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The estate of Sparklehorse, the indie rock project of the late singer-songwriter Mark Linkous, has unveiled a posthumous new album called Bird Machine. The LP arrives today, September 8th via Anti- Records.

Linkous began working on his fifth Sparklehorse album with Steve Albini in 2009. He tragically died by suicide the following year, but he left behind handwritten notes featuring Bird Machine’s title and tracklist — and according to his brother Matt and sister-in-law Melissa, songs that were already close to completion.

The quality of the songs helped Matt and Melissa — who have worked as Linkous’ archivists since his death — decide to finish and release Bird Machine, though Matt called it the hardest choice he’s ever made. “It’s difficult making a choice about someone else’s art, even if you’ve known them all your life and worked with them, even if they were your brother and best friend,...

Later this year, we’ll get to hear Bird Machine, a posthumous album from Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. Before it’s out in full September 8th, a new single called “The Scull of Lucia” is available now, and it features guest vocals from Jason Lytle of slacker rockers Granddaddy.

Though Linkous was largely the main force behind Sparklehorse, Bird Machine was a group effort. Linkous was almost finished with his fifth album under the moniker before tragically taking his life in 2010; his brother Mark and sister-in-law Melissa, both of whom had been involved with Sparklehorse previously, pored over demo tapes and notes to bring the record to life.

“From the very first seconds of ‘The Scull of Lucia,’ I was transported to a different time,” the album’s producer Joel Hamilton said in a press release. “The recipe is unmistakably Sparklehorse: The pace, the sounds, the overall texture of the voice.

They were never as big as they should have been— though folks like Radiohead, Pj Harvey, The Flaming Lips, Danger Mouse, and Tom Waits took them out on tour, or collaborated with them, or both— but in the late-’90s and the ’00s, Sparklehorse, the indie rock project by Mark Linkous was super beloved by many musicians who have gone on to be very famous.

Continue reading ‘This Is Sparklehorse’ Trailer: New Indie Rock Doc Features David Lynch, Members Of Grandaddy, Metric & More at The Playlist.

Click here to read the full article.

Alessandro Nivola has always been an actor’s actor, but in the last handful of years, audiences are catching up to the fact that he’s one of the most versatile performers in town. From an Orthodox rabbi in Sebastian Lelio’s Disobedience to Tony Soprano’s tragic mentor in The Many Saints of Newark, Nivola has that unique ability to disappear into his characters. The Boston native is currently starring alongside Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza in Jeff Baena’s Spin Me Round, which subverts the romantic comedy genre in a welcomed way. Nivola is mostly known for drama, but he’s grateful for Riley Stearns’ indie black comedy The Art of Self-Defense (2019), as it’s created more and more of these comedic opportunities for him.

Nivola recently reunited with his A Most Violent Year director J.C. Chandor in Kraven the Hunter,...

Documentaries focus on tragic musician Mark Linkous and British entertainment Buddy Munro.

London-based sales agency 7&7 Producers’ Sales Service has picked up international sales rights to documentaries This is Sparklehorse and Buddy Goes To Nollywood ahead of Afm (Nov 6-13).

This is Sparklehorse chronicles the life of cult musician Mark Linkous, ahead of 10th anniversary of his suicide.

Directed by British duo Alex Crowton and Bobby Dass, the film includes interviews with David Lynch and Linkous himself, who died in March 2010. Produced by the UK’s B0-ho Films, the documentary is narrated by the musician’s friend and collaborator Angela Faye Martin.

Every week, members of the Vulture staff highlight the best new music of 2015. If the song is worthy of your ears and attention, you will find it here. Read our picks below, share yours in the comments, and subscribe to the Vulture 2015 Playlist for a comprehensive guide to the year's best music.Ryan Adams, “Style” Picking the best track off Ryan Adams’s 1989 cover LP wasn’t hard. Some of the songs from the original are so irrevocably poppy that hearing Adams warble them was disconcerting, while others, like “Bad Blood," were completely stripped of any teeth they had to begin with. But on “Style," Adams gives listeners a heavy reverb treatment that actually takes us to 1989 as promised. It’s scream-y, desperate, and wonderful. Ryan, can you do “All Too Well” next? —Eric King (@erickingdavid) Alex G, "Kicker" This week, the prolific Philly-based songwriter Alex G conjures the ghost...

Three years after Mark Linkous took his own life, a tribute for Sparklehorse (the name under which he released his songs) is in the works, thanks to Box of Stars, an organization focused on increasing awareness about mental health through music. Last Box of Sparklers has big names like The Flaming Lips, The Joy Formidable, Phantogram, and Portugal. The Man attached and is currently raising money on Indiegogo. The nonprofit's album will benefit their partnership with yet another organization, Minding Your Mind — one that visits schools to educate young adults about mental health. It will be mastered by Dave Fridmann and needs $34, 456 more in the next eleven days. Watch their trailer about the project below, then go donate your $20 (or more), if you want.

