Mark struck gold with that album. I remember my first time listening to it. Had me crying in the shower lol.
Before you listen to his newest stuff, check out older Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters. The new stuff is pretty divisive.
i still haven't listened to RHP yet whoops. def interested in what they evoke everytime someone describes them
I love the first RHP album so much - it's crazy how much Koz has given me - I am extremely grateful for his art and growing up with it
The RHP discography is better than Sun Kil Moon's imo, and is essential for fall. Def check dat ish out
I never cared for him until Benji, and I’m split on everything he’s done since. Universal Themes is very meh, but the new record with Jesu (both, really) are decent, even if he’s constantly saying things in his songs that I think are bad. He just reminds me of a lot of my rural-suburban Ohio family and that’s not a good thing, but it makes it easy to connect to for me.
Seeing him in Cambridge, MA. Have no idea what to expect really. Is he playing guitar on this tour? Or is he going to be like drunk uncle rambling. Either way I'm super excited.
Sometimes I look at it like "Pretty Mark" and "Sloppy Mark." Pretty Mark being most things before Benji, and Sloppy Mark being everything after. Sloppy Mark not indicative bad, but there is a significant drop in finesse in his recordings Benji onwards, I'm sure he likes it. Benji is where Pretty Mark started to evolve into Sloppy Mark.
Update: show was a mix of beauty and drunk uncle. All amazing. Arrangements were fantastic with a beautiful string section to really bring it to life. Played essentially none of the songs I wanted to hear, but that's fine, the show was easily one of the weirdest but most interesting shows I've ever been to. Mark with the crowd was hilarious. He's really good at adding tension, then cutting it. "Do I give off the vibe of a guy who takes requests?" Was snapped at a dude yelling song names the entire night.
It was all over the place, I'll relay what I can remember. Some songs I didn't know/hard to remember. He played for 2+ hours. Opened with Somehow The Wonder Of Life Prevails God Bless Ohio, after this song called out an obnoxious girl in a dress who kept talking. Astronomy Few songs off an LP that came out two days ago, and a recent EP, Night Talks I think Chili Lemon Peanuts Micheline Dogs Here Comes My Girl (Tom Petty Cover) Celebrated Summer (Husker Du Cover) Improvised. Mark literally took the guitar from the guitarist and started playing. Had Steve Shelly hold a beat, but Mark kept forgetting the words. Had a girl jump up on stage and hold an iPhone to him with the lyrics. He said he wanted to "get it right for Grant." The entire band came in when they could, it was a beautiful moment. A newer song about a dream with Elliott Smith, incredibly haunting with the arrangements. Around this time he asked the girls in the front row how old they were because they didn't seem 18. Then he went on a rant about younger women are always beautiful yet men get older, seemed like a semi mid life crisis rant. He also kept asking them what songs were on his new record (referring to Common As Light) and they didn't say anything and he replied "story of my life" House Cat Encore with Beautiful You. There were certainly more songs, he played for a little over 2 hours. But as I said, some I didn't know.
Yeahhhh ew. I cant say I respect Mark as much as I used to. I understand he’s speaking his mind and that’s just kinda who he is, but I really preferred the days when the line between artist and personality was way less blurred
They also did The Possum. Also, I didn't really find his thing gross. Just seemed brutally honest. The crowd seemed to think it was funny/was involved. The improv Husker Du part was really special though.