Pitchfork

Leave it to "Aqua Teen Hunger Force"-- your one-stop late-night TV spot for abundant silliness, parades of non sequiturs, and enough absurdist antics to make even the staunchest Dadaist blush-- to corral the randomest bunch of musical (and non-musical) types this side of randomtown into their latest season, which begins January 20 on Cartoon Network.

If you couldn't tell from that rather impressive likeness above (to say nothing of the headline), Neko Case is among the chosen. She'll join fellow alt-country lady-crooner Kelly Hogan and-- wait for it-- former Philadelphia Phillies star (and current baseball analyst) John Kruk as a trio of sirens on an episode fittingly titled "Sirens".



The official episode description reads as follows: "A trio of sirens move into the Aqua Teen house. Their wanton songs pique Carl's attention." And true to form, both Case (playing a siren named "Chrysanthemum") and Hogan (alias "BJ Queen") sing all of their lines on the program. Et tu, Kruk? I guess we'll have to tune in to Adult Swim January 27 at 11:45 (Eastern and Pacific) to find out.

A later episode takes a cue from the Goosebumps book series and features Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and drank-buying stripper-luver T-Pain portraying homicidal ventriloquist dummies. One repeatedly chants "Kill!" while the other goes "Die!", and then they fall in love. Look for "Dummy Love", as they're calling it, March 2; same time, same channel.

Case, Homme, and the rest of the bunch are of course not the first musical faces to grace "Aqua Teen". Past guests have included Black Label Society/Ozzy Osbourne guy Zakk Wylde and the inimitable Glenn Danzig.