 2014 23:52 (ten years ago) link
thought it was an ohio home remedy
― 4. Nels Cline and My Uncle Eat Soup at Panera Bread (3:37) (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 5 March 2014 23:53 (ten years ago) link
So, he was born in San Francisco but grew up in Ohio?
― ∞, Thursday, 6 March 2014 03:25 (ten years ago) link
Grew up in Ohio but lives in San Francisco? Or maybe it was that he was born in San Francisco, grew up in Ohio then moved to San Francisco later on. Not sure.
― Evan, Thursday, 6 March 2014 03:27 (ten years ago) link
Oh, ya. I think you're right, Evan. He was born in Ohio, but spent a lot of time in San Fran.
― ∞, Thursday, 6 March 2014 03:33 (ten years ago) link
Yeah I'm pretty sure he's been in San Fran ever since Red House Painters began in 1992 at least.
― Evan, Thursday, 6 March 2014 03:37 (ten years ago) link
yes, I'm not sure when he moved here but he's been here since the very early 90's.
― akm, Thursday, 6 March 2014 04:39 (ten years ago) link
It's nice to hear an artist taking chances like this so far along in their career. I love about half of this, but the other half is borderline unlistenable.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 11 March 2014 18:54 (ten years ago) link
man i've never been a fan of this guy but i also can't think of anyone else who could pull off this material. excellent record.
― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 12 March 2014 13:50 (ten years ago) link
You do all realise that "Perils from the Sea" is far better, yes?
― djh, Wednesday, 12 March 2014 21:30 (ten years ago) link
No. Maybe a little better. Or maybe Benji is. Haven't made up my mind.
― MV, Thursday, 13 March 2014 07:52 (ten years ago) link
good lord, this is amazing
i never cared that much about red house painters and consequently never went out of my way to listen to sun kil moon.
is there no vinyl version???
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 16 March 2014 15:30 (ten years ago) link
final verdict: perils from the sea does way more for me than this one does, though i can still admire it and there's a couple songs that hit
― ciderpress, Sunday, 16 March 2014 16:45 (ten years ago) link
If you love Benji you should really check out the Mark Kozelek/Desertshore album, as it is the direct lead up to Benji stylistically.
― Evan, Sunday, 16 March 2014 18:52 (ten years ago) link
Benji is quite a bit better, don't you think?
― MV, Sunday, 16 March 2014 20:45 (ten years ago) link
Than the Desertshore collab, I mean.
Yes I do! But it's definitely the closet to Benji over the rest of his discography.
― Evan, Monday, 17 March 2014 15:16 (ten years ago) link
It's kind of like the "warm up" record to Benji is what I mean.
― Evan, Monday, 17 March 2014 15:17 (ten years ago) link
It's interesting (well, slightly) how much more "chat" the Sun Kil Moon album has generated compared to the preceding two Kozelek related albums.
― djh, Monday, 17 March 2014 16:36 (ten years ago) link
It's not a side-project, it's much heavier lyrically, and I've got say though the Pfork BNM (esp with 9.2) forces new listeners to take notice (plus I have a little theory that many review sites tend to back whatever pfork backs in their own reviews)
― Evan, Monday, 17 March 2014 16:50 (ten years ago) link
oops didn't mean to word that so repetitively
― Evan, Monday, 17 March 2014 16:51 (ten years ago) link
I love the sound of the guitars on Benji. Don't know much other RHP or SKM stuff, but it's a good album. Played Micheline to my partner and she said it was one of the most affecting songs she'd ever heard, aaahhhh!
― 3kDk (dog latin), Friday, 4 July 2014 13:25 (nine years ago) link
I think about this album whenever I have soup in a bread bowl
― Sufjan Grafton, Friday, 4 July 2014 13:39 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I must check out some more of this guys stuff. I've liked what I've heard of RHP ("Michael", "New Jersey") though.
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Friday, 4 July 2014 13:58 (nine years ago) link
your first stop should be Ghosts of the Great Highway
― Number None, Friday, 4 July 2014 15:20 (nine years ago) link
I think the first two RHP albums is some of the best music I've ever heard. Third one (Bridge) and the first EP feels like part of that era though.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 4 July 2014 18:29 (nine years ago) link
Benji is slaying me...I feel choked up through the whole thing and that last song is like a huge relief when you get to it
― Iago Galdston, Friday, 4 July 2014 19:45 (nine years ago) link
I don't ever shut up about it but I really think Admiral Fell Promises, while initially sounding extremely same-y with the nylon string only + similar song structures throughout, is probably one of his most poetic, proficient and beautiful albums. I know proficiency is not a critical aspect of good art but there is just SO much craft in his compositions on that record both musically and lyrically that Benji in comparison is far to the other side of the spectrum for him (given his playing capabilities as evidence particularly on AFP, the guitar melodies on Benji were probably as quickly written as the lyrics were and he's so good that there is nothing wrong with that).
― Evan, Friday, 4 July 2014 20:03 (nine years ago) link
what robert adam said. the first two albums plus the shock me ep have never been topped by mark. after that he is still great but the returns are diminishing.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 4 July 2014 22:29 (nine years ago) link
"Moorestown" is one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 4 July 2014 22:44 (nine years ago) link
There's a level of post-work weariness and drunkenness where the Streets' "A Grand Don't Come For Free" sounds like the most poignant album ever made. I thought I'd capture some of that feeling with a bottle of white, some "sour cream lentil curls" from M&S and "Benji". But I didn't.
― djh, Friday, 4 July 2014 23:15 (nine years ago) link
(Big fan of Kozelek ... but somehow it just isn't doing it for me in the way you'd think it might.
― djh, Friday, 4 July 2014 23:16 (nine years ago) link
On relisten, I'm...really torn on Benji. On one hand I admire that many of the arrangements take a lot more chances than basically anything else in his whole discography, which has generally switched btwn various types of restraint, even when supposedly "cutting loose." The combination of the somewhat brighter and broader sonic palette with the off-the-cuff lyrics does work some of the time, resulting in some really primally accessible music like "I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love" and "I Watched the Film..." and a couple others, as well as a couple of refreshingly breezy portraits like "Ben's My Friend" that would have been unthinkable even a couple of years ago. But it does have a tossed-off quality that backfires more than I cared to admit at first. What worries me is that it was so much better-received than Perils and Admiral, which are both better records that he might feel compelled to pull away from in terms of approach. (Then again he might decide that critics and audiences are full of shit and pull a 180 of some kind - predicting what the Koz will do at this point is folly.)
― Simon H., Monday, 1 September 2014 04:00 (nine years ago) link
h8 this record but realistically simon h otm
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 1 September 2014 18:53 (nine years ago) link
― Evan, Sunday, March 16, 2014 2:52 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Just want to add this point that I was very surprised when the writing style carried over into Benji- when MK/Desertshore came out I wasn't put off because that kind of lack of refinement was appropriate for a side project record. Like a jam session gained some momentum and suddenly they had enough songs to make a record, and lyrically Mark had an opportunity to vent about Tim Mooney and Jason Molina dying among other things in a quickly written fashion. Never expected that approach to continue into an official Sun Kil Moon release. But given the success of artist-as-character-in-back-story-infused-records like Bon Iver and Girls it's no surprise the drama of the content is carrying this beyond the success of anything else he's done even when it is also the most underwritten by miles.
― Evan, Monday, 1 September 2014 20:22 (nine years ago) link
he was already doing this kind of stuff on Among The Leaves
― Number None, Monday, 1 September 2014 20:35 (nine years ago) link
Never gotten anywhere near all the way through AtL.
― Simon H., Monday, 1 September 2014 20:54 (nine years ago) link
no surprise the drama of the content is carrying this beyond the success of anything else he's done even when it is also the most underwritten by miles.
I must again remind everyone that he just recently did the flagrantly autobiographical thing better on Perils, which he did none of the music for. An acquired taste I guess but the combo of simple electronic accompaniment with Koz's drifting travelogues really clicks for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7yYMfjVNJc
― Simon H., Monday, 1 September 2014 21:44 (nine years ago) link
as I said, it's not a new development
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqV9ilyiWK4
― Number None, Monday, 1 September 2014 22:02 (nine years ago) link
It took Panera bread to connect with the people
― post...aftermath (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 1 September 2014 22:29 (nine years ago) link
Fair enough. Among the Leaves was the literal first time he changed his approach in the autobiographical way, but MK/Desertshore and Benji seem directly from a diary and entirely unedited beyond a first draft. To me they differentiate that way. AtL and Perils both have the conversational feel yet sound to me like he worked on the songs a bit more. "Young Love" for instance wouldn't even be that out of place on AFP (though I admit it isn't the best representation of AtL on the whole).
― Evan, Monday, 1 September 2014 22:31 (nine years ago) link
AtL literally has one that goes
Well I wrote this one and I know it ain't greatI'll probably sequence at track number 8And pick up some water at 7/11On my way to the mastering session
It's called Track Number 8
― Number None, Monday, 1 September 2014 22:36 (nine years ago) link
Plus as far as why Benji resonated more is clear- people don't emotionally connect to funny stories about touring the same way they do about the relatable accounts of family members tragically dying in their mundane hometowns between visits to mundane Panera Breads, reflections of parents much like theirs, growing up, etc.
― Evan, Monday, 1 September 2014 22:37 (nine years ago) link
xpost OK, OK, fair. Benji is still farther down the rabbit hole of quickly written and patched together songs though. His choice of guitar lines plays a big part as well.
― Evan, Monday, 1 September 2014 22:40 (nine years ago) link
I like to imagine that he laid down some really complicated and overwritten tracks before switching to chords + blue crabcakes
― post...aftermath (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 1 September 2014 22:44 (nine years ago) link
blue crabcakes + sports bar shit are my favourite moments on the album
― Number None, Monday, 1 September 2014 22:48 (nine years ago) link
otm
― post...aftermath (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 1 September 2014 23:15 (nine years ago) link
always read Panera bread as Pantera bread.
― charlie h, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 02:33 (nine years ago) link
I'd eat a dime bag of chocolate croissants
― post...aftermath (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 02:44 (nine years ago) link
LOL
― charlie h, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 03:04 (nine years ago) link
I just realized that Koz must be looking at post-divorce Ben Gibbard w/ dollar signs in his eyes
― Simon H., Tuesday, 2 September 2014 03:14 (nine years ago) link
Does anyone know who the female vocalist on Songs For A Blue Guitar is? I remember trying to find out a few times with no luck.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 23:48 (nine years ago) link
Stephanie Finch
― Number None, Wednesday, 3 September 2014 00:12 (nine years ago) link
"I just realized that Koz must be looking at post-divorce Ben Gibbard w/ dollar signs in his eyes"
why? Koz didn't get a divorce
"Stephanie Finch"
she's Chuck Prophet's wife and sings with him as well.
― akm, Wednesday, 3 September 2014 00:37 (nine years ago) link
Thank you! Looks like she had a solo album a few years ago.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 3 September 2014 01:12 (nine years ago) link
Can someone please tell the dude he is NOT funny?
― nostormo, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 08:23 (nine years ago) link
he has his moments. funnier than most people, i think.
― charlie h, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 09:16 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, like his funny songs
― nostormo, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 09:37 (nine years ago) link
With regard to "beer commercial lead guitar music" or whatever, I used to see Red House Painters perform in San Francisco in the mid-90s. Kozelek was playing mostly electric guitar in those days. He would launch into a noodly, 20-minute guitar solo at least once during every set. It used to bore the piss out of me.
― Bloody Pelt Found Near the Scene of the Crime (Skrot Montague), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 19:01 (nine years ago) link
there's a point in OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD reportage where you stop laughing at the old man and start laughing at the reporter
― da croupier, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 19:07 (nine years ago) link
i could except this sort of criticism from a band like Swans or something.not from Kozelek, which is closer to the mainstream maybe even more than War On Drugs are
xpost
― nostormo, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 19:11 (nine years ago) link
accept
― nostormo, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 19:13 (nine years ago) link
'Make Like Paper' is fucking awesome, and I would listen to 90s kozelek's neil young impression all night long with a smile
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 19:28 (nine years ago) link
agreed. i got to see him do a condensed, acoustic version of River, but it just wasn't the same without the Neil Young-isms.
― charlie h, Thursday, 2 October 2014 03:12 (nine years ago) link
So, logically, out of nowhere, we're getting a Mark Kozelek solo Christmas carol album. Enjoy?
http://caldoverderecords.com/christmas/mkscc2014.html
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 5 October 2014 23:22 (nine years ago) link
Kozelek has been particularly prolific these last few years so more material isn't surprising.
Personally I'm quite puzzled by pitchfork's stanning for Benji. Much more into the Koz with gravitas than the borderline rapping, teetering b/w sad and jokey Koz of Among The Leaves and beyond.
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Monday, 6 October 2014 00:25 (nine years ago) link
The Christmas carols album was actually announced about a year ago.
I think the pitchfork review is mostly based on their tendency to overestimate albums that are made by compelling characters. They seem to emphasize artists that would have compelling backstories over artists with without that attribute.
Think about how they treat very solid albums by not so distinct artists vs solid albums by very distinct artists.
― Evan, Monday, 6 October 2014 01:54 (nine years ago) link
Kozelek shifted from a incredible musician, singer and poet into a sloppier musician with an unedited, heart-wrenching and uncensored series of stories to tell and that's when pitchfork perked up.
― Evan, Monday, 6 October 2014 01:59 (nine years ago) link
lol revisiting pitchfork scores and april got an 8.3. pretty sure pfork were woke to kozelek
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 6 October 2014 02:22 (nine years ago) link
Right, they considered it solid but they didn't make a big fuss- no BNM etc.
― Evan, Monday, 6 October 2014 02:37 (nine years ago) link
Some albums just seem to come at the right moment. Never been able to figure out whether that was the result of zeitgeist or just a good PR team.
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Monday, 6 October 2014 02:40 (nine years ago) link
my thing is i think that a lot of early rhp lyrics had a stream of consciousness quality that's entirely distinct from benji and was way more rich than shit hanging on walls plus someone died man
which wouldn't be necessarily measurable by pfork scores. april being an 8.3/non-bnm is kinda right imo, it's a more discursive ghosts of the great highway and not as many people would be interested in that than, say, old white guy indexes memory, inevitably stumbles upon profound shit
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 6 October 2014 02:42 (nine years ago) link
mostly i'm thinking of "strawberry hill"
Honestly what's kind of funny about April though is that it may be (now after Benji, perhaps) the most heard album by SKM, and largely by demographics you wouldn't expect to care... all due to Heron Blue being used in that Gears of War trailer/commercial.
― Evan, Monday, 6 October 2014 02:52 (nine years ago) link
― pearly-dewdrops' bops (monotony), Saturday, January 18, 2014 7:30 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lol, turns out I made basically the same post in January
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Monday, 6 October 2014 04:19 (nine years ago) link
He was pretty deadpan hilarious at the show I saw a couple weeks ago. Also poked fun at the BNM designation.
― sofatruck, Monday, 6 October 2014 12:34 (nine years ago) link
i hope neil young will remember: a southern man don't need him around, anyhow
http://sunkilmoon.com/mkwod/index.html
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 10:21 (nine years ago) link
"the whitest band I've ever heard" - says the guy who makes the whitest music I've ever heard. What a stupid ass-clown. "bridge and tunnel people" - gee, sorry we can't all afford to live in the city itself, you elitist fuck-face.
― Bloody Pelt Found Near the Scene of the Crime (Skrot Montague), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 13:53 (nine years ago) link
song is pretty lol
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 15:07 (nine years ago) link
It’s way funnier than a song called "War on Drugs Should Suck My Cock" should be.
― Allen (etaeoe), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 15:13 (nine years ago) link
friends with the writer he called a "spoiled bitch rich kid blogger brat" :[
the part about War on Drugs is sorta funny I guess
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 15:26 (nine years ago) link
I wouldn't mind being called names in a song if it meant Mark Kozelek. If Matt P is a singer that's probably the closest I'll get.
I do agree that War on Drugs edges ahead of Sun Kil Moon as far as whiteness goes. And he never said he wasn't a close second so there's that.
I don't know if anyone would have predicted that the guy singing Alesund in 2010 conjuring Segovia in the process would in 2014 be channeling Art Alexakis in some bitter asshole joke-song about some buzzband.
― Evan, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 15:52 (nine years ago) link
friends with the writer he called a "spoiled bitch rich kid blogger brat"
did not enjoy that line much at all, and though most of the rest of it was pretty funny, i really wish he would concentrate on doing something more worthwhile
― john wahey (NickB), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
i can't take it as anything other than a sendup of his current bitter crank persona
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 16:14 (nine years ago) link
That line reads as sexist and ugly to me
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
yeah, that is spiteful however you slice it
― john wahey (NickB), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 16:22 (nine years ago) link
could imagine warren drugs being able to laugh at the stuff aimed at him though
looking forward to his new album, Finally Getting Publicity
― The Complainte of Ray Tabano, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 17:27 (nine years ago) link
Warren Druggs vs. Sunkle Moone
― Evan, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
that sounds like a dope outlaw country record
― slothroprhymes, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 17:52 (nine years ago) link
Some backstory: here and here (scroll down).
