Pitchfork

Lou Reed is keeping busy, as ever: This year, the sexagenarian has seen various reissues and reinterpretations of his solo material, and each project seems exponentially more ambitious. In June, RCA/Legacy put out a deluxe reissue of Coney Island Baby; this December, Reed, Antony, and others will perform a "theatrically realized version" of Berlin in NYC; and now, the musician is teaming up with avant-garde German music collective Zeitkratzer to create "audacious, clangorous realizations" of 1975's Metal Machine Music for a new CD/DVD out in early 2007 on Asphodel.

Fans familiar with the oft-criticized two-disc album (thought to be everything from a weird joke to an elaborate test of fan allegiance to an early example of noise music) might wonder how exactly they'll pull this off. But Zeitkratzer has churned out quite a few minimalist reworkings, collaborating with the like of Keith Rowe, Lee Ranaldo, Helmut Oehring, and Elliott Sharp. Reed joins the ensemble to play guitar on the re-metallicized album.

Later in September, our man Lou will play a few shows around the U.S.:

09-12 Kingston, NY – Broadway Theater
09-15 Telluride, CO – Telluride Blues Festival
09-16 Santa Fe, NM – Santa Fe Opera House