This fan video for Sparklehorse’s “Sad and Beautiful World” (shot in 2006) has been making the rounds on Twitter this morning, and man, it’s a gut punch. Mark Linkous’ spirit is somewhere in the middle of all these shots of sad and beautiful highways. R.I.P. man.
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.
A statement from Mark Linkous’ family • Regarding the death of the alt-rock icon, whose atmospheric folk floated around the more interesting edges of pop music for fifteen years. Sparklehorse wasn’t exactly happy music – Linkous actually had a near-death experience (overdose, coma, surgery, nearly-lost limbs, heart attack, the whole bit) at the beginning of his career that informed the rest of it. Among the many projects he was involved in (besides Sparklehorse): A collaboration with Danger Mouse just last year called “Dark Night of the Soul” and the production credit on a Daniel Johnston album. A terrible, sad loss for music. source
We aren’t experts of Oscar music outside of the rock era, but we have a few ideas as to what makes a good movie song – surprise, heft, and beauty. Unfortunately, most of those songs didn’t get nominated until the ’90s, which means that we’re in a golden era for Oscar-nominated music. Many of the best Oscar songs don’t win, but it’s an honor just to be nominated, really. Here are five we recommend:
1. Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles career has been a mixed bag, but at least two absolutely killer tunes came out of it – “Band on the Run” and “Live and Let Die ,” a 1973 nominee which nailed the Bondness of Bond but didn’t lose the Wingness of Wings. The kitchen-sink feel of the song actually suits it pretty well.
2. Bruce Springsteen did a pretty great job of washing away the cheesiness of the awful synth-heavy pop tunes (and showtunes) that got nominated for Oscars in the 80s, winning for “Streets of Philadelphia,” a song with genuine weight and grit that opened the door for creatively-risky songs. Seriously, the Academy has never nominated a punk song, ever. If Bruce didn’t win in 1993, Three 6 Mafia wouldn’t have won in 2005. You can quote us on that.
3. “That Thing You Do,” as written by Adam Schlesinger, who later became famous with Fountains of Wayne, may have been the Academy’s biggest lark in 1996. Without the song (which was, and still is, an amazing pop gem), the movie would’ve completely sucked. For that reason alone, it’s understandable but a shame it lost – it literally was the best part of a decent movie, the rare song that holds up on its own but makes its source material that much better.
4. Elliott Smith’s “Miss Misery” was a mixed blessing for the indie-rock icon, as it offered him tremendous success due to the “Good Will Hunting” tune’s nomination in 1997 (which he used to full advantage on “XO” and “Figure 8“), but ultimately put him in a position where drugs were in a prominent place in his life. At the time, though, it was a truly daring choice for the Academy, one that hasn’t been reflected since.
5. As a story angle, The Swell Season’s “Falling Slowly” had a little of everything – real-life romance, song-making-the-movie strength, and ceremony drama, when Markéta Irglová, one half of the “Once” duo (The other half being The Frames‘ Glen Hansard), was famously snubbed out of her 2007 acceptance speech, only to be allowed back on-stage to give one. That’s something that NEVER happens.
Other nominees: “Theme From Shaft” by Isaac Hayes, “The Rainbow Connection” by Kermit the Frog (seriously), “Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)” by Phil Collins, “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin, “Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid” (also seriously)
One of these four kids has a future as a music critic. The other three seem like they would’ve liked anything that James Mercer and Danger Mouse played for them.
Of course this sounds arrogant. But it also sounds sincere. Kanye is talking about the death of fashion designer Alexander McQueen, his mom’s death, and his own creativity. Too bad he wrote about it in loud, annoying all-caps text (in a faint, light color) so it’s kind of hard to read. Make the effort to squint. It’ll be the best squinting you do all day. source
Weezer, eat your heart out. OK Go, whose success over the years has largely been the result of inventive music videos (and whose new album has gotten some critical love) have gone the Rube Goldberg route with their latest, “This Too Shall Pass,” but this is way more elaborate than the intro to Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. And that’s saying a lot.
The band has been the subject of a seemingly self-induced Twitter trending topic since last night. Do you like metal? How about spam that completely eats up Twitter? Deadly Fate has both in spades. And despite their strategy to overload the Twitter trending topics with tweets mentioning their MySpace page, they don’t seem to have gained any fans since last night, when they started trending. Wonder why. source
It’s not something that I can see happening on the basis of the past.
Velvet Underground bassist John Cale • On the possibility of the band reuniting. It’s something that won’t happen, among other reasons, because of the death of Sterling Morrison. “If I said that was something I was intrigued by,” he noted, “people would think I was cynical.” He noted that he only keeps in touch with surviving members Lou Reed and Maureen Tucker on a professional basis, because the Velvets are kind of a cash cow these days – something you can’t really say about them back in the day. source
We aren’t experts of Oscar music outside of the rock era, but we have a few ideas as to what makes a good movie song – surprise, heft, and beauty. Unfortunately, most of those songs didn’t get nominated until the ’90s, which means that we’re in a golden era for Oscar-nominated music. Many of the best Oscar songs don’t win, but it’s an honor just to be nominated, really. Here are five we recommend:
