RIP: Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous

Mark Linkous, the Virginia-based singer-songwriter who recorded as Sparklehorse, committed suicide on Saturday. In an alley outside a friend's house in Knoxville, Tennesse, he shot himself through the heart with a handgun. Linkous was 47 years old.

The songwriter's boundless talent produced four Sparklehorse albums —the classic 1995 debut Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, 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— of weathered, cracked, fraying alt-country lullabies.

Over the years Linkous collaborated with a wide array of artists, including Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Daniel Johnston, and Nina Persson. Recently, he worked with Danger Mouse and David Lynch on the Dark Night of the Soul project. One of the many guest vocalists on that record was Linkous's friend Vic Chesnutt, who also took his own life, last year, on Christmas eve.

Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood offered these sentiments: "I was very sad to hear the news that Mark Linkous has died. He and his band toured with us in Europe, at the start of OK Computer, and they were great every night. His first two records were very important to me, and I carried his music from the tour into my life, and my friends' lives too. He was softly spoken, with an Old South courtesy I hadn't heard before: he introduced me to Daniel Johnston's music, and the West Virginian writing of Pinckney Benedict. Mark wrote and played some beautiful music, and we're lucky to have it. Rest in Peace."

RIP: Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 08:00:42.

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Source: | 9 March 2010 | 1:00 am

Introducing: Oh No Ono

Name: Oh No Ono
From: Copenhagen, Denmark
Story: Danish electro hipsters reinvent themselves via audio excess
Sound: Baroque, genre-splattering, pseudo-prog grandeur

Malthe Fischer has a glorious, ridiculous falsetto. The afro-sporting frontman of kooky Danish outfit Oh No Ono hits some seriously high notes on the band's second LP, Eggs; his voice at wail over top of songs that seem to shift genres and styles at the drop of a hat. Sometimes, Oh No Ono sound like authentic '70s prog-rock revivalists, other times more like Shins/Elephant-6-loving power-poppers, Juttish tropicalistas, or MGMT-styled meta-ironists.

In all its baroque excess, Eggs is a far cry from their 2006 debut, Yes, a minimal electro-funk record produced by Junior Senior. This time, working in various states of isolation —recording on the isle of Møn, in a German mental hospital, and a centuries-old church— the quartet have made a dense symphony as rich in tiny details (field recordings of environmental sounds, backwards tape loops) as orchestrated grandeur (Morten Svenstrup, cellist of symphonic moodist Under Byen, helped them write full orchestral and choral scores).

Live, Oh No Ono rather resemble more of a ragged rockband, these days, and they'll be bringing their poly-genre jams and high, high harmonies to town for the suddenly-imminent SXSW orgy...

Giggs:
March 17-20: Austin, TX - SXSW
March 24: New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
March 25: Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall Of Williamsburg
April 17: Copenhagen, Denmark - Huset i Magstræde
April 30: Aarhus, Denmark - Train
May 22: Hamburg, Germany - Prinzenbar
May 23: Berlin, Germany - Comet Club
May 24: Cologne, Germany - Studio 672
May 25: Frankfurt, Germany - Nachtleben
May 26: Munich, Germany - 59:1
July 23: Aarhus, Denmark - Tivoli Friheden

Photo © Amanda Bashida

Introducing: Oh No Ono originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 08:00:56.

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Source: | 8 March 2010 | 1:00 am

From the Vaults Friday: Various, Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis (1968)

The Year: 1968
The Album: Various, Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis
Who It Influenced: David Byrne, Beck, Devendra Banhart, Beirut, Final Fantasy, Dent May and His Magnificent Orchestra

Last week, when reviewing the legendary 1978 compile No New York, I declared it the only compilation that can boast of containing almost the entire lifespan of a genre on one LP. True it is, but it got me thinking to those other rare Various Artists works that define movements, sounds, and times. Like, well, Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis, the 1968 record that laid the foundation stone —and lent its name to— the tropicalia movement.

In 1968, a movement of rebellious, tradition-razing, genre-straddling movement exploded in Bahia. Os Mutantes delivered their amazing self-titled debut. They collaborated with Gilberto Gil on his '68 LP. And Os Mutantes, Gil, Gil's long-time foil Caetano Veloso, the transgressive female singer Gal Costa (whose husky voice and progressive political lyrics stood at odds with the role women were 'allowed' in popular Brazilian music), and producer/orchestra/arranger Rogério Duprat collaborated on a compilation that would serve as a manifesto for tropicalia.

Mixing traditional Bahian folk music with Brazilian pop form, and taking influence from the studio-experimentation of the Beatles and the burgeoning sounds of psychedelic rock, the tropicalistas' transgressive music dared to buck tradition at a time in which a military dictatorship was ruling Brazil with an iron fist.

