So, quite some time ago Tuffley told me that Alan Moore (Promethea, Lost Girls, Swamp Thing, The Voice of the Fire, Snakes and Ladders, self-professed conceptual magician, author, comics creator, playwright, crazed bearded man of the Northampton woods) would be teaming up with Damon Albarn (Blur, several soundtracks you love, including the one for Ravenous) and Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl)–the two finely diseased minds behind Gorillaz. They are getting together for the purposes of creating an opera about the life of Dr. John Dee (Secret Servant to Queen Elizabeth I, transcriber of the Enochian Letters, first 007).
Apparently, he wasn’t just blowing smoke in order to get my hopes up and then dash them mercilessly to the ground. So we have Albarn, who is himself a compositional genius, Hewlett, who is possessed of an artistic style which may indicate that he is simply possessed, and Moore, the auteur who has declared himself a magician–and a liar–in the same breath. This is going to be fantastic.
[ad#longpost]Not only that, but Moore is joining forces with, among others, Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, all around polymath, vocal chameleon, ubiquitous musician, and disturbingly crazy-eyed intense man who cant possibly ever have time for sleep) for a project described by rapper Doseone as being about “uh, a co-worker of Alan’s and somehow seemingly about Alan himself…And it’s about the comic industry, the world of magic, the world we live in, the world we don’t live in.” I think that initial “uh” is pretty much all the context you need there, to realize that this is going to be some seriously Effed-Up Ess. And I, for one, and looking forward to it, like you wouldn’t believe.
Think about it: Patton’s influence is like a fractal-edged velvet virus, insinuating itself into every corner of everything he touches. Moore’s work is like a slow-burning cooking fire for your brain, made of psilocybin mushrooms and strange desert grasses. What’s not to love?
More information on both of these projects, as they come in.
This is the best news I’ve heard all year.
You and me both, buddy. Really can’t wait.