Radiohead - The King of Limbs

pitchfork on monday? everyone's looking to them. they have to be having emergency office meetings right now

Allmusic have changed their rating already.

(nr)

lol "emergency office meetings"

As I say, I have to wait till tomorrow to hear a note of this, but I do think track 5 is the best one by far.

Here it is then: suddenly upon us, with a lack of promotional build-up that is, of course, the most effective fanfare in itself: the new Radiohead album, given a week’s notice and launched a day earlier than expected at that. It’s a media event, most certainly; and no doubt many column inches will be given over to discussing the marketing, the presentation, the notion of what being a rock band on a record label in 2011 actually means, and so on. But most importantly, King of Limbs is a collection of songs, and it’s the strength of those songs that must inevitably support the whole preposterous edifice.

It's the Phil McNulty of rock!

wow, first 4 tracks are something I didn't expect from them somehow - dark, brooding Yorketronica, very Eraser/TMGLMOAT-like (and I'm happy to hear that!)

and I think they screwed Mr Magpie completely. check this version instead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8wFHpHHtoY

It's the Phil McNulty of rock!

― Matt DC, Friday, 18 February 2011 14:59

WHO THE FUCK READS THE GUARDIAN?

lolz.

maybe the thing i dislike the most is that the title is kol, like it was inspired from that other great kings of li-band

Appropriately elemental imagery anyway, before the lyrics give way to plaintive hums, moans and the repeated sound of his breath being caught; the voice as an instrument to be played and manipulated, and already we’re into one of the album’s abiding themes, an embrace of technological media at the same time as a yearning for the purity of unmediated nature.

I’ll merely note the contrast between the guilty magpie’s appropriation of art and magic, presumably for cynical or commercial reasons, and Yorke's previously noted exhortation to just “open your mouth wide”. This can be taken as shorthand for the primal self-expression and un-tethered imaginative possibilities that remain the source of great art and music, and which exist in their purest form in the free jazz, folk idioms and experimentation for its own sake that Radiohead seem to be looking to for inspiration on this record.

Haven't gotten around to listening to the album yet. Been too busy watching that Lotus Flower video while playing different music against it, like Justin Bieber's Somebody to Love and Lady Gaga's Born This Way. Someone needs to mix a video of that.

A glassy, opaque guitar slides in as Yorke begins pleading for someone to wake him up, presumably from the somnambulistic state of modern life, in which man is cut off, separated from nature and true reality, although he could also be singing about the end of this drowsily hypnotic, dreamlike collection of songs.

presumably from the somnambulistic state of modern life

He's serious about this phrase isn't he

*puts on mirrored sunglasses*

xp

Been too busy watching that Lotus Flower video while playing different music against it, like Justin Bieber's Somebody to Love and Lady Gaga's Born This Way. Someone needs to mix a video of that.

What was that Jordy the baby song?

Try it with 'I Like To Move It Move It'.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

A glassy, opaque guitar slides in as Yorke begins pleading for someone to wake him up, presumably from the somnambulistic state of modern life, in which man is cut off, separated from nature and true reality, although he could also be singing about the end of this drowsily hypnotic, dreamlike collection of songs.

So when does the new Bieber album come out??

okay listening to "Lotus Flower" now and YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS this is basically what I want them to sound like all the time

in which man is cut off, separated from nature and true reality

Better still.

I like the tune. But the video and its star's clumsy mirror moves reminds me of why Yorke is such a putz.

Slowly sliding backwards as it ebbs to and fro, Yorke's detached plaintive cathartic ululations hover restlessly over guarded yet ever-present synth. Syncopated rhythms cascade quietly like so many bats escaping the dawn. A kind of post-step paean to twilight echoing forever over washes of treated guitar feedback. This is Radiohead at their very best, but at the same time one worries it might not live up to the giddy standards of previous masterpieces.

Yeah, he's not listened to it either yet.

This is Radiohead at their very best, but at the same time one worries it might not live up to the giddy standards of previous masterpieces.

What. the. fuck. Shut up shut up shut up shut up. Don't write any more please.

Gorgeous:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=radiohead+king+of+limbs&aq=f

<3 this record so far

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDojAE7oZo8

Mmm, post-step

Can't blame a blogger for bashing out a quick one for the new Radiohead, but that guy has really worked himself into a lather. I think he might actually need catheterising.

Aww, the site's down for the moment.

What. the. fuck. Shut up shut up shut up shut up. Don't write any more please.

― rendezvous then i'm through with HOOS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 February 2011 15:39 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

Calm down dear, it's only a parody ;-)

and no, I haven't heard it yet.

It is the best Radiohead album. Is it the best? Some might not think so. But it might be.

Given the chances, it very well could be!

skimmed this thread, haven't heard the album and will probably wait for the CD release.

the references to Flying Lotus, Four Tet, Aguayo, Villalobos on one hand make me really excited (would LOVE radiohead to take a turn to those sounds); alternatively, all those guys are such absolute fucking masters of their crafts that i doubt radiohead can improve on anything they already do very well. it would be like one of them trying to make a Radiohead record, right? who would want to hear that?

Really enjoyed it on a first listen here. Quiet, contemplative, elegiac, especially liked how it was sequenced as it went. Sure I was predisposed for it but I'm happy to be.

Even if there can't be found a single person on earth who thinks it's their best album, it still might be.

xp

Goodness – "Bloom" is a grottier variant on this track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pTcO4IzhuI

The ultimate Radiohead gaff would be if the boys actually released a bunch of Midlake outtakes in place of the real album.

Sure I was predisposed for it but I'm happy to be.

Ned, shouldn't most of your listening these days have this disclaimer attached? just sayin...

30 minutes left on my download!!! On slower internet than usual as I'm in South Africa....

Cannot effing wait.

lol @ an 8-track album taking 30 mins

ROLLING MCNULTY THREAD

the references to Flying Lotus, Four Tet, Aguayo, Villalobos on one hand make me really excited (would LOVE radiohead to take a turn to those sounds); alternatively, all those guys are such absolute fucking masters of their crafts that i doubt radiohead can improve on anything they already do very well. it would be like one of them trying to make a Radiohead record, right? who would want to hear that?

I may have overegged the pudding a bit with Villalobos. But they've definitely been listening to a lot of that stuff and it's coming through in the drums if nothing else, but saying that Radiohead are "turning to those sounds" would be excessive.

Calm down dear, it's only a parody ;-)

I thought it was a quote from a serious review.

Most of my listening is what it is. There is no throughline.

the references to Flying Lotus, Four Tet, Aguayo, Villalobos on one hand make me really excited (would LOVE radiohead to take a turn to those sounds); alternatively, all those guys are such absolute fucking masters of their crafts that i doubt radiohead can improve on anything they already do very well. it would be like one of them trying to make a Radiohead record, right? who would want to hear that?

― Damn this thread seems so....different without ilxor (ilxor), Friday, 18 February 2011 15:50 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

Well this is exactly how I felt about Kid A when it first came out; that it was a thinly-veiled attempt at Warp-style IDM that had failed. It took a long time for me to get over that hump, being a huge Autechre/Twin fan at the time of release. I hear it completely differently now, maybe because it went on to influence more music than it was previously influenced by; so in context it's absolutely marvellous.

Calm down dear, it's only a parody ;-)

I thought it was a quote from a serious review.

― rendezvous then i'm through with HOOS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 February 2011 15:54 (47 seconds ago) Bookmark

Gotcha!

Site back up, quick transaction, DL'ed in less than a minute. Nice.

my download was super fast btw