Album: Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, Dark Night of the Soul (EMI)

Before his recent death, alt-country icon Mark Linkous (aka Sparklehorse) and producer Danger Mouse began work on the collaborative project that would become Dark Night of the Soul, featuring an astonishing array of guest vocalists, among them Wayne Coyne, Iggy Pop and David Lynch.

In most cases, the genres – slow blues, downtempo balladry, gnarly alt-rock – are subtle twists on what the contributors do already, but Lynch's echo-laden turn is a real eyebrow-raiser.