MF Doom illustration by Veenom

God knows what a “Red Bull Music Academy” is supposed to be, but there is, or was, one in Madrid, apparently, and for some reason that usually reticent wordsmith DOOM (née MF DOOM), swung by it last year to submit to an unprecedented over-an-hour-and-a-half filmed interview – probably just in return for a complimentary crate or two of that weird energy drink.
 
Now this doesn’t make for much of a visual spectacle, particularly when the interviewer spins a DOOM tune, and so subjects the viewer to a lot of half-hearted head-nodding from the attendant academy ‘undergraduates’ while DOOM peers mournfully off into the middle distance (thinking of all that Red Bull, no doubt). It makes for great audio though, and not just because of the wonderful music; here, in his butter-moist tones, our finest living lyricist (give or take) all but opens up, discussing, among other things, KMD, the making of Operation Doomsday and Madvillainy, rhyme style, writer’s block, and synaesthesia (unsurprisingly, for DOOM, “sounds have colors”).
 

 
During the interview, Doom also mentions the second coming of Madvillain, claiming – and this is in 2011 – that he, and so we, await only Madlib’s finishing touches. Here, in the interminable meantime, are the foretastes…
 

 
Madvillain: “Papermill”
 

 
Madvillain: “Avalanche/ Victory Lap”
 

 
Madvillain: “Savior Beans” (plus some fairly silly “rewind!” stuff)