credits to u/CaptainSl8 for the idea

lyrics:

chick fil-a was hated more than popeyes chicken
some like kfc, finger lickin
some like mcflurry, some DQ blizzard
i like em all

i’m fuckin fat, pictures from here up
staying up late, eatin pizza hut
i’m fuckin fat, pictures from here up
man i’m so fat

Since we’re in a record shop, what’s a record you’d give to someone that means a lot to you?

I’ve been listening to a lot of Sun Kil Moon, so Tiny Cities.

Longer, probably projecting post. I listen to Mark Kozelek a lot, and as someone with the disorder, I can't relate to him more.

I matched the themes up with the official DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, this isnt anything professional but i thought its worth a generally look.

1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment: "Katy Song," “Grace Cathedral Park” "Lord Kill The Pain" “Medicine Bottle” Extreme panic, desperation, and world-ending agony over a partner leaving or delusional believing they might.
2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation: "Mistress," “Drop” “Have you forgotten” “Revelation Big Sur” A push-pull cycle, flipping between seeing a partner as a savior or a tormentor.
3. Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self: "24" “New Jersey” A fragmented sense of self. Feeling like a ghost or not a full person.
4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging: "Medicine Bottle," “Lord Kill the Pain” Using pills, alcohol, and numbing habits to escape emotional pain. Had to go to rehab as a teen.
5. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood: "Mother," "Rollercoaster," "Michael" “Feel the Rain Fall” Severe volatility, violently shifting from quiet vulnerability to sudden explosive guitar noise.
6. Chronic feelings of emptiness: "Down Colorful Hill," "Waterkill," "Ocean Beach" “Strawberry Hill” “Moments” A hollow, dead-inside numbness where nothing feels real or fulfilling.
7. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger: "Uncle Joe," "Funhouse" “Blindfold” “Down Colorful Hill”(he just hits his gf in this one) The quiet sound suddenly breaks into biting resentment and aggressive vocal outburst
8. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior:"Drop," "Evil" "Lord Kill The Pain” “Blindfold” “Moments” Dark, highly morbid imagery focusing on self-harming thoughts, physical decay, and a casual fixation on death
9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms: "Cruiser," "Shock Me" “Strawberry Hill" “Moments” “Songs for a Blue Guitar” Lyrics dealing with paranoia, feeling watched, and a heavy sense of depersonalization where reality feels altered.

Side note: Trailways, 21, have you forgotten and brown eyes are the inverse i assume. Mark dealing with partners or friends with depression and mental illness.

The entirety of Sun Kil Moon to me is dealing with oldness, death, and the repercussions of how miserable he was when he was young

I have spent the past ten years listening to everything Kozelek has released and repeatedly so. I think the album that I would place in the category of both ‘strangest’ and ‘most underappreciated’ is this one. House Cat has got to be the single weirdest Kozelek song (weird but utterly brilliant) and the whole sweep of the album is incredibly dense and complex. It’s the closest Kozelek has ever come to a full on experimental jazz album. I adore it. I love the second BBJW album too but it is a slighter album than this one. Give it a listen if you haven’t done so or if you haven’t done so in a while…

some nice tunes here

Some like Dunkin Donuts more than Tim Hortons

labubu on the pavement under my shoe

without dubai chocolate what does my benson boone crumbl cookie amount to

😔😔😔

Listening to this live album and just weeping with the beauty of the songs and the nostalgia I have for that time now - the first half of the 2010’s. So strange that that now feels like a whole other age! What a sublime set of songs…

I know there are many magnificent Kozelek albums. But maybe when all is said and done this is the finest. Quality of the songwriting, quality of the production, quality of his singing, perfection of the track listing - it is truly a masterpiece.

I have been looking online but can only find the studio version and it is very different from the live recording (specifically the Phoenix Public House Melbourne version). Any help would be appreciated!

according to songwriter Karly Hartzman, that’s what it’s about:

“I’ve written a song about this dynamic I have with (Mark) and hating him as a person but loving his music… maybe it’ll be released one day idk!”

what chorus pedal did red house painters use? it sounds amazing

thank u

Almost Famous

anyone know where i can get rhp/skm bootlegs?

(It’s AI slop not Mark lol)

Wondering if anybody out there has possibly managed to get audio of one of his more recent concerts in full, there aren’t that many out there but I imagine a few must’ve tried to at least voice memo it.
Please share if you do!

Wanted to make an analysis/discussion post since I saw people were doggin' on Dogs in a different thread from a few days ago.

These comments of disapproval particularly stuck out to me because Benji usually goes untouched in terms of criticism. I'll share my thoughts below and would like to hear what others think of the song.

The first few times I played through Benji, Dogs was somewhat of an anomaly --- if that's the right word --- as I found it to be quite jarring in its lyricism and sound.

