sun kil moon?

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.

I do like Throwing Muses and love Lisa Germano, however.

xp review of Ghosts of the Great Highway, that is

"miserable" seems like a wildly offtm adjective to describe Throwing Muses tbh

yeah, true

I'd say Down Colorful Hill sounds like Lisa Germano singing worse lyrics over slow Throwing Muses guitar, though

this same Throwing Muses?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGELjc66kFs

I mean I was never deep into them but yeah "miserable" was not my impression of them

oh man the swaying in that video

guess she and mark share an aversion to sunlight in their lyrics, anyway

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.

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.

"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.

https://apmike.bandcamp.com/track/michael-perry

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)

They covered The Weeping Song, beautifully, in tribute to Nick Cave and his family

Christ, I'm getting misty just imagining that.

sounds like a great show

...and yet, this tribute to Nick Cave is horrible, on a couple different levels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCiK166i0I8

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.

To me his story-teller cadence is not that compelling, feels like posturing to me.

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.

About to play this:

http://www.sunkilmoon.com/jesuskm.html

Slightly fearful he will be a dick.

Actually kinda digging this today ...

It was going okay until the one with the fan letter ...

https://sunkilmoonalbum8.bandcamp.com/album/under-the-canopy

this is extremely, extremely funny and accurate.

haaaa

oh my god

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.

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.

Unlistenable? Why?

FWIW, it’s my favorite Mark Kozelek album since April.

lmao

"...plugged in"

This is awesome.

FWIW, it’s my favorite Mark Kozelek album since April.

all right i'll call this bluff

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

yeah Perils is definitely the example of his storytelling style done well

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.

Under the Canopy is my favorite Koz release since Admiral Fell Promises

This is fantastic. Laughing uncontrollably.

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.

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!

re: jesu/skm, not under the canopy, kozelek's self-aware masterpiece

there is a lyric on here about watching bubble boy

Sorry, I'm still not sure whether you are talking about the parody or not

neither do i

the album with jesu is really good. father's day and america's most wanted. he sounds good with a drum machine imo

Have you heard Perils From the Sea?

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.)

Suspecting it's the pre-2010 era material?

oh god Koz is gonna write such an insufferable song about finding out Bowie liked him

Yeah, seems inevitable.