Radiohead - The King of Limbs

First thoughts - http://sickmouthy.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/radiohead-the-king-of-limbs/

after some more listening i think 'codex' is a worthy successor to 'pyramid song' and 'sail to the moon', really lovely tune

I like them at their most krauty so this is as up my street as they ever get, by and large.

As I alluded to above, this is their first album which is absolutely fine - just fine - while it's on, but truly pales in comparison to their previous output. It's nowhere even near "The Eraser." Should have been a free-EP teaser for a forthcoming album that has songs on it.

(Lack of songs on this album being hyperbole, but nothing here jumps out as a particularly strong song, or even a strong composition.)

Speaking of hyperbole, LOL at this NYTimes take: "Most of the new album is so vertiginously layered that it’s plausible the band spent nearly four years in the studio making it." Four years? Come on.

Benny Hill meme doesn't work because there is no need to speed up what is already ridiculous and fast.

i dig this record so far.

not as immediate or warm-sounding as in rainbows. but for as much as i loved that album, after i'd digested the hooks, i felt little need to return to it. i think this king of limbs disc will be the reverse: it will take a long time for it to sink in, but in the meantime and beyond, i'll want to keep listening to it (kind of the way i felt about OKC and Kid A, actually).

Listening to Radiohead - 'Vegetable' youtube.
It's like they took verse chorus verse and perfected it (radiohead style). Dropping memorable chorus sounds is a plus in this case.

You know what keeps coming to mind with the mutual release date excitement discussion? "Well I learnt what 10:17 release times meant in GMT ages ago." But then I guess that is a reference only like rev and j0rdan and a few other goons will get and p4k don't write articles about

Of all the previous Radioheads, I think the one I miss the Radiohead who would never record a guitar unless they could make it sound like something other than a guitar - a synth, a creepy alien noise, a shimmer, a screaming chainsaw noise, anything. They've moved away from this since HTTT. A lot of the guitar sounds are kind of dull on this record and it would really benefit from a bit more sonic colour.

the wife loves it

http://i.imgur.com/N4xno.gif

a bunch of weird radiohead tweets certainly makes it sound like more is coming.

1st listen: not bad, but boring

giving it another try w/breakfast

listening... 3 tracks in - there needs to be a hook. nice stream of consciousness but the stream digs into itself and nothing else. sort of similar to 'In Raibows' in that aspect

i dig this record so far.

not as immediate or warm-sounding as in rainbows. but for as much as i loved that album, after i'd digested the hooks, i felt little need to return to it. i think this king of limbs disc will be the reverse: it will take a long time for it to sink in, but in the meantime and beyond, i'll want to keep listening to it (kind of the way i felt about OKC and Kid A, actually).

― Daniel, Esq.,

if you got to digest the hooks they aren't really there, you know what I'm saying?

naw. some stuff's buried at first and then clear as a bell later. all sorts of things. like on oar.

what is oar?

the greatest jamband that Rockville, MD ever produced, that's who

xp It is used to propel a canoe

After three listens I'm more than happy with this -- another excellent album. Honestly the only album of theirs I don't think much of is the debut, and that's just patchy rather than bad.

http://caughtbytheriver.net/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/skip-spence-oar.jpg

sorry, think this rec has some fans on ILX so was using as shorthand
but, with anything, really; like i'd imagine a lotta new stuff, the panda bear/AC recs, etc, is a totally different first listen in terms of what sticks out and keeps you goin.

paddles propel canoes fyi

shuttaup you oar

Odult Ariented Rock?

http://kingofrims.com/

This is enjoyable, but not amazing. (3x listens)

http://kingofrimjobs.com

that was supposed to point to
http://thephilter.com/oldimages/Tony_Danza.gif

hahaha

I like the album but it is certainly one of their most despairing in tone.

if you got to digest the hooks they aren't really there, you know what I'm saying?

i didn't say it would take a long time for the hooks to sink in, just a long time for the album to sink in. i like a lot of albums that don't have many hooks.

I didn't mean to single you out with that reply

understood.

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.