In the summer of 2003 a friend handed me a copy of the Young Liars EP and my musical hall of fame was expanded by one. That "band"–then more of a bedroom duo plus talented neighbors–with a cumbersome but catchy name found its place amongst the highly specific and arguably acquired tastes that I wholly worshipped, which included anything wrought by the hands of Mike Patton, the entire Anticon collective (especially cLOUDDEAD), and now, TV On The Radio. "What in God's name," my friends and I would dare to dream, "would happen if they all got together to make an album?"
We didn't actually believe it could happen. It was just one of those things–you know, that nagging art/noise/rap fantasy that keeps you up at night? Well, the dream may be coming true: Mike Patton, TVOTR singer Tunde Adebimpe, and Adam "Doseone" Drucker (cLOUDDEAD, Subtle, 13 & God) are indeed tangled up in something.
In an A.V. Club interview to be published later this month, Adebimpe tells me that the three of them are "working on a project that I'm thinking will congeal toward the end of the year. It came from an idea that Adam had, to have the three of us just, basically, mess around vocally and see what comes of it." Which is a concept about as terrifying as it is titillating, considering the vocal range and histrionics involved. To wit:
Boom Bip and Doseone's "The Birdcatcher's Return"
TV On The Radio's "Staring At The Sun"
Faith No More's "Diggin' The Grave"
Nothing more has been revealed about the new project, but Drucker has corroborated the story, albeit in retrospect and off-the-record when I interviewed him for XLR8R's June feature on Subtle. He collaborated with Adebimpe on last year's Subtle mini-album Yell And Ice, and with Mike Patton on the latter's 2006 Peeping Tom album (the vinyl edition of which was released by Anticon).
Though Adebimpe doesn't have a history with Patton, his résumé with Anticon is growing. In 2007, he worked with the two other former members of cLOUDDEAD, singing alongside Yoni Wolf (Why?) on a song from Odd Nosdam's Level Live Wires album. Adibempe has said that Young Liars was heavily inspired by cDD's 2001 self-titled LP. Confoundingly, he's never mentioned Adult Themes For Voice.
Expect no further information from me, as the anticipation should soon explode my head.