Like Rats

Last updated
Like Rats
Likerats2013.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 19, 2013
RecordedApril 16, 2011 – October 21, 2012; San Francisco
Genre Indie folk
Length32:31
Label Caldo Verde Records
Producer Mark Kozelek
Mark Kozelek chronology
Among the Leaves
(2012)
Like Rats
(2013)
Perils From The Sea
(2013)

Like Rats is a studio album by American singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek, released on February 19, 2013 on Caldo Verde Records. Self-produced by Kozelek, the album is a collection of acoustic cover songs.

Mark Kozelek American musician

Mark Edward Kozelek is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and occasional actor. He is best known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as the vocalist, guitarist and founding member of the indie rock band Red House Painters, with whom he recorded six studio albums from 1989 until 2001.

Caldo Verde Records is a San Francisco-based indie rock and folk record label founded by Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek in 2005. The label primarily features releases by Kozelek and Sun Kil Moon, but has also released albums by Jesu, Corrina Repp, Retribution Gospel Choir, and Kath Bloom. Photographer Nyree Watts is the commissioned artist for Caldo Verde, as almost all of the releases on the label feature her photography.

Cover version later version of a song already established with a different earlier performer

In popular music, a cover version, remake, cover song, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by someone other than the original artist or composer of a previously recorded, commercially released song.

Contents

The album was released on the same day as Kozelek's live album, Live at Phoenix Public House Melbourne (2013).

<i>Live at Phoenix Public House Melbourne</i> 2013 live album by Mark Kozelek

Live at Phoenix Public House Melbourne is a live album by American singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek, released on February 19, 2013 on Caldo Verde Records. Recorded on June 11, 2012, and released on the same day as Kozelek's covers album, Like Rats (2013), the album predominately features tracks from the then-recently released Sun Kil Moon album, Among the Leaves (2012).

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 64/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
Pitchfork Media 6.7/10 [2]

Like Rats received mostly positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 64, based on 6 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [1] Pitchfork Media's Stephen Deusner gave the album a mostly positive review stating, "His previous covers albums have been fan favorites, presenting his melancholy takes on songs by AC/DC, John Denver, Low, and Stephen Sondheim, but this new collection may be his most varied and adventurous. The track list portrays a man with broad listening habits, who not only translates these songs into his own particular style but erases the distinctions between genres." [2]

Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged. Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source. A color of green, yellow or red summarizes the critics' recommendations. It is regarded as the foremost online review aggregation site for the video game industry.

Standard score how many standard deviations apart from the mean an observed datum is

In statistics, the standard score is the signed fractional number of standard deviations by which the value of an observation or data point is above the mean value of what is being observed or measured. Observed values above the mean have positive standard scores, while values below the mean have negative standard scores.

AC/DC Australian hard rock band formed in Sydney in 1973

AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and heavy metal; however, the band themselves describe their music as simply "rock and roll".

Track listing

No.TitleOriginal artistLength
1."I" Bad Brains 2:13
2."Like Rats" Godflesh 2:26
3."Free-For-All" Ted Nugent 2:16
4."Young Girls" Bruno Mars 2:59
5."Right Back Where We Started From" Maxine Nightingale 2:24
6."Time Is Love" Josh Turner 1:42
7."Silly Girl" The Descendents 2:08
8."Onward" Yes 2:11
9."Carpet Crawlers" Genesis 4:23
10."13" Danzig 1:58
11."Green Hell" The Misfits 3:09
12."I Killed Mommy" Dayglo Abortions 1:24
13."I Got You Babe" Sonny & Cher 3:18
Total length:32:31

Personnel

Musicians

Recording personnel

Artwork

Related Research Articles

Sun Kil Moon American folk rock act from San Francisco, California

Sun Kil Moon is an American folk rock act from San Francisco, California, founded in 2002. Initially a continuation of the defunct indie rock band Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon is now the primary recording moniker of vocalist and guitarist Mark Kozelek. The project is named after the Korean super flyweight boxer Sung-Kil Moon.

<i>Ghosts of the Great Highway</i> 2003 studio album by Sun Kil Moon

Ghosts of the Great Highway is the debut studio album by San Francisco quartet Sun Kil Moon, led by Red House Painters' founder Mark Kozelek, who composed all of the lyrics and music on this album. The other members are Anthony Koutsos, Geoff Stanfield, and Tim Mooney.