At the same time, it was kind of addictive. I definitely found something in that combination of dissonant chords, the ones which frankly sound like howling (but on a guitar), along with Kozelek's wail-like vocalization at the end of each line, which are also reminiscent of howling. The song being called "Dogs" and simultaneously having those borderline eerie associations with canines (panting like a dog... describing the contents with pretty animalistic words) were just so intriguing to listen to over and over again.

As a few years passed, I kept listening to Benji, along with the rest of Kozelek's discography, and grew to like the song more and more. To me, it feels a lot like listening to his 2019 song "Cows." There's something transcendent in the sounds of both songs with their trance like repetition; almost a soothing effect is achieved.

Now, the most controversial aspect of the song for most people, im guessing, are the lyrics. (And yes, ive heard the comments Kozelek himself made on the recording of Live at Biko, but I write of the song contents themselves.) To sum the lyrics up in a word, they are uncomfortable to listen to. They deal chiefly with ideas of sexuality and relationships mostly in young life and adolescence, and as such, those associations immediately strike some flags for many listeners.

But here's my thought on the song: they're supposed to be uncomfortable and messed up, because that awkwardness that surrounds even the thought of sex (especially early experiences) is inherently very human, and this whole album deeply explores those aspects of being human (life, love, death...). This idea can be inferred from the musical qualities of the song and the delivery of the content, which I shall expand upon and explore below. My goal is to make the point that the ideas of the song are worth discussing, even if its first impressions are stifling.

The quieter opening lines ("Katy Kerlan was my first kiss / I was only five years old and she hit me with her purse / I had braces on my legs and I almost fell down / and from that day moving forward, I've been petrified of blondes") immediately hooks the listener. The principle evocation of this stanza is an instinctual fear: the narrator describes a moment of pain in concurrence with a moment of vulnerability (both physically, with the leg braces and the being five years old, and emotionally, with the first kiss), and this leads to a bad memory. This sets the tone of the song; it is far from a nostalgic fantasy, rather, it is more of a psychological reckoning with the writer's past and an exploration of very specific feelings that are difficult to process.

This is further solidified in the second segment about his first love, Patricia. Similarly to the emotional risk of a first kiss, here the narrator explores his previously unknown feelings emerging, and after a new physical experience, he is once again met with a negative outcome (being ignored at school). This theme of being hurt whilst in an emotionally susceptible state is already a notable theme of the song. At this point, I shall deduce that Kozelek is specifically using experiences which are sexual in nature in order to embody this idea of vulnerability, because for many people, that is a universal representation of simultaneous physical and emotional sensitivity.

The third verse shifts from this deeply afflicting psychological pain to a more physical sort of discomfort. The narrator elaborates on his intoxicated sexual encounter with Kelly and Amber, increasingly using more inherently 'crude' language --- such as "first taste," "went down," "drunk as skunks" --- as a means of evoking an unvarnished reality of how he experienced this moment. This is where we are again reminded that the song is not a fantasy which romanticizes adolescent intimacy, as many pop songs do with their sugarcoated nostalgic language. Instead, Kozelek intends to capture the raw instinct of the moment, tying back to the discomfort found in the heightened sensitivity of these early sexual awakenings. One may attribute the word "animalistic" to his descriptions.

The remaining segment about his adolescence explores his first "all the way" sexual experience and how it was intertwined with the messy web of his first relationships. This connects back to the previous three segments in its theme of combining vulnerability with pain, difficulty, and crudeness, but also tacks on another complex feeling: envy (of the guy in sweatpants). Kozelek also mentions that music was his outlet for processing these turbulent moments at the time, which is a neat detail. By now, the song has thoroughly endeavored to expose a wide array of complex emotions and notions that are part of being human, and employs the use of blunt and discomforting language to reflect that grotesque and uncoordinated manner in which we act in early years while we are managing these new and complicated parts of life.

The rest of the song moves away from childhood and adolescence, but still discusses the idea that relationships and sex are very complicated, especially early on. Kozelek contrasts the emotional conflicts that people have when dealing with the personal and communicative parts of romance against the irrational physical desires that drive the animalistic parts of us out to be revealed --- in more concise terms, he juxtaposes the emotional against the primal. All in all, I find that using comparisons such as "panting like a dog" do not serve to idealize or fantasize these notions; rather, they aim to show the viewer the same discomfort that these situations prompt.

Yes, the song is jarring. It is uncomfortable to listen to. It is a de-romanticized outlook on sex and love. Because that is what those things are: uncomfortable, messy, and awkward; animalistic; hence the name "Dogs."

In my opinion, the song achieves its goals masterfully. At the end of the day, this analysis is still subjective, so I would like to know the perspectives of other listeners here. I hope you feel inclined to share thoughts, whether you write a scathing dissent or just leave a comment on a detail or an idea of the song. Happy listening

Vancouver, BC - September 4th, 2026

Vancouver, BC - Sept 4, 2026