I realised I made the mistake of assuming that most people know the name of each artist's frontman.....and I'm also being overly impatient....considering the thread's been up for like half an hour and no responses....come on where's the love for these guys? Is everyone here being too hip and ironic to admit they like some depressing/heartfelt music.....
See 'Taking Sides: Jason Molina Vs. Mark Kozelek Vs. Mark Linkous' ..... = Deadzone
Taking Sides: Jason Molina Vs. Mark Kozelek Vs. Mark Linkous
Now I've clarified a bit more....it's time to bestow your radical views on me.
My listening mood tonight could be described as fairly sombre, thus explaining the artists, whose output (specifically Songs:Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co , Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts Of The Great Highway and Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider) are all treasured top ten albums for me. Personally, I think these songwriters all share a gift for finding beauty in sadness....I'm less inclined to use the word bittersweet, but I guess it's accurate. Another thing which binds them is perhaps them being labelled into genres like Alt Country/Americana etc.
What i'm interested in is whose career output has been stronger and why ? Which artist: has a better lyrical prowess/has taken more creative leaps/is more worthy of a future 'classic' status/haven't compromised their musical vision/have their best yet to come.
It's definitely a hard choice, but I would have to side with Sparklehorse in regard to the above. From the somewhat lo-fi 'Vivadixie...' to the more sumptuously orchestral 'It's a wonderful life', Linkous' not only offers haunting and evocative music, but creates a world around them with his poetic lyrics. I have to admit that his last album 'Dreamt for light years...' really hasn't grown on me as much, as it veers a bit towards a watered down and slightly more commercially pop sounding Linkous (still much stronger than both Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips and Grandaddy's last albums - with whom Sparklehorse are often genre bunched in with), but his future collaborations with dangermouse (Dangerhorse) promise a more experimental outing to look forward to.
I realise something similar to this is probaly on ILM, but it's fascinating to see how peoples tastes have changed and where their true music loyalties lie. Red House Painters seem to have a fair bit of threads on ILM, Molina's stuff a bit less and I'm upset to see next to no Linkous Love....anyways I'm crapping on too much as usual...I want all your damn opinions now, so let the thread wars begin !!!!
― Piano Fire (Piano Fire), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 13:38 (seventeen years ago) link
'time to bestow your radical views on me'
Yes....I realise it should be 'time to bestow your radical views to me'.
Lack of sleep = bad grammar.
― Piano Fire (Piano Fire), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 14:43 (seventeen years ago) link
Jason Molina is pretty much my most favoritest artist ever, and all his projects i will always love. i'm pretty much the only person on ilx who feels that way.
― hm (modestmickey), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 16:02 (seventeen years ago) link
yeah. i find his music hauntingly beautiful, a really powerful melancholy that i can rarely find in other music. something about his voice, dunno.
― hm (modestmickey), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 16:11 (seventeen years ago) link
his lyrics too, i can't get enough of. not many artists spur me look up lyrics online, make sure i get every word right.
― hm (modestmickey), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 16:12 (seventeen years ago) link
To my knowledgle, Sparklehorse and Red House Painters each have one good song to their credit. So they win.
P.S. "Bestow to me" isn't really any better.
― as in 'powdered feet' (pye poudre), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 16:18 (seventeen years ago) link
I've always gone with "bestow unto me." Like, "bestow unto me thine awesome tube steaks." But you have to do it in a moustache voice, and you have to be wearing tights.
― as in 'powdered feet' (pye poudre), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 17:37 (seventeen years ago) link