Tampa Calling

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse
Dark Night of the Soul

From the first reports of a new project by artist/producer Danger Mouse and singer/multi-instrumentalist Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous), to the freaky 16-second video revealing filmmaker David Lynch’s hand in its artistic direction, to its Internet leak after the dispute with EMI turned into a permanently unresolved issue, Dark Night of the Soul has been generating a shadow-shrouded hype that reflects the album’s own bewitching eeriness.

The 13 songs were written by DM and SH in collaboration with a noteworthy cast of nearly a dozen guests, who not only provided vocals but helped compose and produce their respective tracks. Each one retains its own individual feel, but all remain within Dark Night’s moody boundaries and feature DM’s skilled multi-layering production techniques. Read the rest of this entry »

A while back I had heard vague and unsubstantiated rumors that Danger Mouse (one half of Gnarls Barkley) and Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) were collaborating on an album. My first reaction was something near to a cliched Napolean Dynamite “YESSSSSSSS!” The project was to be called Dark Night Of The Soul. Read the rest of this entry »

Hollywood director David Lynch is one freak-minded mutha. Although I was far too young for Twin Peaks (only 10 when it premiered), my parents never stopped me from watching Lynch’s two-season ABC drama and I was compelled to continue after the first episode.

It was television like none I’d never seen before, one that both intrigued yet completely and utterly disturbed me with its dark, bizarre aesthetic, tortured characters, and intriguing storyline, about an FBI agent who’s sent to a small town, Twin Peaks, to investigate the murder of the town’s young, seemingly innocent, homecoming queen, Laura Palmer. The soundtrack was full of slinky and somehow sneaky jazz, and melancholy compositions with ethereal vocals, motifs borrowed from Julee Cruise’s 1989 album, Floating into the Night, which was written in large part by Angelo Badalamenti and Lynch. Quite interesting and haunting music, and some that I’ll not soon forget.

This time, the enigmatic Lynch (who, in addition to being a filmmaker and composer, is a visual artist as well) has used his deranged imagination to create 50 or so original photographs for the upcoming Danger Mouse-Sparklehorse album, Dark Night of the Soul. The director’s photographs will also be published in a book to be released along with the album. (Videos after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »

Featuring layered, highly danceable funk courtesy of Danger Mouse with a killer vocal and dark lyrics by Cee-Lo Green, Gnarls Barkley’s soultastic new groove “Run” easily ranks as the best single to drop in ‘08. Now, if only they’d do something about the video, which made me feel woozy and might make you have an epileptic seizure, according to Billboard. And the lame cameo by Justin Timberlake, who’s usually money when it comes to stuff like this, doesn’t help. Am I just a wuss or are the strobe effects a bit intense?

OK, just watched it again. Not only does the video kinda suck but it’s a health hazard. At least for me. Regardless, the song itself is more pop excellence from music’s most lethal duo.
Gnarls Barkley’s album The Odd Couple, the follow-up to their masterful 2006 debut St. Elsewhere, comes out April 8 and I couldn’t be more stoked. Been a Cee-Lo fan since back in high school when we used to drive around blasting Goodie Mob, digged his highly underrated solo discs and this Gnarls Barkley brilliance with Danger Mouse might go down as the most important music of the decade. For real.