Taking Sides: Mark Hollis vs Mark Kozelek vs Mark Eitzel

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Miserable people called Mark.

I'm a Kozelek fan personally.

― Stupid (Stupid), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

He's is not miserable though and neither is his music.

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I was about to say, if anything he is quietly exultant.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, his music is celebratory not morose and in life he seems to be quiet and humble rather than miserable.

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Definitely not Eitzel. overrated songwriter, everything i've heard sounds grey, drab and instantly forgettable. Don't underdstand the praise he gets from some, myself.

I like Red House Painters and Talk talk quite a bit, though. I would be hesitant to choose between MH and MK.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Miserable people called Mark

Wot no Mark E Smith?

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

that's a different kind of miserable. this thread is for wistful, tortured miserablists :-)

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 12 December 2003 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Lacking sufficient data, I'll leave Hollis out of this. Kozelek vs. Eitzel, no contest: Eitzel. Anecdotally speaking, both are positively nuts, but at least Eitzel is not the sort of nuts that leads him to start totally sucking at the peak of his career (I'm talkin' bout _Songs for a Blue Guitar_ here). Eitzel's songs are usually better-filled-out and structurally sound, at least harmonically speaking-- he doesn't have to play things at 26bpm to make them sound interesting. His voice is definitely a lot stronger. And when he wallows in self-pity, it's just a bit harder to spot because he's so much more articulate than Kozelek.

I'm a huge fan of both, mind (or at least I was a fan of Kozelek to a point... and I keep hearing about Sun Kil Moon, too, which gives me hope). It should also be pointed out that, despite being a talented songwriter, Eitzel has not yet mastered the art of tuning a guitar during a performance.

― r, Friday, 12 December 2003 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

the age old comparison b/w koz and eitzel is bizarre and irrelevant, except that: they both live in SF and eitzel got the Painters signed. Otherwise, musically, they have almost nothing in common. Though eitzel is always branded depressing, only about 1/4 of the AMC songs were "slowcore"; the rest were twisted rock with bizarre arrangements, no more slowcore or depressing than Elvis Costello; solo-wise, he has concentrated a bit more on the mellow side but his songs have a certain depth to them that resounds a lot more than "here's a song about a girl I fucked over." Plus, there is a huge amount of humor in Eitzel's music (Gary's Song, Proclaim Your Joy, Southend on Sea, Johnny Mathis's Feet) and NONE in the Painters (except for Lord Kill the Pain). I like Kozelek but obviously I'm going to pick Eitzel every time because I know him, he's a sweet guy albeit a bit crazed, and Kozelek is just kind of creepy.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 12 December 2003 17:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd say kozolek is quite an odious individual, if those lyrics accurately reflect his personality. there's one part in "mistress" that really makes me wince: "the attention i need is much more serious / a kind of weight you couldn't lift /i need someone much more mysterious to be my mistress". ugh. i like the shoegazery sounds on that track, though.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 12 December 2003 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Kozelek. and sun kil moon is worth it.

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Friday, 12 December 2003 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

They've all had their moments. For me Hollis's best moments are pretty much all of his moments, though, including the single greatest album ever, so if I can only have one, it's definitely him.

Kozelek's problem, to me, is that he has exactly one style, which is as likely to produce featurelessly interminable songs as magical ones. But there are still a lot of the magical ones, and I haven't decided which way I think Sun Kil Moon goes.

Eitzel is a puzzle. I loved AMC, and think he's one of the greatest solo live performers ever, but to me his solo recording career has been an appalling and almost completely unmitigated disaster. But if bad solo albums is what it takes to keep him around to be the opener on Low tours, then so be it.

― ara, Friday, 12 December 2003 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

eitzel is back in AMC, ara, so no solo records on the horizon, but an AMC album is due next year if anyone will put it out.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 12 December 2003 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I hadn't heard! Great news.

― ara, Friday, 12 December 2003 19:14 (twenty-one years ago)

MARK SANDMAN! (not as consistently miserable, but dead, so uh, definitely sad, tragic)

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 12 December 2003 19:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Not particularly taken by any of those three, but factor in Mark Linkous and my ears would privk up in a trice.

― Ben Dot (1977), Friday, 12 December 2003 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

mark lanegan

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 12 December 2003 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Mark Hollis Uber Alles.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 12 December 2003 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

hahaha. Sorry, I'm just laughing at the rhyme.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 12 December 2003 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

twenty-one years pass...

“You just got fired and now youre out high and drunk and celebrating”

― calstars, Saturday, 12 April 2025 04:21 (five months ago)

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