Mark Kozelek should be washed up. He had his run in the 90’s with the respected and acclaimed Red House Painters. He made a name for himself as a solo artist with unique folk covers of hard rock songs from AC/DC, Kiss, and others.
In 2003, he made the best album of his career and one the best albums of the year under the band name Sun Kil Moon. Ghost of the Great Highway, with its sad droning songs covering subjects as varied as heartache, boxing, and Judas Priest, casts a spell on the listener that will not let go. Sun Kil Moon’s sound makes me think of Neil Young and Crazy Horse
playing songs by the Cocteau Twins, or vice versa.
Ghosts was followed by a love-it-or-hate-it Modest Mouse covers album called Tiny Cities. If you know and like Modest Mouse, Kozelek’s John Denverish takes on their classic song takes some getting used to. With patience, the album will grow on you. I promise.
Sun Kil Moon’s new album April comes out, shockingly, on April 1. The first single is called “Moorestown.” It is achingly beautiful and sad in a way that you can’t put your finger on. It’s gotten instanly under my skin. I’ve watched this video five times in a row now. It’s one of the better fan-made videos that I’ve seen.
Tags: ac/dc, almost famous, april, Cameron Crowe, ghost of the great highway, kiss, Mark Kozelek, modest mouse, red house painters, Sun Kil Moon, tiney cities
March 6, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Shit i didn’t even know about a new SKM record! Good stuff. Did you know about the bonus disc from Ghosts? I didn’t know about that either, so had to go pirate it last night. Seems to be top rate.
Still can’t get into Tiny Cities, though.
But Ghosts has gotta be in my top ten of the last ten years.
So i finalized another job transfer yesterday. It’s got me coming back to Richmond in the Summer. I’ll be doing the same job i used to do when i was in Richmond, but quite a lot less of it. So that should be very cool. Might need someone to check on my cat while i’m gone though…