Bon Iver/St. Vincent duets? New music from Thom Yorke and Grizzly Bear? No, it’s not a second Dark Was the Night compilation, and it’s not Pitchfork’s Best New Music posts for the next month. It’s um, the soundtrack to the new Twlight sequel.

Eek.

When I first skimmed the tracklisting this afternoon, I saw Death Cab, The Killers, and Muse on the list and I thought, “OK, that’s cool. Good for them.” Another look revealed songs by Lykke Li and Editors that I’ve never heard of, new music from Thom Yorke and Grizzly Bear, and did I mention new music from THOM YORKE and GRIZZLY BEAR? I remember hearing rumors that Thom was involved with the soundtrack, but, for my own selfish reasons, ignored when it was pretty much confirmed.

I hold no real issue with extremely talented artists getting much deserved commercial recognition for their work, and am vehemently against the term “sellout” and all that it stands for, but (everyone’s got a big ‘but’) something about this whole New Moon thing doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t say (confidently) that the movies are bad, because I haven’t seen them. However, if either trailer and some clips are any indication, these people are lucky that Thom Yorke even picked up the phone. He won’t even score Chuck Palahniuk movies!

I’m not disappointed, I’m merely surprised, and I guess I’m having a little trouble wrapping my head around why some of the most sophisticated musical artists of this decade would want to be associated with a tween vampire film sequel. But, this is me reserving judgment. How am I doing?

Moving beyond that point, I’ve been trying to understand how this soundtrack and film compliment each other in any way, and keep coming around to the same conclusion that they really really don’t. I’d say the Muse track would be the exception, but “I Belong to You” is easily the most upbeat song I’ve heard by the band…well, ever.

I’m not quite sure what the music director is going for with these selections, but it doesn’t add up to me. I’d just rather the world made sense and this was one big original score by Amy Lee and the dude from Seether. Teenage vampire romance + angsty, orchestral nu-metal = sense. Teenage vampire romance + experimental indie pop = confused Liz.

Anyway, I guess I have to buy this.