Radiohead - A Punch-Up at a Wedding

Why do people like "The Gloaming" so much?

Well, maybe not the thread for it, but for me it comes down to a very simple pleasure of how the minimal glitch percussion and the swathed-in-echo vocals contrast.

This is one of my least favourite songs. Because it sounds like bad Spiritualized. It sounds like Cop Shoot Cop - but without the free drone skronkfest explosion that makes the boring blues piano all worth it.

It has taken me until now to realise that not only is one of the best songs on HTTT, but one of the best of their entire career. And WTF with the Cop Shoot Cop comparison, the two songs are entirely, ENTIRELY different. They're doing completely different things with different instrumentation, a different vibe, and different progressions. UGH.

Hail To The Thief itself is, as I am discovering, Radiohead's second-best album behind Airbag/How Am I Driving, JUST about beating OKC into third, with Kid A really not far behind either. (Respectively, 9.7, 9.3, 9.2, and 8.9, to be Pitchfork about it).

But yeah, back to APAAW. After a perfect intro it slinks into the most laconic of piano/bass grooves, but our expectations are instantly confounded by a chorus of Thom Yorke 'No's. During the verse, the initially laid-back groove is offset by ominous minor-key chords played at the start of each line. This tension is further heightened by the delicate guitar during the chorus, and, of course, the darkly furious lyrics (sung, I have to say, amazingly well). This song's methods are incredibly subtle, but the incremental building of tension is incredibly-managed until an equally-subtle letting-off during the outro (when the mesmeric beat is upholstered with skittish keyboards, accompanied by some quiet feedback squeals and descending Yorke chants, which mirror the NOES of the start). Alongside Sit Down. Stand Up, There There and the last two tracks, we're talking musical brilliance.