Danger Mouse and David Lynch: Dark Night of the Soul

The release of Dark Night of the Soul, a project by Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, and David Lynch, has been facing legal trouble as of late.

From Rolling Stone:

Dark Night of the Soul features contributions from the Shins’ James Mercer, Black Francis, the Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, the Flaming Lips and Iggy Pop, as well as a 100+ book of Lynch’s photographs. It is on sale now at DNotS.com. However, in a weird twist, instead of getting music with the set, buyers instead will receive a blank CD-R. “All copies will be clearly labeled: ‘For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will,’ ” a spokesperson for Danger Mouse said. “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.”

The disagreement between Danger Mouse and EMI likely roots back to the Jay-Z/Beatles mash-up The Grey Album he made in 2004. The brilliant combination of The White Album with The Black Album catapulted DM (real name Brian Burton) from bedroom producer to international star, but it came with a price: it infuriated the massive label group, which controls the rights to the Beatles’ recordings.

“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,” the spokesperson said. The album has actually leaked, and there’s a legal stream at NPR’s site.

David Lynch Slams Music Industry in Wake of Dark Night of the Soul Fiasco:

Following the extremely frustrating legal problems that surrounded and mostly shut down Danger Mouse’s collaborative Dark Night of the Soul record, renowned director David Lynch said:

“Sometimes the house burns down and you build a new one,” Lynch said. “Because the world is so, so completely backwards and absurd, people think it’s strange or an exception to have freedom to create something… It’s ridiculous. The exception should be that sometimes people do not have freedom. What went wrong?”

Danger Mouse also added: “The whole idea was to bring little bit more imagination back into music. I’ve missed a lot of that and when I was younger it seemed easier to do than it is now.” Fortunately, a book with Lynch’s photographic contributions to the project has been published, and can be purchased here.

h/t to Q-Burns Abstract Message for the info.