Photo: Wenn
If you think that 2015 has been a bit of a drag, then fear not - as David Bowie's new album Blackstar is set to make next year pretty alright. It now emerges that not only does it feature LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, but it was inspired by Kendrick Lamar.
All eyes are on the 'Heroes' and 'Life On Mars' icon, with Blackstar one of the most anticipated albums of 2016 after he dropped the epic 10-minute video for the lead single and title-track. And now, this is happening - not only does it feature percussion by James Murphy (just check out 'All My Friends', 'Sound Of Silver' and 'Losing My Edge' for his idiosyncratic sense of rhythm), but it was inspired by no less than King Kunta - the To Pimp A Butterfly rap hero Kendrick Lamar.
"[Murphy] was there for a brief time," producer Tony Visconti tells Rolling Stone about the two tracks he performed on, adding "but he had his own projects to go off to" - could that be the much rumoured and debated LCD Soundsystem reunion? Or perhaps just more photography, producing, film-making, coffee, transforming the NYC subway and touring with 2ManyDJs for Despacio. He's a busy man.
Vistonti continued: "We wound up with nothing like that, but we loved the fact Kendrick was so open-minded and he didn't do a straight-up hip-hop record. He threw everything on there, and that's exactly what we wanted to do. The goal, in many, many ways, was to avoid rock and roll."
Sounds good to us - fingers crossed for a UK tour, despite reports that Bowie has 'retired' from the live scene.
This isn't the first time that Bowie has dabbled in Bowie world - he covered 'Golden Years' for the Ben Still movie While We're Young soundtrack, and also remixed 'Love Is Lost' from his epic comeback album, The Next Day.
Blackstar is due for release on 8 January, to mark his 69th birthday.
