Ever since his Beatles / Jay Z mashup musician / producer / etc Danger Mouse has been worth keeping an eye on, not just for his musical chops but because he’s often involved in projects which don’t quite fit into the usual way of doing things, but he does them anyway. Ahead of the curve, if you like. The latest project to surface, a collaboration with Sparklehorse and David Lynch resulting in the album Dark Night of the Soul, fits into this pattern rather nicely.
First off, it’s all controversial and that. For unknown reasons EMI decided to block the release of the album (the prevailing rumour seems to be it’s because EMI are fucking idiots intent on digging their own graves) so the record is being released as a blank CD-R ready for burning and a (one imagines) lovely book of photos by David Lynch. Oh, and it’s all being streamed by NPR (the American version of the BBC) who have the story and background on how the project came about.
Sure, there’s loads of publicity to be had here (witness my writing about it now) but it seems to be backed up with a sensible business model. 5000 books at $50 plus an unlimited number of $10 posters should net a decent profit, especially when bypassing the usual routes to market, and the music is already out there on the torrents. It has little financial value in the traditional recording industry sense and the artists know this.
What it does have, though, is great musical value. Sparklehorse are an interesting band as they’ve been on my radar for a while but never grabbed me in an I must listen to their music over and over until I’m sick kinda way. But I like them and they sit pretty squarely in the middle of a trend in American independent-ish music I’m a fan of with the Flaming Lips / Mercury Rev on the bombastic side and the more subdued Iron & Wine / Bill Callahan (Smog) on the other. Throw in Grandaddy and you’ve got the picture.
But as much as I love it this sort of music hasn’t really moved on much in the last decade. What Danger Mouse has done here is move it on, bringing in new sounds, drawing influences from the smorgasboard of guest vocalists and generally raising the bar. Not in a dramatic, disruptive-for-the-sake-of-it way, more giving evolution a kick up the arse. The glitch-tastic Angel’s Harp featuring Black Francis is a great example. And, of course, it’s a great pleasure to hear David Lynch singing. Need to hear more of David Lynch singing. Need to hear it now.
So yeah, album of the moment and justifiably so.