Inspired music producer Danger Mouse’s eagerly awaited next album will be a blank CD-R.

Yes, you read that right. The next release from Danger Mouse will be a blank CD packaged in a jewel case complete with liner notes and artwork by David Lynch.

This revelation comes after EMI records were reportedly going through a “legal dispute”, which basically means that they aren’t planning on letting the album, titled Dark Night of the Soul, be released.

Danger Mouse is no stranger to legal battles, having previously traded blows with EMI over his Jay Z/ Beatles mashup album, the Grey Album, with EMI sending out cease-and-desist letters to any website that put a copy of the album on their site.

Regardless, album itself is finished, and Danger Mouse is thrilled with the results.

A spokesperson speaking on behalf of the producer responded “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.”

And they really do mean “by whatever means”.

The CD will be a plain old run-of-the-mill blank CD, because if there were any music on it, he’d be in legal trouble with EMI. So he is coyly releasing the album with the disclaimer, ‘For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.’ 

This echoes the action of Green Day, offering fans blank CDs complete with artwork for fans who had downloaded the music from unofficial sources, though this time around, there are no official sources for fans to purchase the album music.

Dark Night of the Soul features cameos by artists such as Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, and Jason Lytle of Grandaddy. The album case will include a book of photography by David Lynch, which has been inspired by the music.

All the tracks appearing on the album were written by Danger Mouse with some collaboration with Mark Linkous (of Sparklehorse fame). The many singers featured on the album have had a big influence and say in the composition and production.

Currently the whole album is being streamed from US radio station NPR, and has been overloaded with hits as eager fans log on to hear the new tracks.

Michael Vilkins