― o. nate, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 02:12 (nine years ago) link
"spoiled bitch rich kid blogger brat"
fuck that
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 02:18 (nine years ago) link
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10338687_10203176249983475_5380334911075845925_n.jpg?oh=4cbc450febcb8b098b9b9a82e4d837c6&oe=54BA6B0E&__gda__=1422514200_6e65ee504e398f9d5bdb6afcc8562f3c
― scott seward, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 02:59 (nine years ago) link
this is the best song koz has done in years
― akm, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 03:36 (nine years ago) link
This is completely horrible and lazy and not funny, no idea how anyone made it all the way through it
― Simon H., Wednesday, 8 October 2014 03:53 (nine years ago) link
Yup, and therein lies the tragedy.
― doug watson, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 09:51 (nine years ago) link
Although I will give Koz points for referring to it as the Ottawa Bleedfest. Thanks to the same management, we now have this flawed template for two of our biggest music festivals.
― doug watson, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 09:56 (nine years ago) link
he's on some shia labeouf shit lately, nagl
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 11:44 (nine years ago) link
Had he been to rehab before?
― u2 removal machine (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 13:18 (nine years ago) link
when he was 14
― Number None, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 14:30 (nine years ago) link
kinda feels like this is leading up to heading back there
― u2 removal machine (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 14:37 (nine years ago) link
I'm not sure any of this is drug/alcohol related. He's been saying this kind of shit at gigs for years. It's just now he's got Pitchfork etc. covering his every move.
― Number None, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 14:43 (nine years ago) link
^
― Evan, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 14:48 (nine years ago) link
Yeah honestly I can't tell if this is a sign of darker things or just a high-profile bored trolling
― da croupier, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 15:46 (nine years ago) link
decades
― Allen (etaeoe), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 15:47 (nine years ago) link
i mean jeers to calling a woman a bad word, but cheers to an old crank making the internet's beef obsession work for him
don't really understand people saying this is far and away his best or worst song of late - pretty guitars with stream-of-conscious hyper-personal lyrics, seems fairly par for course
― da croupier, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 15:53 (nine years ago) link
seems like the dude just comes up with a lick and then croons whatever's on his mind over it, be it they might be giants lyrics or his shopping list
― da croupier, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
I think the anti-fan commentary is fascinating. When I was a teenager I wrote Mark a few letters, he always replied. In fact, I, for whatever reason, stopped our correspondence. I still order from Caldo Verde and the notes and knick knacks he includes strike me as sincere and personal gesture of gratitude.
He’s very much a pre-Internet performer. I think closeness for fans today is very different than it was when Red House Painters emerged. It’s far more personal for him. He’ll never retweet or reblog and I think that’s fine.
― Allen (etaeoe), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:05 (nine years ago) link
oh god the pitchfork article on this. STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO THE TROLL PEOPLE.
― jamiesummerz, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:08 (nine years ago) link
dunno, personally i would rather someone call out high-profile macho bullshit as such than just report it tmz-style
― da croupier, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:18 (nine years ago) link
kinda hard not to pay attention to a troll who's this dedicated to not shutting the f--- up. yes he seems to have always been like this, and yes people are paying more attention now b/c outlets beyond the hipsterverse have discovered benji, and editors know that this crap gets clicks. but if it doesn't exist with this frequency no one writes on it. and for the record, if it's dumb trolly behavior, so what if it's only being covered with such frequency now? that doesn't make it less annoying, especially for someone who appreciates how good his music is independent of all this. if it didn't involve calling someone a stupid bitch and using homophobic language, it'd just be mildly pathetic. but it does do those things.
as for the p4k pitch post, no mark kozelek might not have active fantasies about forcing buzz bands to fellate him and is definitely trolling but his language does tie into the systemic things that meredith graves is discussing.
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:24 (nine years ago) link
if it didn't involve calling someone a stupid bitch and using homophobic language, it'd just be mildly pathetic. but it does do those things.
How many of Pitchfork’s Top 100 Tracks of 2015 will include a lyric calling someone “a stupid bitch” and homophobic language?
― Allen (etaeoe), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:30 (nine years ago) link
(I should emphasize that I don’t think anyone should do either and that’s changed my music preferences dramatically …)
― Allen (etaeoe), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:31 (nine years ago) link
oh wow that's gotta be a landspeed record for finding a way to indict rap music damn bruh
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:37 (nine years ago) link
if it had even been like, a good song, or had a real point, honestly i could probably find a way to let those things go. maybe i'm a hypocrite for letting it go in a fair amount of the rap music i love. so the hell be it.
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:44 (nine years ago) link
maybe i'm a hypocrite for letting it go in a fair amount of the rap music i love. so the hell be it.
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, October 8, 2014 11:44 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i say this as a rap fan: there is no "maybe"
― u2 removal machine (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
the one 100% true fact about this is that the song is currently playing in the daily tar heel office, like right now
― katherine, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 16:49 (nine years ago) link
welp, there it is. oh to the well.
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 17:04 (nine years ago) link
xp the DTH can lick my boots
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 17:20 (nine years ago) link
That whole p4k article blows details way out of proportion, honestly.
― Evan, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 17:21 (nine years ago) link
Ha. Wow. That article...
― Evan, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 17:31 (nine years ago) link
(n.b. I don't know this for a fact. but I also... kinda know it for a fact)
― katherine, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 17:31 (nine years ago) link
So happy with that article, fist-pumps for days
― Life is full of shopportunities (fgti), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 18:34 (nine years ago) link
"war on drugs suck my cock" sounds like that acoustic version of "i kill everything i fuck" that an ilxor recorded 10 years ago
― example (crüt), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 18:39 (nine years ago) link
yeah Meredith Graves' article was excellent, fuck this guy
― ET sippin the wig (spazzmatazz), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:06 (nine years ago) link
it never really would have occurred to me that the red house painters guy's cock would become erect in the first place so this whole scandal seems absurd
― j., Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:12 (nine years ago) link
suck my cock is maybe as homophobic a phrase as perfect pussy is transphobic a phrase. they're also equally terrible phrases to use for your music band.
― jamiesummerz, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:13 (nine years ago) link
the allusions to emotional & physical abuse in the lyrics of red house painters songs used to make me distressed to the point of nausea when I was a sad teen. now I don't listen to RHP anymore (save for an occasional revisit of "bubble" from the bridge album which has a nice melody)
― example (crüt), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:15 (nine years ago) link
the whole troll campaign is so lame, i dont think he's off his rocker, he's just trying to make some money and get some attention and succeeding, but he's such a nasty prick, calling a journalist a "spoiled bitch" and using "suck my cock" as an insult, it's a bit out of date, no?
― ET sippin the wig (spazzmatazz), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:17 (nine years ago) link
I thought the analysis of "suck my cock" was reaching quite a bit. I definitely agree it is very douchey though.
― Evan, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:35 (nine years ago) link
"suck my cock" as an insult isnt much different from calling someone a fag/bitch/cunt, whatever- this graf:
Which is why, in all likelihood, Kozelek chose to say "suck my cock" instead of "I think your band is bad." "Suck my cock" is a command heard most often in two places: heterosexual porn, and schoolyard taunts between presumably straight boys. In no way does Mark Kozelek actually want his cock sucked by the members of the War on Drugs. What he wants is to make them feel violated, to make them feel submissive. "Suck my cock" is an order, not a request. "Suck my cock" is, when used by the wrong person, the language of physical force, the language of rape. He wants the world to know that he thinks TWOD sucks cock, implying that sucking cock is a bad thing. Who sucks cock? Not straight dudes like Mark Kozelek, but women and gay men. Which one of these groups is he using as an insult?
― ET sippin the wig (spazzmatazz), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:42 (nine years ago) link
although i think it's safe to say "suck my cock" appears in almost all forms of pornography where a cock is involved
― ET sippin the wig (spazzmatazz), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:43 (nine years ago) link
― local eire man (darraghmac), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:44 (nine years ago) link
even fake ones!
― j., Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:45 (nine years ago) link
― j., Wednesday, October 8, 2014 2:12 PM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah dude's music is SO PUSSY right bro
― u2 removal machine (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 19:59 (nine years ago) link
hey antidepressants are no joke
― j., Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:02 (nine years ago) link
criticizing something you find objectionable by stooping to its level is the american way, can't knock that
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:13 (nine years ago) link
i just think if you want to effectively demean somebody by talking about your cock you would be wise to consider the rhetorical position from which you do so
― j., Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:27 (nine years ago) link
He wants the world to know that he thinks TWOD sucks cock, implying that sucking cock is a bad thing.
There is a leap here. He never says "TWOD sucks cock" as an insult (I think?). I agree that he is saying grossly macho stuff, but the song title seems to only hinge on the power dynamic involved in oral sex that is not reciprocated. It does not imply that sucking cock is a bad thing imo.
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:29 (nine years ago) link
the rest of the paragraph seems OTM though
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:30 (nine years ago) link
Yeah that was my thought too, more or less.
― Evan, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:35 (nine years ago) link
ilm busts out the extra powerful textual analysis magnifying glass for sun kil moon song "war on drugs: suck my cock"
― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:42 (nine years ago) link
great thread
― marcos, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:43 (nine years ago) link
anyways, fuck this guy imo
― marcos, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:44 (nine years ago) link
Admiral Fell Promises forever! (also ghosts)
― Evan, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:48 (nine years ago) link
April is good too.
maybe MK and chris ott (if he hasn't clipped himself yet) could band together and form like the hipsterati version of that MRA group a voice for men can you imagine the thinkpieces and (justified) outrage that would spawn.
hey mark and chris if you see this i'd like my intellectual property payment in ones and fives please
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:56 (nine years ago) link
Is there any real consensus on the best Kozelek releases?
As I said earlier, I think the first two RHP albums are amongst the best music I've ever heard. The 3rd album and the 1st EP are in that same sweet area. Ocean Beach and Old Ramon was mostly lukewarm for me but had some great tracks too. I really love Songs For A Blue Guitar. Haven't heard the RHP tribute album stuff (was it the John Denver one with Slowdive's Rachel Goswell? I heard that was the last RHP stuff).
I mostly liked Ghosts Of The Great Highway, especially the incredible "Duk Koo Kim". I mildly enjoyed April and didn't get much from Admiral Fell Promises. Some people vastly prefer Sun Kil Moon to early RHP but I just don't get that.
My ranking
Red House Painters- I (rollercoaster)Red House Painters- Down Colorful HillRed House Painters- Songs For A Blue GuitarRed House Painters- II (bridge) Sun Kil Moon- Ghosts Of The Great HighwayRed House Painters- Shock Me EPRed House Painters- Ocean BeachSun Kil Moon- AprilRed House Painters- Old RamonSun Kil Moon- Admiral Fell Promises
What do you recommend next? Are the AC/DC cover albums still favourites?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 20:58 (nine years ago) link
guys...sayin "fuck this guy"...not really that diff from him tellin war on drugs bro to suck his cock...
...think about it
― The Complainte of Ray Tabano, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:19 (nine years ago) link
#whoa
― katherine, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:20 (nine years ago) link
#STAYWOKE
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:23 (nine years ago) link
mind blown
― marcos, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:25 (nine years ago) link
sorry mark kozelek
In no way does the ilx poster actually want mark kozelek fucked by the other posters of ilx. Who fucks kozelek? Like seriously, I look at him and think 'who would fuck kozelek?' Can you believe I work in a bank? You're losing it guy, and it shows. But at night, I'm crazy. I'm the king of the blogs. Fuck this guy, right?! Fuck this guy!
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:29 (nine years ago) link
I don't really care much about Sun Kil Moon or Perfect Pussy, but I thought that was a good essay. Also I like War on Drugs a lot. So fuck this guy.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link
jfc yall are fuckin morons sometimes
― adam, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:38 (nine years ago) link
Who's fucking Christ? Not kozelek.
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:45 (nine years ago) link
Who's fuckin morons? Not kozelek.
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:46 (nine years ago) link
hey everybody come and look at the violence inherent in the system
― local eire man (darraghmac), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:49 (nine years ago) link
mark kozelek would never stoop to such a level god how gross
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:50 (nine years ago) link
No results found for "mark hoselick"
― john wahey (NickB), Wednesday, October 8, 2014 4:35 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Evan, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:52 (nine years ago) link
aaahahahahahaha outstanding
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 21:53 (nine years ago) link
Drew Daniel from Matmos kind of dropped some knowledge on this topic:
https://twitter.com/DDDrewDaniel
― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 22:57 (nine years ago) link
OTM. The ageist parts of the essay didn't even make sense anyway.
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 23:05 (nine years ago) link
also, the two main ottawa folk festival stages did point directly at each other this year. they at least angled them away from each other in previous years. come on, ottawa!
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 23:07 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, it was weird. Mark Kozelek isn't sliding into irelevance, he is more popular than ever. And actually, 'white guys who were big in the nineties' is pretty much the new black in the industry atm. None of those are particularly good things, imo, but it is what it is.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 23:20 (nine years ago) link
Right, and he didn't choose John Mellencamp because he's an old dude trying to stay relevant to the younger crowd. He chose Mellencamp because he is trying to punch up. He thinks he is punching up at TWOD as well, and he is in some ways. Still, the pitchfork essay was worthwhile given the praise and exposure given to his choice of hate filled language. It's just weird that the essay also contains this incorrect and ageist analysis of kozelek's motivation for his word choice.
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 23:38 (nine years ago) link
he covered Ted Nugent recently. He is not gunning for the hearts of youngsters.
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 23:41 (nine years ago) link
it's all over now, baby blue
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 8 October 2014 23:54 (nine years ago) link
It's absurd to me that this incident has received such extended analysis. That said, Drew kinda nails it.
― doug watson, Thursday, 9 October 2014 00:16 (nine years ago) link
Oh, and Robert, I'm generally with you on your rankings. Rock and Roll Singer should be next on your search list. Also the Hultsfred 1997 live versions of Old Ramon tracks are far superior to the studio versions.
― doug watson, Thursday, 9 October 2014 00:18 (nine years ago) link
stone temple pilots, they're elegant bachelors
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 9 October 2014 00:20 (nine years ago) link
Thanks Doug.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 9 October 2014 01:44 (nine years ago) link
old ramon was a huge disappointment when it finally came out. we sat around and waited to hear that for years. it's less irritating now but at the time, eh.
― akm, Thursday, 9 October 2014 04:06 (nine years ago) link
Is that live bootleg big among fans? There is one song in particular I'd love to hear but can't remember the title.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 9 October 2014 11:24 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rhjAF9oQyc
― doug watson, Thursday, 9 October 2014 13:27 (nine years ago) link
Sorry that the clip doesn't embed.
Listening to it now, I'm baffled by how P4k could get so excited about Benji. It's like stanning for Lou Reed's Take No Prisoners at the expense of the entire back-catalog of the Velvet Underground.
― doug watson, Thursday, 9 October 2014 13:31 (nine years ago) link
Take No Prisoners rules!
― u2 removal machine (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 9 October 2014 13:45 (nine years ago) link
i love old ramon but then i've never actually heard that bootleg
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 October 2014 14:52 (nine years ago) link
guitar tone on old ramon is the most gorgeous thing
kinda kozelek agnostic, but i love most of old ramon.
― tylerw, Thursday, 9 October 2014 15:20 (nine years ago) link
the best thing on Old Ramon is indeed Phil Carney's guitar.
― akm, Thursday, 9 October 2014 15:21 (nine years ago) link
channeling Steve Hackett
I hadn't yet picked up on the Hackett comparison, must now relisten
― doug watson, Thursday, 9 October 2014 15:30 (nine years ago) link
some bullshit about this in pitchfork: " "Suck my cock" is a command heard most often in two places: heterosexual porn, and schoolyard taunts between presumably straight boys" such a joyless reading i mean lots of people say suck my cock in contexts that are much more fun. i bet there are plenty of dyke power tops who have used it and meant it as an example, obviously there are more. if you presume everything takes place within the confines of straight white male sociality then of course everything can be read as the violent product of this culture but i mean who has the time
― plax (ico), Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link
srsly who could think a mark kozelek song takes place within the confines of straight white male sociality
― da croupier, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:13 (nine years ago) link
dude totally could be imitating dyke power tops
― da croupier, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:14 (nine years ago) link
i just got a promo of mark's new solo album, and he has really gone off the deep end this time...
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/1911787_10153393520727137_6536637952645129286_n.jpg?oh=7261f1826b19307d3151bd9c82f7a016&oe=54CA9702&__gda__=1425446482_e3ea6b9354ec16fd27a885e8961c0785
― scott seward, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:19 (nine years ago) link
Did someone say power hops? Because I could sure go for a cool, refreshing 9% abv IPA.
― how's life, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:21 (nine years ago) link
War on Drugs, suck my hops
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:21 (nine years ago) link
I know tomorrowYou will be somewhere in LondonLiving with someoneyou want some kind of trumpeter to play twoand that's just what i'm gonna give you*solo*
― da croupier, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:22 (nine years ago) link
Looked around for the Old Ramon song I loved and it's "Void". Fucking great song.
I haven't read the insults, listened to the song or read the articles, but all the controversy has put me in the most Kozelek hungry I've been in years.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:41 (nine years ago) link
"Kozelek. Now available with aspartame."
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:50 (nine years ago) link
if you listen to the end of void, the intertwined lead guitars (which is carney overdubbed) absolutely sounds like Hackett circa Nursery Cryme.
