Sleeve Notes: Artists like Sparklehorse need a space to be heard

It's not been a happy few months for fans of outsider music. A trio of tragic deaths – Vic Chesnutt, Jay Reatard and Mark Linkous – illustrates that being blessed with the abililty to make great art often comes with a price. I wrote a short tribute to Linkous at the start of the week, and from the many moving comments it seems Sparklehorse's wounded, fuzzy and often downright uncommercial songs managed to weave their way into a fair few hearts. One comment by VivaDixie struck me: "While one doesn't want to make political capital out of his death, 6 Music would be the only station likely to play a Sparklehorse record." As I pointed out, it was only through repeated exposure to Sparklehorse's music that I discovered its true beauty. Hammering the Cramps was far from a radio-friendly unit shifter. And surely that's the point of a station such as 6 Music: to pick out the less instantly appealing music and give it prolonged exposure. Although it's true that most of our listening now happens online, it's hard to argue that wading through MP3 blogs and podcasts is a substitute to a BBC radio station dedicated to alternative music. In fact, you wonder how many people will never get to hear the next Mark Linkous and never have their worlds made a little bit more special. Five things we learned this week Lady Gaga has an erogenous phone What Shaun Ryder looks like in his wedding suit DMX is not the world's greatest pastor Someone still wants to read Jim Morrison's poetry How to scare children (and adults) Are women really on top when it comes to pop? Music Week cited an interesting statistic: 11 out of the last 17 No 1 albums in the UK have been made by solo female artists (it's 11 out of 18 according to our maths, but let's not knock a good stat). This is news to celebrate, of course. But, as Nosheen Iqbal points out , does this really represent a seachange in the music industry, or is it just evidence of a passing fad? Melissa Auf der Maur on Courtney Love "Courtney Love is magical," Melissa Auf der Mar tells Rebecca Nicholson, and as someone who witnessed her appearance at the Guardian's morning conference (seriously, this did happen) I can confirm that, yes, that certainly is one word for her. Click on to read why Auf der Maur hasn't closed the door on a proper Hole reunion and why – to reverse a brilliant Jarvis Cocker lyric – she was the last girl at school to get breasts. As Carole King once sang: "Winter, spring, summer or fall, all you gotta do is call, and it'll be there, yes it will, Guardianmusic Twitter is your friend."