MF Doom Changes Name Again, Preps Album

(swiped from Pitchfork Media)

MF Doom has a new name now: DOOM. All caps. He insists. He also wants his album title spelled that way. So just to make sure I keep him happy, I'm going to write this whole news story in all caps.

BACK IN 2007, THE INDIE-RAP ENIGMA SET OFF MASSIVE CONSIPRACY THEORIES...

Jesus Christ. That's so annoying. I can't do it. Sorry.

Back in 2007, the indie-rap enigma set off massive conspiracy theories and even death rumors by allegedly slapping his mask on a skinny imposter and letting that guy do shows while he stayed at home reading back-issues of Alpha Flight or whatever. (Doom's label simply claims that he lost some weight.) Since that time, we've heard barely a peep from him. Given that the guy used to release roughly 58 albums a year, that absence has been noticed.

Well, Doom has now renamed himself DOOM, possibly to distance himself from any worst-rapper-ever reputation I may have given him. And now he's breaking his silence. On March 23, Lex will release BORN LIKE THIS, the first all-new DOOM album in a couple of years. And he's coming back in a pretty big way, with some of the bigger names in the frantic head-knock rap underground on board.

DOOM's frequent collaborator Ghostface Killah, performing as Tony Starks for some reason, guests on one song, as does fellow Wu-Gambino Raekwon. Whatever happened to that planned DOOM/Ghostface full-length? Can that happen, please? Anyway, Jake One produced the appetizingly titled first single "Ballskin", and DOOM used a track from the late stoner-rap deity J Dilla's Donuts album for "Lightworks". (A quick digression re: Donuts: Brandon Soderberg's No Trivia blog has been running a really moving essay series on that album for a couple of weeks now.)

Here's the tracklist:

01 Supervillain Intro
02 Gazillion Ear
03 Ballskin
04 Yessir [ft. Raekwon]
05 Absolutely
06 Rap Ambush
07 Lightworks
08 Batty-Boys
09 Angelz [ft. Tony Starks]
09 Cellz
10 Still Dope [ft. Empress Sharhh]
11 Microwave Mayo
12 More Rhymin' [ft. Kurious]
13 That's That
14 Suppervillainz
15 Bump's Message
16 Thank Ya

• Stream: DOOM: Ballskin [from the forthcoming BORN LIKE THIS LP]

Madlib Remixes Madvillainy, Curates BBE Comp

(swiped from Pitchfork Media)

We don't want to call MF DOOM an unreliable guy. We like to imagine that instead of recording music he is sneaking around doing important stuff like hunting down Osama bin Laden or building seal habitats. Either way, the fact remains: The rumored follow-up to Madvillainy, DOOM's 2004 collaboration with Madlib, remains unfinished.

While we wait for the album, Madlib has stepped in to make up for his Madvillain partner's absence with the release of a record called Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix. Madvillainy 2 shares no song titles with Madvillainy, but that just makes it easier to treat this reworking as a new entity.

The digital version of Madvillainy 2 is available exclusively from Stones Throw's online store right now, but still forthcoming is a souped-up edition of the record called Madvillainy 2: The Box. The Box includes the Madvillainy 2 CD, a 7" featuring "One Beer (Drunk Version)", a cassette featuring The Madvillainy Demo Tape which leaked online prior to Madvillainy's release, a Madvillain t-shirt, and a comic book continuation of the "All Caps" video. All of this comes in a box "wrapped in silver like a mask," according to Stones Throw's description.

Stones Throw is manufacturing copies of Madvillainy 2: The Box based on pre-orders, so anyone who wants one should order by August 15 to receive a copy after the guaranteed ship date of September 15. The cost of The Box is steep-- $124.99 plus shipping-- but such is price of so many goodies.

And you know that's not all Madlib's up to. On September 30, he'll unveil his contribution to BBE's series Beat Generation. Titled WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip, the compilation includes tracks from Guilty Simpson, J.Rocc, Murs, Madlib himself, and his thing with Oh No, the Professionals. WLIB AM is anchored by a bunch of offerings from Madlib's Beat Konducta guise, and will bear the stamps of both BBE and Rapster Records.

Speaking of Beat Konducta, Madlib plans to re-adopt the moniker for a fifth volume of instrumental head-nodders called Dil Cosby Suite. That disc may surface as soon as next month. Also in the pipeline: a record called Miles Away from Madlib's Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble.

As for DOOM, if we cross our fingers extra hard, maybe we'll see his ages-in-the-making Ghostface collaboration Swift & Changeable before the year is out?

Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix:

01 Pow! (Intro)
02 No Brain
03 Pearls
04 Light of the Past
05 Boulder Holder
06 Borrowed Time
07 Space Ho's Coast to Coast
08 Invazion (Interlude)
09 Drainos
10 Fire in the Hole
11 Heat Niner
12 Monkey Suit
13 Fluid (Instrumental)
14 Can't Reform Em
15 Redd Spot (Interlude)
16 Running Around With Another
17 Butter King Jewels
18 Sermon
19 Roller Coaster Riders (Instrumental)
20 3.214
21 Confucius Spot (Interlude)
22 Never Go Pop
23 Savage Beast (Instrumental)
24 Cold One
25 Cold One (Reprise)

WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip:

01 Beat Konducta: "The New Resident"
02 Guilty Simpson: "Blow the Horns on 'Em"
03 Georgia Anne Muldrow: "The Plan Pt. 1"
04 Beat Konducta: "Tension"
05 Defari: "Gamble on Ya Boy"
06 MED: "The Ox (805) [ft. Poke]"
07 Beat Konducta: "All Virtue"
08 J.Rocc: "Blinfold Test #10 (He Don't Play)"
09 Prince Po: "The Thang-Thang"
10 Madlib: "Heat"
11 Beat Konducta: "Smoke Break"
12 Beat Konducta: "The Plan (Reprise)"
13 Karriem Riggins: "Life"
14 Beat Konducta: "Parklight"
15 Frezna: "Yo Yo Affair Pt. 1 & 2"
16 The Professionals: "I Want It Back"
17 Beat Konducta: "Disco Dance"
18 Liberation: "What It Do"
19 Roc 'C': "Take That Money [ft. Oh No]"
20 Frank N Dank: "Drinks Up!"
21 Stacy Epps: "The Way That I Live"
22 Murs: Ratrace"
23 Guilty Simpson: "Go!"
24 Beat Konducta: "Stop"

• Video: Madvillain: Rhinestone Cowboy [from the Madvillainy LP]