Mark Kozelek (+ Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon, collaborations)

[xmd 5a]

Despite being infatuated with Red House Painters for a couple of years now, I've only quite recently checked out Kozelek's other projects. Sun Kil Moon quickly won me over, and I'm becoming increasingly obsessed with Mark's prolific and extraordinary body of work.

Obligatory YouTube post:

I can't stop listening to this song. 14 minutes long and it flies past. Every second of it is perfect.

The new Sun Kil Moon album is out next week and 2013 saw both a solid solo album (featuring a surprisingly great acoustic Godflesh cover) and an interesting collaboration with the Album Leaf.

[frankie teardrop]

thanks for making this thread, thom. i've always LOVED the red house painters- one of the last truly great bands of the original 4ad run. i haven't gotten into sun kil moon with the same enthusiasm, but i haven't spent much time with it, which is pretty absurd considering how much i LOVE rhp.

i want both of these songs played at my funeral:

[blackholesun]

Surprised we didn't have a thread already. I went the opposite way and started out loving Sun Kil Moon first, then getting into Red House Painters later. Some of Kozelek's stuff is hit and miss for me. But when it hits, IT HITS.







The new album seems promising. I've enjoyed the two tracks so far.

[blackholesun]

Benji is out there now. I love it so far after one listen.

[xmd 5a]

The intensely personal (even by Kozelek standards) tone of the album kind of took me aback at first, but it's a really engrossing listen when you get a feel for it.

[blackholesun]

Benji

Jesus this album is so incredible. If you haven't heard it just lay back and let the lyrics pull the strings.

Agreed. This album hit all the right spots for me. I felt he tried to do the same type of lyrical stuff in Among the Leaves, but that fell flat for me. I absolutely love Benji and the collaboration with The Album Leaf though. I still need to listen to the new Desertshore album.

[thefragile_jake]

I don't mean to throw hyperbole around but I'm confident nothing in 2014 will be able to match the emotion, melodies and story telling found in Benji.

This record is incredible.

[thefragile_jake]

Yeah Benji is still an amazing listen.

Mark Kozelek is releasing a new live album this year too and it's pretty good. I'm so pumped to see Sun Kil Moon at Pitchfork next month.

[blackholesun]

I heard the new live album on P4k. Really good. Benji is so damn good. I've been constantly returning to it

[thefragile_jake]

Seems like it's just me hyping this record up still but about six or seven months removed since I first heard the album, "Benji" is still without a doubt the most powerful record this year so far.

[blackholesun]

Seeing Kozelek this weekend in San Francisco. Should be good. Seems like he's been in the spotlight lately, due to his sometimes-abrasive stage banter. Kinda funny if you ask me, heh. But yeah, Benji is an outstanding album and one that I connect to on a personal level as well.

[blackholesun]

He wrote a song called War on Drugs: Suck my Cock and it's going to be streaming Monday. Haha.

[Rdm]

My vinyl copy of benji just shipped, clear vinyl. Favorite album of the year

[thefragile_jake]

My vinyl copy of benji just shipped, clear vinyl. Favorite album of the year

Where. Where did you order this!?

[Rdm]

Where. Where did you order this!?

Bullmoose.com I think it may be sold out though, it was super limited.they keep coming out with different colors and this site keeps getting them so keep an eye out here for another variant

[blackholesun]

Saw Sun Kil Moon/Mark today. They opened with Lost Verses which just about made my day. The rest of the setlist was either from Benji or the collaborative album with The Album Leaf. The highlight was "I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love", which Will Oldham joined in on. I just about bawled my eyes out. I went through the loss of my mother this year, so that song has weight with me. Can't wait to hear what that War on Drugs thing sounds like tomorrow.

[thefragile_jake]

Bullmoose.com I think it may be sold out though, it was super limited.they keep coming out with different colors and this site keeps getting them so keep an eye out here for another variant

Got mine this morning!