The music was considered so subversive that Gil and Veloso were arrested in 1969, and sent into exile in England. Over four decades on, and there's still a thrill to the experimental, genre-juggling, joyous, righteousness-in-protest music made in the fury of tropicalia's prime.

• Full review: Various, Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis

From the Vaults Friday: Various, Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis (1968) originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 08:00:16.

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Source: | 5 March 2010 | 1:00 am

Thom Yorke's New Band, Atoms for Peace, Readies Tour

When Coachella unveiled its 2010 lineup recently, Thom Yorke was officially billed as "Thom Yorke????" Those rows of question-marks have now been answered, with the Radiohead frontman's all-star 'solo' band taking on the name Atoms for Peace.

The band —whose celebrity ranks include Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, producer Nigel Godrich, Bech drummer Joey Waronker, and percussionist — are now named after a song on Yorke's solo debut, The Eraser (which was named after a US program in the '50s promoting peace via, um, providing nuclear reactors to nations like Iran and Pakistan). Taking such a name was, according to Yorke's blog, "bleedin' obvious."

So, what are these mighty men of music to do with such a name? Tour through the United States, in April, on their way to Coachella, of course!

Buy a Ticket and Get on the Train:
April 5: New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom
April 6: New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom
April 8: Boston, MA - Citi Wang Theatre
April 10: Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
April 11: Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
April 14: Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre
April 15: Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre
April 17: Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
April 18: Indio, CA - Coachella

Thom Yorke's New Band, Atoms for Peace, Readies Tour originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 08:00:45.

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Source: | 4 March 2010 | 1:00 am

Flaming Lips Announce New US Tour Dates

Last year, legendary Oklahoma oddballs the Flaming Lips followed up their sprawling, straggling double-album Embryonic with one of their weirdest gestures in a weird career. As a Christmas gift to their fans, the Lips (no stranger to strange Christmases), in collaboration with Stardeath and White Dwarfs (the band fronted by Dennis Coyne, nephew of Lips preacherman Wayne Coyne) covered Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.

The Flaming Lips then took it further by covering Dark Side of the Moon, in order, in its entirety, on New Year's Eve in Oklahoma City. And they'll turn the trick, again, at Bonnaroo in June. Between then and now, they're also playing a bunch of regular Lips shows —if you could call explosions of confetti, fake blood, and Disney-esque forced-happiness 'regular'— around the US, and they've got a headlining spot at the Green Man festival looming in the future, too.

The Great Gig(s) in the Sky:
March 12: Austin, TX - Austin Music Hall
March 13: Denton, TX - Hickory Street Stage/NX35
April 15: Charlottesville, VA - Charlottesville Pavillon
April 17: Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid Hudson Civic Center
April 18: Ithaca, NY - Barton Hall/Cornell University
April 19: Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre
April 21: Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside Theater
April 22: Bloomington, IN - Indiana University Auditorium
April 23: Kansas City, KS - Sandstone Amphitheatre
April 29: West Palm Beach, FL - SunFest
May 15: Gulf Shores, AL - The Hangout Music Festival
June 6: Houston, TX - Tinsley Park/Free Press Fest
June 11: Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music Festival
July 3: Oxford, ME - Nateva Music & Arts Festival
July 22: Lewiston, NY - Artpark
July 26: New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
August 20-22: Brecon Beacons, Wales - Green Man Festival
September 10-12: Isle of Wight, England - Bestival

Flaming Lips Announce New US Tour Dates originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 08:00:47.

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Source: | 3 March 2010 | 1:00 am

Pavement Kicks Off World Tour

After years of speculation followed my months of anticipation, definitive indie-rockers Pavement have, like, finally kicked off their globe-spanning reunion tour. The quintet played their first show together since 1999 with a gig at Auckland Town Hall yesterday.

A semi-comprehensive chronicle of the show can be found on Spiral Stairs' very own blog. The setlist Spiral posted shows Pavement sticking closely to 'classic' cuts from their first two albums; much of which also turns up on their forthcoming 'best of' compilation Quarantine the Past.

Pavement have just landed in Australia —I'll be seeing them play next week! (although I'm old enough to have also done so numerous times in the '90s)— from where their world tour will roll on for most of 2010. New US dates have just been announced, and there'll surely be more to come as Pavement Reunion Mania lingers on.

