Radiohead - The King of Limbs

clever

clever dick, even

can't tell if markers is being ironic or

Faust Arp

Excited! But "newspaper album" sounds so so lame...

Thought it was going to come free with the Daily Mail when I read that.

Lol at p4k not mentioning this yet. Someone's gonna get fired for that

weren't they only going to put out EPs and individual tracks for a while instead of albums? still, psyched either way. if it's half as good as In Rainbows i'll be impressed. artwork looks dreadful but i'm used to that with Radiohaed by now.

Radiohead really aren't very good at artwork.

oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together

Yes, that should do the job

Don't put Oxo on your records in you wanna keep them guys

Radiohead really aren't very good at artwork.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_ePwDySjVdyo/TVkLDgmbhKI/AAAAAAAAAc4/3Icm8nzLAHI/s640/radioheads.jpg

weren't they only going to put out EPs and individual tracks for a while instead of albums? still, psyched either way. if it's half as good as In Rainbows i'll be impressed. artwork looks dreadful but i'm used to that with Radiohaed by now.

― piscesx, Monday, February 14, 2011 10:41 AM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark

i think they've been saying this since 1997

totally stealing this one

I think the artwork's better than usual, actually!

Mmmm I don't really like the cover, if it weren't Radiohead behind this I'd completely ignore the album but maybe it will make more sense when paired with the rest of the artwork (Execution of Kid A and Hail to the Thief's artwork was really well done imho) but as ever I'm genuinely excited about this.
Any word on tracklist?

Just been searching for one, nothing turned up.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5225/backgroundef.jpg

Like this a lot more than the actual cover. And there's no word on the tracklisting yet.

how can people not like that awesome cover with the ghost dudes on it, what is wrong with you

the other one looks like the default Indie Band With Money template in Aldus Pagemaker

cool

I like everything about the actual cover except for the orange and green and the dated grungy font. The coloring just makes it look like Aquaman made it or something.

Radiohead really aren't very good at artwork.

I like the covers to this, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief. Everything else is kind of nondescript.

I tried to order this and the last step ended up in SQL hell and I have a short attention span so now I will probably never hear it. good luck king of limbs

radiohead's announcement cynically timed to steal the arcade fire's thunder.

I had to do it twice. It worked the second time. x-post

They suck for not releasing the CD on the same date. I will never pay for downloads when I intend to buy the CD anyway. Physical CDs >>>>>>>>>>>>> downloads.

Uh, if you buy the cd, you get the download on Saturday and the cd when it's ready.

or wait, can you get the cd w/o buying the extravagant vinyl package? maybe not.

That's more offensive to me than buying mp3s.

Preorder? May go for it then. Or just enjoy the album on Spotify until the CD is ready.

I still don't understand why killing the CD seems so important for some people while currently there is no format that can realistically compete with CDs in terms of sound quality. Yes, lossless exists, but nobody buys lossless.

Well, looks like there's no separate cd option yet, but there's one included with the vinyl sale. They do sell it in .wav format, though, so you can burn your own cd.

I doubt if this'll ever be on Spotify, In Rainbows isn't.

xp Yes they do

I had to do it twice. It worked the second time. x-post

yeah I have a rule with shit like this, if your frontend is too clunky to let my order go through the first time then I just buy an old Bathory album from Hells Headbangers instead

in some ways, this is an even more interesting experiment with digital-sales than in rainbows, since now -- with the data the band gathered the last time -- they can see if the model for hitting an optimal price-point works.

i guess the response is that radiohead, unlike a lot of other bands, has a built-in, passionate fanbase that will go out of their way to buy the product.

coincidentally enough, this album is completely comprised of bathory covers!

Haha how weird. Yesterday right before I went to sleep I was listening to a couple of tracks from In Rainbows and wondering when something new would be released.

wow. no tracklisting. clear vinyl. i'm psyched!

x-post But two years later, I bet the data has shifted, no? What someone may have been willing to pay for an album with a novel release scheme a couple of years ago may (and probably is) different from what they're willing to pay today, esp. with so many Amazon MP3 fire sales and whatnot. I mean, the Grammy-winning "Suburbs" is $5 on Amazon.

In other words, curious how this works out.

