Thom Yorke / Atoms for Peace - AMOK (2013)

I listen to a ton of music that sounds like it barely exists
Can't imagine tom Yorke's whinnying not buzz killing such a vibe

Opening track ‘Before Your Very Eyes’ sets the precedent for the variations on a theme to come – that theme being essentially a rebooted version of Yorke’s The Eraser, all intricate percussion, both live and digital, flittering over and under Flea’s Remain In Light-reminiscent clusters of bass, synth washes riding above and below Yorke’s keening voice, chirruping whirrs writing themselves around distant piano strokes.

Admittedly it sounds wonderful, throbbing and woozy in some places, taut and honed in others, those synths mingling well with Yorke’s shimmering falsetto,

sold! seriously! i mean, i was going to check it out anyway but that sounds fantastic

'Head music for people who like head music' might be a better translation, but yeah. That sounds quite interesting to me.

― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Monday, February 11, 2013 10:30 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

Can't wait for their 9 remix EP's.

I am glad I've turned people onto it. I don't think I was in a great mood when I played it etc.

s reynolds review in wire, otm

what'd he say?

this whole thing (7/8 time sig, drum/bass/guitar sounds) reminds me of '80 Sting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o8EIenuKDI0

the studio arrangement is so much better.

stream: http://amok.atomsforpeace.info

(it might be having mbv-like server issues at the moment)

i love the eraser but so far i am not feeling this. i hope i'm wrong

I am really liking this so far.
Without all the bleeps and bloops, 'Stuck Together Pieces' wouldn't have been out of place on In Rainbows IMO.

Gonna wait until I have the vinyl in hand before I listen.

Hopefully this week sometime.

ok i really like this

i like it too, quite addictive once you have plunged into this kind of fragmented electro rhythms. not really the kind of music which would sound better on vinyl, i'd guess.

not much in the way of hooks so far but i love the sound of the record, synths especially

Barely any hooks but the synths sound awesome, indeed. And it's an extremely dense record, to my ears. But I do really enjoy it so far, though exclusively through headphones. It didn't do a lot for me through speakers.

One thing I keep wondering about: Flea?

Can't see what he possibly brought to the table on this record, whether it's ideas or playing on it. Is he only in the band for the upcoming gigs?

i'm trying my best to forget that flea is involved with this whatsoever

poor flea.....

Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.

fabulously wealthy flea!

anyway, i haven't yet listened to amok, but working with flea on purpose just seems like an obvious jump the shark moment! hope it's not true.

i'm trying my best to forget that flea is involved with this whatsoever

― Z S, woensdag 20 februari 2013 1:33 (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^ I was trying to be nice, yeah, but this.

Will pop the blue pill tonight and wake up having forgotten about Flea all together.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5btg8Jiot1qcxhjoo1_500.gif

Only song you can tell Flea is involved is 'stuck together pieces'.

It's also one of the best in the album, go figure.

Listened to this on the way in, all set to gleefully rip into it but... it sounds fantastic. Initial thoughts after one play:

- This is probably the best and most fully-formed Yorke attempt at making electronic music, well since he and Radiohead started really. It's certainly better than the King of Limbs and The Eraser.

- Part of the reason it's so great is that it sounds so WARM, whereas a lot of the time recent Yorke electronic tracks sound sketchy and half-finished and only make sense when they're played live, there's a real fullness to the sound here.

- Rhythmically and texturally it's fantastic, there's so much going on and so much to hook into. But it also works because it fuses glitchy electronic Yorke with cooing balladry Yorke really well, like if you put the two halves of KoL together.

- Disagree about Flea, you can hear bass guitar all over this and it certainly adds some kind of forward motion. He's probably allowed to do more than Colin is on Radiohead records as well. And no slap bass obviously.

predisposed to hate this for streaming via a player with no volume control /bitchingaboutfreeshit

also for quitting halfway through the first track and redirecting me to a blog in spanish!?

I did the sensible thing and downloaded it. It's pretty kinetic and muscular and textured in a way that wouldn't come through on a stream at all, unless you had amazing computer speakers.

'Head music for people who like head music' might be a better translation

It wouldn't, it's completely meaningless.

MTV Hive: With Atoms For Peace, Thom Yorke Becomes Aphex Twin’s Coldplay.

flea's actually a pretty amazing musician and very capable of doing great bass parts that aren't slap n' pop

otm

he did great slap n pop too

i'm not like a huge chilis guy, but for example, "scar tissue":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGObF2q63Ew

^that's just really ace melodic, in the pocket playing, wouldn't seem out of place coming from a great 60s and 70s session dude

The bass playing on this record is up to par and goes great with the music, but it's also entirely servile and unremarkable. I just don't see why Flea, who is a bassist with a very distinctive style, had to play session musician-like bass on this record. As that's what it is.

yeah, why should flea, who is kinda a master of his instrument, get to have fun and hang out and make music non-slappin' non-poppin' with dudes who are not fuckin' kiedis?

bet Thom Yorke is a ton of fun

had to play session musician-like bass on this record

how humiliating to have to play like duck dunn and james jamerson

Part of the reason it's so great is that it sounds so WARM, whereas a lot of the time recent Yorke electronic tracks sound sketchy and half-finished and only make sense when they're played live, there's a real fullness to the sound here.

Very much otm. Crit consensus seems to be that this is "cautious"/"static" and will flesh out live, but I feel like those were the problems with The Eraser that are here solved. It's tastefully understated in a way Yorke has never really achieved prior through his awkwardly self-conscious cribbing of more traditionally "electronic" styles.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/atoms-for-peace-amok%2C92966/

new vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpVfF4U75B8

who wants to go clubbing w/ me to try out a few of these moves?

So I was pleasantly surprised by this. Enough negative to lukewarm early reactions allowed my expectations to be sufficiently lowered. It is a surprisingly warm record, though (and I can't believe I'm going to say this) but I found myself wishing for MORE Flea. There's this one little bass riff that pops up towards the end of one of the songs that just sounds go good and not showy at all.

Geeky question: what's the difference between the deluxe and ordinary CDs, apart from two quid?

Quite a nice suit he's wearing in the video. Like his willingness to look a bit silly. Slightly reminded of that Saturday night TV program (name escapes me) where minor celebrities dance with ... people who can dance well.

nice grenson shoes

ancers: Thom Yorke and Fukiko Takase
Director: Garth Jennings
Choreographer: Wayne McGregor

http://atomsforpeace.info
http://www.facebook.com/atomsforpeace
http://xlrecordings.com

Production Company: STK Films
Producer: Helen Power
Director of Photography: Nick Wood
Editor: Dominic Leung @ Trim
Focus: Karl Hui
Gaffer: Paul Allen
Make up: Carol Hart

With thanks to Trinity Laban, Norton & Sons, and Grenson.

pretty weird they get styled, given it's thom yorke. i suppose a video is a video.

love grenson.

I wonder how much impact it will have on sales for the companies thanked.

i really like this record! a pretty groovy improvement on the eraser

didnt pay attn to this but im really feeling the essential mix

yeah it's sick

I didn't really get into this album beyond the first two tracks.

https://i.imgflip.com/4he68b.jpg