Mark Linkous' dramatic, lush music often came from a place of pain. In 1996, Linkous actually died for two minutes after ingesting a dangerous mix of Valium and antidepressants while on tour in the U.K. behind Sparklehorse's 1995 debut Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. He recovered, but the incident left him crippled -- he laid unconscious for 14 hours, cutting off circulation to his legs. He suffered a heart attack when medics attempted to straighten his legs, and underwent seven surgeries to save his damaged limbs. But after the incident, he recorded 1999's Good Morning Spider, 2001's It's A Wonderful Life and 2006's Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain. "For a while there, I was really scared that when I technically died -- which I guess I did for a few minutes -- that the part of my brain that allowed me my ability to write songs would be damaged," he told Rolling Stone in 1999.

Linkous most recently teamed up with Danger Mouse and director David Lynch on Dark Night of the Soul, a multimedia project that was tied up in legal issues with EMI; just this past week, Danger Mouse and the label resolved their dispute and agreed to let the album come out as it was originally intended. [Rolling Stone]

Mark Linkous, who spent 6 months in a wheelchair after his near death experience, committed suicide on on Saturday, March 6th 2010. Fellow tortured and talented singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt spent 26 years in a wheelchair before he took his own life and passed away on December 25, 2009.

Sparklehorse co-wrote, co-composed and co-produced Dark Night of The Soul with Danger Mouse (whose most recent collaboration is called Broken Bells). Each Dark Night track features a special guest. Track 8 is Vic Chesnutt. That song & the full Dark Night tracklist, below...

Continue reading "Sparklehorse's most recent album features Vic Chesnutt (Dark Night of the Soul is finally being released)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Jonathan Richman and Vic Chesnutt played Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday, June 17th. It was the second night of their two-show run (those stops are part of a nearly month-long tour). Signs posted throughout the venue warned that it'd be a hot night -- the night before Richman had requested the Bowery's air conditioner to be turned off mid-set for being too noisy.

Richman took the stage with drummer Tommy (Larkins), who kept the beat throughout with mallets and brushes. The accompaniment came in handy when Richman either sidled out in front of the microphones to address the crowd (the guitar was still audible upfront, but wasn't plugged in) or abandoned the axe entirely to dance alone on stage.

New song "My Affected Accent" was hilarious and gave the singer a chance to joke about youthful pretensions (and whip out a semi-faux Boston accent). Nearly all the tunes, including those off his newest record, 2008's Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild, were delivered on a totally un-ironic gut level. Some artists claim that their personal life doesn't inform their work (Woody Allen, for one). With Jonathan Richman, the opposite seems to be true. And it's similarly refreshing that his latter-day obsessions are a lot like his older ones -- albeit with more directness.

Both Modern Lovers song "Girl Friend" and Because Her Beauty track "No One Was Like Vermeer" could have been written on the same notebook. Both reference one of Richman's favorite topics -- art history -- and what one could only imagine is a favorite place, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

A mid-set discussion of the air conditioning situation provided a lighthearted segue into "When We Refuse to Suffer" (he also used that opportunity to ask for the AC to be turned back on). Through songs like "I Was Dancing in a Lesbian Bar," "Take Me to the Plaza," and "Let Her Go Into the Darkness," the Bowery was near silent in attention, minus some hand claps and joyful cheers. Jonathan left after set closer "My Baby Love Love Loves Me", but returned for another verse, then came back to play songs that included "Es Como El Pan" and "Springtime In New York." That last one especially harped on Richman's painterly drive to reframe everyday life as artistic and beautiful.

I missed Vic Chesnutt, but did see him talking to fans after the show. Those that did see his set said it was great. You can check out Vic as one of several guest singers on the new David Lynch/Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous) collaboration Dark Night of the Soul. That album, because of legal complications, is for sale only as a photo book and a blank CD-R. The music itself is streaming in full on NPR.

Does anyone have the setlists? More pictures of the headliner below...

Continue reading "Jonathan Richman & Vic Chesnutt @ Bowery Ballroom - pics "