I'm 90 seconds in and so far this is fucking magnificent.
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Jul 13, 2022
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So Sun Kil Moon kinda started as a band, but it has since turned into just a Mark Kozelek solo project--he not only writes and sings 100% of the material, but on some of the albums he's even the only musician. (Red House Painters was his earlier band and was, again, a real band at the beginning but was pretty much just a solo project towards the end.)
Kozelek is crazy talented. He's got a lovely baritone, he's a killer guitarist, and a writer of startling insight and honesty. He turned towards a journalist approach--and by that I mean in the "diary" sense of journal, in that he began writing lyrics which seemed more like stream-of-consciousness recountings of his day. Which at first was revelatory and deeply engaging, but after a half dozen records just feels like laziness.
The big problem, though, is that a Pitchfork article revealed that he's been, charitably, a creep towards a number of his fans over the years. He's gone, I think, radio silent in the 18 or so months since and I don't really miss him. But the revelations do make it a bit hard to listen to his old stuff; in fact, I haven't really, since. And for a few years there, he was my favorite artist of this century, so that really sucked.
Here's his deconstruction of one of my all-time favorite pop confectionaries:
He did that with a lot of songs, and as far as I can tell, it was never meant to be ironical or tongue in cheek.
Here's the first song I ever heard by him--it made me laugh at the time and still makes me smile:
Sunshine in Chicago makes me think about my dad
It was eight or nine siblings I am told that he had
When summertime came, his parents put him on a bus
And sent him to his Uncle's in Chicago for three months
Sunshine in Chicago makes me feel pretty sad
My band played here a lot in the nineties when we had
Lots of female fans and fuck, they all were cute
Now, I just sign posters for guys in tennis shoes
His 2014 album Benji hit most of the year-end best of lists, and deservedly so. But I'm even more drawn to the gothic acoustic stuff like this earlier track which answers the question no one asked: "what if Nick Drake had Steve Hackett as his guitarist?"
Thanks for the info Scott.
Interested ‘til I got to the 3rd para. Another Ryan Adams type scenario? I know folks argue that you can separate the art from the individual. However I do find that tough with popular music when you are listening to an individuals emotional expression within a lyric, knowing that aspects of their behaviour are deeply problematic to you.
Hell, I struggle with Stray Cat Blues & Brown Sugar these days.
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Jul 13, 2022
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I'm with you on that 100%. All of it. For me, much of the dividing line is whether or not the artist is still alive to financially profit from my buying/listening/watching/whatever. Someone dead? I am much less conflicted, especially if they're long dead. Whether or not an actual crime has been committed also factors in, although perhaps not greatly. But, yes, it's easier (for me) to sometimes try to ignore when an actor has been a creep than when it's a singer singing the word he himself wrote.
A few weeks back, I had Aftermath playing. The very first time through the chorus of "Stupid Girl," my 16-year-old looked up, looked at the speakers, then slowly turned to me with an expression of "what the fuck, Dad?" on her face. I skipped to the next song, but ended up just turning the album off. Still like the Stones, still like the album—although the song's never been a favorite, to put it mildly—but it felt weird. I know the history, I get the point...but...I put on the Pretenders instead.
I admit I barely listened to the lyrics, which I will soon. The music is really distinctive, and I can't believe I haven't heard of this guy. Thanks to Walkerinthesun.
OK, let’s talk John Murry and his Southern Gothic masterpiece.
First off, let’s apply a ‘parental advisory’ sticker to this one. Adult themes: serious drug use, language etc. Don’t let that put you off tho’, just be aware. Some might find it a tough listen. Tbh much of it I find it a tough listen, but that’s all part of the genius of a record I find utterly compelling.
Put together after his recovery from a marriage which collapsed into numbing heroin addiction and a near death o.d., Murry doesn’t flinch from raking thru the emotional and physical wreckage. Framing it within a palette that ranges from solo piano accompaniment (Little Coloured Baloons), thru delicate country/Americana (Things We Lost in The Fire) to full on fuzz guitar wig-out seems a tall order, but he pulls it off with aplomb, sometimes within the same song. Check out the outro to the aforementioned Things We Lost…. which starts with squalling guitar over a repetitive rhythm figure before staggering into a twinkling fade-out and finally concluding with a spliced in snippet of ‘Miss The Mississippi And You’.
With between-track recordings, strong pop sensibilities (Southern Sky, Penny Nails) and multilayered lo-fi textures, musically it covers a lot of ground before you even start dissecting it lyrically.
And to cap it all he wraps up with a perfect(ly) heartbreaking cover of ‘Thorn Tree In The Garden’.
I was a late arrival to Murry’s records, seeing him playing solo sets in support of Curse of Lono at a couple of autumn 2019 gigs. Day after the 1st night I got on-line and bought up everything I could find by him. Nothing disappointed so worth investigating further if you ‘enjoy’ this. Sure I’ve said it before on here: don’t sit in the bar while the support act plays!
2nd solo album with Cowboy Junky Michael Timmins behind the desk while his most recent release has seen him based in Ireland and, on the face of it at least, in a much better place. Which is good, cos he deserves to be loved.
I'm 90 seconds in and so far this is fucking magnificent.
Dark stuff. I won't listen often, but I will listen again.
I admit I barely listened to the lyrics, which I will soon. The music is really distinctive, and I can't believe I haven't heard of this guy. Thanks to Walkerinthesun.
OK, let’s talk John Murry and his Southern Gothic masterpiece.
First off, let’s apply a ‘parental advisory’ sticker to this one. Adult themes: serious drug use, language etc. Don’t let that put you off tho’, just be aware. Some might find it a tough listen. Tbh much of it I find it a tough listen, but that’s all part of the genius of a record I find utterly compelling.
Put together after his recovery from a marriage which collapsed into numbing heroin addiction and a near death o.d., Murry doesn’t flinch from raking thru the emotional and physical wreckage. Framing it within a palette that ranges from solo piano accompaniment (Little Coloured Baloons), thru delicate country/Americana (Things We Lost in The Fire) to full on fuzz guitar wig-out seems a tall order, but he pulls it off with aplomb, sometimes within the same song. Check out the outro to the aforementioned Things We Lost…. which starts with squalling guitar over a repetitive rhythm figure before staggering into a twinkling fade-out and finally concluding with a spliced in snippet of ‘Miss The Mississippi And You’.
With between-track recordings, strong pop sensibilities (Southern Sky, Penny Nails) and multilayered lo-fi textures, musically it covers a lot of ground before you even start dissecting it lyrically.
And to cap it all he wraps up with a perfect(ly) heartbreaking cover of ‘Thorn Tree In The Garden’.
I was a late arrival to Murry’s records, seeing him playing solo sets in support of Curse of Lono at a couple of autumn 2019 gigs. Day after the 1st night I got on-line and bought up everything I could find by him. Nothing disappointed so worth investigating further if you ‘enjoy’ this. Sure I’ve said it before on here: don’t sit in the bar while the support act plays! 2nd solo album with Cowboy Junky Michael Timmins behind the desk while his most recent release has seen him based in Ireland and, on the face of it at least, in a much better place. Which is good, cos he deserves to be loved.