Sun Kil Moon

In between the recording of Red House Painters' final album, Old Ramon, in 1997 and its eventual release in 2001, Mark Kozelek disbanded that group and began a solo career. (He also started a sideline gig as an actor, appearing in films like Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous.) While continuing to release solo records, Kozelek started a new group, Sun Kil Moon, in 2002. (He's said in interviews that the group, which features RHP drummer Anthony Koutsos, is fundamentally just a continuation of his former band under a new name.) The band was loosely named after Korean lightweight boxer Sung-Kil Moon, and a fascination with the sport continues through their debut album Ghosts of the Great Highway: three of the songs are named after boxers who died young. For 2005's Tiny Cities, Kozelek chose to record 11 songs by Pacific Northwest alt-rockers Modest Mouse, refashioning them into airy alt-folk ballads. 2008's Home was a more conventional affair, featuring backing vocals from indie stars Ben Gibbard and Will Oldham, but 2010's unexpected change-up Admiral Fell Promises finds Kozelek working completely solo under the Sun Kil Moon banner, playing a Spanish-style nylon-string guitar.