Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse is the nom de plume of acclaimed crackly-whisper vocalist and songwriter Mark Linkous. Linkous formed Sparklehorse somewhere in Virginia around 1995; Capitol soon stumbled onto his demo and signed the band, eventually releasing his debut album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, in 1995. The most current Sparklehorse album is Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain, released in 2006 on Astralwerks. While still a relatively underground phenomenon, Sparklehorse has somehow managed to release album after album of quirky lo-fi pop experimentation on -- get this -- a major label, creating a rare enigmatic occurrence where Corporate America lends a hand to an artist whose career sales figures look pathetic when compared to that of, well, anyone on Billboard's Top 200. Regardless, the music stands up, and is especially recommended for fans of mellow contemplative damaged pop, or The Flaming Lips, circa 1991-2000. Of course, no proper run-down would be without the obligatory drama story, so here's his: somewhere around 1996, while on tour in Europe, Linkous passed out in his London hotel bathroom, pinned between the toilet and the bathtub, limp-bodied on a mixture of Valium and antidepressants with his legs tucked below his body, resulting in little blood flow from the waist down. He was confined to a wheelchair for some time and even toured sitting down, from what I've heard. Still an excellent band, one of my favorites.

Included here are a handful of great Sparklehorse tracks from their various albums to whet yer appetite, including an unforgettable cover of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here with Radiohead's Thom Yorke on lead vocals. So awesome.

MP3: Sparklehorse - Homecoming Queen
MP3: Sparklehorse - Spirit Ditch
MP3: Sparklehorse - Painbirds
MP3: Sparklehorse - Rainmaker
MP3: Sparklehorse - Gold Day
MP3: Sparklehorse - Don't Take My Sunshine Away
MP3: Sparklehorse - Wish You Were Here (featuring Thom Yorke)

YouTube: It's A Wonderful Life
YouTube: Sparklehorse EPK

Buy the CD: Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
Buy the CD: Good Morning Spider
Buy the CD: It's A Wonderful Life
Buy the CD: Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain

Karen Dalton

"My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton. She was a tall white blues singer and guitar player, funky, lanky, and sultry. I'd actually met her before, run across her the previous summer outside of Denver in a mountain pass town in a folk club. Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday's and played the guitar like Jimmy Reed and went all the way with it. I sang with her a couple of times."

-- Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Volume One

Here's a link to an excellent profile of Karen Dalton from The Guardian that succinctly explains the obscure and tragic life of this wonderful artist. Such a sad story. Here's another, the site for the label reissuing her two albums. For vinyl fans, the packaging and detail paid to the liner notes and such for In My Own Time is extensive and amazing, pick it up soon.

This is easily my favorite record as of late, a semi-hidden jewel from 1971. There's something about the sound of Dalton's acoustic combined with that smoky, haunting voice that just floors me; she sounds damaged, but in a wise and redeeming way. In My Own Time is one of those records that gets under your skin until you finally succumb and become obsessive about it.

MP3: Karen Dalton - Sweet Substitute
MP3: Karen Dalton - Something On Your Mind
MP3: Karen Dalton - When A Man Loves A Woman
MP3: Karen Dalton - Katie Cruel

YouTube: Karen Dalton - God Bless The Child
YouTube: Karen Dalton - It Hurts Me Too

Bob Dylan & The Band paid tribute to their friend on The Basement Tapes with Katie's Been Gone, and somewhere around the same time Dalton covered In A Station from The Band's seminal Music From Big Pink, both of which are included here for your amusement. Also included is Jackie-O Motherfucker's extremely loose cover of Something On Your Mind, which is a bit of an anomaly in and of itself, but nevertheless an excellent interpretation from another of my favorite groups of late. Good stuff, indeed.

MP3: Karen Dalton - In A Station
MP3: Bob Dylan & The Band - Katie's Been Gone
MP3: Jackie-O Motherfucker - Something On Your Mind


Buy the CD: Karen Dalton - It's So Hard To Tell Who Is Going To Love You The Best
Buy the CD/LP: Karen Dalton - In My Own Time