David Lynch has been woven in and out of the music industry for a long, long time. One of his most notable contributions was his collaboration with Danger Mouse and late Sparklehorse mastermind Mark Linkous on cult-ish collabo album "Dark Night of the Soul." Now the video and film director is stepping out full force with his debut solo album, a seemingly dance/electronic set called "Crazy Clown Time." We must wait to see why we endure such a silly name, but the lead single "Good Day Today" is fun enough. While Lynch's work is often heady, this is a fairly straightforward,...

By Zachary Swickey

Brian Joseph Burton, the man the music world knows and loves as Danger Mouse, turns 34 today, and his many milestones are rather mindboggling. Growing up on the music of Pink Floyd and Portishead, Burton fit right in while living in London, where he moved to make a name for himself as a trip-hop DJ but instead found himself focusing on making hip-hop beats. But it was a moment of true serendipity that led Burton to where he is today.

While cleaning around his apartment and listening to the Beatles’ White Album, Burton came across his a capella copy of Jay-z’s The Black Album, and inspiration struck. After completing one song successfully and with surprising ease, Burton took to mashing up the entirety of both albums, creating The Grey Album. The result was clearly not exactly legal since it was the music of two separate iconic acts...

“Silverlake” is a non-album track from the sessions that became 2010’s Drawing Down the Moon. The first round of recording was done with the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. The two-song single includes “Silverlake” and “Silverlake (demo).” The demo version of the track was recorded with Linkous and Scott Minor in Knoxville, Tn. “Silverlake” is a re-recording of that session, with some original tracks and some new, that the band did with Eric Bachmann at Echo Mountain Studios....

The cult director branches further into the world of music with this satisfying slice of electro-pop. Christmas No 1, anybody?

This isn't cult director David Lynch's first foray into music – he's worked on soundtracks to his own films as well as collaborating with producer Danger Mouse and the late Mark Linkous on Dark Night of the Soul. Good Day Today – streamed here for the first time and released on iTunes today – shows Lynch dipping his toe into the pop mainstream. After an explosive opening, the song settles into a minimal electro groove that recalls Crystal Castles, before Lynch's heavily treated vocals continue the sense of emotional detachment. The track finds Lynch in a pleading mood, just wanting to have a pretty good day, which seems fair enough. There's a brilliant bit where his downbeat robot voice sighs "send me an angel, save me" and then intones "so tired" before sudden bursts of gunfire and explosions.

The idiosyncratic director defies expectation once more by turning singer-songwriter

David Lynch: revered film-maker, avant-garde visionary, artist. But pop star? The suggestion is not as far-fetched as it may seem, as the legendary American director tomorrow makes an unexpected departure from his previous work and launches himself on an alternative career path as a writer and singer.

The creator of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive is releasing two debut singles, Good Day Today and I Know, through a British independent label. After a film career spanning more than four decades, Lynch told the Guardian that music has become a powerful inspiration in his life.

"I've always loved sounds and so I built a studio where I can experiment with sound, and gradually I started experimenting with music. I'm not a musician, but I love to experiment and try to make music," he said, speaking from his home in La.

Here’s what you want on your iPod, recommends Luke Kenny.Dark Night Of The SoulDanger Mouse & Sparklehouse, EMIRating: 2 Every once in a while comes an album that regales you with its silent beauty. Mark Linkous was the lead singer of obscure indie band Sparklehorse up until his suicide in March 2010. This 2009 album with another music genius Danger Mouse is a kind of requiem to the musical mind of Sparklehorse. It features a stellar line up of contributors. Iggy Pop, Suzanne Vega, Frank Black (The Pixies), Nina Persson (The Cardigans), The Flaming Lips and even surrealist director David Lynch ...

Tragedy-shrouded instant classic escapes lawyers’ clutches Recorded in 2009 as part of a multimedia project devised by Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse (née Mark Linkous) and filmmaker David Lynch, Dark Night of the Soul was shelved for more than a year as Emi and Danger Mouse proprietor Brian Burton resolved legal differences that still haven’t been fully disclosed. The controversy nearly obscured the resounding triumph of the album itself; written and produced by Burton and Linkous, it’s a breathtaking set of atmospheric ballads (plus a few rockers) that explore cosmic concerns, from the self-destructive trap of revenge to the possibility of spiritual...

