Record Collector Magazine
The Year of the HOBSE hat Mark Linkous of priated lyrical inspiration from south Waits, Grandaddy and Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse once briefly Virginian novelists, Ohio-born cinematog- Sparklehorse cut through their off-kilter died is probably the least raphers and film-makers, l6th Century music with almost perverse experimenta- interesting thing about him. English dramatists, esoteric American tion. They are as likely to create vigorous, In 1997, the American musician troubadors, a French poet and music critic feedback-enfettered rock songs as they collapsed in the en suite bathroom of and a deadpan American songlrrriter. He's are drowsy instrumentals; as likely to a London hotel with his legs pinned also sung about: pigs, horses, butchered forge fragile, debilitated ballads as beneath him for 14 hours. He was cows, "painbirds" and "pianobirds", esoteric, sample-heavy interludes. eventually found by a maid and rabbits, spiders, insects, leeches, hum- For the most part, this music is taken to St. Mary's Hospital, where, mingbirds, "hundreds of sparrows", poignant, melancholic and touching. On for two minutes, his heart stopped wolves, crows, snails, dogs, tigers and their first album, Viuadixiesubmarine- beating. It reads like a meta "more yellow birds". transmissionplot, Linkous even sang rock'n'roll story for a man who like Mark Linkous and his more or less about rescuing an iniured hawk: "I chased kindred spirits Grandaddy - anon)"rnous -has co-conspirators crush guitars, him round, tried to pick him up." Linkous tried to circumvent rock'n'roll clich6. tape loops, organs and frequently distort- has explained, "but he kept biting Nearly dying isn't cool.
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