Track Record

Listen: Lou Reed Takes A Walk On The Wild Side—With Metallica?

Maybe you’ve heard about this Lou Reed/Metallica collaboration. If you haven’t, well, the ambisexual Velvet Underground front man has recorded an album with the iconic heavy-metal band, based on 19th-century playwright Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays. (Wedekind wrote the source play Spring Awakening is based on).

As collaborations go, I guess it’s unexpected. But then, that’s what you expect from Lou Reed, isn’t it?

Even as I’m thinking “WTF?” I’m also thinking this could be a really interesting album. I’m no metalhead by any stretch, but there are a couple Danzig and Metallica tracks on my iPod. And if Marianne Faithfull’s guest vocals on Metallica’s “The Memory Remains” are any indication, this collaboration with Reed could be kind of brilliant. Reed himself certainly seems to think so.

“The version of the Lulu music I did with Metallica is awe-inspiring. It’s maybe the best thing done by anyone, ever,” he told New York magazine back in June.

Lulu doesn’t officially drop until October 31, but here’s a first taste.

Kind of a mess, isn’t it?

Images via Marcelo Costa, KatjusaC

NEXT: New Works From Zola Jesus, Ryan Adams

Meanwhile, haunting neo-goth singer  Zola Jesus has a new album out this week (her third)  and it is absolutely essential listening. Well, essential for fans of dark synth-driven music like The Knife and Fever Ray.

But Conatus finds Zola Jesus—stage name of singer-songwriter Nika Roza Danilova—in a bit more of a dance-friendly mood, particularly on tracks like “Seekir.” The album reminds me of both Fever Ray and Bat for Lashes in places, minus Natasha Khan’s more optimistic whimsy.

 

NEXT: Ryan Adams

 

And while alt-country may not be every gay’s thing, I’m loving dreamy, dreamy Ryan Adams’ new album, Ashes and Fire (out Oct 11), so much right now that I can’t not mention it here. It’s an incredibly lovely album, spare and wistful, evocative of lonely dirt roads and summer nights on porch swings. Check out a live version of the title track:

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