NPR.org, May 14, 2009 - When the first cryptic bits of news about Dark Night of the Soul began trickling in earlier this year, it all sounded too good to be true. Though the whole project was shrouded in mystery, it appeared that Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, two of the most inspired artists making music today, were collaborating on a new album. That alone was enough to get our geek gears spinning with excitement. But there was an unusual twist that few of us at NPR Music could make sense of: Director David Lynch was somehow involved.

It all started back in March, at the South by Southwest music festival and conference. A number of us on the NPR Music team had noticed strange posters around downtown Austin, Texas, that read "Dark Night of the Soul." They looked like movie posters and had David Lynch's name on them, alongside names of some of our favorite artists, like Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, Vic Chesnutt, Jason Lytle and more. We wondered if it was some sort of musical film.

Soon after our Austin trip, NPR Music received copies of the mysterious posters in the mail. No return address. Someone was messing with us. I tried to find out more, but had zero success. Then, weeks later, I finally got a note from a publicist with all the details we'd been waiting for.

It turns out that Dark Night of the Soul is an album, and that the songs were written by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, though the myriad singers featured on each track also had a big hand in composing and producing the work. The album will be packaged with a book of photos taken by David Lynch. Can this get any better?

I've listened to the album all the way through at least a dozen times, and can confirm that Dark Night of the Soul delivers in every way you'd hope for. It's beautiful but haunting, surreal and dark, but sometimes comical and affecting, with ear-popping, multilayered production work. It just gets more mesmerizing with every listen.

Dark Night of the Soul won't be released until July — and, at least for now, no legal downloadable version of the album will be offered. Once the album and book are finally released, only 5,000 copies will be available. But you can hear the entire collection here on NPR Music as an Exclusive First Listen.

In addition to Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, other artists appearing on Dark Night of the Soul include James Mercer of The Shins, The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, David Lynch, and Scott Spillane of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Gerbils.

Friday, May 15
EMI Halts Official Release of Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse Album

Thanks to "an ongoing dispute with EMI," it turns out the Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse album part of the Dark Night of the Soul package-- which also includes a book of photographs by David Lynch-- will not get an official release, a spokesperson for Danger Mouse told the Tripwire. "Danger Mouse is unable to release the recorded music for Dark Night of The Soul without fear of being sued by EMI."

We did think it was a little weird that the entire record was streaming at music publisher Chrysalis's blog last week-- and now it's streaming over at the NPR Music website-- without any mention of a release date or record label.

According to the Tripwire report, the CD/book is still coming out, but the CD will be a blank CD-R with the following label: "For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will."

Of course, this isn't the first time Danger Mouse has had problems with EMI-- there was that whole Grey Album thing. But considering the Dark Night of the Soul album is already out there for everyone to hear, the legal wrangling seems like another awful public relations move for the major label music industry.

The statement from Danger Mouse's spokesperson quoted by the Tripwire concludes, "Danger Mouse remains hugely proud of Dark Night of the Soul and hopes that people lucky enough to hear the music, by whatever means, are as excited by it as he is."

Posted by Ryan Dombal on May 15, 2009 at 10:30 a.m.

http://pitchfork.com/news/35343-emi-halts-official-release-of-danger-mousesparklehorse-album/

this is really really really dull