Haha how weird. Yesterday right before I went to sleep I was listening to a couple of tracks from In Rainbows and wondering when something new would be released.

I wasn't wondering when something new would be released, but I listened to The Bends for the first time in ages last night when going to sleep. Woke up to find out there's a new album imminent.

Ned and I can make things happen, people!

oh man you guys were listening to the wrong albums, now this is gonna suck

Will Ned and Johnny Fever please listen to the Avalanches tonight before going to sleep.

I'm really excited for this album I still listen to In Rainbows a lot.

I am not nearly as excited for this as I would have been before In Rainbows came out.

And so the laughable bullshit begins...

coincidentally enough, this album is completely comprised of bathory covers!

― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 14 February 2011 13:39 (39 minutes ago) Bookmark

Under the Sign of the Thom Yorke

I'm excited it's a return to form after the disappointing In Rainbows!

:P

Xp it is definitely least favorite period of theirs, though the From the Basement versions of them improve on most of them a bit.

Hey, bald drummer #2 played on all those Portishead and Roni Size records, please treat him with respect.

One bald drummer is fine, two is beyond the pale.

The baldshaming itt is a disgrace.

It was about time Radiohead released something that actually divided the fanbase.

Know what's beyond pale? Those bald-ass heads.

I won't come in here and say this is my favorite or the best Radiohead album, but Andy does like it a lot more than what seems to be the consensus. Also have to agree that the Basement versions are the better way to hear this material — though I do not mind listening to the proper album one bit. Further, I also agree that "Supercollider" and "The Butcher" are necessary additions whenever this era is considered. Not sure why, but I remember being extra excited when we were able to buy the 12" for those.

Don't really get the talk of the poor production on the album, but that's oddly how I feel about Hail to the Theif.

httt was their "lets rush thru this shit to get out of our label contract asap" record so that makes some sense

I actually love how TKOL sounds, can’t agree with HTTT hate how thin and crisp everything sounds in that one.

Probably my least favorite RH album based on sound alone.

That’s the actual album of theirs that should have been cut to 8 songs.

Everyone has their own preferred 8-track version of httt and they all rule in different ways

was recently reading a critique of Godrich on rateyourmusic.com on Parquet Courts' "Wide AwAAAAAAAAAKE!" (which he had nothing to do with) that got me trying to put my finger on what it is with Godrich's production sometimes.... but i dunno i think it might be more that the band eventually comes up with more interesting arrangements (e.g. how "The Gloaming" has evolved live). I'm not sure how to discuss production in depth. I guess my next step might be seeing how the hoffman dudes describe it. ANyway, for your entertainment:

When working on Room on Fire, the Strokes had originally worked with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, but scrapped it, deeming his production as "soulless." It's funny: hardly a bastion of soul themselves or known for their smarts, and yet the Strokes were able to see something that most people wouldn't catch up on for years (still haven't figured out): Nigel Godrich's whistle-clean, digital-doodad production seems to only work for Radiohead, and that sound has been just as influential on the indie-alternative scene of the 2000s as Radiohead themselves. No proof better than Danger Mouse, who followed closely in Godrich's footsteps.

God, what a hack. Brian Burton made his name on The Grey Album, a smart-stupid mash-up between Jay-Z's The Black Album and the Beatles' The White Album that frankly no one has heard more than twice, and then was somehow everywhere after: Gorillaz, Beck (notably, after Beck worked with Godrich), Sparklehorse, Broken Bells, Gnarls Barkley (with Godrich). And it was the same shit each and every time: clean and barren and soulless and not dangerous at all. Safety Mouse! He's the anti-Midas. All of it very much of its time, which would be fine except he's somehow still around producing songs for bigger names.

httt was their "lets rush thru this shit to get out of our label contract asap" record so that makes some sense

pitchfork had called it the "thom got beat up in the street and wrote this" record which might also make some sense.... they deleted the review tho, weird

For better or for worse Nigel is the sixth member of Radiohead. Not counting Pablo Honey and the random collaborations only The Bends and the Suspiria OST were not produced by him and he was still somewhat involved in those two.

I think his style is usually very “dry” but I can’t imagine another producer clicking as well with their vision OKC-onwards.

