10. The Hold Steady – “Stay Positive”
9. The Black Angels – “Directions To See A Ghost”

I was really struggling to come up with a way to write about the latest LP from Mark Kozelek (aka Sun Kil Moon). I knew I loved it. I knew it was one of my favorite records of the year, but the words to describe “April” (Caldo Verde) were eluding me.

Then the other day I was driving up into the Adelaide Hills toward Cleland Wildlife Park with my boy and I turned “April” on to have another whack at finding the right words. I turned it up loud. And I got it. Sun Kil Moon’s latest is a driving album. Not in the standard hard-driving rock barreling down an interstate highway at 80 mph sense. The long, meandering tracks are perfect for a slow ride through the hills or along a coastal road. Rather than motivating or exciting, “April” is soothing and lulls you into an emotional zone that’s perfect for cruising a lonely road.

Lyrically, “April” is all lost love and loneliness. But, to be honest, when I listen to this album I don’t hear sadness, I just hear the beautiful musical textures that Kozelek (formerly of The Red House Painters) constructs. He paints with his guitar, it’s his intricate playing that keeps this album from veering into self-indulgent noodling. The rich guitar and Kozolek’s wonderfully imperfect voice are enough to keep the listener enchanted for what is a fairly long record. “April” is one of those records that is meant to be listened to as a record, that is designed to take you inside yourself. If you like what you find there, then you’ll love this album.

Have a listen to “Tonight The Sky” which, with it’s Neil Young inspired guitar, is my favorite track on “April”. If you like what you hear then take a punt on Sun Kil Moon’s latest.

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Contests! You’ve still got a couple of days to get in on the limerick contest. Bust out your best crappy poetry – it’s easy, I did one yesterday:

In Adelaide lived a man who was free
And faced the bright days with much glee
But the day of Christ’s birth
Filled him not with mirth
In fact, the whole season just spurred him to flee.

See? Easy peasy. Stay tuned for another contest announcement this weekend. Also, I’ve got a bit of a deal for those of you that are inclined to buy a little new music this Christmas season. If you purchase any of my top 10 albums through the iTunes link at the bottom of each post, I’ll give you your choice of one of the other Top 10 (or honorable mention) albums free. So, if you would like a buy one, get one free deal send me an e-mail (chris at afreeman dot org) to let me know which album you bought and which you want. Valid for the rest of December. My effort to stimulate the economy.

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Sun Kil Moon’s “April” is available from .

Image credits:

Mark Kozelek

At some point in my childhood it was decided that I should take piano lessons. I don’t know by whom, but I have memories of afternoons spent in the company of dowdy older ladies banging away gracelessly at scales and “Fur Elise” and “Frere Jacques” in their potpourri scented living rooms. I remember subjecting my family to clumsy renditions of Christmas carols in the holiday season. I remember painfully long recitals in church fellowship halls. Basically I remember really disliking piano lessons. I also remember arguments with my Mom and her telling me – “If you quit now you’ll regret it for the rest of your life”.

You reach a point in your life where there’s no longer shame in admitting that your parents are (VERY occasionally) right. Since my aborted piano lessons, music has begun to mean more and more to me. It may be safe to say that I am obsessive about music. I think about points in my life relative to music I was listening to then. When I hear a favorite album it opens the floodgates of memories. I like to have a soundtrack to my life. The advent of iTunes has been wonderful – I list, I rank, I obsess. There’s nothing like seeing a favorite band live or tearing the shrinkwrap off of a new album and anticipating that first listen.

However, I’ve always felt a little bit like a musical parasite. Consuming but never producing (although I guess the music industry relies on folks like me). And there has been many a time that I yearned to go back into those floral living rooms and bang away at “Greensleeves”. About a year ago, I made the decision that it was time to learn how to play music and if one wants to play rock music or derivations of rock music, one must learn the guitar. So for Christmas of 2006, the long suffering Dr. O’C purchased for me a lovely Yamaha acoustic guitar.

I would love to tell you that it all came back to me, my musical training. I would love to tell you that shortly after I finish this writing I will go and write my ninth original song and with that but the cap on my demo. I would love to tell you that we have a gig booked in Birmingham next Saturday. I would love to tell you that. What I can tell you is that I spend two hours every Thursday evening with five other men, with jobs and families and one slightly post-teen emo girl (who I imagine finds us all old and loathsome). We are patiently mentored by an excitable and very talented Polish guitarist in a school computer classroom strumming and plucking clumsily along. And I can tell you that I practice when I have an hour or so during the week and that in just like a lot of things I’m getting better slowly. I gracelessly play scales and “Frere Jacques” and “Greensleeves”. But I also can play a decent rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Hung My Head” and “Hurt” and Oasis’ “Wonderwall” and on a really good day, a passable version of Steve Earle’s “Galway Girl”.

My mom was right, but you have to really want it, and I didn’t . You have to look at practice as a treat not a chore. At 11, there were just way too many more enjoyable things to do. At 35, when there’s time in a busy day to practice, I love it. Dr. O’C may not love it, nor our neighbors (I think the dog likes it – see photo above) but for me it’s a chance to relax and try to work out how to make the music I hear come out of that guitar. I have no aspirations of running away and joining a rock band or releasing a top 10 album. I think my goal is to be able to make music even just a little. And if I can play a lullaby to my baby or serenade Dr. O’C with a love song, that’s just a bonus.

And yes – Baby D will be taking music lessons….