As the woozy North African-core, power-folk, trance-hop, whatever-the-fuck ambient outro track of “2009” seamlessly crossfades into the global-glitch, holler-hush, Christian-grind, rock-boom-bap rave-up track that is “2010,” one thing is infinitely clear: no one knows what the fuck music sounds like anymore. Seriously. It’s like a goddamn Jefferson Airplane song up in here. There’s white knights talking backwards through auto-tune boxes, hookah-smoking caterpillars dueting with 10-foot-tall dormice, and Rivers Cuomo's chumming around with Kenny G and Chamillionaire. I’m freaking out, man.
And as if your head still isn’t fed enough, here’s another trip for you: Peter Gabriel (yes, that Peter Gabriel) is getting set to release his first new album in seven years. And su-prize, su-prize, the dang ol’ thing is an “all-star collaborative song swap” containing “orchestral reinterpretations” of classic tracks. And... the tracks feature “no guitars, drums, or world instruments” of any kind... AND, the thing will feature (among a wealth of weird others)... yes, Radiohead.
No release date has been scheduled as of yet, but the album, recorded with producer Bob Ezrin at London’s Air Studios this past July, is said to include Radiohead’s “Street Spirit,” though it seems to be unfortunately unclear who performed on the track. Other tracks slated to ambiguously appear in one form or another in all of their orchestral glory include “Heroes” by David Bowie, “The Book of Love” by Gabriel himself but seemingly featuring The Magnetic Fields (whose cover of the song kicks much more sentimental ass than the original), “Flume” by Bon Iver, “My Body Is A Cage” by The Arcade Fire, “Listening Wind” by Talking Heads, “Waterloo Sunset” by The Kinks, and “Philadelphia” by Neil Young. So, uh, yeah, basically a bunch of songs that are already pretty orchestral. Get ready to weep, I guess.
John Metcalfe, who worked on some orchestral reinterpretations for the record, has shed a little bit of light on the as-of-now pretty confusing subject, alluding to the fact that that artists will “cover each others’ songs” on this monstrosity. “There are some very, very famous singers and bands involved,” Metcalfe said. “It sounds amazing, even though I say it myself. It is literally Peter with an orchestra, sometimes the orchestra is quite large, then there are some more chamber music-style, sparse songs. But the songs are not simply covers, they are quite major reinterpretations of some famous stuff. It’s quite radical and we’re hoping that people really get it and enjoy it.” So... um, HOW are the other artists involved?? Oh well. There’s still hope that this is just a bum trip, I guess.
