| Sun Kil Moon Common As Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood
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| Full Review | Ratings (249) |
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2.2 poor | Rowan5215 STAFF | February 18th 17 | not actually a Sun Kil Moon album, just a tester to see if anyone will buy the audiobook of Mark Kozelek's autobiography "Old Man Rambles In Excruciating Detail; Part Four"
13 Bumps | Bump |
4.0 excellent | Deadwing42 | February 17th 17 | If you hated Universal Themes, this probably won't win you over. But you should know it is essentially useless
to hope Mark goes back to his old style-- as he says here, "the world's changed and he's not that songwriter
anymore." My first impressions of this were that it was needlessly bloated and some of the beats were a bit
same-y, but as I listen more and more, tracks that I wrote off on the first listen or two are starting to grow on
me. "God Bless Ohio", "The Highway Song", "Lone Star" and "70s TV Show Theme" are my early favorites. "Butch
Lullaby" and "Stranger than Paradise" are growing on me. I love seeing Mark's evolution, even if it might seem
unreasonable to imagine this new style yielding a song that means as much to me as, say, "Duk Koo Kim." He's
an interesting figure and I'm glad he shows no signs of slowing down.
4 Bumps | Bump |
4.0 excellent | kascetcadettt | March 2nd 17 | If you love David Bowie so much, why don't you marry him, you fucking ass clown?
3 Bumps | Bump |
0.0 | Lewis EMERITUS | February 18th 17 | Mark Kozelek refuses to sing abstract truths through Americana platitudes that make self-loathing twentysomethings comfortably sad. Instead, he's accepted his roles as antihero & villain of one bleak black comedy. Epic 2xLP ramblings ensue, and the troll unrolls a constantly refracting music bed that might constitute the most artistic growth of his long career, despite what has regressed in emotional maturity. As always, haha, the problem is you.
2 Bumps | Bump |
0.0 | Gyromania | February 18th 17 | remember when kozelek used to write deeply affecting music instead of incoherent ramblings?
2 Bumps | Bump |
4.5 superb | Veldin | February 17th 17 | "David Bowie, Transgender Rights, Cecil Hotel death, Donald Trump, Bible verses, Me, We,
motherfuckers motherfuckin fuck"
I love how the album feels like a road trip. From Ohio to Philadelphia to Texas to New York to
Norway to Portugal and every highway and plane flight in between. The album has a dichotomy of
beautiful, pluck-iful acoustic guitar sections that SKM are known for & hypnotic bass-and-drum
sections that compliment each other well and often switch back and forth at the drop of Mark's
hat. Either you love him or you hate him, I believe Mark is one of the most fascinating artists
currently creating independent music. 4.3/5
1 Bumps | Bump |
0.0 | theBonerKing | February 17th 17 | So I take it this album is folk's response to Swans.
1 Bumps | Bump |
2.0 poor | elli, evermore. | November 9th 18 | Why did this have to be over two hours long. This did not deserve to be over two hours long. How did I manage to tolerate Mark Kozelek's personality for over two hours. You did it, Mark. You made an album that's over two hours long. Thanks. I hate it.
Bump |
0.0 | quetzal | May 22nd 17 | Songs are too long and aimless, lyrics are boring.
Bump |
2.5 average | TheManMachine | March 11th 17 | Between the sternly scant+oft sterile arrangements and ludicrous leviathan length, it's officially pretty hard to give a hoot about Kozelek's meandering minutia-mumbles -- we're talking a cat versus chameleon scene; losing boxing bets and starting to burp alot; finding a shoe store; the any-thoughts of any-day events -- idly delivered. Coulda been manageable maybe if he hadn't kept a journal or read other people's letters or gone hokey artificial-vague when he ran out of ideas, but at 2+hours this feels not so much like an adventurous accomplishment and more of an intentional annoyance. Though his rifling through worldwide newsreel negativity is altogether noble, harebrained, grumbly, defiant; certainly providing some of the more notable moments, it comes off passive in the midst of mundanities and painfully period-specific. Still, he's something to behold: old DGAF dude who beautifully serenades peeps and places, paints a distinct picture, uses cute harmonies to call Trump a "huge fucking asshole" and emphasize his bowl of gazpacho back-to-back, investigates the mysterious Elisa Lam murder case and makes up his own featuring a Clapton impersonator, etc.
Bump |
3.0 good | wideeyed | March 5th 17 | love SKM and some great songs here, but dude needs to edit his work... way way way too many songs for his type of music
Bump |
2.5 average | notkanyewest | February 25th 17 | On which Mark Kozelek's White-Guy-On-Twitter-As-Stream-Of-Conciousness-Lyricism schtick finally becomes unbearable. It's not as if this couldn't have kept working, either. Remember "Ben's My Friend"? That song still rules. But it's good because it actually makes an effort to be engaging, and has a distinct point of view. On this record, everything just turns into a diaristic mishmash and nothing, except maybe the more cringeworthy parts, really sticks out.