― akm, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:52 (nine years ago) link
I guess I'm an outlier but my favorite Kozelek period is Songs From a Blue Guitar/Old Ramon/If You Want Blood/Ghosts of the Great Highway.
― campreverb, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:53 (nine years ago) link
― da croupier, Thursday, October 9, 2014 12:22 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Amazing
― Evan, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
Kool Kat Song
― Evan, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:56 (nine years ago) link
― da croupier, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:13 (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah but you find what you want in a culture. a hermeneutics of intent is a pretty pointless way of reading anything but hey i guess you could ring up david lynch and ask him what the log lady means.
― plax (ico), Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:56 (nine years ago) link
stop trying to lie to us like her log didn't see something that night
― slothroprhymes, Thursday, 9 October 2014 16:57 (nine years ago) link
Is Retrospective worth getting for the demos and live versions?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 9 October 2014 17:06 (nine years ago) link
No.
― campreverb, Thursday, 9 October 2014 17:14 (nine years ago) link
Yes.
― Evan, Thursday, 9 October 2014 17:15 (nine years ago) link
it's ok. you can probably find it incredibly cheap.
― akm, Thursday, 9 October 2014 17:16 (nine years ago) link
Mission Accomplished.
― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Thursday, 9 October 2014 18:18 (nine years ago) link
plax otm
― fuhgeddaboudit! (missingNO), Thursday, 9 October 2014 18:26 (nine years ago) link
constant
― local eire man (darraghmac), Thursday, 9 October 2014 18:41 (nine years ago) link
damn yall some limber motherfuckers with the gymnastics in this thread
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:27 (nine years ago) link
stop objectifying us
― da croupier, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:45 (nine years ago) link
everybody's moved on to the Grimes/Ariel Pink beef now anyway
― Number None, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:52 (nine years ago) link
can't wait to see what next week has in store!
speaking of dried beef
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:53 (nine years ago) link
BEEF CROSSOVER http://actuallygrimes.tumblr.com/post/98711973564/people-who-dont-like-the-smashing-pumpkins-can
― jamiesummerz, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 22:22 (nine years ago) link
survivorman once ate some beef that had crossed over
― GhostTunes on my Pono (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 22:25 (nine years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/news/57253-mark-kozelek-adam-granofsky-blues/
oops he did it again
― and also pointsman, octopi don't bark (slothroprhymes), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link
Seriously Mark. This is some full fledged bullying! I mean, I kinda had this theory that he's been doing this to clown all of the media outlets that are since Benji suddenly paying close attention to the things he's always been doing. But damn.
― Evan, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 21:41 (nine years ago) link
This guy went like five notches down in my esteem for his pointless, childish diss tracks.
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 21:48 (nine years ago) link
to what granularity do you esteem?
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 21:55 (nine years ago) link
Maybe he's trying to sabotage his recent new Benji fan base and get back to how it was before.
― Evan, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 21:57 (nine years ago) link
He had that little stupid dig at Nels Cline on Benji -- kind of funny but also just kind of insecure that there are people who play guitar better than him.
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 21:59 (nine years ago) link
I always read that as him thinking Nels Cline's style was too noodle-y.
― Evan, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 22:02 (nine years ago) link
Yeah I'm sure that it's what he means (plays the little noodly lick after), but it also just reads to me as resentment. I just think it's weird that a dude his age still feels so much of that kind of resentment toward other musicians, especially in the midst of a semi-surprising resurgence in his career.
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 22:03 (nine years ago) link
(I mean maybe he didn't know it was a resurgence when he wrote the Nels Cline line but certainly by the time he did the War on Drugs song).
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 22:04 (nine years ago) link
Yeah that's what I mean though- like he's acting out so he can sabotage all the good will the resurgence brought him. Maybe it's getting to him.
― Evan, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 22:06 (nine years ago) link
I thought that the War on Drugs shenanigans were kinda funny - but I also think War on Drugs had the better album this year.
― o. nate, Thursday, 30 October 2014 00:57 (nine years ago) link
yawn this guy
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 30 October 2014 02:02 (nine years ago) link
https://soundcloud.com/andrew-broder/mimon-sparfunkel-can-kizz-my-whole-entire-azz
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 30 October 2014 18:49 (nine years ago) link
i thought the initial dis was sort of amusing but fake laughing at the response is like barely better than complaining about "haters" as far as engaging in public beef goes
― adam, Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:00 (nine years ago) link
I think it would be funny coming from some 20-year-old upstart punk, it's not really funny coming from a guy that's not far from being some kind of indie eminence grise. Like even if he thinks War on Drugs is not interesting and shouldn't be as big as it is, where has the guy been? Is it really still surprising him by now that something he finds a little bland is popular?
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:03 (nine years ago) link
not to defend it, but i don't think he really cares if these songs stand the test of time. he's trolling.
― da croupier, Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:08 (nine years ago) link
I don't think it's a new thought for him. It's just getting attention now.
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:10 (nine years ago) link
Think he fancies himself 'a real blue collar SOB from the Midwest' and he's behaving like one.
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:11 (nine years ago) link
bc he is one prbly
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:12 (nine years ago) link
I thought midwesterners were supposed to be excessively polite
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:15 (nine years ago) link
not in my experience!
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:18 (nine years ago) link
Check it out, here's a new Sun Kil Moon song:
My dad is a really cool guyOne time we split a panini at Panera breadfour cousins were killed later that day in unrelated gravel pit tragediesand when I got the news the radio was playing the song Limelight by Rush
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:22 (nine years ago) link
...Rush can suck my cok
― Evan, Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:26 (nine years ago) link
to be fair rush is fucking awful
but xpost yeah thats a pretty OTM caricature/summary of benji and of "confessional storytelling" koz
based on how he looks of late in publicity photos i would guess that a drinking problem of some severity might play into all this (as well as the obvious trolling factor/aspects of insecurity with fame and frustration w/ the indie press discussed above)
― and also pointsman, octopi don't bark (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link
there was an article about the tiff from a female perspective (i.e. s&*k my c&*k) in the last day or two but now I can't find it
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
Thinking of the pitchfork article written by the lead from Perfect Pussy?
― Evan, Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:54 (nine years ago) link
Yes, that's right...thanks!
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 30 October 2014 20:47 (nine years ago) link
this guy is a jackass
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:05 (nine years ago) link
:-o
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:13 (nine years ago) link
koz was sober/straight for years and years but I wouldn't be surprised to find out he is no longer
― akm, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:20 (nine years ago) link
Is it really still surprising him by now that something he finds a little bland is popular?
lol @ idea that someone who steve reichs acoustic chords and hold steadys livejournal words over it in 2014 finds anything "bland"
take out whatever terrible line he has about his teenage sexuality and put in "that was the first time I drank blonde roast" and u got urself a buzzfeed-approved hit
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:27 (nine years ago) link
acoustic chords
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:28 (nine years ago) link
xpost BUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
― and also pointsman, octopi don't bark (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:31 (nine years ago) link
http://www.acoustic-guitar-weddings.com/images/Em_chord.jpg
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link
I'm no WoD stan tbqh but this hardman posturing by a guy who pedals privileged anger over a well-worn style of music makes me cross, though his nonsense was already taken care of by m graves
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:37 (nine years ago) link
let him continue shaking his fist at the world around him, it's tough being part of the most privileged demo alive man i feel u
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:39 (nine years ago) link
Eminor is an acoustic chord got it
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:39 (nine years ago) link
i could post all the pictures but load times etc.
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:40 (nine years ago) link
there are at least ten, maybe eleven
He phase-shifts acoustic chords?
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:46 (nine years ago) link
That would be amazing
i like 'steve reichs' as a verb.
― festival culture (Jordan), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:46 (nine years ago) link
could just say 'arpeggiate'
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:49 (nine years ago) link
has the sun kiled the moon yet
― mattresslessness, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:52 (nine years ago) link
lunacide
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:53 (nine years ago) link
RIP moon i hardly knew u
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:54 (nine years ago) link
Except arpeggiating chords isn't really a thing Steve Reich does a lot so?
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:54 (nine years ago) link
let's not pick apart too much ppl i typed that in between mouthfuls of wheat thins
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:55 (nine years ago) link
xp but it seems to be something koz does a lot but i could be mistaken
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:56 (nine years ago) link
So you mean you can't type during the time when your mouth is full of wheat thins?
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:56 (nine years ago) link
Or do you just mean that wheat thins, with their carb coma-inducing capacity, impair your ability to think clearly
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:57 (nine years ago) link
think he means that the moments between wheat thins are frivolous
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:57 (nine years ago) link
and franklin otm
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:58 (nine years ago) link
Typing while eating wheat thins: succumb to my middle-aged white male privilege (or, I project self-loathing for failures of simultaneous wheat thin consumption and typing through the language of male violence aimed at unsuspecting individuals)
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:59 (nine years ago) link
q: are your wheat thins 'popped'?
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:59 (nine years ago) link
indeed, what is life but a series of frivolous moments in between mouthfuls of wheat thins, xp
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:00 (nine years ago) link
my wheat thins are standard, except they are the "low sodium choice"
i find most snack foods are salted enough tyvm xp
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:00 (nine years ago) link
'popped' wheat thins seem overly buttery to me.
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:01 (nine years ago) link
but I am ignorant of the 'popping' process as applied to wheat thins so maybe it is required
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:02 (nine years ago) link
how about you play one of your songs now, and I play wheat thins commercial guitar over it?
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:03 (nine years ago) link
as long as u use electric chords
― franklin, Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:04 (nine years ago) link
i will use saucy chords
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:17 (nine years ago) link
something something something panera bread
― Evan, Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:35 (nine years ago) link
philip glass & wheat thins join forces for astoundingly crunchy, minimally seasoned, zero-calorie 'glass thins'
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 30 October 2014 23:01 (nine years ago) link
wheat thins are expected to be a thematic thread throughout the next sun kil moon record
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 23:20 (nine years ago) link
Ham on Reich/Lick My Thins
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 30 October 2014 23:26 (nine years ago) link
Salt Kil Fish
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 30 October 2014 23:27 (nine years ago) link
I Can't Live Without My Mother's Spinach Dip
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 30 October 2014 23:28 (nine years ago) link
we're goin' down the road, towards tiny cities made of crackers...
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 30 October 2014 23:29 (nine years ago) link
"And that was the same day I found out my great niece Kaitlin slipped and fell on some wheat thins"
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Thursday, 30 October 2014 23:30 (nine years ago) link
kozelek is the racoon tanuki of folk rock
― adam, Friday, 31 October 2014 00:30 (nine years ago) link
^^^^^BUUUUUURRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNN
koz gonna need time in the hospital for that, 2nd degree at least
if somehow he ends up in the hospital due to a booze relapse i'm prob gonna feel bad about saying that huh
― and also pointsman, octopi don't bark (slothroprhymes), Monday, 3 November 2014 15:30 (nine years ago) link
Now Sings Christmas Carols finally comes out and it feels like an unwanted present from the obnoxious uncle you try and avoid at family gatherings. What happened in between? Kozelek saw the reaction he got from a typically cranky and offhand comment about War on Drugs’ music bleeding into his own at a festival and somehow thought releasing not one but two songs about it a would be amusing to someone other than himself (plus a t-shirt with another insult). Suffice to say the joke isn’t funny anymore, and Kozelek is looking pretty sad, not to mention that he’s probably alienating new fans he may have acquired since Benji’s release.
kozelek is looking pretty. pretty sad.
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 7 November 2014 04:50 (nine years ago) link
Is there a record somewhere of Kozelek seeing the reaction he got and then looking sad?
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 7 November 2014 04:52 (nine years ago) link
is there a picture of him somewhere not looking sad?
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Friday, 7 November 2014 04:53 (nine years ago) link
http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsK/45349-29304.jpg
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 7 November 2014 04:56 (nine years ago) link
just looks kinda 'what?' there
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 7 November 2014 04:57 (nine years ago) link
but he is playing a character. there are no non-sad photos while not in character.
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 7 November 2014 04:58 (nine years ago) link
kinda funny how the best verse of the centerpiece track of this album is about apologizing for bullying someone for no good reason
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Friday, 7 November 2014 04:59 (nine years ago) link
ha! I had forgotten about that. He's just creating future material...
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 7 November 2014 05:01 (nine years ago) link
New song: "John Paul Jones Sucks At Keyboard"
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Friday, 7 November 2014 05:03 (nine years ago) link
Kozelek has not heard the No Quarter overdubs on the deluxe reissue
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 7 November 2014 05:07 (nine years ago) link
xpost or how about "I Can't Fucking Believe Zep Licensed 'Rock And Roll' For A Toyota Commercial I Am Now Hate-Watching While Drunk"
― ichabron crames (slothroprhymes), Friday, 7 November 2014 21:59 (nine years ago) link
Dude.. That was Cadillac...
― BlackIronPrison, Saturday, 8 November 2014 00:42 (nine years ago) link
The Possum. http://www.sunkilmoon.com/skmpossum/
thoughts?
― dell (del), Friday, 28 November 2014 05:28 (nine years ago) link
This dude has crawled up inside his own ass at this point.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 28 November 2014 05:30 (nine years ago) link
I think it's great. I wish I could navigate a midlife crisis by recording a song about a dead possum and going to a Godflesh show instead of other mistakes that I have made.
I do wish that he would go back to his natural beautiful pipes instead of trying to do this Modest Mouse guy howling thing. It's kind of like if John Lennon ended up recording every song for the rest of his life in Yer Blues mode. I guess it's almost like some kind of natural law regarding genius that if you're really talented you have to sabotage it in some way through a combination of overthinking and trying too hard to get away from what you do best. But I like the song a lot.
― dell (del), Friday, 28 November 2014 05:33 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I'm not into it myself. He should maybe write a book and get the stream of conscious story telling out that way since he doesn't seem very interesting in "crafting" songs as of late.
― Evan, Friday, 28 November 2014 05:45 (nine years ago) link
Musically for him this is something he can shit out with absolutely no effort. I just with he would put some energy back into that aspect of his songwriting.
― Evan, Friday, 28 November 2014 05:52 (nine years ago) link
Mm, yeah, Benji is great and all but I haven't been able to listen to it more than one and a half times. Aside from the harrowing subject matter, just from a basic aesthetic sense it's not exactly a song format that bears repeated listens. I feel like on Old Ramon/Ghosts of the Great Highway/April he managed to fit his storytelling/confessional urges in a format that was more conducive to hitting the repeat button
It's funny, I only just now realized this, but the first time I ever heard GoTGH was on Thanksgiving, my friend sent it to me for no reason at all, and I opened up the package on t-giving and finally listened to it, like maybe 30 seconds of each song before I had to rush out of the house and go do holiday stuff, and I knew instantly that it was an amazing record -- it was that good. My friend advertised it to me by saying that he got stricken with a stomach virus and he was bedridden for several days in a row and just kept listening to the record on repeat. I can totally understand that -- he did something on that record that he hasn't been able to do since ... tho I do love April as well.
― dell (del), Friday, 28 November 2014 05:54 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I agree Evan.
― dell (del), Friday, 28 November 2014 05:55 (nine years ago) link
Right, Admiral Fell Promises edges out as the favorite for me, but I feel the same more or less. I definitely repeat listen to later material myself, but so much of the latest from him is carried almost entirely by poignancy in the narrative and his delivery.
― Evan, Friday, 28 November 2014 06:03 (nine years ago) link
https://twitter.com/pitchfork/status/538723495274758144just look at the title of the b-side. DIS SHIT DONT STOP.
not that I'm mad at anyone for making fun of the hipsterati, even with them being the lowest possible hanging fruit there is, but given everything he's already done it's just pathetic, and also the people he hates are paying his bills and keeping him relevant, not the older indie dilletante TROO BELIEVERZ. so it's wild hypocritical altho I doubt he cares. standing by my logic that he's either relapsed to boozing OR, alternately, is having a real hard time being sober.
― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes), Saturday, 29 November 2014 16:08 (nine years ago) link
I knew instantly that it was an amazing record
same here. i checked it out of the library because of the cover art and as soon as i started playing it i was like "wow i uh made the right decision"
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Saturday, 29 November 2014 17:16 (nine years ago) link
Did you rip it?
― $0.00 Butter sauce only. No marinara. (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 29 November 2014 17:24 (nine years ago) link
standing by my logic that he's either relapsed to boozing OR, alternately, is having a real hard time being sober.
maybe he's just sad about getting older, and fighting back against it in unseemly ways.
Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Saturday, 29 November 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
I mean, that's certainly what's happening to eminem right now so I would imagine it's a major part of it all regardless
― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes), Saturday, 29 November 2014 18:22 (nine years ago) link
just seems like a theme running thru a lot of his recent material. he's a prick, but can't deny i like the music (when he's not being lazy)
― Daniel, Esq 2, Saturday, 29 November 2014 18:24 (nine years ago) link
I have no idea which straw man "older indie dilletante TROO BELIEVERZ" is supposed to be?
