The freaky, heroically bearded comic book genius Alan Moore is the man responsible for form-defining classics like Watchmen and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which means dorks will hold him in titanic esteem until the end of time.
Moore has teamed up with some big music names lately. He's currently working with Gorillaz on an opera about the life of the English alchemist and magician John Dee. And on July 5 in the UK and July 6 in the U.S., Lex will release Unearthing, a box set centered around audio of Moore reading a story with a score by a crew of out-music all-stars.
The Unearthing score is credited to Crook&Flail, a duo comprised of Fog's Andrew Broder and Adam Drucker, better known as abstract rapper Doseone. Others drop in to contribute: Mike Patton, Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite, Jesu/Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick, and prolific drum-wrecker Zach Hill.
The limited edition box set includes the whole two-hour program on both CD and vinyl, an EP of instrumental highlights, a copy of Moore's script, and images by photographer/director Mitch Jenkins. Jenkins and Moore are also working on a photo-illustrated version of Unearthing.
Talking to Pitchfork last year, Doseone told them a bit about the project: "Mitch did all the photos, and so it will be more like a giant coffee table book than anything else. But the writing itself is extremely dense. It's a prose-based novel, and it's too confusing for me to try and correctly encapsulate. But it is 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."
