Radiohead - The King of Limbs

yeah lots of musicians can't stand their own stuff but i don't think that's a universal standard... i tend to actually enjoy the stuff i make when i do make music, but that's more out of me trying really hard to make stuff i'd enjoy than being totally impressed with myself or blind to its flaws or anything.

it's more that they have so much control over the critical mass that I think they'd like to experiment with themselves and see the result. radiohead is definitely a band that has receieved, no matter how drastically it changers it sounds, resounding applause.

cant believe i'm calling the whole album an experiment but for something so short it doesn't seem like they were very enthused/passionate about doing the thing really either. growing weary of your own work surely doesn't speak much.

xpost

yeah i guess stuff that's REALLY old now can kinda surprise me, like i listened to this thing from 99 that i did that i liked, because now i couldn't even play any of the parts anymore or remember the process, so it's almost this weird feeling of "who DID this?" like it seems like another person

one thing i've noticed talking to a lot of musicians is that no one really likes to stay attached to their old work, even if it's what they're best known for. for one thing, it's a pretty sad life if you don't believe that your new stuff is better than your old stuff. also being a lot more experienced, comfortable with your craft, and having worked on your weak points can translate to a "i didn't know shit back then compared to now, so it couldn't have been that great" mentality.

for me it's simply an inability to get past Yorke's voice, which is unpleasant as sound effect and conveyor of meaning.

I'd think any artist would feel similarly. Whenever I get compliments on past work I'm flattered but...it already happened. In some cases a hell of a long time back. And I'm just not there any more. (Matt's 'thing from 99' comment just makes me think of the 136 list I did.)

yeah I think a lot of the disconnect between how artists view their own work and how fans do starts with the fact that by the time they put a record out, it's in the artist's past but it kind of stays in the perpetual present for the listener. if they don't keep playing a song live regularly, it probably stops even existing in their head at some point.

sometimes I wonder if it's easier to be have a kind of internal sense of satisfaction as a musician that hasn't 'made it' than one that has because you can believe your best days are ahead of you or that what you're working on at any given moment is the most exciting thing you've done, because there's not a huge fanbase or critical community constantly talking about how your best work was 5 or 10 years ago and they don't like the direction you've been going in the last couple albums.

you get to a stage sometime during mixing where you're like god this is GREAT omg, then by time it comes out you've already got regret creeping in and it seems like it doesn't sound like how you imagined it sounds...then you blame whoever mastered it and move on w/yr life

this is exactly how i feel about almost everything i write except without the mastering excuse, so i believe you.

reminds me this dfw quote from the lipsky interview book, talking about being a grad student looking at writers who have "made it":

You suffer from a delusion that, for all the pain of your envy, there's this inverse, satisfied feeling...there's no keen, exquisite pleasure that corresponds with the keen exquisite pain of envying somebody older. Who's written something, or won some tournament, that you particularly admire.

ha yeah there's a bunch of stuff in IJ about that, about the lower-ranked tennis players assuming that the higher-ranked tennis players are as happy as the lower-ranked ones are unhappy.

Favorite lotus mashup so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0VPPJscIL4&feature=player_embedded

OMG fuckin' a

bullet proof (he wishes he was)

lol I'm stealing that one

baw someone already used it on youtube

yup, i stole it myself !

http://radioheadthekingoflimbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/thom-yorke-dance-guide.jpg

in gif form

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhbagzv4zO1qa9wbfo1_500.gif

omg he's shooting justin bieber!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

god the future is great.

Okay, excuse my format-illiteracy, but I was born in the post-tape/pre-CD era.... how much _____ does a 10" vinyl contain? Kinda overlooked the fact that there'll be two of them w/ the newspaper album.

It will probably be similar to Kid A... 2 to 3 songs per side... a waste of vinyl but looks sweet:

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS74iB6cP4pPCguhu9qc8TlGPqryJRgPHlqubFCn3ccBhRK-DO2&t=1

Thanks. So with all these rumors regarding Separator's last line ("It's not over yet" or something like that) (and it's obvious implication via song title).... maybe the idea of a continuation of the album doesn't have a whole lot of ground?

iono, i'm just hearing lots elsewhere that lotta peepz are hopeful considering the album as we have it now is so short

There's apparently a hidden cover on the digital version of tkol that nulls the theory that there's more than 8 tracks on the physical release:
http://radioheadthekingoflimbs.com/hidden-tkol-cd-cover/

In a recent interview Johnny said they were still recording so I'm not sure anymore that they have a definitive upcoming release anytime soon.