Pavement Pounding:
March 4: Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
March 5: Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
March 6: Meredith, Australia - Golden Plains Festival
March 7: Adelaide, Australia - Thebarton Theatre
March 8: Perth, Australia - Metro City
March 10: Brisbane, Australia - Tivoli
March 12: Melbourne, Australia - Palace Theatre
March 14: Melbourne, Australia - Palace Theatre
April 7: Tokyo, Japan - Studio Coast
April 8: Tokyo, Japan - Studio Coast
April 10: Osaka, Japan - Zepp Osaka
April 12: Nagoya, Japan - Zepp Nagoya
April 18: Indio, CA - Coachella Festival
May 4: Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
May 5: Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowland
May 7: Paris, France - Le Zénith
May 8: Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
May 10: London, England - Brixton Academy
May 11: London, England - Brixton Academy
May 12: London, England - Brixton Academy
May 13: London, England - Brixton Academy
May 15: Minehead, England - All Tomorrow's Parties
May 18: Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
May 19: Berlin, Germany - Astra
May 20: Prague, Czech Republic - Palac Akropolis
May 21: Vienna, Austria - Arena
May 22: Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
May 24: Rome, Italy - Atlantico Live
May 25: Bologna, Italy - Estragon
May 27: Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Festival
May 30: Quincy, WA - Sasquatch! Festival
June 19: Toronto, ON - Olympic Island
June 25: Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
July 2: Gdynia, Poland - Open'er Festival
July 4: Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
July 8: Liege, Belgium - Les Ardentes Festival
July 18: Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
August 12: Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
August 14: Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
September 9: Broomfield, CO - First Bank Center
September 11: Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
September 12: St. Paul, MN - Roy Wilkins Auditorium
September 17: Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center for the Performing Arts
September 18: Boston, MA - Agganis Arena
September 21: New York, NY - Central Park
September 22: New York, NY - Central Park
September 23: New York, NY - Central Park
September 24: New York, NY - Central Park
September 26: Atlanta, GA - The Tabernacle

Pavement Kicks Off World Tour originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 08:00:15.

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Source: | 2 March 2010 | 1:00 am

Introducing: Oy

Name: Oy
From: Zürich, Switzerland
Story: Bizarre childhood tales become bizarre, childlike tunes
Sound: A clattering splattering of quick, quirky electro cuts

Joy Frempong had an idea for a project: she'd ask friends to send her strange memories from their childhoods, and then set them to song.

Frempong —a 32-year-old, half-Swiss/half-Ghanaian vocalist who's a veteran of the experimental set in Zürich— was shocked, amused, and inspired by the stranger-than-fiction tales she heard: of living in fear of the Toilet Witch, who'd pull you down into the bowl if you sat too long on the bog; of being terrified by the snake living under your bed; of boxing when walking around a corner just in case someone dangerous was lurking on the other side.

These silly, sweet stories of terror became First Box, Then Walk, Frempong's four-years-in-the-making debut solo album. Calling herself, kookily, Oy Rempong, then simply Oy, she matched these oddball tales to an array of odd compositions. Often, they're absurdist electronic miniatures shot through with such silliness that they recall, at times, bizarro electro circus-act Blectum from Blechdom, other times Frempong summons her hero Nina Simone with plaintive vocals and solemn piano figures.

First Box, Then Walk is a work rich in "The Artist's Preoccupation with Childhood and the Subconscious" (the title of Bat for Lashes' art-school dissertation, no less), and, sure enough, that's lead to comparisons with French filmmakin' genius Michel Gondry, whose career has been devoted to recapturing that sense of innocence and wonder of early life.

Frempong will be bringing her own charming take on childhood delusions unto the world at this year's SXSW rumpus, with shows on either US coast before and after. Though Oy may not've cracked my official 10 Acts to Watch at SXSW 2010, do know that she was close. Call Oy an honorable mention.

• Visit: Oy at Creaked Records
• Visit: Oy on Myspace
• Listen: Oy, "Snake (Sutekh remix)"

Introducing: Oy originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 08:00:42.

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Source: | 1 March 2010 | 1:00 am

From the Vaults Friday: Various, No New York (1978)

The Year: 1978
The Album: Various, No New York
Who It Influenced: Sonic Youth, Magik Markers, Liars, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erase Errata, The Rapture

In the annals of nostalgia, punk-rock is often portrayed as the ultimate rebellion; the work of revolutionary dissidents bringing down the clichés of classic-rock. But, really, punk was just rock'n'roll sped up and played sloppy; the same Chuck Berry riffs delivered with a sneer. You say you want a revolution? Try no-wave.

