I know it’s become pretty routine for me to pop up every couple months and apologize for the sporadic posting. But, here we go again.
It’s back into the school year – and I’m busier than ever now that I’m teaching as well as taking my own classes – so the pace probably won’t pick up all that much. But I’m going to make an effort to do a lot more short posts. There are albums I’ve been sitting on for a good six or seven months now because I wanted to devote the time to putting together a complete review.
But completeness is so 2008. Instead, you’re going to get summaries, dalliances, and just enough effort to let you know I’m still around. Still, I figure that’s better than failing to post on an artist before they’re old and gray.
So, one example: the bizarre and occasionally brilliant project Dark Night of the Soul – a joint project between Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse, with a revolving cast of collaborators including Wayne Coyne, Julian Casablancas, James Mercer, Nina Persson, and Frank Black to name a few. Oh, and David Lynch.
And yes, the whole thing ends up sounding pretty much like you’d expect given the component parts. For my money, the James Mercer and Nina Persson tracks are fairly strong, and I kind of dig the Strokes vibe that Julian Casablancas brings along for “Little Girl.” But the real highlight is the Wayne Coyne track that opens the record.
Revenge (feat. Wayne Coyne) – Sparklehorse
“Revenge” is everything that The Flaming Lips have failed to be recently. It exercises a modicum of restraint, marries a beautiful melody to a mournful, almost Phil Collins beat. It exudes a deep sense of pain and loss, with just the tiniest hint of escape. You don’t get a lot of Danger Mouse until the final minute, but he lends the breakdown a bit of oomph that might otherwise have been missing.
Of course, no project like this could possibly work out simply. The final twist is that – due to contract disputes with EMI – it hasn’t been officially released. The artists have decided to ‘sell’ blank CD-Rs and suggest that enlightened consumers figure out a way to download the thing themselves.