Desertshore’s Drawing of Threes

For those who don’t follow Sad Reminders on Twitter or haven’t liked us on Facebook, you may have missed that Desertshore’s second album Drawing of Threes came out on November 22 on Mark Kozelek’s Caldo Verde Records. Desertshore features former Red House Painters guitarist Phil Carney and classically trained pianist Chris Connolly. This time around Mark Kozelek sings and plays bass on 6 of the album’s 10 tracks.

Reviews

• The Onion’s A.V. Club
• Spin CDs
• Mark Kozelek on Desertshore’s Drawing of Threes and his Favorite Songs playlist

Buy

• Caldo Verde Records
• Amazon MP3
• Google Music

Listen

• “Diana” on Caldo Verde’s site
• “Mercy” on Caldo Verde’s site
• Drawing of Threes on Rdio
• Drawing of Threes on Spotify

Stream “Mercy” from new Desertshore album featuring Mark Kozelek

On November 22, Caldo Verde Records will release Desertshore’s sophomore album Drawing of Threes. Desertshore features ex-Red House Painters guitarist Phil Carney and classically trained pianist Chris Connolly. Interestingly the album will feature vocals and bass by Mark Kozelek on “several tracks.” We don’t know exactly how many tracks he lends vocals to, but if it’s anything like “Mercy” then it’s definitely going to be excellent. You can pre-order the album on Caldo Verde Records’ site.

Stream or download “Mercy”

If you like what you hear, you can also stream Gwynnedd and Mojave Mirage from Desertshore’s debut album Drifting Your Majesty, also on Caldo Verde Records.

Mark Kozelek “On Tour. A Documentary.” DVD coming August 16

Big news this morning from Caldo Verde Records:

For 19 years, critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek has toured solo and as front man of both Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon. Until now, he has never given filmmakers access into his life on the road. Filmed during portions of Mark Kozelek’s European and North American tours of 2010 and 2011, this is a rare glimpse into Mark’s backstage areas and passenger seat travels. Shot in black and white, this dynamic film captures the fast paced travel of a singer on a solo-acoustic journey, giving viewers an inspirational look at its high points, and also a stark view of its mundane realities. Footage includes an intimate version of ‘Katy Song’ performed at Sant’Ambrogio Church in Bologna, a mesmerizing ‘Half Moon Bay’ performed in Switzerland, and a flamenco-flourished ‘Third and Seneca’ filmed in a Copenhagen hotel room. The film’s soundtrack includes album tracks, concert recordings, hotel room performances, and a score written and performed by Mark Kozelek.

June 24 update: pre-order the DVD here.

Update - Here’s the full tracklisting:

• Sam Wong Hotel
• Ålesund
• Void
• Katy Song
• Half Moon Bay
• Australian Winter
• Tonight In Bilbao
• Lucky Man
• Trailways
• Four Fingered Fisherman
• Like The River
• Lost Verses
• Blue Orchids
• Third And Seneca
• Carry Me Ohio
• You Are My Sun
• Natural Light
• Moorestown
• Heron Blue

New Mark Kozelek live album out today; rare Red House Painters radio broadcast

Lots of things going on in the Kozelek world in the last month. As always, follow @sadreminders on Twitter for the latest news!

Mark Kozelek — Live at Union Chapel & Södra Teatern

Mark Kozelek returns with another live album available right now! It was recorded at the Union Chapel in London on July 29, 2010 and at Södra Teatern in Stockholm, October 25, 2010. The CD version is available for free with any purchase (except digital downloads) on Caldo Verde Records website. You can also download the digital version for $7.99 (in both MP3 and FLAC formats) and you’ll get “Randolph’s Tango” (a Thin Lizzy cover) that will also be available on the vinyl version. No date as to when the vinyl version will be released, but you can bet it will be limited.

New Music!

Mark has donated a new track “Chin Swee Suite” to Patagonia Music, Volume 2.

Buy a song, benefit the environment. Patagonia has teamed up with a diverse group of world-class musicians to help protect and restore our natural environment. The musicians donate an exclusive song, you buy some great music on iTunes® and non-profit environmental groups receive much-needed funds.

Check out the website here.

I’ll Be There EP for sale

If you didn’t pick up Admiral Fell Promises from Caldo Verde’s site, then you never got the free I’ll Be There EP. The good news is that it’s available for purchase for $4.99, but there is a very limited quantity and they will not be repressed. And don’t forget – if you buy the EP, you’ll get the new live album for free!

Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom Covers Sun Kil Moon

Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom has covered Sun Kil Moon’s “Glenn Tipton.” You can download it here.

