Spirit Ditch
Matador Recs 'Run On Jury' sue: I like that line. I like this.
david: I like how you hear what he ate for lunch.
rick: is that a sample of record noise or is that real record noise now?

Hammering The Cramps
The Cherwell 'Hammering The Cramps' is very, very good. It is classic off-kilter country rock'n'roll: all clanging guitars and quavering vocals. But 'Spirit Ditch' is literally spine-tingling. It is so quiet you have to strain to catch the soft broken singing, slow acoustic strumming and phrases like: "If I had a home...you know it'd be...in a slide trombone..." If you're not shivering yet, you're dead.

London
San Francisco Bay Guardian Sparklehorse revamps the Fugs' William Blake classic, here called "London," on their new single. Sparing no romanticist expense, they feature a coronet and strings in the song, as well as singer-guitarist Mark Linkous's better-than-being-there production. If you haven't heard this band's hi-fi minimalism, start here and wear a seat belt. The B-side's seven-minute "Intermission" turns the sound of a circus organ into a good excuse for Prozac.

Someday I Will Treat You Good
RipItUp 'To Richmond, Virginia, and Sparklehorse is an unlikely name for a band to have a single as fine as 'Someday I Will Treat You Good' (White). Lord of the Manor, Mark Linkous has a passing resemblance to Tom Petty (Southern Roots), but fortunately that's where the similarities end in this crackling, surging burst of rawk 'n' rawl.

Distorted Ghost
Pitchfork Sick of reviewers telling you things you don't want to know? Don't you just want them to get to the point? Well, now it's your turn to ask those direct, to-the point questions you wish reviewers would ask themselves... [4/5]

Gold Day
NME As musical couplings go, this is the most unpredictable since Kylie writhed around prince of darkness, Nick Cave. Here, The Cardigans' sunny, Swedish singer Nina Persson cosies up with the famously reclusive, vaguely peculiar Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. Beautifully understated, Nina's almost inaudible among the flute and strings as she softly joins Mark for a chorus to melt even the hardest heart. Less bleak than some imagine Linkous to be and more magical than even he's managed previously, Sparklehorse have once more made the unexpected something you can't live without.

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