EMI threat 'blocks Danger Mouse release'

The musical project helmed by Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and David Lynch will not get an official release, it has emerged.

It had previously been announced that a 5,000 limited edition release of the CD accompanied by a book containing Lynch's photography would be available for £38.99

The CD album was expected to feature 13 songs, including musical contributions from Iggy Pop, Julian Casablancas, Frank Black and others.

However, Danger Mouse's spokesperson revealed that an "ongoing dispute" with EMI means that the book will now only be packaged with a blank disc labelled: "For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will."

He said: "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."

Danger Mouse rose to prominence in 2004 with the release of The Grey Album, an unauthorised mashup of music from Jay-Z's The Black Album with The Beatles's self-titled LP, also known as The White Album.

On February 24, 2004, activist group Downhill Battle led the Grey Tuesday campaign to freely offer The Grey Album online for 24 hours in protest at EMI's attempts to prevent its distribution.