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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link
Wondering if he'll shake his recent McConaughey-croak-rap rut for this one.
― Evan, Monday, 27 April 2015 14:10 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link
and she's not wrong
― Mr. Murphy in the wine bar. (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 31 May 2015 19:46 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link
give it the fuck up already, koz.
― meaulnes, Monday, 1 June 2015 23:07 (nine years ago) link
He already has. Didn't you listen to the record?
― Evan, Monday, 1 June 2015 23:55 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link
probably the music
― strangled whelps (imago), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 08:28 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link
https://twitter.com/laurasnapes/status/605689379017867265
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 11:04 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link
red house wasteman
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:17 (nine years ago) link
someone should throw him down colorful hill
― Frank 4ad (NickB), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:21 (nine years ago) link
grace cathedral fuckboy
― strangled whelps (imago), Tuesday, 2 June 2015 12:22 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link