Austinist Music Preview: Sparklehorse at Antone's

If you're a fan of dreamy indie-pop and you haven't spent time with a Sparklehorse album, watch out. The North Carolina-based Mark Linkous and his band play hazy, epic music that is worth getting to know. All of the proper credits are here: production from Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev mainstay Dave Fridmann, a guest spot from Danger Mouse, and even some added credibility via a collaboration with Tom Waits. Add this to prior work with both PJ Harvey and Daniel Johnston, and we're on hipster namecheck overload.

The band stops at Antone's Friday in their second Austin appearance supporting 2006 disc Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain. The disc was five years in the making, and has received strong praise from music critics, with the oft-snarky Pitchfork calling it "...a surprisingly unified whole as well as a powerful statement about death and life."

A strong pair of supporting acts rounds out the bill. Seattle's Jesse Sykes sings alt.country and folk in a manner that will draw in fans of Neko Case or Neil Young, and Austin's own Bill Baird of Sound Team opens the show with a solo acoustic performance. Come see for yourself!

Congrats, Winner!

[Sparklehorse MySpace]
[Sparklehorse official site]

Sparklehorse w/ Jesse Sykes and Bill Baird (Sound Team)
Friday, February 2nd
Antone's [map]
Doors at 8pm, show at 9pm
$17 [tickets]

Image via Sparklehorse's MySpace page. Photographer not credited.