This weekend, we learned the sad news that Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous had taken his own life. The New York Times reports that Linkous shot himself in the heart in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was 47.
Mark Linkous was born on September 9, 1962 in Arlington, Virginia, to Gloria Hughes Thacker and Frederick Linkous. He had three brothers: Matt, Paul, and Daniel Linkous.Many members of his family were coal miners by trade, and Linkous chose a career in music in part to avoid working in mines. His parents divorced before he was 13.
Shortly after graduating from high school in the early 1980s, Linkous moved to New York City, where he co-founded the band Dancing Hoods. The band featured Linkous on guitar and vocals, Bob Bortnick on vocals and guitar, Don Short on drums, and Randy Mendicino on bass.[10] In 1984, the group released a self-titled EP; a year later, they released an album titled 12 Jealous Roses on Relativity Records, which received a number of positive reviews. The Replacements and The Del Fuegos were also vocal fans of the band after the release of their first record.
In 1996, while supporting Radiohead on the first Sparklehorse tour, Linkous overdosed on alcohol, Valium and antidepressants and possibly other substances in his London hotel room. Rendered unconscious by the combination of drugs, he collapsed with his legs pinned beneath him, and remained in that position for almost fourteen hours. The resulting potassium buildup caused his heart to stop for several minutes after his body was lifted up. He was treated at St Mary's Hospital, London. Subsequent surgeries saved both legs but left him wheelchair-bound for six months; his legs never fully regained their original strength.
1999 saw the release of Good Morning Spider; some of the album's songs dealt with Linkous' accident in London and subsequent rehabilitation, namely "St. Mary". In 2001, Sparklehorse released It's a Wonderful Life, which featured contributions from Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, John Parish, Nina Persson, Vic Chesnutt, and Dave Fridmann.
In 2006, Sparklehorse released Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain in September 2006. In the late 2000s, Linkous recorded an album titled Dark Night of the Soul with the producer Danger Mouse, the director David Lynch and ten other musicians. It was released on the Internet in May 2009, as was a book of photographs by David Lynch to accompany the music. Though long-delayed due to legal problems, it will be officially released in 2010.
At the time of his death, his manager confirmed that Linkous "had completed most of the work for a new Sparklehorse album", was in the process of moving to Knoxville, Tennessee, and was working on setting up a studio where he planned to finish the record.
wiki;
It's A Wonderful Life
Gold Day
Piano Fire
Sea Of Teeth
Apple Bed
King Of Nails
Eyepennies
Dog Door
More Yellow Birds
Little Fat Baby
Comfort Me
Babies On The Sun
GET.
Pitchfork Review/ rating 7.7
Focus can be a difficult thing to maintain in art. Once you've begun creating something, it's easy to find yourself off on some tangent you never saw coming. It takes a certain amount of discretion, and often, a certain amount of objective distance, to decide which roads to continue down and which ones to abandon. In music, this is, of course, where producers come in. Their job is essentially to stop the artist from getting carried away with a questionable idea and to moderate decisions about direction and material.
Past Sparklehorse efforts have been plagued by a certain lack of focus. This doesn't mean they weren't good records-- in fact, 1998's Good Morning Spider was something of a creative triumph, even in spite of its general disorganization. That said, though, hiring an outside producer (not to mention fully ridding himself of all drug habits) seems to have done Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous a great deal of good. Superproducer Dave Fridmann has developed a certain Midas Touch over the years, imbuing nearly every album he works on with a distinctive sonic character, and It's a Wonderful Life has his fingerprints all over it.
The most focused Sparklehorse effort yet, the album flows along with the grace of a river occasionally stirred by a rapid or two. The half-songs and quickly squelched ideas of Linkous' past releases are absent in favor of fully fleshed pieces stuffed full of mellotrons, optigans, orchestrons, and sundry humming keyboards. Only once is its flow is only badly disrupted. (We'll get to that in a second.)
The majority of It's a Wonderful Life brims with electro American gothic ballads and fuzzy purees of lo-fi and hi-fi aesthetics. There aren't really any out-and-out rave-ups like "Pig" or "Happy Man," but a few of the mid-tempo numbers display enough bite for commercial radio play. (I'm asking too much, aren't I?) "Gold Day" snags the ear with a concise melodic hook and some snazzy mellotron flutes. And Linkous' defiantly surrealist approach to lyrics is in full effect here, with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and celestial bodies.
Joe Tangari, September 30, 2001....cont.here
me 2 cents. A really good songwriter, performer and lyricist, it seems most did not translate to recording.(a familiar thing)
not a complete LP i like all yet certain tracks are very good. (should have done singles only)
This weekend, we learned the sad news that Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous had taken his own life. The New York Times reports that Linkous shot himself in the heart in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was 47.
