Radiohead - In Rainbows

thomas dobly vs radiohead

"THOMAS DOLBY REMIXES RADIOHEAD

80'S ICON 'SAT SHIVERING BY NORTH SEA' TO CRAFT ETHEREAL REMIX

(Suffolk, UK April 21st 2008) Influential electronic musician and early MTV icon Thomas Dolby has produced a stunning remix of Radiohead's current single 'Nude'. The dreamy, semi-ambient mix is reminiscent of Dolby's work as a collaborator with the likes of Joni Mitchell, Prefab Sprout and Joan Armatrading.

Continuing the innovative marketing approach for their album 'In Rainbows',
Radiohead has allowed users to download individual 'stems' of the song to create their own remix, and upload it for public listening and voting. Thomas Dolby has never met Radiohead, and his remix was unsolicited. Instead, he simply downloaded to song parts from iTunes for $0.99 each and created his own mix, submitting it to http://www.radioheadremix.com along with nearly 2000 other fans. Most of these remixers are amateur enthusiasts and virtually unknown, but Dolby is perhaps the best-known participant to date. He explains how it came about:

'I was trying out my new wireless router to see if I could get reception down on the beach in front of my house,' said Dolby. 'Sitting there shivering beside the North Sea with my laptop, huddled in a blanket and listening to Radiohead's 'Nude' stems on iTunes, with the waves lapping the shore and a crowd of seagulls fighting over a crab shell, I got an idea for a lovely remix.'

Entitled 'Nude (Bathing In The Icefloe Mix)' it is available for free at http://www.radioheadremix.com/remix/?id=1825. There are no plans to release it commercially. Thomas Dolby-these days often regarded as the original steampunk--made a return to touring last year after a hiatus of nearly 15 years. During this time his technology company Beatnik Inc was responsible for engineering the ringtone synthesiser embedded in nearly 800 million mobile phones made by Nokia and other manufacturers. In the mid-90's Beatnik also powered the first ever Web-wide remix contests for artists like Queen Latifah, Britney Spears, N'Sync and David Bowie. How does Dolby feel about being on the 'other end of the wire' and submitting his own Radiohead remix along with thousands of fans?

'Well as a fan myself I'm happy to pay homage to Radiohead just because I adore their music. But objectively, it's great that a band of their stature would open up their intricately crafted music to regular users. And I love the fact that anyone with affordable music software gets to have a go, and might end up with the most votes. It's a true meritocracy in this amazing age of YouTube and MySpace, where big record labels and stadium rock bands are on level playing field with the hordes of brilliant amateurs out there who have never had an audience of their own.'
"

Thomas Dolby-these days often regarded as the original steampunk

I have questions.

PR gumph aint it.
but the remix is rather nice it has to be said, now if only i could rip an MP3 out of the effing flash driven crap.

The dreamy, semi-ambient mix is reminiscent of Dolby's work as a collaborator with the likes of Joni Mitchell, Prefab Sprout and Joan Armatrading

I have also questions.

RESPECT THE SPROUT

yeah, but 'reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, Prefab Sprout and Joan Armatrading' ?

like, can't they just say "he has also worked with xxx in the past" ?

Meh, he hasn't done anything interesting with it, just shuffled it round a bit.

a-ha!

Radiohead says no more music freebies

By Mimi Turner

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - It was a pivotal moment for the music industry which many thought sounded the death knell for recorded music sales, but Radiohead won't be repeating its initiative to let fans pay what they want for their downloads, The English rock band's frontman said Tuesday.

"I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation," Thom Yorke said of the band's decision last October to let viewers pay what they wanted for digital downloads of the new album "In Rainbows."

"Yes. It was a one-off in terms of a story. It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don't think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time," Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter.

Radiohead's decision to allow fans to pay into the online equivalent of an honesty box for the album came shortly after it walked away from troubled record label EMI, sparking acres of comment about the future direction of the music industry and the dwindling revenue pot from CD sales.

The band has remained quiet about whether the experiment was a success, with many fans thought to have downloaded the album without paying anything at all. "In Rainbows" was later released conventionally as a CD, and topped the U.S. and U.K. charts.

The groundbreaking move towards potentially free music has been adopted by a number of artists including Prince and Nine Inch Nails. Most recently fellow English rockers Coldplay said Monday that they would give away its new single "Violet Hill" free of charge, resulting in the group's Web site crashing the next day due to demand.

Nude, covered by printers, scanners and hard drives:

http://www.vimeo.com/1109226?pg=embed&sec=1109226

(actual song only starts after a minute or so)

That is very very very good.

that is one of the greatest things EVER. nice video too.

wow

R2D2 would approve

Radiohead found out about it too: http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/index.php?a=377

Fucking genius.

i really love the guitar sound on this.

Concert in Santa Barbara to be webcast tonight:

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/index.php?a=405

On now, starting with "Reckoner":

http://www.radiohead.tv

cheers, ned.

It's ever so slightly out of sync for me, but otherwise very nice.

Very good performance so far, I had a drop out during "15 Step" but otherwise coming through just fine on both audio and video.

I forgot how awesome Talk Show Host is. "I'll be waiting, with a gun and a pack of sandwiches..."

Really lovely performances of all the In Rainbows songs in particular.

arpeggi now - their drummer is great.

yeah I'm not a huge Arpeggi fan but it's really clicking right now - awesome backing vocals, nice guitar tones

I hadn't heard The Gloaming from the most recent tour. People on the other thread were arguing about the changes in the live performance as opposed to the recorded version, when the change was made, etc.

As other people said, from the very beginning, in 2003, the live version was noticeably different (and improved, imo) from the recording. But those that noticed new changes in the this tour's version were also correct. It's in stage 3 now, pretty much, and getting better with every new evolution.

Ah, the volume kicked back in. They'd lowered it a bit for a couple of songs there. (Nigel Godrich is doing the mix, FWIW.)

I think this is the first time I've been able to make out the words to "Faust Arp." Quite nice.

That was sweet, Ed and Colin were making out.

wow i think that might be the clearest i've ever heard Ed sing.

Just a stellar version of "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" now.

haha thom is really mangling those words

nice barbed take on "The Bends"

Damn my audio keeps cutting off and I love vintage radiohead.

I have a feeling recordings of this one will be easy to find...

hair-cam!

All right, was waiting for "Bodysnatchers"

Watching Jonny play on this one is especially hypnotic.

Yar. Was my stupid firewall, don't know why it wasn't giving any problems on the first 5 songs.

"This is the 21st Century..."

Hmm, and that'll nicely fill up a CD, the main set! Now for the encores.

god that was amazing.

oooh, cymbal rush!

Gosh the sound quality on this is really incredible.

Well this was inevitable! (Hoping they do "Videotape" too and that'll be the whole album.)

This is the only song off 'in rainbows' which I'm still compelled to hear, I wished they didnt play videotape and instead opted from more kid a or the bends. I love the whole IR album but I need to give it some time... I think I've overplayed it enough.

Anyone noticed how when the white light hit Thom earlier he kind of resembled Damo Suzuki? It all makes sense now.

bimble, paranoid android!

I kinda felt that way when they did Videotape at the show I saw too - stripped of the context of being the last song on In Rainbows, it was like "um, could you choose another one please?"

Yes, Paranoid Android! :)