This Week in WTF?

This Week in WTF?

Mix and Match! Flea, Thom Yorke, Weezer, Lil' Wayne, Danger Mouse, James Mercer

So, this week has been a doooozy for WTF collaborations. First of all, Thom Yorke, from Radiohead or something, will be playing two shows with his "solo" band in L.A. the Sunday and Monday. The bass player in said band is none other than Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, which makes me go "...?" The band also includes Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich who is like the George Martin of Radiohead. According to Thommy, the strange band is just “for fun” and in a truly inspired comment he said, “We don’t really have a name and the set will not be very long cuz .. well .. we haven’t got that much material yet,” on Radiohead's blog. Brilliant. Plus I think he reads teen girl novels. I hope this means Radiohead's next album is completely mid 90's funk and they will all wear cock-socks during shows.

But wait! The fun continues. You know how Weezer is all weird and goofy and does whatever they want? Well apparently Rivers Cuomo got cough syrup enthusiast Lil' Wayne to rap on a song for Weezer's forthcoming (and radically titled) album, Raditude......?... OH! Get it? Like Weezer and Weezy? Perfect sense, right? Again, in rather inspired comment, Cuomo said "Any other rapper would've just done, 'Yay, we're partying! Let's drink and have fun,' but [Wayne] gave it the edge I was looking for." But really Weezer doesn't need any help in that regard. I mean, what is edgier than "Pork and Beans"?

And finally, the most promising of WTF collaborations. You know Danger Mouse, the guy who created The Grey Album, produced DangerDoom, and is half of Gnarls Barkley? He is definitely now in a band, tentatively called Broken Bells, with The Shins crooner James Mercer. This one makes me go "...?..!" So yeah, they have a release planned for early 2010 on Columbia Records.

Via P4k, "Mercer and the Mouse are apparently in it for the long haul and already have plans extending past their first album." Legit!

UPDATE: somehow I left out the other indiefolkie/hip hop collab. GZA and Devendra?!? As DiS writes:

So, though their mutual respect and the prospect of them working together is fairly clear, just what sort of material they'll produce is not. Rapping over folkish guitar lines and arrangements? Or some ROUGH BEATS backed by some ethereal whining? Or, perhaps, just something completely left-of-field like, I dunno, them covering the songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein. We can't rule anything out at this stage but we wait with a ridiculously high level of anticipation.

YES!