<i>Red House Painters</i> (<i>Rollercoaster</i>) 1993 studio album by Red House Painters

Red House Painters is the second album by the group Red House Painters, released on May 24, 1993 by 4AD. A double album, Red House Painters features fourteen songs culled from bandleader Mark Kozelek's back-catalog, and received highly positive reviews from critics upon release. In a 5-star review, AllMusic hailed the album as a "sprawling, remarkable set distinguished by Mark Kozelek's continuing maturation as a songwriter" and concluded that "the songs resonate with depth and poignancy, and rank as Kozelek's most fully realized collection of compositions."

<i>Tiny Cities</i> 2005 studio album by Sun Kil Moon

Tiny Cities is the second studio album by American indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, released November 1, 2005 on Caldo Verde Records. The album features the same lineup as the band's debut, Ghosts of the Great Highway (2003). This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005.

<i>April</i> (Sun Kil Moon album) 2008 studio album by Sun Kil Moon

April is the third studio album by American folk rock band Sun Kil Moon, released in the US on April 1, 2008 through Caldo Verde Records, and on April 18, 2008 in Japan via P-Vine Records. The album was recorded at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco and Well Recording in Seattle during a seven-month stretch from spring to late summer in 2007. The album was produced and written by Mark Kozelek. Will Oldham, Ben Gibbard and Eric Pollard lend their backing vocals throughout the album. The album also comes with a bonus disc of 4 alternate recordings.

<i>Yours Truly, the Commuter</i> 2009 studio album by Jason Lytle

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<i>Admiral Fell Promises</i> 2010 studio album by Sun Kil Moon

Admiral Fell Promises is the fourth studio album by American indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, released on July 13, 2010 on Caldo Verde Records. Despite being released under the Sun Kil Moon moniker, the album features Mark Kozelek performing solo on acoustic nylon-string guitar. Along with the standard CD release, the album was also released on vinyl in October 2010, which includes liner notes, lyrics, and two bonus tracks recorded live in Saint-Malo, France.

<i>Among the Leaves</i> 2012 studio album by Sun Kil Moon

Among the Leaves is the fifth studio album by American indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, released on May 29, 2012 on Caldo Verde Records. Similar to Sun Kil Moon's previous studio album, Admiral Fell Promises (2010), the album is predominantly performed by founding member Mark Kozelek on a nylon-string guitar.

<i>Perils from the Sea</i> 2013 studio album by Mark Kozelek and Jimmy LaValle

Perils from the Sea is a collaborative studio album by American singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek and multi-instrumentalist Jimmy LaValle, released on April 30, 2013 on Caldo Verde Records.

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<i>Mark Kozelek & Desertshore</i> 2013 studio album by Mark Kozelek and Desertshore

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Benji is the sixth studio album by American indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, released on 11 February 2014 on Caldo Verde Records. Self-produced by primary recording artist Mark Kozelek, the album shares its name with the 1974 film Benji, and was recorded between March and August 2013 at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco.

<i>Mark Kozelek Sings Christmas Carols</i> 2014 studio album by Mark Kozelek

Mark Kozelek Sings Christmas Carols is a Christmas album by American singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek. It was released on November 4, 2014, through Kozelek's own record label, Caldo Verde Records.

<i>Live at Biko</i> 2014 live album by Mark Kozelek

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Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, also sometimes known as Rolling Blackouts C.F., is an Australian indie rock band. It was formed in Melbourne in 2013 by three singer-guitarists: Fran Keaney, Tom Russo & Joe White. Their debut EP, Talk Tight, was released in 2016 on Ivy League Records. It was followed by their second EP, the French Press, which was mixed by Doug Boehm and released in 2017 on Sub Pop Records. They performed at the St Jerome's Laneway Festival on 29 January 2018, and their debut full-length album, Hope Downs, was released on 15 June 2018 on Sub Pop.

<i>Yellow Kitchen</i> 2017 studio album by Mark Kozelek & Sean Yeaton

Yellow Kitchen is a collaboration album between American musician and singer Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon and Sean Yeaton, bassist of Parquet Courts, released on June 30, 2017 by Caldo Verde Records, though available for streaming shortly prior to that. Kozelek and Yeaton met at a Dutch festival in summer 2016, and recorded and self-produced Yellow Kitchen from December 2016 to May 2017 in the United States. Guest appearances on the album include Steve Shelley and Jim White on drums and Holly Throsby and Will Oldham on vocals.

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References

  1. 1 2 Critic Reviews for Like Rats. Metacritic. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 Deusner, Stephen. Mark Kozelek: Live at Phoenix Public House Melbourne/Like Rats. Pitchfork Media. 19 February 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.