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FINALLY...


Posted by Hartley On Dec 11, 2008

BRM blog image

this album cover is kind of awesome

Here's the thing - you know Mark Kozelek. Even if you don't know Mark Kozelek, you know Mark Kozelek. Maybe you know him from Cameron Crowe's awesome relationship rockography, Almost Famous essentially playing Kozelek v. 1972. Remember?..third back:

BRM blog image

See. Sorta. you may also know him as the leader of Red House Painters - the band that made it ok for 4AD to release a record with some acoustic guitar on it. With the Painters Mark kind of established himself as a master of sweeping emotional arpeggios, and hazy reverb-drenched baritone vocals that definitely were influenced by Nick Drake before being influenced by Nick Drake was all the rage. He even got a huge GAP ad out of this (without our help!?!?! but how!?) for his stunning cover of the Cars' song, "All Mixed Up." 

"All Mixed Up" set a precedent. Most interestingly, it sounded absolutely nothing like the original in the best possible way. In the years since, Mark has lent his idiosyncratic folky interpretations to everyone from AC/DC to Modest Mouse. Despite forming a post-Red House band (the great Sun Kil Moon dig on this year's electrified, April), these ingenious covers have marked plenty of highlights in Mark's career. Personally, his cover of AC/DC's "Rock'n'Roll Singer" is one of my favorite songs ever.

In light of this, it's with great pleasure that I can say Mark's latest release, Finally (Caldo Verde) is one of the nicest surprises to come into the Bank Robber offices. A modest 10 track album of plaintive acoustic covers, and pretty labrynthine instrumentals that I know I'll be listening to a shitton the next few weeks, and 10 years from now too. I never thought I'd hear Mark Kozelek singing Stephen Sondheim's standard "Send In The Clowns," but it makes for a classic Kozelek moment. Not to be outdone, the highlight of the whole affair might be his take on Husker Du (!) - that's right Husker f'ing Du's "Celebrated Summer" - which of course gets recast from a snotty rocker, to a trademark Kozelek nostalgic ballad. If anything "Celebrated" really shows that Mark absolutely knows how to pick a song. Here's Husker knocking out the original:

And here's Mark stunning cover:

Mark Kozelek's The Finally LP is out now on Caldo Verde.

 

 

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