John Malkovich has graced our silver screens for many years, playing every character imaginable, and now it’s time for him to take the natural next step: putting out a record. And what do you know – he’s done exactly that. It’s not just any old record, though.

Like a Puppet Show is a unique, spoken-word project, put together with composer Eric Alexandrakis and director/photographer Sandro. Malkovich read Plato’s Allegory of the Cave over an original piece of music, and then enlisted a bunch of musicians to contribute their own interpretations, including Yoko Ono and her son Sean Lennon, OMD, Placebo, Efterklang, the Dandy Warhols, Blondie’s Chris Stein, the Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan, and more (see full track list at the bottom of this post).

To get you in the mood, listen to Cars frontman Ric Ocasek’s effort, which is named Cryoblue Cheese O.

Speaking about the collaboration, Ocasek said, “The poem Allegory of the Cave narrated by John Malkovich sounded eerie to me, so I set it into that kind of musical landscape. The poem felt current, even though it was written around 380 BC by Plato. Only the ridiculers and weapons have changed as we move through time.”

This is the tracklist:
01 Cryolife 7:14 A.M. (Mixed by Yoko Ono & Sean Lennon)
02 Cryocarbon 14C (Mixed by OMD)
03 Cryoblue Cheese Ο (Mixed by Ric Ocasek)
04 CryoZolon X (Mixed by Dweezil Zappa)
05 Cryoparoxsym A (Mixed by Young the Giant)
06 Platogenia X And The Caves (Mixed by the Dandy Warhols)
07 Cryostat Ø (Mixed by Efterklang)
08 Cryoplacebo 47/XXY (Mixed by Placebo)
09 Photogenia C (Ruler Of Light) (Mixed by Chris Stein)
10 Optimogenia Z [Edit Mix] (Mixed by Harry Waters)
11 Cryopian D (Mixed by Dolores O’Riordan)

Like a Puppet Show will be out on vinyl for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event on November 27.

What do you think of the track you’ve heard so far? Let us know in the comments below, or forever hold your peace.

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HT/IMAGE: Pitchfork