― i did it all for the 'nuki (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 29 November 2014 18:34 (nine years ago) link
yelling at the kids is not burning and raving at close of day
burning and raving at close of day is bewailing one's own mortality and how just as you're closing in on the wisdom and vision you sought, your time starts to run out, and your energy flags no matter how jealously you've guarded your powers, and besides the futility of the whole enterprise becomes more transparent and it doesn't seem fair because seen from the right angle it all seems so beautiful but the clarity of your aging eyes forces to you see both that beauty and its pointlessness
being mad at williamsburg is basically going gentle, because it's what all the olds do when they run out of the power to be properly mad
― The Complainte of Ray Tabano, Saturday, 29 November 2014 18:37 (nine years ago) link
xpost i meant people who collect or collected red house painters b-sides and kozelek live bootlegs since the 90s/early aughts as opposed to people who saw the BNM of benji and began exploring his back catalog as a result. it wasn't intended to demonize either, light jab at best bc who cares how you find an artist, but you can take it that way if you like - I'm sure kozelek would
― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes), Saturday, 29 November 2014 19:00 (nine years ago) link
Leeds show seemingly cancelled tonight.
― djh, Monday, 1 December 2014 20:10 (nine years ago) link
he's busy writing "I Think FKA Twigs' Face is Fucking Weird & I Need a Drink"
― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes), Monday, 1 December 2014 22:02 (nine years ago) link
Still really digging Red House Painters "Void"
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 1 January 2015 04:30 (nine years ago) link
^^^^^^^^^ this is the greatest song.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Thursday, 1 January 2015 04:43 (nine years ago) link
Was listening to both the album version and the live version linked above a while ago.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 1 January 2015 15:21 (nine years ago) link
Is it the live version from Little Drummer Boy Live? With that version a great song became an incredible song.
― Evan, Thursday, 1 January 2015 15:25 (nine years ago) link
Actually all of the Old Ramon tracks that he does on that live album become twice as gorgeous with his approach there.
― Evan, Thursday, 1 January 2015 15:29 (nine years ago) link
It's live at Hultsfred.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 1 January 2015 15:58 (nine years ago) link
Ok just looked it up. That version is incredible!
Also, here's Cruiser from the album I was thinking of- unfortunately nobody uploaded Void to youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhfspmqOe64
― Evan, Thursday, 1 January 2015 17:00 (nine years ago) link
This could be in... the top 3(?) of favorite Kozelek songs for me, and it's from an album overlooked by most people. Stylistically it's 90% likely a carry-over from his Admiral Fell Promises songwriting period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pLIC7fK778
― Evan, Thursday, 15 January 2015 21:31 (nine years ago) link
this is indeed pretty great, i didn't know it yet, thanks for the hint.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Thursday, 15 January 2015 22:00 (nine years ago) link
You're very welcome.
It has the closest structure & style to Alesund but its coda has much more emotional pull. Notably helped by the extremely subtle vocal harmonies and banjo accompaniment within it.
― Evan, Thursday, 15 January 2015 22:02 (nine years ago) link
Kozelek: "Steve Shelley was telling me the other night, ’This next one needs to be really good,’ and my hope is that it will be."
Tracklist:
01 “The Possum”
02 “Birds Of Flims”
03 “With A Sort Of Grace I Walked To The Bathroom To Cry”
04 “Garden Of Lavender”
05 “Cry Me A River Williamsburg Sleeve Tattoo Blues”
06 “Ali/Spinks 2″
07 “Little Rascals”
08 “This Is My First Day And I’m Indian And I Work At A Gas Station”
― Evan, Thursday, 19 February 2015 12:46 (nine years ago) link
’This next one needs to be really good’
:/
― Evan, Thursday, 19 February 2015 12:47 (nine years ago) link
well that's what you call aggressively steering into the skid
― slothroprhymes, Thursday, 19 February 2015 13:13 (nine years ago) link
I was really hoping "The Possum" was the last of him getting this approach out of his system. I definitely didn't expect the B side of that single “Cry Me A River Williamsburg Sleeve Tattoo Blues” to have a chance of being included.
I mean, I was just listening to April and it's so well crafted and well performed and moving. I was really hoping he'd return somewhat to that level of care and nuance. Yet these new song titles aren't comforting.
― Evan, Thursday, 19 February 2015 13:30 (nine years ago) link
It's a bit odd opening Kozelek threads with a slight dread that he has said/done something else stupid.
― djh, Thursday, 19 February 2015 17:39 (nine years ago) link
I think we're all getting used to that feeling.
― doug watson, Thursday, 19 February 2015 18:57 (nine years ago) link
don't know about this new album, but I'm finally getting into the desertshore stuff
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 6 March 2015 21:23 (nine years ago) link
I say this as a relative Kozelek apologist: this is hideous
http://pitchfork.com/news/58752-sun-kil-moon-goes-electric-on-alispinks-2/
― Simon H., Friday, 6 March 2015 21:43 (nine years ago) link
sounds like... sun kil moon. the breakdown is pretty cool. don't forget how insanely prolific he is these days.
― mushaboom kids (rip van wanko), Friday, 6 March 2015 22:32 (nine years ago) link
I don't hate this
― Dinsdale, Saturday, 7 March 2015 09:52 (nine years ago) link
His vocal style lately, this drawl/talk/croak thing, makes it sound to me like he's trying to do an impression of some cliche cool guy inflection. Like he's mumbling the whole song from the back of a parked motorcycle as he leans on his knee and stares off into the horizon. Maybe he thinks he's Matthew McConaughey now cause of True Detective.
― Evan, Sunday, 8 March 2015 01:05 (nine years ago) link
that song is fucking horrible
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, 8 March 2015 01:12 (nine years ago) link
https://mobile.twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%2523FutureSunKilMoonSongs
― Evan, Monday, 9 March 2015 14:47 (nine years ago) link
the rap j mascis never dared
― da croupier, Monday, 9 March 2015 14:51 (nine years ago) link
someone should run LFO's "Summergirls" through a fuzzbox and post it as a new sunkilmoon track
― da croupier, Monday, 9 March 2015 14:55 (nine years ago) link
maybe jerk the pitch around a little on the vocals
― da croupier, Monday, 9 March 2015 14:56 (nine years ago) link
― Evan, Monday, March 9, 2015 10:47 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
irl lols
― slothroprhymes, Monday, 9 March 2015 16:47 (nine years ago) link
Good god, "Perils from the Sea" is so beautiful I don't want to believe its by the trolling dickhead of late.
― djh, Friday, 27 March 2015 20:55 (nine years ago) link
upcoming record w/ Justin Broadrick(!)
http://www.factmag.com/2015/04/27/jesu-and-sun-kil-moon-to-collaborate-on-new-album/
― yeovil knievel (NickB), Monday, 27 April 2015 12:25 (eight years ago) link
I'll fuckin listen to that
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Monday, 27 April 2015 14:04 (eight years ago) link
Wondering if he'll shake his recent McConaughey-croak-rap rut for this one.
― Evan, Monday, 27 April 2015 14:10 (eight years ago) link
yeahh boy does it make me wish they had this idea when his voice wasn't shot
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Monday, 27 April 2015 14:17 (eight years ago) link
I don't necessarily think his voice is shot, just that he is fixated on his drawl and isn't as interested in singing.
― Evan, Monday, 27 April 2015 14:32 (eight years ago) link
Hopefully the music will be loud enough to drown out the vocals.
― moans and feedback (Dinsdale), Monday, 27 April 2015 14:46 (eight years ago) link
Hopefully it'll be more like:
"Where are my vocals?"
"You said you wanted an instrumental remix."
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 April 2015 15:53 (eight years ago) link
hopefully it's just a bunch of boxing sound effects and distorted guitars
― Bookmark No Bingus Permalink (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 27 April 2015 15:56 (eight years ago) link
ok so if you hated Benji stay far, far away from Universal Themes, which does the same thing except with shitty arrangements, boring lyrics and endless songs (8 tracks in 70 minutes). yikes.
― fuck me, archipelago (Simon H.), Saturday, 30 May 2015 21:21 (eight years ago) link
Album arrived this afternoon but haven't listen yet... the lyric sheet is, erm, dense ...
I thought Benji & Perils From The Sea were by far the best things Koz has released since April (and Among The Leaves the worst) so I'm hoping I won't find this terrible!
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Saturday, 30 May 2015 23:19 (eight years ago) link
Among The Leaves had some great songs on it. Probably the weakest as an album though.
This album is interesting... It's like a music version of a mumblecore film. Some sections of lyrics are downright stupid, some moments are powerful, some moments feel like they're powerful but then you realize the lyrics aren't very poignant. Overall it's almost as if someone told him he isn't allowed to write a book so he found a loophole and made this album instead. Some of the shouty bits (esp on The Possum) sound very similar in cadence and tone to the ramblings of the angry drunk homeless dudes I see around town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvgjzeDssyA
― Evan, Sunday, 31 May 2015 17:57 (eight years ago) link
my wife pointed out to me that this stuff sounds like Counting Crows
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 31 May 2015 19:45 (eight years ago) link
and she's not wrong
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 31 May 2015 19:46 (eight years ago) link
this is some of the worst shit i've ever heard - and i wasn't a total benji hater tbh
― slothroprhymes, Monday, 1 June 2015 15:42 (eight years ago) link
There are some really pretty parts throughout the record, but even then the lyrics are usually just some unpoetic story about some insignificant thing he was doing that likely has no deeper meaning.
― Evan, Monday, 1 June 2015 15:55 (eight years ago) link
After a few plays through today, and I actually like it more than I expected. I find these journal-entry style lyrics easier to swallow when set to a decent tune (e.g. "Ben's My friend") though ...
By the closing verses of the last song it's almost like he's intentially trolling the fans he writes about in "Cry Me A River ..."
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Monday, 1 June 2015 16:20 (eight years ago) link
give it the fuck up already, koz.
― meaulnes, Monday, 1 June 2015 23:07 (eight years ago) link
He already has. Didn't you listen to the record?
― Evan, Monday, 1 June 2015 23:55 (eight years ago) link
The editor of Uncut Tweeted this after the Barbican show last night but from trying to look at other Tweets from the show I can't figure out what he's referring to. Was anyone there?
@JohnRMulvey 10h10 hours ago
God knows I've spent over 20 years obsessing over and defending Mark Kozelek's music but that was some vile misogynist bullshit tonight.
― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 08:12 (eight years ago) link
probably the music
― strangled whelps (imago), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 08:28 (eight years ago) link
benji was one of the worst things i've heard in my entire life btw
Benji was bad, and i probably won't give the new one much more than a cursory listen, but he remains one of the greatest songwriters of the last 25 years. it's not like he's been making crap music for very long either.
― charlie h, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 09:04 (eight years ago) link
https://twitter.com/laurasnapes/status/605689379017867265
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 11:04 (eight years ago) link
Mulvey has written more about it here: http://www.uncut.co.uk/uncut-editors-diary/the-mark-kozelek-problem-68764
relevant paragraphs:
Two hours into the show, however, as Kozelek lurches back onstage for the encore, the theme takes a substantially nastier turn. First he names a British journalist who has, for reasons that are not entirely clear, annoyed him (full disclosure: that journalist is a friend and fellow Uncut writer. I would hope that my disgust at what Kozelek says is not materially affected by this, though he will doubtless beg to differ). Then he begins a spontaneous song about the writer – a woman – about how she “totally wants to fuck me” and how she should “get in line, bitch.”
So this, for me, is the tipping point: the exact moment when borderline dubious ragging becomes straight-up offensive misogyny. Kozelek would inevitably excuse it as his much-vaunted “great sense of humour” and indeed once he’s finished the next songs – “I Can’t Live Without My Mother’s Love” and “Caroline”, about probably the two most important women in his life, ironically enough – he returns to the subject. He calls the writer “nice”, “sweet”, “cute”, as if that would make things better, and claims he was “just kidding”. He then sings the song again.
― satans favourite son, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 11:05 (eight years ago) link
embarrassing clown of a man. koz, take a holiday for god's sake
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 11:27 (eight years ago) link
So now we’re on the cusp of yet another Kozelek firestorm
frankly I doubt this is going to happen
― anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:09 (eight years ago) link
lol, as if you couldn't tell from listening to his recent music that he's a worthless cunt with nothing to say
― strangled whelps (imago), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:15 (eight years ago) link
red house wasteman
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:17 (eight years ago) link
someone should throw him down colorful hill
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:21 (eight years ago) link
grace cathedral fuckboy
― strangled whelps (imago), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:22 (eight years ago) link
let the waves wash over him on ocean beach
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:59 (eight years ago) link
Has He Forgotten (how to shut the fuck up)
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 13:48 (eight years ago) link
is this guy a serious alcoholic maybe? this behavior is giving off a vibe that is familiar to me
― kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 14:00 (eight years ago) link
that was my exact guess around the time when warondrugsghazi was happening
― dellevadova depression beard (slothroprhymes), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 14:03 (eight years ago) link
― charlie h, Tuesday, June 2, 2015 5:04 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yeah no matter what we still have his his practically perfect records from 2010 and back. Perils From The Sea was great, too.
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 14:16 (eight years ago) link
A little talk about that show down-thread a little from people who attended here:
http://forum.sadreminders.com/discussion/737/06-01-15-london-barbican-london-uk-sun-kil-moon
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 14:29 (eight years ago) link
It's worth reading the whole of that Uncut review (to get the full sense of disappointment).
― djh, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 17:47 (eight years ago) link
Idg what people like about this guy and his music
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 17:58 (eight years ago) link
i've enjoyed some red house painters, but um yeah, it'd probably be for the best if everyone just ignored him now? not that that is going to happen.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 18:00 (eight years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, June 2, 2015 1:58 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtLUtcmJk0Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiNzirkNHFk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3POcsR5mkq4
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 18:24 (eight years ago) link
Above examples not representative of his recent "style"
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 18:25 (eight years ago) link
because it sucks
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 18:27 (eight years ago) link
His current style you mean.
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 18:29 (eight years ago) link
Because early Sun Kil Moon material is absolutely incredible to me the only criticism I have is that sometime between RHP and SKM his voice suddenly got all congested and jowly sounding. Other than that his music up to 2010 (case by case past that) is just stunning.
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 18:35 (eight years ago) link
lol yeah u know me!
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 19:11 (eight years ago) link
so... leo kottke for depressive gen xers
yeeeah this guy is not for me
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 19:17 (eight years ago) link
Ha! not quite but alright.
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 19:18 (eight years ago) link
I think Kozelek fans are quite divided on what the best stuff is. Could never get into much beyond the first Sun Kil Moon album. I might try a few more things but for me nothing beats the atmospheric, obsessive emotional outpouring of the first few Red House Painters releases. That stuff is fucking magic. I think in a few ways his style was almost reversed, kinda like David Byrne's singing voice.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 19:18 (eight years ago) link
I love Red House Painters as well. I just felt it made more sense to link some nice Sun Kil Moon songs to show the contrast it has to his recent stuff under the same name. I feel like he should have moved onto his third moniker now given how different he sounds now.
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 19:24 (eight years ago) link
oops meant to delete that first "now"
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 19:25 (eight years ago) link
I think in a few ways his style was almost reversed, kinda like David Byrne's singing voice.
Legitimately curious about this sentence. Do you mean his songwriting, or his actual voice?
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 19:49 (eight years ago) link
In the case of Byrne, just his voice. It became very relaxed. I prefer Byrne's nervy voice in early Talking Heads but I think in his later style he occasionally did some beautiful things he never would have done before. Like in The Forest.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 20:21 (eight years ago) link
For Kozelek the newer stuff sounds more easy going, even when sad and he might be meticulous about the writing it still sounds off the cuff by comparison. I probably said this above but on a lot of the earliest RHP stuff, everything sounds like it's been bottled up for ages then all let out. In songs like "Medicine Bottle", every breath sounds precious.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 20:32 (eight years ago) link
In early Sun Kil Moon times he talked about making his lyrics more ambiguous as opposed to the diary style of RHP but from the way people are talking it sounds like he's more diaristic again.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 20:37 (eight years ago) link
I see what you mean now, thanks for the reply!
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 20:39 (eight years ago) link
It's interesting that Robert allows the possibility that Kozelek may be being meticulous in his writing because ... I find it very difficult to believe that's the case (though may very well be possible).
― djh, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 21:12 (eight years ago) link
pretty much "diary diarrhea" in the new one
― Evan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 21:17 (eight years ago) link
I feel like he should have moved onto his third moniker now given how different he sounds now.
He's going by Ehhhhhh, Really, Mark? now
― moans and feedback (Dinsdale), Wednesday, 3 June 2015 12:27 (eight years ago) link
"is this guy a serious alcoholic maybe? this behavior is giving off a vibe that is familiar to me"
he was certainly sent to rehab when he was young but more likely for drug things, not sure. I'm relatively positive i've seen him drinking in SF but I've never seen him drunk but I also haven't seen him out in years.
I still like his stuff through Leaves. Don't get the Benji love and don't plan on listening to this. Haven't liked him live since RHP split anyway.
― akm, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 14:16 (eight years ago) link
yeah this is super disappointing, perils from the sea was such a tremendous case for his new songwriting style but benji only had 1 song that touched anything on that record ('i saw the film the song remains the same') and this record doesn't seem to have anything going for it at all
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 14:25 (eight years ago) link
I always loved 2 old tracks by Sun Kil Moon. I dunno why everything else doesn't even come close to lifting me up like these 2. I guess they're just an anomaly. You might like them Οὖτις
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxBRqhIHsw0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjA3EbKsl4E
― The Once-ler, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 14:31 (eight years ago) link
hmm yeah I like that Pancho Villa one
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 15:36 (eight years ago) link
Here's a fun RHP rocker, and latter day RHP basically just feels indistinct from SKM/Kozelek solo anyhow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRIamI0Va7g
― Evan, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 16:03 (eight years ago) link
Just trying more to bring attention to ideal Kozelek. So many people think his current schtick is somehow representative of overall output.
