Mocky and GZA are 'Birds of a Feather' on New Track

Posted on Oct 2nd 2009 5:15PM by Joshua Ostroff
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Some have described Broken Social Scene as the Wu-Tang Clan of indie rock, but it's still pretty unlikely for a Berlin-based, Saskatchewan-born artist like Mocky to go from producing BSS member Feist to collaborating with an actual Wu-Tanger, GZA, on new single 'Birds of a Feather.'

"When I was making this record my dream was that it would get sampled and used in hip-hop tracks," Mocky tells Spinner. "So to have someone like GZA do a verse over a loop from that record, it's like a dream come true."

A common associate had given GZA a copy of Mocky's recent album 'Saskamodie' but then the proposed project wallowed for a while. "At least three times I thought this just isn't going to ever happen. Then I would hear 'Oh, he loves the track, he's about to do it this weekend.' I would think to myself, 'I wouldn't be surprised if you asked GZA right now who Mocky he is, he'd say no.'

"I just could not imagine it. Then one day, there it was in my inbox, an a capella from GZA for 'Birds of a Feather.'"

Listen to 'Birds of a Feather'

Mocky does point out, though that this ornithological-themed collaboration is not as unlikely as one might initially think, and not just because GZA has been lately taken to working with indie acts like Black Lips and King Khan.

"I was a chess champion growing up in Canada and GZA raps about chess," he says. "A lot of my music is about animals -- I did my first tour around the zoos of Europe, playing matinee concerts near the monkey cages. GZA also is very inspired by the natural world. I come from a much less legendary crew, but a crew nonetheless, who left Canada and came to Europe around 2000 -- Peaches, Gonzales, myself, Feist."

Speaking of Feist, Mocky says he'll be returning to Toronto to work with the indie pop star this January on her long awaited follow-up to 'The Reminder.' But that doesn't mean he wouldn't like to keep his relationship with GZA going strong.

"I'm just so happy to hear GZA on a 'National Geographic' flow rapping about birds," he says. "If there's a way to have this be the tip of the iceberg, then that would be great by me."