Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes

payment goes through paypal

LOL

oh yeah, doesn't paypal take a percentage (on one end or the other) anyway? haha.

i wish he would have done bandcamp just to convince more big artists to go through bandcamp because that site rules as far as i'm concerned both as someone who's used it to put out music and someone who's used it to buy music and someone who's used it to stream music

Well, having now heard one track from it ( http://vimeo.com/107265790 ) I'm relieved that it's not as terrible as AfP (though granted that's not that much of an ask).

It's kinda frustrating, because based on that, I think I probably would like to hear more. But not if this is the only way of accessing it, no.

There are tracks all over Tumblr now, so I guess it's a question of rounding them up. I would still prefer to, y'know, buy a CD in a shop like the fucking luddite freak that I am, i guess.

agree to the bandcamp thing.

Atoms for Peace wasn't particularly memorable melody-wise but it's a very rich and distinctive-sounding album imo. i wish King of Limbs had sounded that good, instead of sorta muddy and thin.

3x to Bandcamp.

4th to BC

Found an album stream on Tumblr and I'm about three songs in.

And it's pleasant yeah, in the way that pretty much anything that has Thom Yorke singing over the top of it sounds lovely, even kinda boring garageband electronica. But really, if this were the same garageband electronica with anyone else singing over the top of it (and really, there's no effort at all to integrate the voice into the sonic landscape, like I've been listening the past few weeks to FKA Twigs and Aphex Twin, and c'mon, the ways in which talented producers can wend vocals into the music, try a little harder, y'know?) I don't know that I'd be persisting.

I keep waiting for it to really grab me and lift me above a duty listen...? Maybe this next song will?

Kinda realising now, how much of Radiohead is about the rhythm section for me. And the difference between Thom Yorke singing over the tightest rhythm section in the world vs TY singing over garageband electronica is really quite noticeable.

OK, the 4th track (The Mother Lode?) is quite pretty and spacey and floaty and wibbles on nicely.

I also like There Is No Ice (for my drink), I think.

it's on Youtube now

Is it monetised?

it's sequestered in a gated community run by gangsters

xp (because if it is and Yorke isn't getting a cut, irony)

Soundcloud/Tumblr is still better sound quality for lower bandwidth...

Thing is, it's something that, if I were still ~obsessed~ with Thom Yorke, I would probably put the time into listening to deeply, and getting acquainted with and getting super obsessed with the tiny sounds or the lyrics or something. But I'm just so irritated by the whole rigamarole surrounding it that I'm not going to put the effort or the listens in.

You know, I'll come back to it in 6 months or whatever when they decide to do a normal release, and then I'll come round to it, I guess.

Is it monetised?

pop-up ads. i'm sure he'll get a cut, even if someone else uploaded it.

i guess bandcamp does take a much greater percentage than paypal, but still.

xp Well he can contact YouTube, and they'll redirect all monies earned to him. Just like Nintendo do.

There's the 10% cut that Bittorrent is taking, too: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/09/26/bittorrent-adds-paygate-feature-direct-fan-publishing-platform-bundle-takes-10-cut/

It's interesting, kinda, that I've heard so much about the monetisation and the percentage splits, and so little about the music. (Well, not really interesting, but still, telling.)

OH GOD I HAVE BECOME A HATER. BAN ME FROM THIS THREAD, BAN ME FROM LIFE.

bit torrent isn't rigmarole. it's simple and effective, it doesn't exclude anybody and it isn't associated with deep unpleasantness. the idea of feeling revulsion at something so simple is weird.

Wow, and here comes a man to explain why my emotions are wrong, time to remove the bookmark from the thread and go to bed. Thanks! Goodnight.

here comes another man to explain why your emotions are wrong. oh fuck you're already in bed.

sooooo, i like the warbly, old-cassette piano some of these tracks.

and wow 'Truth Ray'

I don't get the ridiculous track names but Mother Lode might be one of the best solo tracks he has ever released. The whole thing is pretty enjoyable... liking it better than Amok on first listen.

Ok end of the first listen. Highlights for me are: Mother Lode, Truth Ray and Nose Grows Some.

