Lou Reed Releasing Meditation Album And Metal Machine Music

Although Lou Reed certainly raised some hell in his earlier days, it appears that he's taken a more tranquil approach to his music recently.

Recent tours have seen him perform on stage with Master Ren Guang Yi doing a martial arts discipline called Tai Chi Chuan. Now, Reed will release Hudson River Wind Meditations on April Fools Day.

But it's no joke. According to Reed's website, the record is the musician's first album of "electronic meditation music." Hudson River Wind Meditations is being released by the Sounds True Label, a company dedicated to "personal and spiritual transformation." Reed recently acted as narrator for an instructional martial arts workout DVD titled Chen Taijiquan — Lao Jia Yi Lu & Straight Sword.

Reed will also be featured on another album in late April, as a reworked version of Metal Machine Music will be put out by Asphodel Records on April 24. It features the former Velvet Underground frontman performing the album alongside the Zeitkratzer Orchestra, a group of German musicians who've previously worked with Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, among others. The project also features the Berlin Philharmonic. Metal Machine Music has been performed by Zeitkratzer Orchestra a handful of times since 2001, including two performances in Venice and Berlin in 2002.

The original 64-minute 1975 version of Metal Machine Music is often held by critics as one of the most unlistenable albums in rock music history, as it's composed of four different parts consisting of distortion, feedback and layered noise. Reed reportedly once quipped in an interview regarding the album that "anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am."

Reed completed a three-night tour of Australia last month, where he performed 1973's Berlin album in its entirety. The songwriter/musician, who turns 65 in March, also saw some of his earlier work reissued last year, including 1976's Coney Island Baby.