sun kil moon?

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.

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.

Mark Kozelek & Desertshore is good

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.

actually Benji is super long. I just don't listen to the full thing anymore.

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.

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.

admiral fell promises is the correct answer

can only stream admiral fell promises on amazon prime, though

This works, too:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSjRXUugfcLVDHf3d74b6t38GLaoJfpsy

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.

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.

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?

the jesu album was alright

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/

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*.

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

yeah and it fuckin sucks

http://www.sunkilmoon.com/commonaslight/

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

I kind of want to hear it badly now

props to whoever added the "Musical Comedy" tag to his rym page

Ok looool

brad you still should really try perils from the sea

yeah perils is his 3rd best post-RHP album after ghosts/april imo

I will admit to legit loling at the ending of "he's bad"

i just watched almost famous and totally never knew that he was the drummer in the band STILLWATER

weird casting

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.

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 Promises
Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts Of The Great Highway
Sun Kil Moon - April
Red House Painters - s/t
Red House Painters - Ocean Beach
Red House Painters - s/t (bridge)
Mark Kozelek - White Christmas & Little Drummer Boy Live
Mark Kozelek - What's Next To The Moon
Red 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 Leaves
Red House Painters - Old Ramon
Red House Painters - Songs For A Blue Guitar
Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle - Perils From The Sea
Mark Kozelek - Nights
Mark Kozelek - The Finally LP
Mark Kozelek & Desertshore - s/t
Sun 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...