This guy was so underrated and undervalued. His first two records — Vivadixie and Good Morning Spider — were brilliant, and that is not an overstatement. I saw a Mazzy Star back in 97 or 98, and Sparklehorse opened. I’d never heard of them. Thank God I was there to see them. Mark wheeled himself out in his wheelchair and, in his cowboy hat and behind his shades, spun out these pained, majestic, terrifying, beautiful songs. It was a defining musical moment for me. I didn’t know songs could sound like that. I didn’t like his third and fourth records as much, but those first two were as starkly southernly beautiful as Faulker and REM. If nothing else, check out the song “Cow,” from Vivadixie. Perfection. So long, dude.
This guy was so underrated and undervalued. His first two records — Vivadixie and Good Morning Spider — were brilliant, and that is not an overstatement. I saw a Mazzy Star back in 97 or 98, and Sparklehorse opened. I’d never heard of them. Thank God I was there to see them. Mark wheeled himself out in his wheelchair and, in his cowboy hat and behind his shades, spun out these pained, majestic, terrifying, beautiful songs. It was a defining musical moment for me. I didn’t know songs could sound like that. I didn’t like his third and fourth records as much, but those first two were as starkly southernly beautiful as Faulker and REM. If nothing else, check out the song “Cow,” from Vivadixie. Perfection. So long, dude.