D.J. and producer Danger Mouse, a.k.a. Brian Burton, made musical waves two years ago when he layered music from the Beatles' White Album with vocals from rapper Jay-Z's Black Album — and then sent about 3,000 copies of the resulting Grey Album out as promos. Before long, critics were gushing, and collectively minded Web users had posted the album onto free-download sites. EMI, which owns the rights to the White Album, was less enthusiastic: The mixing Mouse had not asked, nor received, permission to use the Beatles' songs. But a few cease and desist orders only served to rally free-loading fans. They organized a event called Grey Tuesday during which 170 Web sites hosted a full copy of the album.
Danger Mouse vaulted into headlines again this year thanks to Gnarls Barkley, a new pop collaboration with Atlanta singer/rapper Cee-Lo. It's been getting a lot of big-time press — Time named it one of its top five albums for May. But this time, sadly, you have to work a little harder to find it for free.
You can hear Danger Mouse explain pricing and splicing this Monday night at 7 p.m. at the UCLA Hammer Museum. Jason Bentley, the velvet-voiced host of KCRW's Metropolis, joins. It's part of the up-coming Los Angeles Film Festival. Entry is free.
