sun kil moon?

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.

probably the music

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.

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?

https://twitter.com/laurasnapes/status/605689379017867265

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.

embarrassing clown of a man. koz, take a holiday for god's sake

So now we’re on the cusp of yet another Kozelek firestorm

frankly I doubt this is going to happen

lol, as if you couldn't tell from listening to his recent music that he's a worthless cunt with nothing to say

red house wasteman

someone should throw him down colorful hill

grace cathedral fuckboy

let the waves wash over him on ocean beach

Has He Forgotten (how to shut the fuck up)

is this guy a serious alcoholic maybe? this behavior is giving off a vibe that is familiar to me

that was my exact guess around the time when warondrugsghazi was happening

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, 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.

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

It's worth reading the whole of that Uncut review (to get the full sense of disappointment).

Idg what people like about this guy and his music

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.

Idg what people like about this guy and his music

― 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=-pLIC7fK778

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiNzirkNHFk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3POcsR5mkq4

Above examples not representative of his recent "style"

because it sucks

His current style you mean.

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.

lol yeah u know me!

so... leo kottke for depressive gen xers

yeeeah this guy is not for me

Ha! not quite but alright.

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.

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.

oops meant to delete that first "now"

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?

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.

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.

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.

I see what you mean now, thanks for the reply!

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).

pretty much "diary diarrhea" in the new one

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

"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.

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

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=mxBRqhIHsw0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjA3EbKsl4E

hmm yeah I like that Pancho Villa one

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

Just trying more to bring attention to ideal Kozelek. So many people think his current schtick is somehow representative of overall output.

yeah but isn't the problem that his current live set relies heavily on his recent output

Well sure, but I'm just trying to show that Benji-era doesn't represent the vast majority of his otherwise stellar discography.

Nice track Evan. I like the My Bloody Valentine at 4:40 in Between Days

Yeah I always got that vibe from it as well.