[Frozen Beach]

http://pitchfork.com/news/56989-here-it-is-mark-kozeleks-song-called-war-on-drugs-suck-my-cock/
10/10 BNM

[Rdm]

sounds incredible on vinyl

[blackholesun]

http://pitchfork.com/news/56989-here-it-is-mark-kozeleks-song-called-war-on-drugs-suck-my-cock/
10/10 BNM

Wow haha. Not bad actually.

[thefragile_jake]

I really hope the follow up to "Benji" comes out next year and it's full of grumpy Mark songs. Oh and Rdm, that vinyl looks beautiful. Can't wait to get mine.

[FULLMETAL]

I haven't had the patience to pick up Benji yet, but I'm going to see SKM at the Fonda on Thursday and hopefully will pick it up at the show. Anyhow, I can't believe how much I enjoyed his new "War On Drugs: Suck My Cock." For a last minute thing, it sounds pretty good and the story is quite amusing.

If you're looking for a decent live set, I highly recommend finding the 1997 Hultsfeld Festival FM show.

[aggroculture]

I'm just going to leave this here: http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/515-su...tern-violence/

[blackholesun]

This just went from possibly amusing and slightly annoying to kinda pathetic real fast. Hmm.

http://pitchfork.com/news/57253-mark...anofsky-blues/

[Frozen Beach]

It's the own guys fault. The situation was dead as a horse, then he came later and revived the whole thing.

[october_midnight]

Seriously. Really taints my perspective as I listen to his music (as I've always loved it). What a prick. Meredith Graves' essay nails him to the wall, and it should.

[blackholesun]

New Sun Kil Moon album, Universal Themes, out June 2nd.

[thefragile_jake]

Seriously. Really taints my perspective as I listen to his music (as I've always loved it). What a prick. Meredith Graves' essay nails him to the wall, and it should.

Oddly enough, that piece by Meredith tainted my perspective on listening to Perfect Pussy. I felt the piece was a horribly written character assassination that missed it's mark completely on what she was trying to say. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

That being said, I still love the fuck out of Benji. Universal Themes should be an interesting listen.

[Jinsai]

Oddly enough, that piece by Meredith tainted my perspective on listening to Perfect Pussy. I felt the piece was a horribly written character assassination that missed it's mark completely on what she was trying to say. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

That being said, I still love the fuck out of Benji. Universal Themes should be an interesting listen.

She's being ridiculous, but Kozelek's behavior in this situation makes him an easy target. Still, trying to even tear him down with the implication that his petulance here would be inspired by his middle aged march into obscurity is just preposterous. Maybe she missed the part where his last album was being celebrated as one of the best albums of the year by practically everybody, and his career was seeing a new resurgence in mainstream popularity.

I mean, yeah, maybe you could bash him for being a jerk, but attributing it to his dwindling relevancy? She might as well slam him for being a triangular blue giraffe. It doesn't even make sense. Does she frequently write these condescending but clueless rants? I'd like to see how relevant Perfect Pussy is in twenty years.

[thefragile_jake]

She's being ridiculous, but Kozelek's behavior in this situation makes him an easy target. Still, trying to even tear him down with the implication that his petulance here would be inspired by his middle aged march into obscurity is just preposterous. Maybe she missed the part where his last album was being celebrated as one of the best albums of the year by practically everybody, and his career was seeing a new resurgence in mainstream popularity.

I mean, yeah, maybe you could bash him for being a jerk, but attributing it to his dwindling relevancy? She might as well slam him for being a triangular blue giraffe. It doesn't even make sense. Does she frequently write these condescending but clueless rants? I'd like to see how relevant Perfect Pussy is in twenty years.

You couldn't have hit the nail more on the head. Sure, Mark might've put himself out there more for situations like this in how he was trolling but the facts that you bring up are exactly why I felt the piece was more about stroking Meredith's own writer's ego with her unnecessary and truly off base comments about Mark. And yes, I think Meredith does frequently write material like this.