― Evan, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 16:06 (eight years ago) link
yeah but isn't the problem that his current live set relies heavily on his recent output
― anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Wednesday, 3 June 2015 16:08 (eight years ago) link
Well sure, but I'm just trying to show that Benji-era doesn't represent the vast majority of his otherwise stellar discography.
― Evan, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
Nice track Evan. I like the My Bloody Valentine at 4:40 in Between Days
― The Once-ler, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 16:29 (eight years ago) link
Yeah I always got that vibe from it as well.
― Evan, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 16:29 (eight years ago) link
"Between Days" is so great. a "Dancing Days" pastiche that somehow greatly surpasses the original
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 16:36 (eight years ago) link
fuck is with this guy
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/04/i-interviewed-mark-kozelek-he-called-me-a-bitch-on-stage
― goole, Thursday, 4 June 2015 18:09 (eight years ago) link
He comes off like he's just been to some PUA asshole's negging seminar and is trying out his new-learned skillz
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Thursday, 4 June 2015 18:19 (eight years ago) link
some unchill maroon
― polyphonic, Thursday, 4 June 2015 18:23 (eight years ago) link
e harvey called him "indie rock's lester burnham" and it's a sad, well-fitting shoe
― da croupier, Thursday, 4 June 2015 18:32 (eight years ago) link
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Thursday, June 4, 2015 2:19 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yea or he just watched this sequence a bunch of times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbanWHx5AFQ
― dellevadova depression beard (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 4 June 2015 18:42 (eight years ago) link
god that movie is so bad
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 4 June 2015 18:48 (eight years ago) link
Feel a bit bemused that anyone is surprised he is a * dick *.
― djh, Thursday, 4 June 2015 18:50 (eight years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Thursday, June 4, 2015 2:48 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
u r bad
― dellevadova depression beard (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 4 June 2015 18:55 (eight years ago) link
"Surprise" doesn't seem remotely like the accurate verb to describe people's reaction to this
― da croupier, Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:17 (eight years ago) link
Or adverb WHATEVER
― da croupier, Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:18 (eight years ago) link
pretty weird self-destructo thing happening though -- w/o all of this hoohah, the dude would be coasting on some of the best reviews of his career (maybe even the best sales?).
― tylerw, Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:18 (eight years ago) link
Adjective, right? Embarrassing but I'd feel worse if I was pretending to be more cynical than people who think kozelek's trip is an increasing bummer
― da croupier, Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:21 (eight years ago) link
Hearing from a lot of people that he is very nice 1 on 1 and nobody is quite sure why he chooses to come off this way in a public setting.
― Evan, Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:24 (eight years ago) link
More likely to get punched in the face 1 on 1
― da croupier, Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:29 (eight years ago) link
otm not as easy to say "It's a performance! I'm doing art!" when it's a 1 to 1 conversation
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:31 (eight years ago) link
what happened to my kozelekhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQWBTAt-xBI
― ciderpress, Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:35 (eight years ago) link
buzz kil buffoon
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Thursday, 4 June 2015 19:38 (eight years ago) link
As someone who knows virtually nothing about him he comes across like Ariel Pink to me, another resentful indie omega male puffed up by acclaim and turning that resentment outward as angry misogyny.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 4 June 2015 20:50 (eight years ago) link
Too bad because a ton of his albums are nuanced and smart and mature. Such a discrepancy from this behavior. His latest album matches well though.
― Evan, Thursday, 4 June 2015 20:55 (eight years ago) link
Kozelek is a manic depressive. It sounds like a hypomanic episode.
― Allen (etaeoe), Thursday, 4 June 2015 21:06 (eight years ago) link
I don't think he is, though. He's been consistently, though increasingly, like this in a public setting for years. Even in the April-era you heard stories. And his lyrics have always revealed a potential for nastiness (e.g. the "mistress" character). What's puzzling is his apparent wish/compulsion to show off this side of himself in the limelight. However, it's reinforced by all the attention
― Mule, Thursday, 4 June 2015 21:37 (eight years ago) link
Hmm this guy is obviously a complete shit but some of his friends think he isn't and also he sings songs
*thinks*
*thinks for ages*
― Vaguely Fettening WAPCHAS (wins), Thursday, 4 June 2015 23:08 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, we should all probably stop wasting our valuable time on this particular thread on this vast internet music message board.
― Mule, Thursday, 4 June 2015 23:19 (eight years ago) link
seems kinda shitty to me that P-fork didn't report on this incidnt at all, considering the 12 fucking pieces they posted on the Koz/War on Drugs "feud"...thing
― fuck me, archipelago (Simon H.), Friday, 5 June 2015 02:18 (eight years ago) link
Schreibs responded on FB.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 June 2015 02:19 (eight years ago) link
I was 100% onboard with him calling a bunch of hip urban 'new south' concertgoers hillbillies, because I hate Raleigh & thought it was a deliciously well-aimed jab (cf that Ben Folds Five song about trying to cover up your redneck past) but everything since then has made me want to to karate-kick his cranky ass into a garbage truck
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Friday, 5 June 2015 02:41 (eight years ago) link
(Full disclosure: I have heard no RHP & very little SKM, so I was basically indifferent towards him at the time. Some of the RHP stuff posted itt are intriguing & I would maybe even have bought a record or two, if I didn't have infinite better things to do than give my money to shitheads)
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Friday, 5 June 2015 02:48 (eight years ago) link
* RHP songs posted itt
i think calling him 'cranky' is pretty generous
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Friday, 5 June 2015 14:24 (eight years ago) link
is it all that difficult to wrap your head around an artist being really good but also being a total asshole? why isn't this a tale as old as time
(obv many ppl are dropping into this thread just to say dude sucks, but rest of yall don't need to wring your hands so hard)
― een, Friday, 5 June 2015 15:36 (eight years ago) link
Well part of my problem is that he's making headlines for his bad behavior, then people want to see what his music sounds like so they listen to "The Possum" and wonder why he has any fans. And I'm over here saying "Wait! This isn't the same dude that I became a fan of- try Young Love instead!"
― Evan, Friday, 5 June 2015 15:59 (eight years ago) link
And then they can say "Oh so he's an asshole you can hum along with at times."
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 June 2015 16:09 (eight years ago) link
y'know, like Chris Brown
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 June 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
I don't see why anybody would want to engage in the sort of hairsplitting which characterizes most "good artist/bad person" debates when the artist himself seems to get a perverse thrill out of tying the hairs back together at the earliest opportunity
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Friday, 5 June 2015 16:28 (eight years ago) link
I don't think people are having trouble "wrapping their head around it" so much as taking the time to call out abusive public behavior. The internet and era of instance democratized communication is not a tale as old as time, try wrapping your head around that.
Usually we find out about artist behaving bad after I've heard a bunch of their stuff, often years after it, often years after that person is dead even. I imagine if John Lennon was pulling abusive stuff in the age of the internet he would be called out on it on a daily basis.
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 5 June 2015 16:52 (eight years ago) link
they have to phrase it as if everyone is a naive idiot pearl-clutching in shock rather than simply expressing disgust and disappointment, otherwise "i am capable of separating the art from the artist" would be a piddly thing to crow about
― da croupier, Friday, 5 June 2015 17:00 (eight years ago) link
is this guy an alcoholic maybe?
― kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 5 June 2015 18:44 (eight years ago) link
i've been watching Vikings, and i think that he is a Viking maybe?
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 5 June 2015 18:53 (eight years ago) link
in his sleep maybe
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 June 2015 18:54 (eight years ago) link
Oh boy, sleaze! That's where he's a viking
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 5 June 2015 18:59 (eight years ago) link
he was well known to be in rehab as a teenager (for drugs) but i've never known alcohol be an issue with him, he's just been kind of a dick forever; it's more that his stature has risen to a point where people pay attention to his dickishness.
― akm, Friday, 5 June 2015 22:10 (eight years ago) link
was he writing sadcore variations on g'n'rs "get in the ring" in 1995?
― da croupier, Friday, 5 June 2015 22:13 (eight years ago) link
probably, they're just way more buried in metaphor
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Friday, 5 June 2015 22:13 (eight years ago) link
like, maybe he was always a meanie, but i'm still waiting for someone to actually pull up some notable quotes - let alone songs - from his first decade where he bullies people by their full name
― da croupier, Friday, 5 June 2015 22:14 (eight years ago) link
No it's definitely more of a thing now. As far as I know the extent of his dickishness in the past was simply giving people in the audience a hard time.
― Evan, Friday, 5 June 2015 22:32 (eight years ago) link
katy
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Friday, 5 June 2015 23:23 (eight years ago) link
lol sorry that is a deeply uncharitable reply
I was 100% onboard with him calling a bunch of hip urban 'new south' concertgoers hillbillies, because I hate Raleigh
lol u realize that probably half the people in that room were from CH/Durham/Carrboro right
― Joan Crawford Loves Chachi, Saturday, 6 June 2015 00:14 (eight years ago) link
is this guy an alcoholic maybe?― kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, June 5, 2015 1:44 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i've been watching Vikings, and i think that he is a Viking maybe?― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, June 5, 2015 1:53 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Obv I don't know him just his behavior um recalls some ppl that I have known I guess
― kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 6 June 2015 00:21 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, it sounds like some kind of radical transparency that probably spells trouble.
― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 6 June 2015 00:36 (eight years ago) link
xp I understand exactly what you mean it resembles ppl floating around but not quite hitting the bottom
― slothroprhymes, Saturday, 6 June 2015 01:11 (eight years ago) link
Kozelek is a noted boxing fan – on This Is My First Day … he recounts spending $17,000 on tickets for the recent Mayweather/Pacquiao fight, the result of Benji selling, he says, “enough copies that I’m living good!”
― slam dunk, Saturday, 6 June 2015 01:18 (eight years ago) link
honest question: why has this guy's stature risen? what's different from before? does he go on late shows and play coachella? has p4k been going full circle jerk on him?
― The Once-ler, Saturday, 6 June 2015 01:46 (eight years ago) link
Benji got the rare 9.x pfork rating which I think turned a lot of new folks onto him
― ciderpress, Saturday, 6 June 2015 01:48 (eight years ago) link
Oh fuckoff!
― The Once-ler, Saturday, 6 June 2015 01:52 (eight years ago) link
"Pitchfork- The Tastemaker!"
― The Once-ler, Saturday, 6 June 2015 01:59 (eight years ago) link
Benji is good
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 6 June 2015 02:02 (eight years ago) link
lol u realize that probably half the people in that room were from CH/Durham/Carrboro right― Joan Crawford Loves Chachi, Saturday, June 6, 2015 12:14 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Saturday, 6 June 2015 02:56 (eight years ago) link
... really though, I'm just rationalizing what is at heart a pretty straightforward position: audience-baiting = generally cool, sometimes necessary & often funny; weird public airing of grievances = morally dubious & uncomfortable to watch
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Saturday, 6 June 2015 03:01 (eight years ago) link
** I am okay with that Spoon diss track where they call out the A&R guy who burned them ('How does it feel to go home & not be honest with anyone?' is a great line) but my opinion might change if they had called it "Lafitte, Suck My Cock"
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Saturday, 6 June 2015 03:03 (eight years ago) link
Kozelek has the rare distinction of making Morrissey look classy
― sonz of a croup da croupier (NickB), Saturday, 6 June 2015 11:01 (eight years ago) link
Yeah no I think that might actually be going too far
― sonz of a croup da croupier (NickB), Saturday, 6 June 2015 11:03 (eight years ago) link
Sorry Koz, you're no Moz
― sonz of a croup da croupier (NickB), Saturday, 6 June 2015 11:04 (eight years ago) link
until just now I'd never actually looked at/listened to the lyrics to that song about the War On Drugs
they read almost exactly like Anal Cunt lyrics
― pull blart, maul cops (DJ Mencap), Saturday, 6 June 2015 12:53 (eight years ago) link
I just gave benji a try and this is not for me. The first track was nice enough but even then I didn't want to hear autobiographical stuff. Based on my interest of Sun Kil Moon revolving around only 2 songs (the ones I posted two days ago), it shouldn't come as a surprise that I can't get into this album at all. Whatever
― The Once-ler, Monday, 8 June 2015 18:44 (eight years ago) link
the guitar sound on Universal Themes is definitely a *choice*, but I don't understand why anyone would want to have that dave matthews farty guitar pickup sound
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 8 June 2015 18:57 (eight years ago) link
― The Once-ler, Monday, June 8, 2015 2:44 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
You might as well give April a shot.
― Evan, Monday, 8 June 2015 19:04 (eight years ago) link
somewhere i've got a digital copy of a mark kozelek radio performance from... '88? '89? i'll try to find it
― example (crüt), Monday, 8 June 2015 19:07 (eight years ago) link
I'd definitely love to hear that.
― Evan, Monday, 8 June 2015 19:55 (eight years ago) link
april is the best kozelek record
― ciderpress, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:03 (eight years ago) link
April is definitely excellent. the last Kozelek album that i played to death.
― charlie h, Tuesday, 9 June 2015 08:48 (eight years ago) link
the worm turns
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 15:51 (eight years ago) link
hah! ian cohen gotta be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed right now
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 15:55 (eight years ago) link
don't bite the hand that feeds Mark! lol
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 15:58 (eight years ago) link
Even setting all that aside, if Mark Kozelek had spent the last year and a half playing his music and—to reference a lesson he supposedly learned from his father in Benji's "I Love My Dad"—minding his own business, Universal Themes would still be a disappointing record.
In what sense has he not been minding his own business? zing rejected.
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 10 June 2015 16:00 (eight years ago) link
"Cry Me a River Williamsburg Sleeve Tattoo Blues" is a funny title in search of a song, while "This Is My First Day and I'm Indian and I Work at a Gas Station" is an unfunny title in search of a delete key.
this one, however
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 10 June 2015 16:03 (eight years ago) link
haha!
― irl friend of the geir (NickB), Wednesday, 10 June 2015 16:06 (eight years ago) link
Pretty much agree with the review but portraying the majority of his other albums as "spotty" (as if it were the consensus) seemed undeserved!
― Evan, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 17:05 (eight years ago) link
So, I guess we should be listening to that new Jason Derulo album instead?
― MarkoP, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 17:06 (eight years ago) link
One of the songs is even described as being "breezy and Balearic".
― MarkoP, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 17:09 (eight years ago) link
http://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/399eqn/pitchfork_changes_sun_kil_moon_review_after/
― Evan, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 17:53 (eight years ago) link
man ppl really offended by something pitchfork has done multiple times
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 17:59 (eight years ago) link
p4k is everything if i cannot trust them I am lost :'(
― Evan, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 18:01 (eight years ago) link
also the comps of like, "kanye's an asshole why dont they hate him too om gosh" are hysterical
like...folks...maybe the music's just really bad /and/ he's a complete twathammer
― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 18:03 (eight years ago) link
People also not really grasping the point in the review where he mentions that it's tough to separate the social media incidents from the music. Failing to conflate those things would be an issue if they weren't, you know, literally addressed in the lyrics of multiple songs. That's like saying "judge the blogger separate from the personal blog posts!"
― Evan, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 18:17 (eight years ago) link
Actually I misread a little, they were more commenting on how the opinion of the record is skewed based on what social media is saying about HIM, but it's still much more relevant than perhaps otherwise since the record is so personal.
― Evan, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 18:19 (eight years ago) link
p sure the opinion of the record is skewed by Mark personally insulting a Pfork staff member in public
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 18:26 (eight years ago) link
altho iirc I believe Xgau still gave Take No Prisoners a good review after Reed called him a toefucker (Reed's onstage standup comedy >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kozelek's, obviously)
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 18:28 (eight years ago) link
well, Xgau gave it a C+, maybe that's the equivalent here idk
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 18:29 (eight years ago) link
http://www.spin.com/2015/06/mark-kozelek-feminist-guilt-sun-kil-moon/
― Evan, Thursday, 11 June 2015 16:40 (eight years ago) link
would be kinda like giving up church for Lent with this new one
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 11 June 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link
really misleading to include skolnik in that tweet roundup - while she said people should stop making "excuses" for kozelek, she made clear she was arguing for people to ACKNOWLEDGE kozelek's actions while subjectively deciding how they feel about and engage with the art and artist, not calling for a boycott.
― da croupier, Thursday, 11 June 2015 16:52 (eight years ago) link
it's really frustrating when people are determined to keep things at "how bad does a person have to be before we remove them from the history of pop culture" and refuse to acknowledge perspectives that aren't coming from a such a faux-objective puritan place. "i'm not going to stop listening to kozelek because there are worse things in the world than a bully" - like, cool! but don't pretend that's what everyone's asking you to do
― da croupier, Thursday, 11 June 2015 16:56 (eight years ago) link
Well to be fair she did frame it as more of her debating with herself whether she should feel guilty for not also boycotting Kozelek music. Not that anyone is necessarily putting direct pressure on her or other fans to do so as well.
