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Sound check: Danger Mouse does it again
29.05.09
Man of mystery: Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, has moved away from hip hop with Dark Night of the Soul, his collaboration with film-maker David Lynch, also featuring Iggy Pop, The Strokes and Pixies
Would you pay a musician $50 for a blank CD and a book? That's the latest offer from Danger Mouse, aka the producer Brian Burton, famed for his work with Gnarls Barkley and Gorillaz.
From 15 June, you can buy Dark Night of the Soul, a hardback book of gloomy, surreal photographs by director David Lynch. Each picture accompanies a lyric from a companion album written by Danger Mouse and alt-rock musician Mark Linkous, who performs as Sparklehorse. Lynch sings on two tracks, while the others feature a starry guest list that includes Iggy Pop, The Flaming Lips, The Strokes and Pixies.
The trouble is, EMI Records don't want you to hear the music. “Due to an ongoing dispute with EMI, Danger Mouse is unable to release the recorded music for Dark Night of the Soul without fear of being sued by EMI,” says a statement at http://dnots.com.
Both sides are being very secretive about what this dispute involves. I'm told it is not a hangover from The Grey Album, the copyright-busting 2004 production that Danger Mouse made by chopping up and glueing together samples from Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album.
EMI, representing The Beatles, attempted to prevent The Grey Album's distribution but couldn't stop it from becoming hugely popular on illegal file-sharing networks.
Nor is it anything to do with the fact that Sparklehorse is on EMI's books. Since The Grey Album, Danger Mouse has worked with EMI artists Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad And The Queen without repercussions. “It doesn't involve anyone else involved in the project, and it isn't about samples,” say Danger Mouse's people.
All EMI are willing to say on the matter is that they “continue to make every effort to resolve this situation and we are talking to Brian Burton directly. Meanwhile, we need to reserve our rights.”
But the weirdest thing about the project is that instead of being paralysed by lawyers, it's still going full steam ahead. The book is now being packaged with a CD-R, a blank recordable CD. “Use it as you will,” says the label. Not coincidentally, the album is already out there in full on the file-sharing networks. No one would openly admit to leaking it, or suggest that once downloaded, you burn it onto that blank CD, but that is clearly what's going to happen.
Being a law-abiding citizen myself, I've been listening to the album as a stream at the website of America's National Public Radio (search for Dark Night of the Soul at www.npr.org). Again, it's unclear why they should be permitted to broadcast the whole thing online indefinitely, but we should be grateful. It's a stunning, beautiful work, dark and mysterious, with rich, moody arrangements. Just War swells with organ and strings. Little Girl, sung by Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, is the catchiest moment, with propulsive drums and jangly guitar.
A distorted David Lynch proves himself a capable, if odd, singer on the twinkling ballad Star Eyes (I Can't Catch It).
Lynch's book, too, is a gorgeous thing, to be sold in a limited edition of 5,000 in record stores like Rough Trade as well as art bookshops such as the ICA. Frequently blurred, shadowy
night-time pictures of bikers, homeless people, fruit and the director's typical dysfunctional families illustrate single lines such as “A good life will never be enough” and “The shiny people stink”.
Danger Mouse's legal problems only succeed in making the album even more exclusive and desirable. An unknown before his Grey Album, he knows full well the benefits of controversy. This complex, fascinating project could now be even better than he first envisaged.
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