I think Nigel works for “soul-less” albums like Kid A or Amnesiac, albums like HTTT or In Rainbows I think would have been interesting to hear with someone else.

In Rainbows is my fave, Thief my least, so I'm really not sure how to even talk about this. Is dry production like when you stuff the kick drum with towels?

I feel more like we're talking about the degree to which the songs were fleshed out on the records.

I think Nigel works for “soul-less” albums like Kid A or Amnesiac, albums like HTTT or In Rainbows I think would have been interesting to hear with someone else.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, June 20, 2021 5:51 PM

except in rainbows sounds amazing.

Like what the heck were the Strokes looking for from him?

gravitas

orchestral arrangement for "meet me in the bathroom"

julian casablancas wanted to practice his english accents for jokes

"12:51 (ondes martenot outtakes)"

here for it

first In Rainbows sessions were with Spike Stent.. Wonder what they were looking for

iirc even that was just because nigel was busy with something else at the time

I agree that In Rainbows sounds amazing… just saying it would have been interesting to hear it under a “warmer” producer. Maybe it would have been for the worse, we will never know.

Everyone has their own definition of what “dry” or “wet” in production means I guess. Iirc “dry” usually means very clean on effects and recorded without reverb or echo in the room and “wet” is the opposite.

I’m aware Radiohead’s songs are filled with effects but imho they sound “dry” because it’s usually very clear, specially on the first segments on their songs. Radiohead seem to love doing buildups for most of the song and releasing tension in the last minute - They’ve been doing it since “Creep” and refining it ever since - They need that “dry” cleaner sound otherwise when you keep adding layers later on it’s will sound way too saturated and they’ll end up sounding like a shoegaze band.

I can see why the Strokes thought they didn’t make a good match with Nigel. They tend to play very straight songs that can be translated live effortlessly, you need a “wet” sound if you’re not adding layers /as the song advances.

Maybe I’m not making sense. It’s been an exhausting day.

What I mean is that the strokes will make a song structure that goes:

Intro: vocals and lead guitar
Verse: enters bass and drums
Chorus: enter second guitar

And Radiohead will be more like

Intro: electronic drum loop and vocals
Verse: enter guitar 1 and some ambient effect
Verse 2: enter bass, guitar 2 and drums
Chorus: drop 1 of those and add a spooky moog
Bridge: leave random 3 of the above of your choice
Chorus 2: bring everything back but add the london symphony orchestra and start screaming

Maybe I'm in the minority for generally liking Godrich's production. Even on Terror Twilight. Always find it really warm and sparkly

Love Pavement and many of Godrich's productions with Radiohead, but Terror Twilight does nothing for me

It's just interesting to think about stuff like why the Strokes would've wanted to work with him, then. And in the end they put out the famously same-as-their-debut sounding "Room On Fire"... but in my memory it had a much bigger range of sounds than their first.

"i was thinking of doing this keyboard thing ..." "Get Radiohead's guy on the phone!"

I actually love how TKOL sounds, can’t agree with HTTT hate how thin and crisp everything sounds in that one.

Weird, to me HttT sounds the most like a big modern rock album to me...lots of bass, very compressed, some bigger drum sounds. I really like how it sounds, but it feels like they reacted against it on IR (lots of very dry '70s type drum sounds, like not a lot of room sound or compression-for-effect, with the exception of certain tunes or moments).

not a lot of room sound

I think this is a production problem with both IR and TKOL, though it's more pronounced on the latter. They're both quite "airless" sounding to my ears and it drives me a little nuts. Even on the most outre Kid A/Amnesiac tracks there's a sense of space which grounds the music and makes it feel "live." I think they rectified this a little bit on AMSP. I don't know what exact production techniques contribute to this besides reverb and mixing, but it's interesting to me how different their recordings sound from album to album.

Yeah, I always think of the drum sound on IR as being super home record-y and dry, but I guess it leaves room for the lush Ondes & string parts, and the guitars.

But then there's Reckoner, the only one with really bold choices on the drum sound (very compressed and roomy with the drum kit all on the right channel, and that incredibly recorded + verb-ed out tambourine in the left).

When I think of Terror Twilight, I think of The Hexx and how spacey and trippy it sounds. I wouldn't change the production on that at all.