Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse are selling them for $10 (comes with a poster) or $50 (comes with a poster and a book). It’s a bid to get people to buy the duo’s second album, Dark Night of the Soul, which won’t be released due to an “unspecified dispute” with the group’s label, EMI. The blank CD comes with a note encouraging fans to download the album from an illegal filesharing network like BitTorrent.
Listeners can also stream the album on NPR, but that probably won’t last forever. With appearances by Iggy Pop, members of Neutral Milk Hotel, The Pixies, The Flaming Lips, The Strokes and The Cardigans, it’s a damn shame this album will probably never see a legitimate release. Though you could probably find a better deal on blank CDs on your own, the real draw to paying through the groups Web site is the accompanying art book featuring photographs by filmmaker and artist David Lynch.
EMI released the group’s 2006 collaboration and Sparklehorse has been on the label for years. The recent dispute’s origins are unclear, but it looks like EMI isn’t releasing the album anytime soon. For once, downloading it illegally really is the only way to get it.
