Radiohead - The King of Limbs

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.

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

wow i said the exact same thing a week ago.

I know publications are going to be falling all over themselves to get the earliest reviews up, but man, I wish some people would sit with it for at least 24 hours before publishing stuff.

parsing that review:

irritating

Yeah these "instant reviews" really suck. Arent Radiohead like, known for making "deep" music you can't figure out in one listen? "I thought it was pretty good, there was one part I really liked on track 5, or maybe 6, I may or may not like this in the future"

I'll be interested to see how long online publications take to put up their "proper" reviews.

TBH, given the absurdity of having to post a review this soon, I prefer the candid uncertainty of the Guardian review to the florid hyperbole elsewhere.

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 ;-)