― Evan, Thursday, 11 June 2015 17:10 (eight years ago) link
most perplexing thing to me is that she didn't enjoy Big Sur, how is that possible
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 11 June 2015 17:14 (eight years ago) link
xpost still sucks to ignore someone's larger point to establish a peanut gallery of people saying it's bad to like red house painters
― da croupier, Thursday, 11 June 2015 17:14 (eight years ago) link
also you can't say something like this is merely self-debate and not a defense against pressure
Contemporary female writers have also denounced the man and declared an end to their fandom. But I’ve hesitated to pick up my own torch simply because I’m not ready. I’m too busy avoiding eye contact with the men I perceive to be a more real, immediate threat.
― da croupier, Thursday, 11 June 2015 17:23 (eight years ago) link
"His music still means a lot to me" is one thing, "I guess you all don't have to worry about being assaulted!" is another.
― da croupier, Thursday, 11 June 2015 17:26 (eight years ago) link
How can the same person who writes such heart-in-hand poetry as “Have you forgotten how to love yourself?” and “If love is like stone / Yours was mine through to my bones” be capable of spewing such despicable vitriol about women?
― there was a lot of beer and people doing sit ups, (laughs) (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 11 June 2015 17:26 (eight years ago) link
haha yeah I was scratching my head at considering those "romantic" sentiments
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 11 June 2015 17:30 (eight years ago) link
like, both lines are kind of accusatory
or resentful
guess I should sell this now
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 14 June 2015 22:12 (eight years ago) link
Can I buy it for not that much?
― Evan, Monday, 15 June 2015 00:49 (eight years ago) link
sorry. tbh I could never sell it for that much because it truly is not worth that much. So I'll probably just keep it.
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 15 June 2015 01:54 (eight years ago) link
No worries. I imagine I'll nab one somehow someday.
― Evan, Monday, 15 June 2015 03:34 (eight years ago) link
hey I also have that
― anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Monday, 15 June 2015 05:54 (eight years ago) link
well good for YOU
― Evan, Monday, 15 June 2015 13:43 (eight years ago) link
haha
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 15 June 2015 13:54 (eight years ago) link
the vinyl is worth something, all the RHP or SKM records on vinyl are ridiculously priced.
― akm, Monday, 15 June 2015 20:56 (eight years ago) link
4AD is reissuing the RHP stuff I thought. Think I heard that Songs for a Blue Guitar pressing is bad at one point?
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 15 June 2015 21:08 (eight years ago) link
yeah the RHP stuff has been (box set sold out immediately); songs has been issued on vinyl, didn't buy it. The only stuff I have is the original Ocean Beach 10" and the Duk Koo Kim single (which is a better version than the one on the SKM album).
― akm, Monday, 15 June 2015 21:11 (eight years ago) link
there was that box set, but you can pre-order those albums separately or as a bundle here
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 15 June 2015 21:22 (eight years ago) link
actually the 'bundle' is not available, but it looks like they are taking individual pre-orders
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 15 June 2015 21:24 (eight years ago) link
nah, actually you can order the bundle too. it's different from the box in that the vinyl is black or something. looks like they ship in August.
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 15 June 2015 21:28 (eight years ago) link
I've never really listened to Down Colorful Hill until this week (wondering if I need to get any of these reissues), and this line from Scott's review is just too otm
12 years ago Mark Kozelek was duking it out with Throwing Muses and Lisa Germano to see who could be the most miserable American act ever signed to the tears ‘n’ fears 4AD label. The lead track on RHP’s debut was all about the impossible task of becoming 24 years old. If Sun Kil Moon is essentially grown-up folk-rock music for ex-miserablists and lacks a certain unhinged recklessness that RHP had at times it’s none the worse for it.
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 18 June 2015 20:50 (eight years ago) link
I do like Throwing Muses and love Lisa Germano, however.
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 18 June 2015 20:51 (eight years ago) link
xp review of Ghosts of the Great Highway, that is
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 18 June 2015 20:55 (eight years ago) link
"miserable" seems like a wildly offtm adjective to describe Throwing Muses tbh
― there was a lot of beer and people doing sit ups, (laughs) (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 18 June 2015 20:58 (eight years ago) link
yeah, true
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 18 June 2015 21:00 (eight years ago) link
I'd say Down Colorful Hill sounds like Lisa Germano singing worse lyrics over slow Throwing Muses guitar, though
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 18 June 2015 21:02 (eight years ago) link
this same Throwing Muses?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGELjc66kFs
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 June 2015 21:03 (eight years ago) link
I mean I was never deep into them but yeah "miserable" was not my impression of them
oh man the swaying in that video
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 June 2015 21:04 (eight years ago) link
guess she and mark share an aversion to sunlight in their lyrics, anyway
― mad maxwell's wasteland death suite (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 18 June 2015 21:07 (eight years ago) link
I was never as fond of the last few tracks, I mean they're fine but the first 3 on Down Colorful Hill is one of the best sequences ever. Really makes the album. When he shouts out "prayers" is just amazing.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 18 June 2015 21:45 (eight years ago) link
I feel like the last few tracks were hopefuls for radio play perhaps? It was the first album after all. Had to get them out there somehow.
― Evan, Friday, 19 June 2015 02:37 (eight years ago) link
"24" had a music video but it doesn't seem to be a single.
Just listened to a bit of the early demos, wow I really need that Retrospective compilation now. I didn't realise there was completely different songs on them.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 19 June 2015 09:46 (eight years ago) link
https://apmike.bandcamp.com/track/michael-perry
― Three Word Username, Friday, 26 June 2015 10:05 (eight years ago) link
Saw Kozelek at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music last night, coming from the angle of a very long term RHP/SKM fan but ground down by recent media nonsense and no real love for Benji or Universal Themes. I'd initially feared it would be SKM in name only, with Koz and his nylon string guitar alone on stage, but late billing listed Steve Shelley on drums and Neil Halstead for guitar, which perked me up. The RNCM's concert hall is a beautiful 800 seat venue, with great sound and further delight when the stage set up revealed *two* drum kits and various electric guitars. In the end, the band had two drummers throughout, a guy on Fender VI bass, Halstead on good form and Koz played electric guitar on probably 30% of songs too.
The show was, frankly, magnificent. Opened with Mariette and Hey You Bastards I'm Still Here from the last Desertshore collab, both hugely benefiting from the full band set up. Koz was in a terrific mood, humble, grateful for a "nice" audience and venue, and he played the hall's orchestral pipe organ a couple of times, which had me rubbing my eyes in disbelief. Brief reference to stuff in the press and assertion that "I'm a nice guy", but there wasn't any audience/rival/journalist baiting, just what felt like huge effort to put on a good show. They covered The Weeping Song, beautifully, in tribute to Nick Cave and his family, which left me wrung out emotionally and Koz wiping away tears. The heavier stuff from UT sounded amazing with both drummers going full tilt, and they encored with gorgeous takes on Caroline and Ceiling Gazing off Perils From the Sea.
I'd gone to this gig hoping for the best, but feeling like one of my favourite musicians of 23 years was in a deep creative and personal slump. I came out with the adrenalin buzz blazing from having seen a terrific band and artist performing out of their skins. Cumulatively, it felt like a big "fuck you" to the critics and to anyone who'd underestimate him, delivered with grace and power.
(sry for tl;dr post)
― that mustardless plate (Bill A), Monday, 20 July 2015 14:44 (eight years ago) link
They covered The Weeping Song, beautifully, in tribute to Nick Cave and his family
Christ, I'm getting misty just imagining that.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Monday, 20 July 2015 14:59 (eight years ago) link
sounds like a great show
― an asteroid could hit the planet (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 20 July 2015 15:07 (eight years ago) link
...and yet, this tribute to Nick Cave is horrible, on a couple different levels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCiK166i0I8
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 18:10 (eight years ago) link
his voice sounds so tired, so fucked up, so sad, so old. what's going on? but somehow it fits. he has never sounded happy. btw i quite like the song.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 20:26 (eight years ago) link
To me his story-teller cadence is not that compelling, feels like posturing to me.
― Evan, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 20:32 (eight years ago) link
i don't know. if that is posturing he has been posturing all his songwriter live. besides posturing is part of the business. it doesn't say anything about the quality of the music.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 20:44 (eight years ago) link
About to play this:
http://www.sunkilmoon.com/jesuskm.html
Slightly fearful he will be a dick.
― djh, Friday, 15 January 2016 17:10 (eight years ago) link
Actually kinda digging this today ...
― BlackIronPrison, Friday, 15 January 2016 17:55 (eight years ago) link
It was going okay until the one with the fan letter ...
― djh, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:34 (eight years ago) link
https://sunkilmoonalbum8.bandcamp.com/album/under-the-canopy
― djh, Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:27 (eight years ago) link
this is extremely, extremely funny and accurate.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Friday, 19 February 2016 07:04 (eight years ago) link
haaaa
― odysseus (imago), Friday, 19 February 2016 08:47 (eight years ago) link
oh my god
― moans and feedback (Dinsdale), Friday, 19 February 2016 09:02 (eight years ago) link
perfect
Can't believe the SKM/Jesu album seems to be getting a decent reception, it's unlistenable, especially when you consider how amazing that collab could/would have been a decade ago.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 19 February 2016 09:06 (eight years ago) link
Unlistenable? Why?
FWIW, it’s my favorite Mark Kozelek album since April.
― Allen (etaeoe), Friday, 19 February 2016 15:31 (eight years ago) link
lmao
― ciderpress, Friday, 19 February 2016 15:35 (eight years ago) link
"...plugged in"
― ciderpress, Friday, 19 February 2016 15:36 (eight years ago) link
This is awesome.
― BlackIronPrison, Friday, 19 February 2016 16:36 (eight years ago) link
all right i'll call this bluff
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 19 February 2016 20:14 (eight years ago) link
I'd be happy for anything to match Perils From the Sea but I don't see that happening with the vocal+lyrical track he's on of late
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 19 February 2016 20:29 (eight years ago) link
yeah Perils is definitely the example of his storytelling style done well
― ciderpress, Friday, 19 February 2016 20:38 (eight years ago) link
I really liked the Mark Kozelek & Desertshore record as well, I think there's some really affecting music on it, and it's balanced between the stream-of-consciousness confessional stuff and more traditionally structured songs/lyrics. Benji has its moments, but in retrospect feels like the first steps into self-parody.
― intheblanks, Friday, 19 February 2016 20:42 (eight years ago) link
Under the Canopy is my favorite Koz release since Admiral Fell Promises
― moans and feedback (Dinsdale), Friday, 19 February 2016 20:48 (eight years ago) link
This is fantastic. Laughing uncontrollably.
― doug watson, Friday, 19 February 2016 21:06 (eight years ago) link
Regarding Under the Canopy, quote from the SadReminders forum:
"And it's not just the lyrics, every guitar trope is being represented, yes, all 4 of them : classical tremolos, non-sequitur noodling, the one song with the bluesier down-tuned riff, and the song in travis picking based on one chord with a descending bass."
He really did nail the impression on all accounts. So much so that it's (almost) completely convincing. The same way an over the top parody of Weezer would probably sound exactly like Weezer. Some dense self-parody among certain artists.
― Evan, Friday, 19 February 2016 21:11 (eight years ago) link
well i made it through the first track, and honestly: broadrick is still great at what he does, which makes mark kinda easy to ignore, so i may end up liking this!
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 19 February 2016 21:17 (eight years ago) link
re: jesu/skm, not under the canopy, kozelek's self-aware masterpiece
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 19 February 2016 21:18 (eight years ago) link
there is a lyric on here about watching bubble boy
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 19 February 2016 21:19 (eight years ago) link
Sorry, I'm still not sure whether you are talking about the parody or not
― Evan, Friday, 19 February 2016 21:21 (eight years ago) link
neither do i
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 19 February 2016 21:23 (eight years ago) link
the album with jesu is really good. father's day and america's most wanted. he sounds good with a drum machine imo
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 20 February 2016 16:53 (eight years ago) link
Have you heard Perils From the Sea?
― Evan, Saturday, 20 February 2016 17:29 (eight years ago) link
http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/17/11254368/tony-visconti-sxsw-2016-keynote-david-bowie
Visconti's genuine love for his life's work ended up softening some of his criticism of the industry, which tended toward the traditional and the strident. His devotion to rock 'n' roll ideals is resolute, and he has no interest in contemporary pop music; the idea of him listening to any of SXSW's many electronic acts is borderline laughable. (One artist he likes: Sun Kil Moon, to whom he was introduced by Bowie.)
― Evan, Friday, 18 March 2016 15:42 (eight years ago) link
Suspecting it's the pre-2010 era material?
― Evan, Friday, 18 March 2016 15:43 (eight years ago) link
oh god Koz is gonna write such an insufferable song about finding out Bowie liked him
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 18 March 2016 15:45 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, seems inevitable.
― Evan, Friday, 18 March 2016 15:46 (eight years ago) link
I haven't really kept up with Kozelek over the past few years, what are his best post-April releases?
I have Perils of the Sea, but nothing else.
― funk79, Thursday, 2 June 2016 04:35 (seven years ago) link
Mark Kozelek & Desertshore is good
― Sufjan Grafton, Thursday, 2 June 2016 04:51 (seven years ago) link
Perils of the Sea, Mark Kozelek & Desertshore, and Benji have similar songwriting. So you'd like the other two if you like Perils. But Perils and Desertshore benefit from the collaborations where Benji benefits from being shorter.
― Sufjan Grafton, Thursday, 2 June 2016 05:01 (seven years ago) link
actually Benji is super long. I just don't listen to the full thing anymore.
― Sufjan Grafton, Thursday, 2 June 2016 05:17 (seven years ago) link
Post-April?
Admiral Fell Promises! It's a gorgeous record that people write off because it is just him and a nylon guitar. Most of the time it's my all time favorite release by him.
― Evan, Thursday, 2 June 2016 11:46 (seven years ago) link
yeah admiral fell promises
desertshore and the sea are good. I do not like benji or universal whats it or the Jesu collab at all.
― akm, Thursday, 2 June 2016 13:26 (seven years ago) link
admiral fell promises is the correct answer
― cookware regression (Dinsdale), Thursday, 2 June 2016 14:04 (seven years ago) link
can only stream admiral fell promises on amazon prime, though
― Sufjan Grafton, Thursday, 2 June 2016 14:30 (seven years ago) link
This works, too:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSjRXUugfcLVDHf3d74b6t38GLaoJfpsy
― Evan, Thursday, 2 June 2016 14:37 (seven years ago) link
It's so sophisticated and tasteful and mature. Directly afterwards he just totally started down the complete opposite direction (in steps) and way way down that road we find Universal Themes. It's a shame in my opinion. It's the complete opposite of AFP in almost every respect.
― Evan, Thursday, 2 June 2016 14:55 (seven years ago) link
I've just got to say, with the debut a new Jesu collab song that I'm not going to bother linking here, the deterioration of Kozelek's musical sensibility, taste, talent & execution (last 2 could be simply lack of real effort) since 2011 until now is by far the most disappointing thing to happen in music for me personally.
― Evan, Friday, 5 August 2016 15:20 (seven years ago) link
Just noticed that there is a new album in February.
Anyone bother to listen to the album with Jesu, "Sings Favourites" or last year's Xmas album?
― djh, Friday, 18 November 2016 23:05 (seven years ago) link
the jesu album was alright
― akm, Saturday, 19 November 2016 00:39 (seven years ago) link
not enough for me to bother going and seeing them together though
Not my thing at all. I'm very tired of his current sloppy diary approach.
However, this is nice:
http://www.stereogum.com/1910524/holly-throsby-what-do-you-say-feat-mark-kozelek/premiere/
― Evan, Saturday, 19 November 2016 04:14 (seven years ago) link
Found myself playing a 34 minute live version of the Jesu/Sun Kil Moon track "Beautiful You" on Youtube the other night. Kozelek seemed graceless and uncool and less funny than he thinks he is and you'd only really want to listen to half of it ... which is basically a metaphor for where we're at with him these days, isn't it? And yet ... I was strangely impressed. He must know he looks awkward and uncool ... and at least he's not just replaying Red House Painters songs forever. The album itself is strangely frustrating. It could be great and interesting but it's partly cringe-worthy and needs editing - Kozelek needs a "critical friend". Have been playing "Perils from the Sea" tonight - one of my favourite albums *ever*.
