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→History: removed "thus ending the bands 15 year run" from final sentence as it sounds callous with respect to Linkous's suicide.
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[[Joe Tangari]] describes Linkous's songs as "defiantly [[surrealist]]...with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and [[celestial bodies]]. In fact, some of the lyrics are so surreal that it's hard to imagine they're even [[metaphor]]s for anything."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21943/Sparklehorse_Its_a_Wonderful_Life |title=Pitchforkmedia.com |publisher=Pitchforkmedia.com |date=2001-09-30 |accessdate=2011-04-18}}</ref> Many of these references are literary or from a variety of rock music sources.<ref>[http://www.sparklehorse.org/refs.html Sparklehorse.org]{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref>
[[Joe Tangari]] describes Linkous's songs as "defiantly [[surrealist]]...with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and [[celestial bodies]]. In fact, some of the lyrics are so surreal that it's hard to imagine they're even [[metaphor]]s for anything."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21943/Sparklehorse_Its_a_Wonderful_Life |title=Pitchforkmedia.com |publisher=Pitchforkmedia.com |date=2001-09-30 |accessdate=2011-04-18}}</ref> Many of these references are literary or from a variety of rock music sources.<ref>[http://www.sparklehorse.org/refs.html Sparklehorse.org]{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref>


Linkous committed suicide in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], on March 6, 2010, thus ending the band's 15-year-long run.<ref name="siario2010">Sisario, Ben (March 7, 2010). [http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/the-singer-songwriter-known-as-sparklehorse-is-dead-at-47/ The Singer-Songwriter Known as Sparklehorse is Dead at 47.] ''[[New York Times]]''</ref>
Linkous committed suicide in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], on March 6, 2010.<ref name="siario2010">Sisario, Ben (March 7, 2010). [http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/the-singer-songwriter-known-as-sparklehorse-is-dead-at-47/ The Singer-Songwriter Known as Sparklehorse is Dead at 47.] ''[[New York Times]]''</ref>


==Discography==
==Discography==

Revision as of 12:57, 29 July 2012

Sparklehorse
Background information
OriginRichmond, Virginia, U.S.
GenresIndie rock, dream pop, lo-fi
Years active1995–2010
LabelsEMI (Capitol, Parlophone, Odeon, Astralwerks), Slow River, Devil in the Woods
Past membersMark Linkous
Scott Minor
WebsiteOfficial website

Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band led by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous.

History

Sparklehorse's first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (1995) featuring Bob Rupe of the Silos and Cracker, was a modest college radio success. In 1996, while touring Europe with Radiohead shortly after the album's release, Linkous consumed a combination of anti-depressants, valium, alcohol, and heroin in a London hotel room.[1] Unconscious and with his legs pinned beneath him for almost fourteen hours, the resulting potassium build up caused his heart to stop for several minutes after his body was lifted up. The ensuing surgery almost caused him to lose the use of both legs and left him wheelchair-bound for six months.

Good Morning Spider (1998) was recorded following this incident. Critics[who?] have conjectured that Linkous's brush with death inspired the sombre tone of the album, though Linkous stated that much of the material on GMS had already been written. One song which did result from it is "St. Mary", which is dedicated to the nurses at the eponymous hospital in Paddington where Linkous recuperated.

2001 saw the release of It's a Wonderful Life, featuring appearances by Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Bob Rupe, Vic Chesnutt, Nina Persson and Dave Fridmann. Whereas much of Vivadixie... and Spider were recorded solely by Linkous on his Virginia farm, the new album was a more collaborative work. Linkous expressed his satisfaction with the overall sound of It's a Wonderful Life, while also claiming that he would have preferred to include more experimental and instrumental material.[2]

On September 25, 2006, Sparklehorse released their fourth album, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain, collaborating with DJ Danger Mouse, Christian Fennesz, and Steven Drozd. This album featured the radio release "Don't Take My Sunshine Away" and a remastered version of "Shade And Honey", which Linkous originally wrote for Alessandro Nivola to sing in the 2003 movie Laurel Canyon, as well as a virtually unchanged re-release of "Morning Hollow," the bonus track from It's a Wonderful Life.

In 2008, Sparklehorse recorded a cover of the song "Jack's Obsession," from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas for the official compilation album Nightmare Revisited. In 2009, Sparklehorse teamed up with Danger Mouse and David Lynch in the project Dark Night of the Soul.

In 2009, Linkous teamed up with electronic ambient-music artist Christian Fennesz to create In the Fishtank 15, a wafting album EP of dreamy atmospherics and glacially beautiful experimentation. The last four live shows, Linkous did together with Fennesz during a European tour that was held during October 2009.

Joe Tangari describes Linkous's songs as "defiantly surrealist...with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and celestial bodies. In fact, some of the lyrics are so surreal that it's hard to imagine they're even metaphors for anything."[3] Many of these references are literary or from a variety of rock music sources.[4]

Linkous committed suicide in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 6, 2010.[5]

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

  • Chords I've Known EP (April 1995)
  • "Spirit Ditch" / "Waiting for Nothing" (1995)
  • "Hammering the Cramps" / "Too Late" (1995)
  • "Someday I Will Treat You Good" / "Rainmaker" (February 1996, US Modern Rock #35[7])
  • "Someday I Will Treat You Good" / "London" (February 1996, UK issue)
  • "Hammering the Cramps" / "Spirit Ditch" (April 1996)
  • "Rainmaker" / "I Almost Lost My Mind" (August 1996, UK #61)
  • "Come On In" / "Blind Rabbit Choir" (February 1998)
  • "Painbirds" / "Maria's Little Elbows" (July 1998)
  • "Sick of Goodbyes" / "Good Morning Spider (session version)" (October 1998, UK #57)
  • Distorted Ghost EP (July 2000)
  • Chest Full of Dying Hawks ('95-'01) (U.S. promo) (2001)
  • "Gold Day" / "Heloise" / "Devil's New" / Maxine" (July 2001)
  • "Ghost in the Sky" 7" and CD (September 11, 2006)
  • "Don't Take My Sunshine Away" 7" (September 18, 2006)
  • "Knives of Summertime" 7" (September 18, 2006)
  • In the Fishtank 15 (with Fennesz) (September 2009)

[6]

References

  1. ^ HARP Magazine
  2. ^ Laurence, Alexander. "The portable-infinite: Sparklehorse 2002 interview (Mark Linkous RIP)". Portable-infinite.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  3. ^ "Pitchforkmedia.com". Pitchforkmedia.com. 2001-09-30. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  4. ^ Sparklehorse.org[dead link‍]
  5. ^ Sisario, Ben (March 7, 2010). The Singer-Songwriter Known as Sparklehorse is Dead at 47. New York Times
  6. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 518. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  7. ^ "Sparklehorse > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". allmusic. 2010-03-06. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
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