Psyence Fiction

Taking inspiration from K-tel as much as from hip-hop, DJ Shadow returns — under a nom de studio with British label head and producer James Lavelle — with a wildly varied set of song-oriented collaborations. UNKLE dabble in icy folk, break-beat metal, computer-age psychedelia (with the Verve's Richard Ashcroft), and dehydrated Radiohead (courtesy of a spooky cameo by Thom Yorke). Filler drifts in as well (a stalled rap-metal piece with Mike D and Metallica's Jason Newsted), but the best bits of Psyence Fiction — the Portishead-with-guts ''Bloodstain'' or the instrumental ''UNKLE Main Title Theme'' — are like a soundtrack for a surreal, melancholy art film that exists in Shadow's and Lavelle's heads. B+