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As Mark Kozelek gets older, his music gets worse

I was excited when Sun Kil Moon's Benji came out in 2014 and the music is pretty good on that album but I feel that album is when his lyrics became too real, too literal and too creepy. I didn't want to hear about the details of being a dirty old man, but that was especially apparent in the lyrics of "Dogs" and "Richard Ramirez Died Today". He seriously mentions his prostate in the latter song. That's just gross. I think 2012's Among The Leaves is the last Sun Kil Moon album that I found to be beautiful and not at all disturbing. My top three Sun Kil Moon albums are Ghosts of the Great Highway, April and Tiny Cities. The last one is an album of Modest Mouse covers, and as you may or may not know, Modest Mouse is one of my favorite bands. The stream of consciousness story telling style of his lyrics is just not a good direction. Mark has just gotten too old to give a fuck, clearly.

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I spent a good portion of the day going through every artist under the rock category that has currently been announced for the South By Southwest 2018 music festival lineup. I currated my favorites and put them on this playlist. Follow it and discover some great new music, whether or not you’ll be attending the festival this year!

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OBSESSED. I heard one of his songs months ago and loved it but just now listening to all his stuff. It’s so up my alley. I’m in love with this music.

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Slowdive at Newport Music Hall - Columbus, Ohio - November 7, 2017

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I hate the current state of alternative music. I hate that CD 102.5 (Columbus, Ohio independent radio station) plays so much of this "alt pop" or "indie pop" garbage but they are clearly just playing what the other stations play and apparently what people want to hear. In fact, I've pretty much stopped listening to CD 102.5 unless I'm in the car and the Bluetooth connection between my car and phone won't work. They recently announced they are streaming online again but that makes no difference to me. BBC 6 music is my daily radio station now because for some reason the Brits haven't given up on the guitar as much as Americans have. But still I think that 6 music plays to a pretty niche audience sadly. Maybe it's the radio stations faults for getting people to like this shitty indie pop sound? I mean, aren't they the taste-makers? Most people don't go and seek out new music, they just take what is presented to them and leave what they don't like. If we want the guitar to make a comeback in alternative music, maybe radio stations should start playing and supporting more guitar oriented bands. People will probably like it and request it if you give it enough rotation for it to be heard. I can only hope that Mase taking over for Leslie James at CD 102.5 can mean more rock and less pop but I'm doubtful. It's probably not up to just them. I hear so much good guitar oriented stuff on Marc Riley's show on 6 music - why can't our American stations play that? Why can't our American stations give indie rock bands a chance instead of playing these expensively produced poppy albums made by bands that have been trying to make it for 15 years? I could rant about this forever. I'll end it saying that I enjoy synths, they have a place in music. And I absolutely love some of this hip-hop being embraced by the alternative crowd (Run The Jewels, Childish Gambino). But I spend most of my time listening to 80s college rock and 90s indie and alternative rock because no one seems to be embracing those guitar oriented sounds these days and I feel like I'm being passed over as a major consumer of music.

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Hi, here’s my most recent playlist. I had 97 songs on the first “Heard on 6 music” playlist so I’ve started up a new one.

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Quit Being Dicks by Rob Crow's Gloomy Place

This is the second song I've heard by this artist and I really dig it. Weird name, but I like it.

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I'll be the guest on Steve Lamacq's Good Day, Bad Day segment on BBC 6 Music today at 12:45 eastern daylight time or 5:45pm if you're in the UK. Listen at BBC.co.uk/6music

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It’s Obvious - Chastity Belt

I haven’t made a post in a long time, and that’s probably because it’s too much of a pain in the ass to make a post. So I’m not going to force myself to do a little write up for each song I post anymore.

I’ll just say I really like the guitar tone in this.

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Changes - Sugar

Sugar is the band Bob Mould started after Hüsker Dü. I really like this song and while I don’t know all that much about Hüsker Dü or Bob Mould, I think this style is something that really fits my personal tastes quite well.  I also liked a single I heard from Bob Mould last year or so called Voices In My Head.

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Rattlesnake - King Gizzard  & The Lizard Wizard

I really like this song, it’s a longer one. A riff you can zone out to while at the same time having a lot of energy. Per usual, I heard this one on BBC 6 Music.

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J’Nuh - Sunny Day Real Estate

So this blog really got away from me for two reasons: 1. I felt like no one even cared so I didn’t know why I was putting effort into it and 2. Life got in the way and I was super busy.  Specifically busy preparing for my quick trip to Seattle.

I stayed with my cousins and tried to fit as much into ~3 days as I could.  On Thursday (May 4th) we went to KEXP, got coffee and I bought a Modest Mouse repressing of Interstate 8 on Isaac’s Glacial Pace label.  My cousins bought a deluxe version of Sunny Day Real Estate’s LP2, and we enjoyed listening to it while we visited and watched the baby dance around and play.  We enjoyed talking about this song, and how the song probably got it’s name from the way the guitar sounds.  If you’re a musician or have ever watched videos from the recording studio, you know how musicians talk about how things sound.

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Anemone - The Brian Jonestown Massacre

I really enjoy psychedelic rock music. This band is like shoegaze meets psychedelic and that’s mighty fine, in my opinion. They’re American but pull off the 90s british psychedelic revival pretty darn well.

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Bloodletting - Concrete Blonde

Nothing to say here really. Heard this on the radio today.

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Here’s the playlist from when I spent about an hour as the Guest DJ for Columbus independent radio station CD 102.5 in 2015

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Vundabar at Double Happiness in Columbus, Ohio - April 18th, 2017

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Oulala - Vundabar

I first saw Vundabar play a house show at The Bat Lounge in Athens, Ohio in late 2014 or early 2015. Yowler also played that show. I bought their first album, Antics, at that  show. Vundabar is one of my favorite bands. They’re from Boston. I don’t really know how to categorize them. I don’t know if they work with a label or anything at this point. They must have some great booking agents though, because they’re touring Europe this year.

They put on such a good show. I just bought this CD last night when I saw them at Double Happiness in Columbus. You can’t help but dance when you hear their music. I hope to see them again soon.