Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Are there any track-by-tracks better than the Telegraph one around? They seem to have got a sixth former in to write it.

― Inevitable stupid dubstep mix (chap)

Mine upthread of course.

So... are the Tim Hecker and PJ Harvey albums better than this one?

PJ's is for sure. I haven't heard the Hecker album.

Still waiting for the postman to bring me the Tim Hecker. Got high hopes though.

Hate the PJ bar one or two tracks, like-love this so far, haven't heard the Tim Hecker yet.

Maybe no dubstep influence but there's a VERY obvious Flying Lotus influence on the first song, especially the part that sounds like someone photocopying an orchestra. You could put it on Cosmogramma and no one would notice. Predictably enough, seeing as Thom Yorke is actually on Cosmogramma.

Only heard the first three songs but it sounds like this is their rhythm album. They've never really done beats particularly well but they seem to be doing so here, picking up from where 15 Step left off. The percussion loop on Little By Little is lovely, like a faster Matias Aguayo, or 10 Villalobos records played over one another.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ouOkdgteoY

haha

A meme is born.

'their rhythm album' is a rly dispiriting phrase

Yeah that video is total viralbait, there'll be versions of Thom Yorke dancing to Just Dance, Whip My Hair, hell, any song you can think of within days.

damn, wasn't expecting this to be out already, gonna be a long workday now

u don't have to listen to it

Codex is pretty.

Figures, the site's completely swamped now.

Ah wait...working. I might get to hear this this morning after all.

me: ten minutes ago, waking up to click on this thread to see what the japan thing was *OMGOMGOMG*
me: two songs in, thinking waste of £6. Did their rhythm section has a collective aneurysm?

'Give Up The Ghost' the one that stood out for me on first listen. Playing through a second time now.

All four second half tracks seem really solid, undecided on the first half.

Guardian review:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/18/radiohead-king-limbs-first-review

It's getting better as it goes along - up to Lotus Flower which is alright. But honestly I'm cool with forgetting this existed by the end of the day. At least In Rainbows had meme tracklistings.

if i read correctly upthread that there's a dubstep vibe to some of this, that will prompt me to order it asap.

that said Shlubstep iirc

its doesn't have guitars != dupstep afaik but what do i know i don't get paid to write for the torygraph

Codex sounds alright, I like the big stabs of piano.

Opener is pleasingly Four Tet-y.

Guardian and NME reviews: We dont really like this but it will probably grow on us ...aka we'll play it safe and we wont actively dislike it in case everybody else thinks it was one of the best records come the end of the year.

Could be loosely construed as being dubstep influenced, but only loosely. Unless my ipod dock is cutting out shitloads of sub bass.

Guardian and NME reviews: We dont really like this but it will probably grow on us ...aka we'll play it safe and we wont actively dislike it in case everybody else thinks it was one of the best records come the end of the year.

"grow on us"

if i read correctly upthread that there's a dubstep vibe to some of this, that will prompt me to order it asap.

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 18 February 2011 14:02 (8 minutes ago)

Guardian and NME reviews: We dont really like this but it will probably grow on us ...aka we'll play it safe and we wont actively dislike it in case everybody else thinks it was one of the best records come the end of the year.

pffff . . . this is just telling me to avoid reading the reviews.

You'll be disappointed if you're expecting a dubstep vibe but they've obviously been listening to a lot of post-dubstep and that comes out in 'Feral', especially the bass in the second half. Four Tet maybe a better comparison point - 'Separator' especially reminds me of the beat on 'She Moves She'.

Love the whole thing on first listen, I like how the first half is very repetitive and polyrhythmic and then it opens out into the ballads in the second half. 'Lotus Flower' feels very different melodically to anything else they've done but I'm struggling to put my finger on why.

Lotus Flower reminds me most of Backdrifts, one of my favourite HTTT cuts.

Ok yeah otm whoever said SECOND HALF BETTER THAN TEH FIRST. May have even done enough to make me listen to this again. Really though I just wanna find out my copy of HTTT after that and treat listening to it like a cold shower.

if we have to deal with MY BIG DARK HANDSOME FANTASY MAN esque craziness and reviews all year then grrr. If not, I may end up enjoying half of this record when I feel obliged to listen to it once a year.

I'm not through this yet and I can already guarantee you that this will not get that sort of critical response.

This sounds a bit like two kinda disparate EPs stuck together - makes me think there's more material to come this year.

Hopefully black metal influenced.

Given that King of Limbs is quite a restrained subtle album and the Kanye record is the exact opposite I'd say Simon H otm.

Actually it'd be a pretty neat trick to put this record out, then six months later release an album of twelve world-beating rock anthems without warning.

otoh its radiohead guys

Yeah but this is really more Thom Solo Mk II, which I don't think is what any critical establishment really wants/expects from them.

IE, as someone else noticed upthread, they pretty well ditched the build-catharsis mode of songwriting/arranging.

It sort of threatens to do that towards the end of track two, then just eases back into the shuffly despondent groove. Possibly this is Thom Yorke's idea of being mischievous.

I don't think it's Thom Solo Mk II - it feels like Phil is the bedrock of everything going on here and it's all about the interplay between the various bandmembers. The Eraser feels very rudimentary in comparison.

A Hoy Hoy - I don't get what you're saying? That's its going to get mad critical hype? Yeah, durr, but probably no more than In Rainbows did.

Tom E pointed out that actually this is the sort of hype you get when a new Lady Gaga video appears. Announcement and brief anticipation beforehand, then bang straight up for snap social media judgements. They're comfortable with working in this climate in a way other bands don't seem to be.

Gorgeous, subtle music.

Hey I haven't heard this yet, but wasn't In Rainbows a relatively short, slightly more subtle game of two parts (those parts being the first two tracks versus the rest of the album) as well?

It's like In Rainbows meets Amnesiac I think.

It’s too early to say that this could be Radiohead’s best album to date, but I’m tempted.

http://thequietus.com/articles/05721-radiohead-king-of-limbs-review

(I am not tempted)

Bloom
Short of irrelevancy, but who else could this be? A strong starter

Morning Mr Magpie
Attempting a surprise, breaking down at least ten barriers here but theres still 4 left.

Little By Little
slower than it seems, it has everyone's ear without asking

Feral
the cosiest track here, funnily enough

Lotus Flower
sometimes you have to give the followers/copyists something easy to understand

Codex
Keeping it internal.

Give Up The Ghost
There's a signpost to future directions within this one, and it's not pointing where you think it is.

Separator
An odd choice for a final track, but then again, it's separating this album from whichever album you listen to next.