In the late-'70s, a community of hardline New Yorkers took the notion of anti-rock'n'roll to a never-before-heard extreme. Still using the familiar tools of the trade —guitar, bass, drums&mdash they threw away melody and harmony. Guitars were scraped with screwdrivers and pressed with bottles, drums stumbled through barely-competent rhythms, often sounding like pots and pans thrown down stairs. Vocals were uniformly ugly. The music was tense, wiry, nasty. Was, by more conservative measures, barely musical.

In 1978, the ever-enterprising Brian Eno conceived of a compilation documenting this new sound of New York. Roping in four of the scene's hardline headliners —James Chance and the Contortions, Mars, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and D.N.A. (pictured)— Eno rolled tape, close to live, on each playing four songs (as if they were cutting a 7").

The resulting compilation, No New York, introduced this insular scene unto the world, gave rise to a name for the sound —no-wave, encapsulating the nastiness of this reaction against the pomp of new-wave— and, eventually, went on to inspire countless bands across the years...

• Full review: Various, No New York

From the Vaults Friday: Various, No New York (1978) originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 08:00:20.

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Source: | 26 February 2010 | 1:00 am

Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Surfer Blood, Beck on Haiti Benefit Compilation

There's been scores upon scores of compilations thrown together to raise monies to help the Haitian relief efforts, and, well, bless their hearts, many of them have been reprehensibly awful. For those seeking something to buy in which an essential donation actually brings with it the promise of good music, Filter and retail entity American Eagle Outfitters have assembled the compile Hear to Help, which features many favorites of the indie realm. And also Keane.

Sure, it's a cobbled-together collection of already-kinda-kicking around cuts, but, o!, it's Vampire Weekend! Of Montreal! Beck! The Breeders! Surfer Blood! Camera Obscura! Grizzly Bear covering Hot Chip!

The disc is being sold in American Eagle stores and via the AE website, and all cash collected gets passed the way of Oxfam America.

Hear to Help Track List:
1. Beck: "Volcano (acoustic)"
2. Snow Patrol: "You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will." (Bright Eyes cover)
3. Keane: "Black Burning Heart (French version)"
4. Air: "So Light Is Her Footfall (Breakbot Remix)"
5. Charlotte Gainsbourg: "Dandelion"
6. Julian Casablancas: "Long Island Blues"
7. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: "Am I Only" (ReMix)
8. The Breeders: "We're Gonna Rise"
9. Vampire Weekend: "Cousinz (Toy Selectah Mex-More Remix)"
10. Noah and the Whale: "Love of an Orchestra (Chew Fu Fix)"
11. Camera Obscura: "The World Is Full of Strangers"
12. Minus the Bear: "Broken China"
13. Of Montreal: "Take Me Out (live)" (Franz Ferdinand cover)
14. Busdriver: "Running Water"
15. Surfer Blood: "Take It Easy (Drop the Lime Remix)"
16. Grizzly Bear: "Boy From School" (Hot Chip cover)
17. AM: "Endings Are Beginnings (piano mix)"

Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Surfer Blood, Beck on Haiti Benefit Compilation originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 08:00:01.

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Source: | 25 February 2010 | 1:00 am

Two Indie Festivals to hit Monterrey, Mexico, in March

Going to Mexico after SXSW is a tradition as old as, well, SXSW. This year, enterprising promoters have finally cottoned on, and 2010 will now find dueling indie festivals in Monterrey, Mexico, staged either side of SXSW. And neither has time for vowels.

MtyMx is a suitably-mighty jamboree running post-SXSW, from March 20-22. Across three days, it features an impressive array of bands landing at Autocinema Las Torres, a drive-in theater located on the side of a mountain.

Playing at MtyMx shall be: Dan Deacon, No Age, Salem, Toro y Moi, Washed Out, Neon Indian, Indian Jewelry, Telepathe, Drawlings, Tanlines, High Places, F**ked Up, Male Bonding, Acid Mothers Temple, BamBam, Los Llamarada, XYX, Thee Oh Sees, Explode Into Colors, Small Black, Andrew W.K., Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü, and dozens of others.

Festival Nrmal is a smaller scale, more electro-centric single day fest taking place —on the grounds of the Alianza Francesa de Monterrey— on March 13. Turning up for Festival Nrmal are: Nite Jewel, Julianna Barwick, White Rainbow, Awesome Color, Yacht, Daedelus, Death Set, Yellow Fever, Juiceboxxx, Tyvek, Poirier, White Ninja, and scores more.

For anyone who doesn't want to precede/follow their SXSW music overload with even more music, I'd personally recommend a roadtrip out to America's most amazing small town: Marfa, Texas. But that's another story entirely...

Two Indie Festivals to hit Monterrey, Mexico, in March originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 08:00:25.

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Source: | 24 February 2010 | 1:00 am