^they seem to avoid using the word "album" tho, and instead "CD version". I'm slightly, slightly hopeful; but it's not something that'll keep me up at night.

If it hasn't been posted already, somebody digitized the album artwork into.... a song (I'm kinda O_o as well)
http://soundcloud.com/zersto/radiohead-the-king-of-limbs-1/s-FQ8Os

and there's just this website's existence in general:
http://www.thekingoflimbspart2.com/

Woah. I think the Jacob is the Smoke Monster and the island is all in Hurley's imagination.

lol @ radiohead fans getting to the end of the album and going "that's it? that's all? van damme!" and convincing themselves there's another record in the pipeline

Here's another clue for you all: the walrus was Paul.

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lol @ radiohead fans getting to the end of the album and going "that's it? that's all? van damme!" and convincing themselves there's another record in the pipeline

― Rovi Wade (some dude), Saturday, March 5, 2011 2:08 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

I WANT TO BELIEVE

& this partially supports the aforementioned theory
http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/55292

I'm not sure if that statement says anything other than "I'm a musician and I'm in a band and we make music"

i don't understand this whole "issue"--like, i'm sure this is not the last time radiohead will release music.

Agreed, but it's more the idea that this 1) even was a press release in the first place 2) implies that the band is not yet finished or in continuation of something... that make me go "hmm". I mean, the last album just dropped and they've already got more stuff in the works... this soon?

tbh i'm perfectly satisfied with the latest album, but it seems so odd they've yet to talk about it at all (aside from the format it'll be delivered in) and what made them go with this new, subtle style.

and just any response to the majority "wtf" opinions upon hearing this

Also, to be fair, Stanley Donwood and cohorts are partially responsible for stirring the conspiracy pot.

all previous radiohead LP's have been a big fanfare event, with the band effectively splitting up afterwards.

since they did 'harry patch' etc, feels like the modus operandi has changed - putting stuff out in as low-key manner as possible and then carrying on. seems obvious the king of limbs was a cohesive unit they felt they wanted to put out there at this point. there's rumours of a 12" on its way, more thom and jonny solo stuff etc... this conspiracy stuff feels kind of a bit embarrassing in context?

not sure i prefer the 'new' radiohead way of doing things, but resigned to the fact thats not going to matter to them one bit.

i don't understand this whole "issue"--like, i'm sure this is not the last time radiohead will release music.

― call all destroyer, Sunday, March 6, 2011 12:40 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i think it's more a question of whether this is the only collection of songs they're releasing for the next 2-3 years and they're just going to tour or whatever or if there's an Amnesiac or In Rainbows bonus disc-style 'other half'

A brazilian writer/musician has a theory that the newspaper album holds an alternative tracklist as it might be packaged like a "codex". Her idea was even published on a well known music site here and I listened to the album following her idea and, for real, it gets better. Codex is still followed by GUTG, as it works perfectly on the album, but the changed sequences works very well.

It would be:

1) “Lotus Flower”
2) “Feral”
3) “Little By Little”
4) “Codex”
5) “Give Up the Ghost”
6) “Morning Mr Magpie”
7) “Bloom”
8) “Separator”

She even made a graphic to explain it better. Take a look:

http://www.oesquema.com.br/trabalhosujo/2011/02/28/the-king-of-limbs-newspaper-album-ou-codex.htm#comment-21810

^totally recommend Google Chrome for that site, it translated it near perfectly

On headphones, two weeks later...this is really very good :)

Tried listening to the alternate track listing as listed above, for the hell of it. It gets off to a good start but "Give Up the Ghost" still drags the momentum and now "Bloom" does too. It's no more or less successful than the actual track list.

Guess the dude was inspired by all the mashups:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef014e5fc4cfc1970c-600wi

Yech, having just read the article itself I'm revolted. (Not by Yorke but by the author, that's some terrible writing.)

He could do x that is weird and people would still love him is used three or four times.

That sounds great, they should get him to do a Residentadvisor podcast.

Heard "Lotus Flower" on the radio the other day, and it suddenly struck me as vaguely similar to PJ Harvey's "The Mess We're In." Which of course features Yorke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO9tA8-kbk8

god i can't believe i still haven't heard this yet...

Yech, having just read the article itself I'm revolted. (Not by Yorke but by the author, that's some terrible writing.)

cosign w/ Ned here

No one had a clue what to expect from the enigmatic frontman.

i havent seen a full setlist or anything for yorke's gig but uhhh anyone who's ever glanced at the Dead Air Space office charts would know *exactly* what to expect i'd imagine?