Crib Notes

MF Doom — or simply DOOM, as he now wants to be known — is back after a long hiatus, particularly for someone so prolific. One thing we know for sure: His new album Born Like This is performed by him, not a masked impersonator. The album dropped yesterday, and I’m listening to it for the first time here. I’ve live-blogged my thoughts below, borrowing Byron Crawford’s format.

“Supervillain Intro” “Doom’s got a plan that’s gonna shake the heavens,” a WWE-voiced announcer tells us. Let’s hope so. He adds: “Time to get the feta!”

“Gazillion Ear” One of two J Dilla beats here. It’s pretty hot, with kind of an eerie/haunted carnival/David Lynch vibe.

“Ballskin” Now we’re talking! This Jake One beat is even hotter than “Trap Door,” from the Seattle producer’s 2008 album White Van Music, which Wikipedia tells me only sold 9,859 copies. That number makes me want to run myself over with a van (of any color). Wait, is this track already over?

“Yessir!” The Raekwon joint, and he definitely doesn’t phone it in. Doom’s beat is really repetitive and annoying, though. He may have phoned it in, whatever that could mean.

“Absolutely” The only Madlib beat here. I’m feeling it. In fact, this whole thing has a Madvillainy vibe so far. That can’t be a bad thing, right? I could do without the Cops sample at the end of the song, however. Is that honky policeman supposed to sound dramatic? Are they making fun of him? Why not just sample Reno 911, then?

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Could this be the beginnings of a buddy-cop flick?

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has put his own spin on a song from DOOM (formerly known as MF Doom), the Atlanta-based underground MC with the cult-following.

The original version of the song titled “Gazzillion Ear” is scheduled to appear on DOOM’s March 24 release, Born Like This. The remix will be included as a bonus track on the iTunes downloaded version of the album.

Listen to a snippet at Pitchfork.com. Stay tuned for CL’s upcoming feature on DOOM.

(Photo of DOOM courtesy Valery Lovely)

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