Mark Kozelek And Desertshore - Mark Kozelek And Desertshore (Caldo Verde, 2013)

Mark Kozelek And Desertshore
Mark Kozelek And Desertshore
Caldo Verde
2013

Rating: 7.5 little kids out of 10

Mark Kozelek is of course the former frontman of the iconic Red House Painters, and on this outing he is paired with Desertshore, a group made up of his former bandmates from RHP and Sun Kil Moon...I'm guessing this is as close as we get to a Painters reunion, but who knows.  What I do know is this is probably the strongest record he has put out since the first Sun Kil Moon record "Ghosts of the Great Highway" back in 2003.  He might seem like a miserable person and once yelled at my friend from the stage for taking photos of him even though Koz's label asked my friend to do it, but goddamn the man knows how to write dreamy depressing folk songs about as well as anybody.  "Tavoris Cloud" is an instant favorite but there's really not a bad song in the bunch.  

I'd sorta spaced out on the man's output for the better part of a decade, but I have a feeling this record is going to pull me back in.  At a minimum, I'm due an excessive period of obsessing over the Red House Painters discography.  Which someone really really REALLY needs to reissue on vinyl. 

Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle - Perils from the Sea (Caldo Verde, 2013)

Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle

Perils from the Sea

Caldo Verde

2013

Rating: 7 dirty piles of clean laundry out of 10

This collaboration between Mark Kozalek and Jimmy LaValle may not really sound just like the Postal Service, but it will remind you of them in that both the Postal Service album and this one have the same construct - a well known voice in the indie rock world paired with a guy making mellow electro-pop sounds.  It sounds pretty much how you expect, like a Kozalek record with slow dance music backing his vocals.  It's entirely possible this is all in my head, but I wonder if Koz doing that record of Modest Mouse covers had a lasting effect on how he now sings songs?  I'd swear a number of tracks here sound like Isaac Brock.  Anyways, long story short but this is pretty enjoyable.  Assuming you like Koz that is, because despite the change in backing music his voice still very much drives anything he appears on. 

Sun Kil Moon - Among the Leaves (Caldo Verde, 2012)

Sun Kil Moon

Among the Leaves

Caldo Verde

2012

Rating: 5.5 really freakin' hot beef jerky out of 10

I wish I could get as excited for new Sun Kil Moon material as I do to listen to the old Red House Painters albums or even the first SKM record "Ghosts of the Great Highway."  A lot of that is on me - preconceived notions and all that jazz.  And some of it is on Mark Kozalek (aka the dude who is Sun Kil Moon in case you weren't aware) - let's be honest, most of his songs sound the same.  It's a good sound, but still.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with this record, other than it being too long (really, 73 minutes?), but there isn't really anything that stands out in these 17 tracks either.  The more recent material seems to lack that spooky, ethereal quality that his older music had.  So, yeah...I'm going to go listen to "Ocean Beach" now.