― djh, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 23:11 (seven years ago) link
apparently this is old news but new to me: there's a double (!) album titled Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood out this month
― Dinsdale, Wednesday, 1 February 2017 14:03 (seven years ago) link
yeah and it fuckin sucks
http://www.sunkilmoon.com/commonaslight/
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 15:09 (seven years ago) link
it fascinatingly sucks, so i'm still listening to it despite finding every song exhausting. highlights:
- at one point in "philadelphia cop" the music stops dead and kozelek starts a dialogue with himself in which he plays both a music journalist and someone who's really psyched about music journalists. it goes like this:
"oh my god you're a music journalist? do you get to go to south by southwest?""yeah pretty much every year, i mean the magazine i work for sends me out there""oh my god that sounds like such a blast""yeah it's a lot of fun, i mean it's super hard to get into the vip after show parties but i don't know maybe if you tag along i might be able get you in""oh my god you get to meet the bands?""yeah totally i'm friends with jim james, doctor john misty, bunch of people. hold on a second sufjan stevens is texting me right now""oh no way i love him. do you get to wear a laminate?""yeah i mean it makes me feel a little self conscious but you sort of have to in order to get into certain shows""oh my god that's so cool"
- there's a section of "lone star" that sounds like admiral fell promises, his last good album. then he undercuts it by saying "this part of the songs sounds like part of a cameron crowe film score." peak of the last three or so skm records lol. the rest of "lone star" is him raging against the transgender bathroom law which is well-intentioned but the language is pretty...imprecise
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 15:48 (seven years ago) link
I kind of want to hear it badly now
― Dinsdale, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 15:50 (seven years ago) link
props to whoever added the "Musical Comedy" tag to his rym page
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:09 (seven years ago) link
Ok looool
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:12 (seven years ago) link
brad you still should really try perils from the sea
yeah perils is his 3rd best post-RHP album after ghosts/april imo
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:17 (seven years ago) link
I will admit to legit loling at the ending of "he's bad"
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:19 (seven years ago) link
i just watched almost famous and totally never knew that he was the drummer in the band STILLWATER
weird casting
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:30 (seven years ago) link
thought the first track on this was kinda good though the talking blues thing he's doing does not work for me...but the music & the chorus was nice. I'm an outlier insofar as I have never cared for/about his work though.
― though the tempest rages, (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:46 (seven years ago) link
I kind of like to pretend that he had a motorcycle accident in 2013 and since then an unhealthy looking imposter has been releasing albums under his name and moniker. I'd rank his albums like this (ignoring plenty of nice live albums):
Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell PromisesSun Kil Moon - Ghosts Of The Great Highway Sun Kil Moon - AprilRed House Painters - s/tRed House Painters - Ocean BeachRed House Painters - s/t (bridge)Mark Kozelek - White Christmas & Little Drummer Boy LiveMark Kozelek - What's Next To The MoonRed House Painters - Down Colorful Hill Desertshore - Drawing Of Threes (he is on most of this album and it feels like a lost Red House Painters album)Sun Kil Moon - Among The LeavesRed House Painters - Old RamonRed House Painters - Songs For A Blue GuitarMark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle - Perils From The SeaMark Kozelek - NightsMark Kozelek - The Finally LPMark Kozelek & Desertshore - s/tSun Kil Moon - Benji
Besides acknowledging the successful impact Benji achieves he basically doesn't exist after 2013 in my eyes. I feel longwinded given I have to clarify what "version" of Sun Kil Moon I like whenever it comes up...
― Evan, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:47 (seven years ago) link
His lyrics are now the musical equivalent of that podcast designed to put you to sleep
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:51 (seven years ago) link
The best song he's ever written imo is surprisingly on Among the Leaves, called "Young Love". I'm convinced it's a leftover track that didn't make it on Admiral Fell Promises by the time that was released. Just a guess though.
― Evan, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 16:52 (seven years ago) link
I will listen to this to see how many panera breads show up please no spoilers
― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 17:23 (seven years ago) link
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, February 15, 2017 9:12 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
perils is fine, it's the only time this approach worked
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 17:38 (seven years ago) link
evan i will fight you for ranking old ramon below among the leaves
Hastily assembled list! I'd probably revise that. Whenever I think of that album I just think of Young Love.
― Evan, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 17:42 (seven years ago) link
Quick, someone challenge me on something else so I can cave again.
But seriously I'm curious how people rank his records ever since he retired from singing and writing poetry a few years ago.
― Evan, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 17:52 (seven years ago) link
i think old ramon is nearly as good as ghosts which is prob a minority opinion, but they share a lot imo in atmosphere and guitar tone
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 17:55 (seven years ago) link
i don't really like ranking things (and am averse to threads turning into endless ranking posts) but it'd be something like
rollercoaster = ghosts > ocean beach = april = old ramon > admiral fell promises = songs for a blue guitar > bridge > down colorful hill > basically everything else
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 17:58 (seven years ago) link
You might like Desertshore - Drawing Of Threes then. Have you heard that?
― Evan, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:02 (seven years ago) link
not at all, i'll check it out!
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:13 (seven years ago) link
dammit I am going to have to listen to this, aren't I
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:13 (seven years ago) link
how i feel about this is how i imagine most people on earth feel about lulu
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:16 (seven years ago) link
dear god how long is this song
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:19 (seven years ago) link
I am at the beginning of track 2 and I think it is safe to say that I am not the target demographic for this.
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:21 (seven years ago) link
who is?
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:22 (seven years ago) link
hate to shit on your heroes but everything I've ever heard this guy do is the most obnoxiously boring music on earth
― imago, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:24 (seven years ago) link
mark kozelek
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:24 (seven years ago) link
Someone who can hit the interlude in track 2 and not want to shake dude until he forms butter.
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:25 (seven years ago) link
i would suggest persevering until the dialogue in track 3 and then shutting it off right after
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:26 (seven years ago) link
mostly bc i still can't believe i heard it
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:27 (seven years ago) link
imago and DJP otm
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:27 (seven years ago) link
WHY IS THIS DIARY READING STILL GOING ON
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:28 (seven years ago) link
... what is going on
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:32 (seven years ago) link
like what are these songs even about and why are they so long and what is the purpose behind the structure and is there a point to this and where is God
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:37 (seven years ago) link
just a little reminder from mark k that you're supposed to be listening to cure bootlegs
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:39 (seven years ago) link
thanks for the reminder, Mark K *turns on "Forever" from Curiosity*
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:42 (seven years ago) link
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, February 15, 2017 1:21 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― mookieproof, Wednesday, February 15, 2017
people who sneak in 13 items in the 10-items-or-fewer lane at the grocery store
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:45 (seven years ago) link
It is tempting to put this album on Songs that you wish were properly recorded but only exist as demos/live recordings purely for shade reasons
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 18:51 (seven years ago) link
Again, no need to listen to new sunk ill moan when there's plenty of great older albums.
― Evan, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 19:07 (seven years ago) link
lol yes.
having never really listened before, its pleasant coffee shop music underneath speed reading of unedited tour diaries. i can take this sort of thing at poetry readings but at album-length? not for me.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 19:36 (seven years ago) link
Might have said this before but the descriptions of his newest stuff seems like the opposite of early Red House Painters when it sounded like every breath of it was precious and important. Seems like a lot of people who might love Red House Painters are put off by the newest stuff and the controversies. I should probably give some of the newer stuff a shot but I was already falling out of love after the first Sun Kil Moon album, although some of it was nice.
After "Duk Koo Kim" did he ever do one of those build-up songs again? I can't think of anyone else who did anything quite like that.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:23 (seven years ago) link
I feel like I've been listening to the 1st song for an hour at least, or maybe the whole thing is on a "replay 1" setting, I don't know.
― Dinsdale, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:24 (seven years ago) link
each song is an hour long iitc
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:26 (seven years ago) link
oh okay here's a new song finally
― Dinsdale, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:31 (seven years ago) link
well, "finally"
Every time I've heard Red House Painters it's been preceded by someone (always a man, always a would-be poet) calling it the most precious, the most emotional music on earth. And then I've had to turn it off a few minutes later in complete bemusement, feeling it completely empty of what I like about either music or lyrics. But who knows, maybe it'll catch me off guard some day
― imago, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:32 (seven years ago) link
I just realized that's actually on his *other* neverending album that's coming out soon jfc
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:34 (seven years ago) link
I was gonna say I don't completely hate it so far but here's the journalist interview bit, ugh
still kinda hoping this whole new style is a big joke
― Dinsdale, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:39 (seven years ago) link
Imago- I don't love all of it but some of it is the fucking best. If you like American Music Club, Low, Idaho type of stuff, definitely worth a few tries.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:42 (seven years ago) link
But who knows, maybe it'll catch me off guard some day
you'd probably get caught off guard by "funhouse" or "mother"
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:43 (seven years ago) link
I like track 4, hope he doesn't ruin it with another fucking interlude
― Dinsdale, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:47 (seven years ago) link
spoke too soon
another gentle reminder that Mark Eitzel should be enjoying Koz's levels of attention rn
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 20:49 (seven years ago) link
He needs a critical friend, doesn't he?
― djh, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 21:33 (seven years ago) link
Or even a friend?
― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 21:34 (seven years ago) link
ok made it through disc 1
I'll be playing this one nowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XKGZCTy8LYbest shit ever
― Dinsdale, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 21:36 (seven years ago) link
the new Eitzel album is fucking tremendous too, Simon H otm
― though the tempest rages, (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 21:37 (seven years ago) link
^^^^ it really is
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 21:39 (seven years ago) link
i wish i could remember this in-depth defense of nü-sun kil moon an acquaintance of mine gave to me.. must not have been very convincing if i can't remember a single thing about it. he had thought about it quite a bit tho
― just another (diamonddave85), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 21:45 (seven years ago) link
I found deep discounted copies of the new Eitzel in two different record stores within 2 weeks of its release :(
I used to defend Koz but his laziness has just gotten to outsides to deny starting w/ Universal Themes and the worst of Benji
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 21:46 (seven years ago) link
― djh, Wednesday, February 15, 2017 9:33 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Seems to be friends with Steve Shelley:Steve and I first played together on the Benji album. We just go into the studio and make music and eat Mexican food.
― john. a resident of chicago., Wednesday, 15 February 2017 22:03 (seven years ago) link
They probably go to Taco Truck in Hoboken. I've seen Steve there. Like Sun Kil Moon, started out great but the quality has gone downhill in the last couple of years.
― Evan, Wednesday, 15 February 2017 22:12 (seven years ago) link
I'm not sure it's that awesome
― niels, Thursday, 16 February 2017 13:39 (seven years ago) link
How long until his new song about record shops?
https://www.normanrecords.com/records/163483
― djh, Monday, 20 February 2017 21:21 (seven years ago) link
that got me to relisten to the SKM parody EP which really is the fucking best
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 00:19 (seven years ago) link
If only he changed his moniker for this phase, as it's more of its own distinct "project" at this point.
Is there a thread for artists that have released handfuls of albums in clusters that are polar opposites as distinct sets?
― Evan, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 00:27 (seven years ago) link
i'm not going to listen to this album
― akm, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 15:32 (seven years ago) link
That's wise
― Evan, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 16:41 (seven years ago) link
yeah but then you'd miss the 12.5-minute song about the young lady found in a hotel rooftop water tank in 2013. it's got a subtle jet fuel/steel beams vibe
― adam, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 16:55 (seven years ago) link
a recurring theme--the cover photo appears to be of the tanks
― adam, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 16:56 (seven years ago) link
I could just post lyrics of the older material and we can pretend he retired after Benji (given that one and MK & Desertshore were the two arguably successful diary confessional rant albums)
― Evan, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 17:45 (seven years ago) link
xp that case has come up before in something i can't recall, i distinctly remember reading about it though
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 17:54 (seven years ago) link
it's got a subtle jet fuel/steel beams vibe
I guess we should all be thankful Koz isn't an 1nfowars type...yet
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:00 (seven years ago) link
It's a fairly big Internet thing ciderpress. Mainly due to the disturbing cctv footage of the deceased just before her death
― Number None, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:24 (seven years ago) link
there is an absolutely huge medium article by some weirdo regarding the death that goes through all the conspiracy theory stuff, and the official coroner verdict, and the writer went and stayed at the hotel and looked around etc. we talked about it on some thread that i will never remember when it happened
― Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:27 (seven years ago) link
the young woman was from the metro van area so i def heard about it maybe more than others
― Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:28 (seven years ago) link
I liked "Benji" a lot but man oh man this is hard going. Theres one track (songs doesnt really fit for a description) where he rants "IM NOT A FUCKING PUPPET!" over and over again
― pointless rock guitar (Michael B), Thursday, 23 February 2017 19:02 (seven years ago) link
"i wish i could remember this in-depth defense of nü-sun kil moon an acquaintance of mine gave to me.. must not have been very convincing if i can't remember a single thing about it. he had thought about it quite a bit tho."
I have to confess that I've come up with arguments about it being impressive that he does different things, uses his voice differently, works with different people and is even prepared to look awkward/clumsy/uncool (as he did performing with Jesu) ... but all that counts for fuck all when you hear one of his dreadful tracks.
― djh, Thursday, 23 February 2017 19:55 (seven years ago) link
What went wrong with the Jesu performances?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 23 February 2017 20:10 (seven years ago) link
Oh, nothing at all "went wrong" ... but in the clips I've seen he looks kind of awkward and exposed. I suppose if you're used to playing a guitar not having that prop must be really difficult. And there is definitely part of me that thinks "Good on him". Then I hear a record where he reads out a fan letter.
― djh, Thursday, 23 February 2017 20:22 (seven years ago) link
I'm willing to go on record that it's not as terrible as it's being made out to be. I mean, it's unlikely I'll ever wade through it again, but there are some really beautiful moments (in Phildelphia Cop, Window Sash Weights, I Love Portugal, Sarah Lawrence Song) that I'm glad I stuck out to hear.
― john. a resident of chicago., Friday, 24 February 2017 18:42 (seven years ago) link
where can I buy a perfectly tailored made to order puppet
― Sufjan Grafton, Friday, 24 February 2017 19:33 (seven years ago) link
Just listened to I Love Portugal which wasn't very good at all. I sort of think Kozelek is smart enough to be up to something, but I'm not sure what that something is. He strikes me as being a bit like late-period Hemingway, where you can almost see the dementia through the bones of the words.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 27 February 2017 17:26 (seven years ago) link
perhaps this is the only way out of a bad contract that he signed with himself
― Sufjan Grafton, Monday, 27 February 2017 17:52 (seven years ago) link
he spends a lot of time alone and builds up a lot of resentment and he drinks a lot so he thinks he's funny and its funny to annoy people.
i dunno though, i kinda enjoyed this record, it's really weird,
― Heavy Doors (jed_), Monday, 27 February 2017 17:56 (seven years ago) link
It's really just him overcompensating in his attempt to / as a result of:
1. Avoid SKM music just progressively getting safer and more nuanced as he gets older, which happens with many artists as any youthful angst progressively disappears from their new music with time. Most artists seem to kind of fall into a role of feeling like they need to put their sound into a more measured and sophisticated filter as they age. This was his trajectory up until AFP.
2. Capture in his own music his renewed love for early Modest Mouse records
3. Exhaustion after putting all of his virtuosic try-hard into AFP (as well as everything leading up to that point), and just feeling more comfortable talking candidly about his experiences and observations through song (Among the Leaves results).
4. After experiencing some grief in his life, he gets very confessional and the style finally resonates better with audiences. (Perils, MK & Desertshore and Benji result).
5. Combine the above while also attempting to more desperately rebel against the first point but probably telling himself he's doing something super unique and interesting and pretending it isn't just giving up at trying to actually "write" music or words like he was once capable of motivating himself to do.
― Evan, Monday, 27 February 2017 18:58 (seven years ago) link
I don't think I could have formatted that any more confusingly, sorry. Just writing thoughts quickly.
― Evan, Monday, 27 February 2017 18:59 (seven years ago) link
In early Sun Kil Moon days he was saying his lyrics had become more ambiguous as opposed to RHP's diary style but that seems to have reversed in an extreme fashion.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 February 2017 20:31 (seven years ago) link
Exhaustion after putting all of his virtuosic try-hard into AFP
Yeah there's just no way in hell he's putting in anywhere near as much time and effort these days as he did on the first three SKM records, why bother when he can get plenty of attention without bothering to actually compose
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 27 February 2017 20:36 (seven years ago) link
I mean, we run the risk of pretending that art is measured strictly by a show of objective proficiency in composition and execution, but there are plenty of context clues on a overall timeline to indicate that in his case he is probably killing 2 or 3 birds by taking the easy route AND satisfying some of those other points/theories I listed at once.
― Evan, Monday, 27 February 2017 21:12 (seven years ago) link
yeah I almost added for clarity that "effort" is obviously not a good yardstick of quality generally, I just think it's instructive/useful in this case
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 27 February 2017 21:13 (seven years ago) link
I wonder what he's 'working through'? He feels like a late Roth creation at times, stubbornly raging against the dying of the light. And, like Roth, sometimes maybe it just needs an editor to stand up and say 'edit, ffs'.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 27 February 2017 21:21 (seven years ago) link
In short I think it's that he's sick of being a musician but is enjoying the newness of being a beat poet instead.
― Evan, Monday, 27 February 2017 21:35 (seven years ago) link
> Just listened to I Love Portugal which wasn't very good at all.
I dunno, the first three and a half minutes or so reminded me of mid-period Red House Painters, which I'm alright with. Wish it faded out after four minutes or so.
― john. a resident of chicago., Monday, 27 February 2017 23:37 (seven years ago) link
> I wonder what he's 'working through'?
Maybe he's working through making a living. He's putting these out himself, right? I wonder what his profit margin and sales are on something like this. Geez, he's also got an EP coming out in April and another Jesu collaboration in May.
― john. a resident of chicago., Monday, 27 February 2017 23:41 (seven years ago) link
this album is like someone took a bunch of Marc Maron's podcast intros, slowed them down and strumming a guitar over them.
― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Tuesday, 28 February 2017 13:59 (seven years ago) link
This is one weird record.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 1 March 2017 16:37 (seven years ago) link
To my horror, this is the most I've ever liked Mark Kozelek. It helps to really not listen to the lyrics, and just take it as weird repetitive synth-loops.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 1 March 2017 16:45 (seven years ago) link
David J’s Impressionistic Take on Sun Kil Moon’s Sprawling New Record
― john. a resident of chicago., Sunday, 26 March 2017 14:22 (seven years ago) link
Jesu / Sun Kil Moon "30 Seconds to the Decline of Planet Earth" now streaming here: http://www.sunkilmoon.com/30seconds/
Hoping he's grown tired of reading fan letters out mid song!
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 17:57 (six years ago) link
Quite enjoyed much of that.
― djh, Tuesday, 25 April 2017 20:06 (six years ago) link
anyone who gets through all of "wheat bread" deserves a medal imo
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 23:56 (six years ago) link
I gave up 4 (5?) songs in, when he started bragging about his humility and how many mates he's got. He may have been in character or just taking the piss, I'd lost track by then.
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Wednesday, 26 April 2017 06:23 (six years ago) link
Weird. Played this last night, listening while ironing, and genuinely enjoyed it (to the point of pre-ordering it) but playing it again ... my god, there are some awful bits alongside the beautiful bits. He reads another fan letter.
― djh, Wednesday, 26 April 2017 22:12 (six years ago) link
Apparently, he's about to release his 4th album this year.
― djh, Monday, 11 September 2017 22:44 (six years ago) link
must have received more mail
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 13:55 (six years ago) link
That "Ben's My Friend" track was all right. Sports bar shiiiittt...
― yesca, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 14:29 (six years ago) link
http://www.markkozelek.com/img/november10_2017_2.jpg
11/10/2017
― Evan, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 21:13 (six years ago) link
Koz has, by my estimation, released 334 minutes of music this year.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 5 December 2017 21:15 (six years ago) link
Is that rodney bingenheimer
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 21:19 (six years ago) link
ha
met and spoke with nels a few times
hes a cool guy
― infinity (∞), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link
http://www.sunkilmoon.com/
he's almost singing again
― Dinsdale, Thursday, 1 February 2018 21:32 (six years ago) link
got to "I had dim sum this morning" and had to turn it off
― Dat Login was the dname u doofus (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 1 February 2018 21:35 (six years ago) link
― Dinsdale, Thursday, 1 February 2018 21:35 (six years ago) link
wait is the new SKM album really titled "Mark Kozelek"?
― akm, Saturday, 3 February 2018 23:23 (six years ago) link
Sun Kil Moon ended in 2014 with an interesting, confessional album. Wonder what he's been up to since then.
― Evan, Sunday, 4 February 2018 06:58 (six years ago) link
it also has a track named 'The Mark Kozelek Museum'
― Dinsdale, Sunday, 4 February 2018 07:38 (six years ago) link
well, this is thoroughly depressing
it really puts meta on things, though, doesn't it?
too much. there's too much fucking meta
― mookieproof, Sunday, 4 February 2018 07:43 (six years ago) link
not sure if someone mentioned elsewhere already but ghosts of the great highway is on spotify now
― lowercase (eric), Tuesday, 3 July 2018 16:02 (five years ago) link
There's another Sun Kil Moon album. Apparently it includes a song about the singer from Kings of Convenience. "Music can't get any worse," (or something like that) say Norman Records.
― djh, Friday, 9 November 2018 07:31 (five years ago) link
haha, that's a bit harsh
interesting that the related artists on Norman Records site are "provided by the Spotify Web API"
― niels, Friday, 9 November 2018 09:59 (five years ago) link
Tried my usual attempt to make it through a single listen of the latest SKM/Kozelek release. Bailed when he started the Pazuzu impressions on 'Linda Blair' ...
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Friday, 9 November 2018 10:15 (five years ago) link
I've been hearing a lot about this moment on "Linda Blair" that is the low point of the new one. Though I don't have any desire to check it out!
― Evan, Friday, 9 November 2018 12:55 (five years ago) link
I tapped out several albums ago but these reactions brought a perverse curiosity that nudged me to check it out. And wow, it's quite the accomplishment, so triumphantly unlistenable.
― doug watson, Friday, 9 November 2018 14:32 (five years ago) link
Was watching Austin City Limits the other day, a split show between The War on Drugs and TV on the Radio. "Under the Pressure" by TWoD was so impressive, brought back to mind Grumpy Koz's live complaints a few years back, and the widening gap between the quality of their output. The last MK album was the worst yet, hope the upcoming SKM is better.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Friday, 9 November 2018 15:00 (five years ago) link
SKM used to be the all-time favourite band of a friend of mine, but not anymore - I think since Among The Leaves, I remember how he cited the lyrics of Sunshine In Chicago as a major example of Kozelek's decline.Coupled with various bits I heard of both music & reports of Kozelek madness, I've followed my friend's advice to stick to the earlier records. 'April' remains absolutely stunning.
― Valentijn, Friday, 9 November 2018 15:18 (five years ago) link
is this an SKM album or the new "Mark Kozelek" album (s/t)? because I started listening to this yesterday and I actually liked the first song, which is the first thing I've liked since Among the Leaves.
― akm, Friday, 9 November 2018 15:37 (five years ago) link
oh I guess there is an SKM album ('this is my dinner'). I know a few people who are really into these albums, they find them immensely interesting. I find them mind-numbingly dull. i don't know what he's thinking.
― akm, Friday, 9 November 2018 15:38 (five years ago) link
I gave it another go, skipping 'Linda Blair' this time. Some of the music's not too bad, better than the last few records. I even quite enjoyed 'Candles'. And there's nothing here quite as obnoxious as him corpsing while reading out earnest fan letters in the middle of a song.
No desire to listen to it ever again though.
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Friday, 9 November 2018 16:20 (five years ago) link
"SKM used to be the all-time favourite band of a friend of mine, but not anymore - I think since Among The Leaves"
Mark would have made things much easier if he had retired the Sun Kil Moon moniker after that album came out. It's annoying to have to bookend any discussion/recommendation with a big loud disclaimer given half of his releases are the antithesis of the other half under SKM.
― Evan, Friday, 9 November 2018 16:53 (five years ago) link
Benji is the kind of album you can only make once. I don't really know what to do with most of the stuff he's released since, and also his frequent pissiness is kind of insufferable.
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Friday, 9 November 2018 17:38 (five years ago) link
lol what the fuck is this
― for i, sock in enumerate (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 9 November 2018 17:52 (five years ago) link
Has it been established whether he's actually ill or not? Fucking weird behaviour, if not.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Friday, 9 November 2018 17:57 (five years ago) link
Is it possible that J.D. Salinger wrote my favorite novel?Yes, this is possible
― for i, sock in enumerate (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 9 November 2018 18:02 (five years ago) link
one of the worst musicians in the world atm
― imago, Friday, 9 November 2018 18:02 (five years ago) link
He needs an editor. A fucking brutal one. And a friend.
― djh, Friday, 9 November 2018 18:06 (five years ago) link
Exactly my point. AFP showed that at the time he was arguably among one of the best.
Xp
― Evan, Friday, 9 November 2018 18:19 (five years ago) link
i did see a video clip of him attempting to do an RHP song at an SKM show in Europe a few weeks ago and he didn't remember anhy of the words. the band though was able to play it. I was surprised he even attempted it.
I dunno, he releases stuff on his own now and it seems to sell consistently enough that he's not rethinking his approach to what he puts out. I've stopped buying it and I stopped seeing him live, but obv other people don't, so it's not like he has a label saying "LOL WTF OMG NO"
― akm, Friday, 9 November 2018 20:45 (five years ago) link
That confirms its an imposter! Real Mark went missing in 2013.
― Evan, Friday, 9 November 2018 20:50 (five years ago) link
ok lol at the gurgling noises on 'linda blair'
what's funny is that it suddenly dawned on me that he would do it, just before he started doing it. i'm only a minute and a half in. and also, i can just tell he's going to do it again. this song is almost 12 minutes long!
― Karl Malone, Friday, 9 November 2018 20:53 (five years ago) link
loooooool it's happening again.
I got a lot of love for you, all you people here in Warsaw, PolandIf I gotta be honest, there's only one thing I’ll tell you that I don't love at allIt's the music of Steely Dan, it makes my skin crawl
ok a line has been crossed, fuck you MK
― Karl Malone, Friday, 9 November 2018 20:59 (five years ago) link
Oh man This Is Not Possible was on my Spotify list today, it’s just horrendous. There is no case to be made for it whatsoever on any level.
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Sunday, 11 November 2018 02:39 (five years ago) link
so is he trolling or just losing it?
― rip van wanko, Sunday, 11 November 2018 02:54 (five years ago) link
Even the most die hard Kozelek fan I'm friends with hates it
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Sunday, 11 November 2018 03:08 (five years ago) link
this is very possible
― for i, sock in enumerate (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 11 November 2018 05:15 (five years ago) link
why did he write a song called "The Moderately Talented Yet Attractive Young Woman vs. The Exceptionally Talented Yet Not So Attractive Middle Aged Man"
― niels, Sunday, 11 November 2018 12:22 (five years ago) link
that was one of his last good songs
― akm, Sunday, 11 November 2018 17:42 (five years ago) link
haha, well I'm surprised
I really like the Benji album, as did a bunch of lurkers iirc
― niels, Sunday, 11 November 2018 22:11 (five years ago) link
I liked 'Benji' too; I like 'Perils from the Sea' even more. Pretty much everything I've heard since has been appalling.
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Sunday, 11 November 2018 22:21 (five years ago) link
I remember liking benji when it was released
― F# A# (∞), Monday, 12 November 2018 02:17 (five years ago) link
Benji and Perils both good. Bridgers cover even better.
― for i, sock in enumerate (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 12 November 2018 03:42 (five years ago) link
Kozelek & Desertshore is my favorite of the albums he did in his new style before totally going off the deep end.
― Evan, Monday, 12 November 2018 04:46 (five years ago) link
The weirdest thing here (having only listened to Linda Blair) is how intricate and interesting the music in the background is. It's baffling that that level of musicianship has that vocal and those lyrics. How must those musicians feel?
― brokenshire (jed_), Monday, 12 November 2018 05:09 (five years ago) link
To be honest the last song I loved was "Katy Song". After that everything he released got paler and paler. The collab with Desertshore was the last thing I purchased but only listened to once.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 12 November 2018 19:24 (five years ago) link
How must those musicians feel?
He's been working with the same folks a lot and they're probably very happy for the steady studio work.
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 12 November 2018 19:30 (five years ago) link
half of the sun kil moon albums are pretty good. I'd still be having a good time. sometimes feels like he's in the "Everybody's Rockin'" phase of a Neil Young trajectory, but where rockabilly is modest mouse and the asshole record executive is himself. if he has a Weld or Harvest Moon later, the sum of his output will still be amazing? I think?
― for i, sock in enumerate (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 12 November 2018 19:48 (five years ago) link
Benji is Tonight's the Night, and aerosol can explosions are the heroin btw.
― for i, sock in enumerate (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 12 November 2018 19:50 (five years ago) link
he's a million miles awayfrom that beer-commercial guitar day
― for i, sock in enumerate (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 12 November 2018 19:51 (five years ago) link
pic.twitter.com/CsOOGMopiz— Ryley walker (@ryleywalker) November 12, 2018
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Monday, 12 November 2018 20:21 (five years ago) link
the 'Fork finally gives up, a couple releases after most of the rest of us:
Kozelek isn’t the only songwriter who has had success with this mode of exhibitionist expression, of course, where the tiniest detail or circumstance plucked from day-to-day activity can offer an unexpected insight about life, loss, or emotion at large. After the death of his wife, Geneviève Castrée, Phil Elverum turned the act of taking out the day’s garbage into a moment of quiet desolation—and a jolting reminder as to why he had to keep going. Last year, Julie Byrne used the image of crossing the western United States to express a core of existential restlessness. Vivid songwriting, whether hip-hop or country, can hinge on these lived-in details. But during This Is My Dinner, Kozelek treats his songs like status updates on a Facebook account he again tells us he does not have. You often hear about bands leaving room for the singer, building up the lyrics rather than blocking them out. In this case, you wish that Kozelek had left any space at all for what sounds like a subtle, sophisticated backing crew, anchored by the expressive drumming of the Dirty Three’s Jim White. But, no: This is about Kozelek.Recent themes return—Kozelek’s travels of Portugal and Norway, his anxiety over mass shootings, his subservience to his moods, how he understands pain better than the rest of us, his issues with his dad, how much meaning he extracts from boxers. What’s different here, though, is just how much we learn about Kozelek’s former virility and how losing it seems more bitter than sweet. He tells us about the time a promoter called him indie rock’s Wilt Chamberlain, the basketball star who claims to have slept with 20,000 women. He tries to dazzle with bygone tales of all the ménages à trois he’s had in Copenhagen and how he just doesn’t need them anymore. He vividly recounts escaping down frigid Oslo streets after a fan’s boyfriend caught her giving him a handjob and sucking his thumb. “When you’re in your 20s, in my opinion, nothing should be off limits,” Kozelek, 51, sings. Listening to This Is My Dinner is like going to a 25-year-high-school reunion and sitting beside the sad, divorced, and bloated former jock who tells you a dozen times about his game-winning touchdown at homecoming, then winks every time a pretty classmate walks by.
Recent themes return—Kozelek’s travels of Portugal and Norway, his anxiety over mass shootings, his subservience to his moods, how he understands pain better than the rest of us, his issues with his dad, how much meaning he extracts from boxers. What’s different here, though, is just how much we learn about Kozelek’s former virility and how losing it seems more bitter than sweet. He tells us about the time a promoter called him indie rock’s Wilt Chamberlain, the basketball star who claims to have slept with 20,000 women. He tries to dazzle with bygone tales of all the ménages à trois he’s had in Copenhagen and how he just doesn’t need them anymore. He vividly recounts escaping down frigid Oslo streets after a fan’s boyfriend caught her giving him a handjob and sucking his thumb. “When you’re in your 20s, in my opinion, nothing should be off limits,” Kozelek, 51, sings. Listening to This Is My Dinner is like going to a 25-year-high-school reunion and sitting beside the sad, divorced, and bloated former jock who tells you a dozen times about his game-winning touchdown at homecoming, then winks every time a pretty classmate walks by.
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sun-kil-moon-this-is-my-dinner/
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Wednesday, 14 November 2018 10:11 (five years ago) link
haha, nice one
― niels, Wednesday, 14 November 2018 10:19 (five years ago) link
Really liking the demos/live disc of Red House Painters - Retrospective. "Waterkill" is great and I'll have to listen to other demos on youtube to see if they should have included any other unreleased songs.
Hope I find another band that either equals or tops pre-Ocean Beach RHP for this kind of sad music.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 9 February 2019 12:16 (five years ago) link
A+ seagull singing on live version of "Mistress".
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 9 February 2019 15:32 (five years ago) link
Idk what’s with that falsetto voice he used to do. He doesn’t realize how much it sounds like that or a cat. Like you might think he’s doing a silly muppet voice on purpose but it appears he was always dead serious.
― Evan, Saturday, 9 February 2019 15:40 (five years ago) link
It works for me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 9 February 2019 16:37 (five years ago) link
I'm not necessarily always put off by it, it's just so odd to me because if anyone else did it faithfully they'd sound like they're making fun of it.
But his singing voice was always weird. Especially by the time he got to the SKM phase, his voice sounds perpetually like he's got a jawbreaker in his cheek when he sings/talks. Or like he's extremely congested? I don't know; it's clearly outside of his control. It could be that it was less of a thing in the earlier RHP days because at that time his style was to really enunciate everything. I probably wrote this exact post at some point upthread.
― Evan, Saturday, 9 February 2019 17:22 (five years ago) link
I'm just glad to have opened this thread and not found that he has said/done something stupid.
― djh, Saturday, 9 February 2019 17:57 (five years ago) link
Is he on social media?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 9 February 2019 20:41 (five years ago) link
No, thank christ
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Saturday, 9 February 2019 20:42 (five years ago) link
counterpoint: if he was on social media he'd have probably put all his bullshit there instead
― imago, Saturday, 9 February 2019 21:20 (five years ago) link
he doesn't write songs anymore he writes feeds
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Saturday, 9 February 2019 21:43 (five years ago) link
"thanks but i would've preferred this with no music and as a twitter thread"
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Saturday, 9 February 2019 21:44 (five years ago) link
"Funhouse" is just so gutting
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 23 February 2019 22:44 (five years ago) link
― djh, Saturday, February 9, 2019 5:57 PM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
^ otm
― john. a resident of evanston. (john. a resident of chicago.), Sunday, 24 February 2019 05:11 (five years ago) link
Early demo "The Bridge" sounds so much like "Cemetery Gates" by Smiths. I've read that Kozelek really didn't know much alternative/college rock back then but maybe the other members did.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 30 March 2019 17:14 (four years ago) link
I've been playing "Carry Me, Ohio" from "Ghosts of the Great Highway" on Youtube a lot recently. Sort of amazed that I don't own it. I must have been in a really bad mood (or listening to Kompakt) the year it was released.
― djh, Monday, 3 February 2020 21:48 (four years ago) link
there's a good alt version on the reissue bonus disc
― zuck zuck lucify (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 3 February 2020 21:58 (four years ago) link