Let the man behind The Grey Album talk (and play) you through Dark Night of the Soul, the record he made with David Lynch and the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse

I first met Mark Linkous after I released The Grey Album in 2004. His manager played him my album and told him that I was a Sparklehorse fan, so he took an interest. We began working on Dark Night of the Soul in 2005. It became obvious that both Mark and I wanted to write songs that were melodically out of our range, or at least just not within the realms of what we could bring as performers, so we thought about who would be right for each song. The first one we worked on together was Just War, which Gruff Rhys performs, because Mark didn't think his own singing could do it justice.

I like that the album starts with Revenge,...

Good news for fans of David Lynch. NPR is reporting that the long-awaited Dark Night of the Soul is finally getting a legitimate release after having spent nearly a year mired in a corporate dispute.

The title is a collaborative effort between filmmaker Lynch, the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, and Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley fame. The project, which was supposed to release last year (complete with a limited edition 100-page artbook featuring photographs by Lynch) never made its shipping date because of a dispute between Linkous and Emi Records. The title did wind up leaked on the Internet, where it became a cult sensation on various torrent sites. Lynch and the rest of the folks behind Dark Night of the Soul then playfully poked fun at the album's pirated status. Anyone who bought a copy of the art book got a blank CD-r with a note stating "For legal reasons,...

After languishing for nearly a year in file-sharing limbo, the critically-acclaimed multimedia project Dark Night of the Soul – the collaboration between artist-filmmaker David Lynch, Gnarls Barkley's Danger Mouse and the late Mark Linkous of indie-rock outfit Sparklehorse – has finally landed an official CD release. According to UK magazine NME, the album will finally go legit this summer. Hit the jump and find out more about the troubled history behind this eerie meeting of minds... The article sums up the backstory on Dark Night of the Soul, which was put on indefinite hold due to legal entanglements, and was eventually leaked online to become an underground cult classic. In addition to Danger Mouse and...

The road to death was long and by all accounts incredibly painful, but when the final moment came it was brutal in its finality. Mark Linkous, singer and songwriter with indie band Sparklehorse, shot himself through the heart on March 6. He was 47. People who knew Mark have written about him beautifully (Andrew Dansby's piece on chron.com is heartbreaking). But for those of us who just knew his music, those exquisite, delicate, romantic tunes now take on a special quality that will forever be called haunting. Mark Linkous is not the first musician to die at his own hand; he follows a long tradition. I once joked with a band manager that he should definitely sign one up and coming band because the lead singer had just be carted off - yet again - to the...

Welcome to the 226th Edition of my long-running series. I am happy to say that I now have the Roku player to stream my Netflix instantly so some of my selection process will change but not much. This week I pay tribute to the late Mark Linkous, a musician most known for the indie band Sparklehorse. I have five selections from the Random Myspace Profile selection for this week. Next week will...

This Sunday (March 14), we jump the clocks forward an hour in accordance with Daylight Savings Time. Do you know what that means? It means that this weekend is one hour shorter than it should be. So you have 60 fewer minutes to cram in the trip to your local multiplex to see "Remember Me" and grab a spot on the couch to watch Pearl Jam on "Saturday Night Live." That also means you have one less hour to catch up with all the stories you might have missed this week, including a number of looks at Lady Gaga's new video for "Telephone" and a peek into the budding feud between Justin Bieber and Aziz Ansari's alter-ego "Raaaandy." Check out the rest of the week's top links below.

» Conan O'Brien turned a woman from Michigan into an Internet celebrity with a single click of his mouse, and MTV News talked...

Poor Emi. First, they received a public lashing over a rumor that they planned to sell the historic Abbey Road Studios. Ok Go bested them in the public arena during a spat over allowing the YouTube superstars’ music videos to be embedded in blogs and news items. Then, Brian Burton, Aka: Danger Mouse, squeezed a go-ahead out of the label for the release of his long-sequestered Dark Night of the Soul collaboration with David Lynch and the recently departed Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. As if that didn’t constitute a sufficient serving of humble pie, the British high court and Ok...

Radiohead's bassist Colin Greenwood has paid tribute to late Sparklehorse's star Mark Linkous - thanking the singer-songwriter for his "beautiful music". 47-year-old Linkous was found dead on Saturday, March 6 in an alleyway outside a friend's home in Knoxville, Tennessee, according to the New York Times.

He had reportedly shot himself in the heart. Greenwood, who befriended Linkous when he toured with Radiohead under his Sparklehorse moniker in the mid-90s, has written of his sadness at the tragedy.

In a statement on Radiohead's official website, the bass player writes, "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,...

Songwriter and producer Mark Linkous died on Saturday day (March 6) after shooting himself in the heart in front of a friends house in Knoxville, Tenn. He was 47. The New York Times reports the Sparklehorse mastermind was found police responded to a call at 1:20 p.m. He was declared dead at the scene. Rolling Stone says that a spokesperson at Anti-, home to Sparklehorse's albums, confirmed that a new album was nearly finished. Linkous had also already completed a concept project with superproducer Danger Mouse and film director David Lynch titled "Dark Night of the Soul," which was embroiled in...

