I was listening to the latest U.N.K.L.E. album and I just couldn’t get over my disappointment. I loved Psyence Fiction, and War Stories might have been a decent album had I not had raised expectations as the result of Psyence Fiction‘s utter awesomeness.
Obviously War Stories suffered from a severe lack of DJ Shadow.
And that got me thinking—if the Gorillaz could find success utilizing a different producer on each album, why isn’t that formula more popular? I enjoyed both the album featuring Dan the Automator and the one with Danger Mouse. Why don’t more groups try this?
So I decided to get the ball rolling by offering some suggestions for groups that feature a prominent producer.
U.N.K.L.E. – I don’t even know who’s doing the production now, but it sounds like a poor attempt to recapture the magic of Psyence Fiction. Since DJ Shadow’s done it before, he’s out. I’d be really curious to see if Danger Mouse could breathe some new life into this project. He’s got the golden touch with Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz and The Good, the Bad & the Queen. Worst case scenario is that he takes his first loss.
Gnarls Barkley – Cee-lo and Danger Mouse have incredible chemistry, but at this moment, I’m all about change. I think that I’d like to see 9th Wonder provide the score for Cee-Lo’s creativity to cut loose on. It’d do good to see 9th flex some new muscles as he’s only occasionally ventured outside of hip-hop. I’d be very curious to hear him try something new.
Madvillain – Madlib and MF Doom worked magic on Madvillainy, but who knows if we’ll ever hear it’s follow up? While we wait, why not let Prince Paul float some beats to MF Doom and see what happens? Sure it wouldn’t be Madvillain, but doesn’t the collaboration sound interesting?
Gorillaz – As I mentioned, both Dan the Automator and Danger Mouse did fine jobs with this animated group, but since the precedent has been, set they’ve got to have a new producer for the third go-round. I nominate DJ Shadow. Seriously, can you imagine what that album would sound like? It’d be sick!
Handsome Boy Modeling School – Apparently Prince Paul and Dan the Automator had a falling out of the financial kind, thus ending the glorious career of HBMS. But what if Madlib stepped in to partner with the Automator? Madlib loves quirky samples. And you know that Quasimoto would have to appear. Lord Quas and Nathaniel Merriweather, together on the same album… my ears are watering.
Unnamed Band – Since I know that Jeff will take my column away if I talk about the band that recorded The Good, the Bad & the Queen and call them by their album’s name, we’ll just call them Unnamed Band. Anyway, Damon Albarn worked with Dan the Automator on the first Gorillaz album, so is would it really be out of the question for Dan to produce a follow up by this Unnamed Band? I certainly hope not.
Maybe these ideas won’t go any further than my sleep deprivation fueled imagination, but hopefully that’s not the case. I’d really like to see some of these collaborations happen. But more that that I’d like to hear these collaborations.
