By the power of HBO...

I'm one of those middle class people that likes HBO tv shows - Sopranos (oh my), The Wire (holy shit), Deadwood (Swearengen!), Game of Thrones (warming to it): what's not to love? I am particularly fond of True Blood because I don't believe vampires should shimmer in the light and look like they listen to too much Morrissey, they should be incredibly beautiful while ripping people's throats out and having lot's of sex. The show is incredibly trashy and all the better for it.

Anyhow, Anti record just announced for the new series opener HBO have commissioned Neko Case and Nick Cave to record a version of the Zombies She's Not There. And all I can say hells yeah! Listening to the Zombies, I think it might be heavy on the Nick with Neko on back up. Regardless, I think it might be something special - at least as great as Nick's duet with Shane MacGowan - only joking. I'm hoping it'll be amazing.

It must be great to have the luxury to say 'you know who'd sound great together, Neko and Nick. Maybe singing a Zombies song? Let's make it happen." For some reason, the film and television industry seem to be able to set up a artist collaborations that seems unlikely in the real word. Would I love to hear Nick Cave and Neko Case singing together? Absolutely but it had never really crossed my mind until I read the press release today but it makes perfect sense. Similarly, hearing Fred Schneider sing with Sleater Kinney on the Hedwig tribute album makes me a little bit gooey - I love that song.

My love of these kind of collaborations has been around for a long time. While I'm not sure anyone really needed to hear a duet between Cypress Hill and Sonic Youth, I was always slightly in love with records like the Judgment Night and Spawn soundtracks. The concept was pretty simple, get two artists from different genres and put them together to make music. Whoever decided to pair Slayer with Ice T deserves a medal because the result is just bug nuts crazy and hilarious. Did the world really need this collaboration? Well, yes it did.

So, I imagine if I had the power of HBO behind me, I would be getting PJ Harvey and Tom Waits in the studio together to sing Hard Time Killlin' Floor Blues. Or could you imagine Mike Patton and Jonsi doing a duet together (actually Patton has sung on a Bjork tune so maybe that's redundant). Imagine the power, the power of HBO to make your dream collaborations become a reality... sigh.

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