Matt & KimThe line between electro-rock and hip-hop was never exactly straight in the first place, but this year has more or less witnessed its disappearance. The most recent installments in the collabo hall of fame popped up on Pitchfork this week.

First, there was Matt & Kim’s reworked “Daylight (Troublemaker Remix).” Now, this song is perfect just the way it is but with rap legends De La Soul on the remixed track, there is a whole other dimension of mind-boggling pop mastery.

The signature chorus (”Cause in the daylight I don’t pick up my phone”) is looped atop an amplified version of the song’s backbeat, with a spaced out synth riff to boot. In between, De La Soul spit their classic rhymes (”Leave your message after the tone/while I lay around actin’ like I’m too old for this shit”), transforming the song from hair-shaking hipster dance party to a groovy soul redub.

The song will be featured on the NBA Live 2010 soundtrack when the game is released on Oct. 6. It will also appear in every playlist I make for the next month.

Kid Cudi is another notorious collaborator, and so far he hasn’t gone wrong. He has already remixed the third single from his new album, “Pursuit of Happiness” with two Brooklyn mainstays, MGMT and Ratatat. The song, already a totally blazed tune in true Cudi form, is even more hazy with the addition of MGMT’s spacey harmonies on the chorus.

Cudi’s long-awaited debut, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day is set for release Sept. 15 and he will hit The Late Show with David Letterman to promote it on Sept. 11, with Ratatat as his backing band.

In a more obscure pairing, WHY? and Themselves have joined forces for an extremely chill toe-tapper “Canada”. Why?’s mastermind Yoni Wolf brings his critical eye and genre-bending to the soundscape, while the duo of Themselves add the minimalist hip-hop undertones. “Canada” is the product of a match made in heaven, and considering the two have been known to travel in the same circles, it’s no surprise they finally got together. About time, too.






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