Mark Linkous was born on September 9, 1962 in Arlington, Virginia, to Gloria Hughes Thacker and Frederick Linkous. He had three brothers: Matt, Paul, and Daniel Linkous.Many members of his family were coal miners by trade, and Linkous chose a career in music in part to avoid working in mines. His parents divorced before he was 13.
Shortly after graduating from high school in the early 1980s, Linkous moved to New York City, where he co-founded the band Dancing Hoods. The band featured Linkous on guitar and vocals, Bob Bortnick on vocals and guitar, Don Short on drums, and Randy Mendicino on bass.[10] In 1984, the group released a self-titled EP; a year later, they released an album titled 12 Jealous Roses on Relativity Records, which received a number of positive reviews. The Replacements and The Del Fuegos were also vocal fans of the band after the release of their first record.
In 1996, while supporting Radiohead on the first Sparklehorse tour, Linkous overdosed on alcohol, Valium and antidepressants and possibly other substances in his London hotel room. Rendered unconscious by the combination of drugs, he collapsed with his legs pinned beneath him, and remained in that position for almost fourteen hours. The resulting potassium buildup caused his heart to stop for several minutes after his body was lifted up. He was treated at St Mary's Hospital, London. Subsequent surgeries saved both legs but left him wheelchair-bound for six months; his legs never fully regained their original strength.
1999 saw the release of Good Morning Spider; some of the album's songs dealt with Linkous' accident in London and subsequent rehabilitation, namely "St. Mary". In 2001, Sparklehorse released It's a Wonderful Life, which featured contributions from Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, John Parish, Nina Persson, Vic Chesnutt, and Dave Fridmann.
In 2006, Sparklehorse released Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain in September 2006. In the late 2000s, Linkous recorded an album titled Dark Night of the Soul with the producer Danger Mouse, the director David Lynch and ten other musicians. It was released on the Internet in May 2009, as was a book of photographs by David Lynch to accompany the music. Though long-delayed due to legal problems, it will be officially released in 2010.
At the time of his death, his manager confirmed that Linkous "had completed most of the work for a new Sparklehorse album", was in the process of moving to Knoxville, Tennessee, and was working on setting up a studio where he planned to finish the record.
wiki;
It's A Wonderful Life
Gold Day
Piano Fire
Sea Of Teeth
Apple Bed
King Of Nails
Eyepennies
Dog Door
More Yellow Birds
Little Fat Baby
Comfort Me
Babies On The Sun
GET.
Pitchfork Review/ rating 7.7
Focus can be a difficult thing to maintain in art. Once you've begun creating something, it's easy to find yourself off on some tangent you never saw coming. It takes a certain amount of discretion, and often, a certain amount of objective distance, to decide which roads to continue down and which ones to abandon. In music, this is, of course, where producers come in. Their job is essentially to stop the artist from getting carried away with a questionable idea and to moderate decisions about direction and material.
Past Sparklehorse efforts have been plagued by a certain lack of focus. This doesn't mean they weren't good records-- in fact, 1998's Good Morning Spider was something of a creative triumph, even in spite of its general disorganization. That said, though, hiring an outside producer (not to mention fully ridding himself of all drug habits) seems to have done Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous a great deal of good. Superproducer Dave Fridmann has developed a certain Midas Touch over the years, imbuing nearly every album he works on with a distinctive sonic character, and It's a Wonderful Life has his fingerprints all over it.
The most focused Sparklehorse effort yet, the album flows along with the grace of a river occasionally stirred by a rapid or two. The half-songs and quickly squelched ideas of Linkous' past releases are absent in favor of fully fleshed pieces stuffed full of mellotrons, optigans, orchestrons, and sundry humming keyboards. Only once is its flow is only badly disrupted. (We'll get to that in a second.)
The majority of It's a Wonderful Life brims with electro American gothic ballads and fuzzy purees of lo-fi and hi-fi aesthetics. There aren't really any out-and-out rave-ups like "Pig" or "Happy Man," but a few of the mid-tempo numbers display enough bite for commercial radio play. (I'm asking too much, aren't I?) "Gold Day" snags the ear with a concise melodic hook and some snazzy mellotron flutes. And Linkous' defiantly surrealist approach to lyrics is in full effect here, with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and celestial bodies.
Joe Tangari, September 30, 2001....cont.here
me 2 cents. A really good songwriter, performer and lyricist, it seems most did not translate to recording.(a familiar thing)
not a complete LP i like all yet certain tracks are very good. (should have done singles only)