Singer-songwriter Mark Linkous, leader of the indie rock band Sparklehorse, committed suicide over the weekend, his family said. He was 47.

Watch Sparklehorse music videos

"We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you," Linkous' family said on Sparklehorse's site.

Linkous died Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn., after he ...

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Radiohead's bassist Colin Greenwood has expressed his sadness at the death of Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous. Linkous committed suicide at the weekend, reportedly shooting himself in the heart outside the home of a friend. Greenwood wrote on the official Radiohead website: "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." (more)...

Alt-rocker Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous has died after he "took his own life," according to a statement from his family. The singer and multi-instrumentalist shot himself in the heart on Saturday. He was 47.

His manager told the New York Times that Linkous committed suicide outside a friend's home in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His family said he owned the gun that he used.

His family wrote on the band's website: "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you."

Linkous released the first Sparklehorse album, "Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot," in 1995. He nearly died the following year after an overdose of...

Sparklehorse's singer-songwriter Mark Linkous has committed suicide, according to the star's family. The U.S. musician, who is thought to have been aged in his 40s, died on Saturday, March 6. No details about Linkous' death have been released, but his relatives have issued a statement claiming he took his own life.

The statement reads, "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you."

Linkous collaborated with Gnarls Barkley's star Danger Mouse and film director David Lynch on 2009 album "Dark Night of the Soul" and previously supported Radiohead on tour. No further details were available as WENN went to press.

Reclusive indie-rock mastermind Mark Linkous committed suicide Saturday. "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life," reads a statement on his band Sparklehorse's website. "We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you." His manager tells the New York Times that Linkous, 47, shot himself in the heart outside of a friend's home in Knoxville, Tenn., and was pronounced dead at the scene. Linkous nearly died in 1996 following an overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol. He was...

The independent music world lost one of its true visionaries, as Rolling Stone is reporting that Mark Linkous, the singer-songwriter and genius behind Sparklehorse (and a number of other genre-pushing projects), took his own life on Saturday (March 6). "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today," Linkous' family said in a statement. "We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you."

Originally from Virginia, Linkous set up a small independent music empire in North Carolina, crafting his own psychedelic takes on folk and indie rock both with Sparklehorse and for other artists. His first album as Sparklehorse, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, was released in 1995 and received great acclaim from the college radio scene...

Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous has committed suicide, his family confirmed in a statement to Rolling Stone magazine. The Virginia-born musician, whose age was not public but who was believed to be in his 40s, was regarded by many as a hero of America's alternative rock scene. "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member Mark Linkous took his own life today," the family said. "We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's (more)...

Underground icon Daniel Johnston has spent a lot of time slightly above ground. From Kurt Cobain wearing his T-shirt to 2005’s documentary The Devil And Daniel Johnston, many high-profile entertainers have supported the troubled Texan. Collaborators like Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse (which once covered Johnston’s “Hey Joe”) have tried to bolster Johnston’s signature aesthetic—fragile, crudely lo-fi, fractured acoustic oddities. Of course, the addition of high-profile collaborators destroyed that aesthetic and erased Johnston’s sad charm. On Is And Always Was, producer Jason Falkner avoids that trap entirely by making a ...

While we wait for another feature film (which is beginning to seem like it'll be a while) David Lynch is making and releasing music. He recently was involved in the smoky cool project Dark Night of the Soul with producer Danger Mouse and musician Mark Linkous, aka Sparklehorse. Now, according to EW, he's produced the music and written the lyrics to a record of guitar-based '50s-style tunes called Fox Bat Strategy, which comes out June 30. The record's full title is Fox Bat Strategy: A Tribute to Dave Jaurequi. You probably don't know Jaurequi's name, but he's the guitar player on this record and was part of the heavily atmospheric '50s-style combo that played the tunes 'The Pink Room' and 'Blue Frank' featured in Fire Walk With Me. (Both songs are embedded below.) 'The Pink Room' is one of my favorite pieces of film and rock music, a simple,...

Former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle has announced dates for a handful of shows on the West Coast in support of his new album "Yours Truly, The Commuter." The album is set for a May 18 release on Anti label records.

The tour will kick off in Seattle on June 4 and conclude in Los Angeles on June 12. Before that, he will also be performing in U.K. with May 26 stop in Manchester and then in London on May 28.

On May 4th, NPR will stream a full-length version of Lytle's first solo release. He is also collaborating on the "Dark Night of the Soul" album with Danger Mouse and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse.

The American musician is best known for his work in the indie rock group Grandaddy, which split in 2006. The band split after the release of their last album, 2006's "Just Like The Fambly Cat."...