Monday, May 18, 2009

New Danger Mouse

Tired of looking at Wax yet? Me too. Bigger update on the way with new music to talk about, but for now, check out Danger Mouse's newest project which label EMI has decided to shelve. Perhaps that's because you won't find the next crazy Gnarls Barkley hit or hear anything you'd expect from DM (except superb, lush production, per usual.)


The release, titled Dark Night of the Soul, features original Danger Mouse compositions with several guest vocalists and Sparklehorse collaborating on production. On a message board someone described it as bluesy Beatles/Pink Floyd. Not a terrible frame of reference, if not entirely accurate. This isn't vintage 60's/70's though the influence can be heard. And it's definitely not blues. In truth, I haven't really digested it yet on first listen. Can't say I have a strong opinion other than it's relevant. It's worth hearing, to be sure. David Lynch ties in as well, producing a series of photographs inspired by the music and appearing on 2 of the tracks, the title track included which also closes the album.


The ongoing battle with EMI to release the record has led Danger Mouse to seek out other avenues to get the music heard. The "cd" is currently being sold with a David Lynch companion picture-book (at a steep $50), however the cd is actually a blank cdr (for customers to use with the files they "steal" from the internet). Haha. Seriously. Check out the official site for details. The complete album is available streaming right now on NPR Music's website. You can expect it to show up on every popular file-sharing site as well.


Tracklisting below, with guest vocalist listed in parenthesis.











01. Revenge (Flaming Lips)
02. Just War (Gruff Rhys of The Super Furry Animals)
03. Jaykub (Jason Lytle)
04. Little Girl (Julian Casablancas of The Strokes)
05. Angel's Harp (Frank Black of The Pixies)
06. Pain (Iggy Pop)
07. Star Eyes (I Can't Catch It) (David Lynch)
08. Everytime I'm With You (Jason Lytle)
09. Insane Lullaby (James Mercer of The Shins)
10. Daddy's Gone (Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse and Nina Persson of The Cardigans)
11. The Man Who Played God (Suzanne Vega)
12. Grim Augury (Vic Chesnutt)
13. Dark Night Of The Soul (David Lynch)











You know, I wasn't planning on adding this but it's another example of a modern day, moderately successful artist dealing with record label nonsense - and in this case asking to be dropped outright, publicly, in concert. I love this.

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