Radiohead - The King of Limbs

one of their most despairing in tone.

I don't think this is true at all! I think it's their most contented-sounding - no freakouts of any kind, and the ballad moments don't feel too sullen.

oar is better than any radiohead record by a mile

Other than "Lotus Flower" and maybe "Little By Little," a snooze.

Actually finding that I'm spending less time listening to this and more time for Amnesiac, which really is not a bad album if you just sort of ignore Kid A's existence. Hail..Thief still sux.

those are def the two i'm enjoying most so far.

xpost

first half songs are some bedroom bangers

my favorite thing theyve done in 10 years 4 real

four tet is a good comparison pt i think, 'little by little' reminds me of caribou's 'andorra' too

lol @ any radiohead album being 'the most despairing in tone'

tho I guess in rainbows is pretty clearly the least and that's why it's their best

cant say i hear despair in any of the songs, a lil melancholy i guess in codex. 'give up the ghost' is practically sunshine against most of their back catalog tho.

I don't wanna call this the new Kid A but it's def another "difficult" curveball following an album that had mainstream appeal (tho obv not to the same degree)

I think at this point it's a stretch to call this album any sort of "curveball," unless releasing the album whose tunes and melodies are restrained to the point of non-existence counts as a curveball. This is exactly the sort of album anyone should expect from Radiohead, minus many of the things that make Radiohead great. Not that it's terrible or anything, but it feels pretty minor to me. Whoever upthread suggested that the bonus "In Rainbows" disc was better was OTM. This is fine, but it feels like a fancy small plate dish and not a fully satisfying meal.

well it's radiohead so really nothing should be too surprising. All the elements are def them, the wails, hits, strums, etc they've just be rearranged a little more abstractly. One thing this album doesn't do is capitalize on the glowing lovey attention In Rainbows received.

it feels like a fancy small plate dish and not a fully satisfying meal.

this is true but i don't see how that's a problem.

yeah i kind of actively welcome the idea of a slight radiohead album.

Thief still sux.

― The previous message has been brought to you by (kelpolaris), Saturday, February 19, 2011 1:42 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/ericsavitz/files/2011/02/MrWrong.jpg

I like this on first listen. can tell this has the potential to be a grower, hard to assess its place on first listen, especially given how I rate most of the predecessors.

Separator is secretly a Sundays song.

I'm very fond of dog latin's beery biographical run-down of the radiohead catalogue upthread. so many ppl forge long-term emotional connections to them, seems obvious they'd attract that but never seen anyone pin down what that singular quality/mix is. I don't listen to them now but opened this out of faint curiosity & residual fondness for a band that were my principal starting point w/ music & meant the world to me 14-17 but seeing all their old b-sides &c. listed made me recall what a blast it was just to follow their developments and see what they were up to, kind of like a one band scene. still feel a lot of extra-musical affection for them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxHrV18HNbA

just watched the "lotus flower" video on youtube, looked over to the right, and the top suggested video was:

Demon baby in Halloween Store & my son dances to a Lotus Flower

looooool

that beyonce video surprisingly works. almost kinda surreal.

holy sweet jesus are those poewerful hips tho. oh my jesus oy8gewgewgew;ahf;aewhfio;jewfj;ewfj;lkewf

http://tubedubber.com/#-xgeT2hzxrQ:tQN6hgS-hL0:0:100:0:0:true

thom's hips don't lie

There are three awesome tracks in it and that's all. Yes, I expected more from them.

wow, haven't seen that Beyonce video since it was released. kinda better understand Kanye's VMA fiasco now.

this album is mostly dull just like the last one. don't feel like they're really worth the attention anymore.

Do we all agree that Feral is the worst track?

No.

(that would be Give Up the Ghost)

Feral is the perfect excuse for people who want to judge this record as some kind of Amnesiac leftovers. And it's not. It's a good record, it's only not great, that's it.

'morning mr magpie' is the skippable one on this album for me - drifts by as a bit too radiohead-by-numbers.

Separator is so groovy! Head and shoulders above the rest imo.

not sure why there seems to be hate for feral. it isn't my favorite song on the disc by any means, but i like the sawing, almost cut-up sounding rhythm, and it has some of that dubstep-y vibe that's smattered thru the album. i like it, even tho it's a little slight.

"a little slight" describes the album

i've seen you write that upthread. i dunno; i think it's v. good, especially for hugging that dance-y/dubstep-y sound.

The stepwise minor-scale echoey vocal melody in Feral is stuck in my head like I've heard it somewhere obvious years ago, like something jazzy from late-70s Sesame Street. Deja vu?

lotus flower sounds like the communards

only heard it once but lotus flower actually sounded dated.

It's so three-days-ago...

Was able to listen properly last night & again after work today. It's intriguing, and I like the way it skirts dancier/more electronic stuff that's trendy these days, but I'm left pretty cold by the whole affair.

"Neat enough that I'll keep listening until it seems more interesting": too-faint praise?

xpost - i was thinking more 13-14 years ago.

I will eventually go for the CD, but this annoyingly percussive album may be their worst ever.

After several listens it's clear that Lotus Flower is the best song, followed by Codex. Not massively keen on anything else, though nothing's actually bad.

I'm not finding myself tempted to go back to this very often.

I'm not either but I did like "Seperator" a lot. It sounds like almost all of the album combine drum patterns from "15 Step" and Four Tet's "She Moves She". I like how in "Seperator" the drums at least sound human somewhat (obviously a human couldn't really play like that but at least it sounds organic). It looks like they made a conscious decision not to include anything like "Bodysnatchers" or "2+2=5" or "Knives Out", maybe in a month this will seem better to me

Am I the only one who finds the drums on 'separator' and 'little by little' directly inspired by Jaki Liebezeit? The latter could very well be a song lifted from Tago Mago or Ege Bamyasi.

Also 'bloom' and 'feral' remind me of Four Tet rather than Flying Lotus, particulary the 'everything ecstatic' album.

No, not the only one Moka, 'Seperator' (the best cut on this record for me) drums sound very Can-like. It's a thinner and less organic sound, but Can-y all the same.

(that would be Give Up the Ghost)

― Melissa W, Sunday, February 20, 2011 4:58 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i'm shocked! that's probably my favorite one. seems like thom yorke was digging on some bon iver, maybe?