Bump |
3.0 good | ItsMaxwell | February 23rd 17 | Makes Universal Themes sound downright normal and small. Take that to mean what you want it to
mean. "I Love Portugal" rocks. "Lone Star" is not good. Other songs vary in quality. Life happens
on this album.
Bump |
4.0 excellent | dihstyle69 | February 20th 17 | if you're down for some incredibly random stories being told over some of the best production to land on an album this year, go ahead and grab this. otherwise, you might want to stay away from it. it's a fuckin treat, though. 4+
Bump |
0.0 | StallionMang | February 20th 17 | essentially "ben's my friend: the album." absurd, touching, somewhat funky.
Bump |
5.0 classic | dreamgazing | February 18th 17 | soon to be modern classic. marks response to swans sounds about right.
Bump |
3.0 good | Nrap | February 17th 17 | uuuuuugggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... wat?
Bump |
3.5 great | doofy | January 7th 24 |
4.0 excellent | iGuter | November 9th 22 |
2.5 average | eureka | February 13th 22 |
4.0 excellent | Suyan | February 24th 20 |
4.0 excellent | bolenj91 | September 12th 19 |
4.0 excellent | Djang0 | March 18th 19 |
3.0 good | DJENNY | January 8th 19 |
2.5 average | Juca89 | November 6th 18 |
2.0 poor | FelkFg | August 6th 18 |
3.0 good | ProfC | June 11th 18 |
2.5 average | Stkyle | June 1st 18 |
3.0 good | A.R.O. STAFF | April 20th 18 |
3.5 great | bSmith | April 19th 18 |
3.5 great | Moraff | March 22nd 18 |
4.0 excellent | Worth C | March 6th 18 |
3.5 great | Piglet | February 5th 18 |
2.0 poor | JS19 | January 24th 18 |
3.0 good | yad00d | December 12th 17 |
4.0 excellent | Rdv | December 2nd 17 |
2.0 poor | Gueero | November 14th 17 |
3.0 good | Trebor. EMERITUS | October 7th 17 |
2.5 average | PaabL | September 26th 17 |
2.0 poor | Luisito | September 24th 17 |
4.0 excellent | Brandon | September 9th 17 |
3.0 good | Juanpa | September 3rd 17 |
2.5 average | YayoG1 | September 1st 17 |
3.5 great | tlatla | August 25th 17 |
2.5 average | KevinMM | August 25th 17 |
3.5 great | btati | August 7th 17 |
1.5 very poor | aiioli | August 5th 17 |
2.5 average | bentl | July 31st 17 |
2.5 average | Jan555 | July 19th 17 |
2.5 average | Alexxx | July 18th 17 |
4.0 excellent | cb123 | June 27th 17 |
4.0 excellent | SB129 | June 1st 17 |
4.5 superb | JeiSiN | May 16th 17 |
2.0 poor | gilly | March 19th 17 |
3.5 great | Prole | March 15th 17 |
2.5 average | jmh886 | March 9th 17 |
1.0 awful | fdrc | March 4th 17 |
3.5 great | p4p | March 4th 17 |
4.0 excellent | Gauss | March 3rd 17 |
3.0 good | ti0n | February 28th 17 |
3.0 good | Wolfe | February 28th 17 |
4.0 excellent | Nastril | February 28th 17 |
2.5 average | YakNips | February 28th 17 |
2.5 average | jtswope | February 27th 17 |
4.0 excellent | mlamberg | February 27th 17 |
2.5 average | Riviere | February 26th 17 |
4.0 excellent | ExitOnly | February 26th 17 |
4.0 excellent | Tom Read CONTRIBUTOR | February 24th 17 |
1.5 very poor | Ecotone | February 23rd 17 |
4.5 superb | AWalrus | February 23rd 17 |
4.0 excellent | ellagos | February 23rd 17 |
4.5 superb | egadsby | February 22nd 17 |
2.5 average | Bozilla | February 22nd 17 |
5.0 classic | Reeet | February 22nd 17 |
3.0 good | tom79 | February 22nd 17 |
4.5 superb | Sithese | February 22nd 17 |
1.5 very poor | Loss1010 | February 21st 17 |
4.5 superb | Lyandr | February 21st 17 |
4.5 superb | ian b. | February 21st 17 |
4.0 excellent | helti | February 21st 17 |
4.0 excellent | Corney | February 21st 17 |
4.0 excellent | Faraudo | February 20th 17 |
4.5 superb | Keira | February 20th 17 |
3.5 great | gleatch | February 20th 17 |
2.9 good | Jordan M. EMERITUS | February 20th 17 |
1.0 awful | robin | February 20th 17 |
4.0 excellent | TwigTW | February 18th 17 |
4.5 superb | Breaded | February 18th 17 |
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