Pitchfork

The combination of Austrian laptop maestro Christian Fennesz and Sparklehorse mastermind Mark Linkous doesn't seem like the most natural pairing. Fennesz creates worlds of perfectly icy wordlessness; Linkous is a bleeding heart full of craggy imperfections. But, according to Exclaim, the two recently holed up in a studio for a couple days and put the work to tape as part of Dutch label Konkurrent's "In the Fishtank" series. The Fennesz/Sparklehorse album is due in March, according to Exclaim. As previously reported, Fennesz and Sparklehorse will debut their matchup by playing together on together on February 8 as part of Knoxville Tennessee's Big Ears Festival.

That's not all for Fennesz, whose 2008 album Black Sea came in number 31 on our year end list. After playing three dates at the Big Ears Festival, he'll carry his AC adapter through Europe and Japan on tour. Exclaim also reports that he's working on a couple sure-to-be spacey soundtracks: one for fellow Austrian Gustav Deutsch's new film and, interestingly, one for a Japanese sci-fi flick. That's going to be one brainy space movie.

Fennesz:

02-06 Knoxville, Tennessee - Bijou Theatre (Big Ears Festival)
02-07 Knoxville, Tennessee - Square Room [with David Daniell and Tony Buck] (Big Ears Festival)
02-08 Knoxville, Tennessee - Bijou Theatre [with Sparklehorse] (Big Ears Festival)
02-19 Vienna, Austria - Albertina Museum
02-21 Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene
02-28 Nürnberg, Germany - Tafelhalle
03-01 Nürnberg, Germany - Tafelhalle