Rare Red House Painters radio broadcast

Saving the best for last with this one. WREK in Atlanta, Georgia recently re-broadcast an in-studio session with Red House Painters from August 9, 1988 – their earliest known radio session. Recorded only 3 months after they formed, a young Mark Kozelek sings live in studio like you’ve never heard before. Among the live acoustic songs that Mark performs, there’s also 2 studio-recorded full-band tracks. It’s a rare glimpse into the early days of a singer/songwriter finding his voice – literally. Download the whole show here, or if you prefer the tracks cut up and named, click here.

Here are the tracks played:

• Thoughts In My Head (acoustic)
• I Miss You Virginia (acoustic)
• Surrounded (acoustic)
• Shackles and a Picture of the Key
• Nearly Clubbed to Death (acoustic)
• I Love You (acoustic)
• A Nice Place to Visit (acoustic)
• I Need To Lighten Up (acoustic)
• Surrounded
• The Starving (acoustic)

2011 tour dates; AFP vinyl; 2006 radio show

Happy holidays! It’s been a while since my last update, but that’s because there hasn’t been much going on in the Kozelek camp as of late. However, there’s been some recent activity I thought I’d recap.

A bunch of 2011 tour dates have surfaced on Mark’s official site. See the right sidebar for those. I expect more US dates will trickle in over the next few months.

If you were lucky enough to snag one, Mark had some numbered, autographed marbled vinyl Admiral Fell Promises albums up for sale on Caldo Verde last month for $50, but that didn’t last more than a day. I tweeted it out when I found out about it, so definitely follow @sadreminders for timelier updates. The white vinyl versions have sold out, but you can grab one on eBay for some ridiculous amount of money. If you’re not worried about color, you can still grab the standard black vinyl version at Aural Exploits or Insound for about $25. All of the different versions have 2 extra tracks recorded live in France.

Finally, forum user seven1082000 spotted a 28-minute radio show and acoustic performance over on archive.org from KEXP on January 13, 2006. Tracks played: Four-Fingered Fisherman, Tiny Cities Made of Ashes, Salvador Sanchez and an amazing version of Bubble. If you use Google Chrome, you’ll be able to stream the file, or there’s a link to download as an MP3 as well.

Change to upcoming Spanish tour dates; AFP vinyl

A couple things going on in the Sun Kil Moon camp as of late.

Without any warning, the Spanish dates have been cancelled with the exception of Barcelona, which is now 2 nights at Heliogàbal. He’s appearing October 22 and 23rd. Updated tour dates and links are in the right sidebar.

All 1000 copies of the white vinyl version of Admiral Fell Promises are sold out through Caldo Verde, but are still available at Aural Exploits. Aural Exploits should also have the regular black vinyl versions up soon.

Additionally, for those going to the Scandinavian dates, there will be 100 copies of a marbled vinyl version that will be exclusive to those shows later this month.

New tour dates and a special tour poster

There are some new tour dates below, and a brilliant new tour poster by Jason Munn (look closely.. you’ll see it). You can snag that over at Caldo Verde’s site, and definitely check out Jason’s other tour posters at his site

Finally, if you never picked up Mark’s book of lyrics Noches de Transito (the Spanish edition of Nights of Passed Over), the upcoming September 10 San Francisco gig at the Palace of Fine Arts has the only copies available. The book is in Spanish and English, but I believe the introduction is in Spanish only.

• October 18, Barcelona, Spain
• October 19, Madrid, Spain
• October 20, Zaragoza, Spain
• October 25, Stockholm, Sweden
• October 26, Gothenburg, Sweden
• October 27, Malmö, Sweden
• October 28, Oslo, Norway
• October 29, Bergen, Norway
• October 30, Stavanger, Norway

Mark Kozelek is living the dream

There’s an interview with Mark Kozelek by Rob O’Connor over on Caldo Verde Records’ site. Mark talks about why he didn’t do any press for this album, running a record label, getting older, inspiration for the new album, the Gears of War III trailer (which used “Heron Blue” and gained a few new listeners) and lonely dudes in a van staring at their iPhones all day.

Here’s an excerpt:

Q: As you get older, what has changed? What are your priorities now vs. when you began?

A: To enjoy the moment. I’m 43 now and have seen people pass away from natural causes that aren’t much older than me, and some even younger than me. It’s a reality check. I try to take advantage of the day more, to do things that make me feel good, spend time with people I care about. I get up, do the email and phone stuff, go to the post office, run errands, and then walk 4 or 5 miles. No matter what I have to do, I find time to walk and enjoy my surroundings. I just try not to take my time for granted. Other than that, I’m the same as I was 15 years ago, just plugging away at my career.