Even though his career was sadly cut short, the music of MF DOOM has touched countless fellow artists — and that includes Thom Yorke. Today, the Radiohead frontman is paying tribute to the late rapper by sharing a new remix of DOOM’s “Gazzillion Ear.” Dubbed the “Man on Fire Remix”, this new version is Yorke’s contribution to Lex XX, a remix series celebrating Lex Records’ 20th anniversary.
Of course, this is actually the second time Yorke has reworked “Gazzillion Ear.” Originally produced by J Dilla, Yorke offered his first remix as the bonus track to DOOM’s 2009 album, Born Like This. The new “Man on Fire Remix” boasts a similar sense of off-kilter production that can be heard on Yorke’s solo work, as well as with the most recent iteration of Radiohead.
“J Dilla and MF DOOM only made a handful of tracks together,” Lex wrote in a statement. “The best was ‘Gazillion Ear,’ built around a massive Giorgio Moroder sample. Thom Yorke remixed the track twice. The first version was originally released simply under ‘Thom Yorke Remix’ but he delivered it with the moniker ‘Monkey Hustle Remix’ to differentiate it from the ‘Man on Fire Remix,’ which gets its debut release 12 years after Thom delivered it.” Check out “Gazzillion Ear (Thom Yorke Man on Fire Remix)” below.
MF DOOM passed away in October 2020; he was 49. His highly influential brand of alternative hip-hop has lived on in posthumous collaborations with the likes of The Avalanches, Your Old Droog, and more. Meanwhile, Yorke has also been working on a side project with his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood called The Smile.
