Excerpt from Alan Moore's Unearthing now streaming; Mike Patton, Mogwai, Jesu among collaborators

By Jason Heller | May 20, 2010 | 8:47pm

Aux Features Music

From collaborating with Bauhaus/Love And Rockets bassist David J to being cited as the main inspiration for The Dirtbombs' We Have You Surrounded, graphic novelist Alan Moore of Watchmen and V For Vendetta fame has always had strong ties to music. But his latest project, Unearthing, is his most overtly musical one: a lavish box set that contains a double recording—on CD and vinyl—of Moore narrating a semi-mythicized biography of his longtime friend and fellow comics writer, Steve Moore (no relation), surely Alan's most curious music-related project yet.

But don't take our word for it; over at Pitchfork, they're streaming an excerpt that includes Moore droning on about H.P. Lovecraft, "raw America," and the existential wonder of '60s Marvel Comics, including "Stan Lee's crowd-pleasing formula of omnipotent losers" and the "paranoid Steve Ditko skyline." As for the music that will accompany Moore's mumbled words: Mike Patton, Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite, Jesu's Justin Broadrick, Hella's Zach Hill, and the duo Crook&Flail (that is, Fog's Andrew Broder and Subtle's Doseone) are providing the sonic backdrop. The deluxe, limited edition of Unearthing, which comes with everything but one of Moore's beard hairs, will be released in the U.S. on July 6.