Red House Painters

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San Francisco, United States (1989 – 2003)

Red House Painters was the name of an alternative rock group formed in 1989 in San Francisco by singer/songwriter Mark Kozelek, who is currently active in the band Sun Kil Moon, with part of the original RHP line-up.

The band is described, along with American Music Club, as one of the linchpins of the slowcore movement in alternative rock. Kozelek used this group primarily as a vehicle for his very personal and emotional songs of despair, pain and suffering.

While in Atlanta, Kozelek became friends with Anthony Koutsos, a drummer. He then moved to San Francisco, adding guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel to complete the line-up for Red House Painters.

After forming, the group played the San Francisco scene extensively, and recorded demos from 1989 to 1992, building up an impressive amount of material. Once they were signed to 4AD Records in 1992, they put out five-and-a-half LPs worth of material in two-and-a-half years—between September 1992 and March 1995, they released three LPs, one double LP, and one EP on 4AD.

Their first 4AD release was an album made up of select demos entitled Down Colorful Hill. It was a compilation of haunting melodies complemented by Kozelek’s eerie yet rich and emotional vocals. In 1993, the group came out with two self-titled records (now commonly referred to as ”Rollercoaster” or “Red House Painters I” and ”Bridge” or “Red House Painters II” (based on their cover artwork), solidifying Kozelek’s reputation as a talented songwriter with their harrowing autobiographical tales of his troubled life and errant living with no punches being pulled.

Tagged as:

slowcore, indie, folk, sadcore, singer-songwriter
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Ocean Beach
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Down Colorful Hill
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coche111 wrote:
Wednesday morning

sILLY LOVE SONGS!

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Uniontrade wrote:
last week

Yes Between days is rock on!

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ironhedd wrote:
last week

Between Days is an awesome song!

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Wooleybooley wrote:
last week

Red House Painters make me sad in a happy sort-of way .... or is it happy in a sad sort-of way?

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Yunckzilla wrote:
16 days ago

yeah, he's the first one to start singing, which is the only time you can really hear him. I'm pretty sure it was actually "high school girls", which is even better. no, I haven't seen that cut, but I will definitely check it out, as well as shopgirl. and his "dude, fix your fucking face!" in vanilla sky is definitely the best one-line cameo ever.

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catachresistant wrote:
16 days ago

Best Kozelek role is in Shopgirl though. The scene where that hairy dude is rocking out while Kozie's trying to sleep, and Kozie goes to the CD player and puts in some new age bullshit is priceless.

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catachresistant wrote:
16 days ago

Didn't he start that singalong. My favourite bit is when he's like, "LOOK GUYS, COLLEGE GIRLS". Esp. considering his current girlfriend is like way young. You seen the bootleg cut? There's more of him on there. "What do you bring to the band." "Uh... The bass..."

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Yunckzilla wrote:
18 days ago

my new favorite part of "almost famous" is the ten seconds you can hear mark kozelek singing along to tiny dancer.

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CRCulver wrote:
last month

I used to listen to RHP a lot in my late teens and very early 20s, but eventually gave up on the band, frustrating with all the adolescent angst in Kozelek's lyrics. But I've recently rediscovered the band, and there's a greater maturity to their work than I initially believed. It's infectious music, especially the Ocean Beach album.

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Uniontrade wrote:
last month

THE BEST

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geekroick wrote:
last month

I like to go out walking and get lost while listening to RHP

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Homesicalien wrote:
last month

Mark Kozelek is so great!

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sueprima wrote:
last month

wow

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WhoMadeCookies wrote:
last month

lets write him a strongly worded persuasive letter urging him to recreate that peaches song. i cant wait to hear him sing "sucking on my titties like you wanted me, callin me"

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cadocado wrote:
last month

if he got that stupid song by paul mccartney and made it into an epic piece of work, i say that he can do the same with the peaches. go kozelek!

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WhoMadeCookies wrote:
last month

"fuck the pain away" - mark kozelek (feat. peaches)

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Nochek wrote:
last month

thanks thanks thanks. lOve.

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StDionysus wrote:
last month

He should just fuck the pain away.

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pavskies wrote:
last month

Lord Kill the Pain, great tune.

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ACoolAssTurtle wrote:
last month

This dude need to cheer up. Fer real.

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