The vocal melodies to some tracks sound like they were quickly improvised over the electronic tracks, they're not very characteristic, but then, I guess they don't have to be.
The electronic production is Thom's best and most interesting yet. Makes his previous efforts sound amateurish there's some great rhythmic stuff going on... it sounds like he is emulating his influences (FlyLo, Burial, Modeselektor, Apparat) with varying degrees of success. It took him three albums but it seems like he has finally achieved the electronic sound he was after.

It seems some of you are too concentrated on the torrent aspect and haven't listened to the thing yet so here's a stream in soundcloud if you guys want to take a listen without paying:

https://soundcloud.com/tyrh/sets/tmb

hey if people are more interested in an artist's self-hyping about innovative content distribution than the artist's work, blame the artist

tell HIM "it's about the music, man"

fripp/dmglive has been releasing all of the cleaned up bootlegs and some studio things via bittorrent for ages. (but not any of the KC re-releases as, probably, they know the fans will pay a premium for the physical object). in any case, it's hardly an earth shattering model.

wouldn't be the first time someone told him robert fripp beat him to the punch

Really? It doesn't seem to me like self-hyping. Unexpected releases available for immediate download are becoming a standard distribution method. None of you are cool for not being impressed; it's not supposed to be impressive in the first place. You are assuming it's a gimmick because this is Thom Yorke.

i take it you didn't read the press release

what part of this sounds to you like someone who thinks they're using a standard distribution method and that you shouldn't be impressed

http://blog.bittorrent.com/2014/09/26/tomorrows-modern-boxes/

or the quotes above from the bittorrent exec about how excited thom and co were about being "first"

i read it as 'hey we thought maybe that was good idea let's try this' more than 'hey i'm changing the music industry my name is thom yorke'

and there is exactly one sentence about the music. point remains that if people are chattering about bittorrent, that's clearly on thom.

Ok, I'll pick the bait:

They are indeed the first to charge for a torrent file are they not?

What do I feel about the distribution method? Reading about his stances on itunes, spotify and his previous experience with big record labels I feel like Thom is honestly trying to legitimize a better means of music distribution, more than the idea of being 'I was there first'.BitTorrent is seen only as an illegal download method. This kind of move by Yorke is trying to show future artists that they don't need itunes etc. It is truly not about the money with this guy. He just seems to have a personal war against the current consumption of music and is using his fame to explore these paths.

Of course, having money helps not caring about the money. Thom is one of those artists that could put out an album inside a jelly donut and people would buy it, so he can use whatever method he wants. For the rest of the artists, you probably need to use ALL the methods simultaneously.

fyi i'm with thom on the fact that the record industry sucks, streaming is a joke for artists, etc etc etc. i just think putting up a "for sale" sign in the middle of a place built off swapped stolen goods is a joke, and if he's not getting anything for all the publicity he's giving bittorrent inc, he's a fool.

So, yes in a way Thom is trying to drag attention to the distribution method but I think deep down it's not as a marketing gimmick to sell this album but to generate discussion about the problems of music consumption nowadays.

Why does he think he will change the face of music all by himself or that a single release will bring down Spotify/Itunes an all the current models? I have no idea, but it's nice that he's at least trying. Weird ideals but whatever. At least he isn't trying to force-feed you his album like U2 did. I can see the end-of-year comparisons about good vs bad practices already.

I think putting the release on Bittorrent of all places is kind of the point?

Bittorrent needs to clean up his act a little bit and I guess they're receiving money off every sale so they're definitely happy about testing out a business model from this experiment and Thom wants to prove that even in the most unlikely place people will pay for your work if they think you're trying to make an honest 'connection' with your audience. Will it work? I don't fucking care.

a better means of music distribution

"better" for who

let's not pretend like it would be some hugely onerous task for Thom to front the money to print vinyl (or CDs or tapes or 8-tracks or what-the-fuck-ever) to stores and get it picked up by a distributor, which would enable other people in the supply chain that aren't horrible gangsters like bittorrent to make some money.

to for stores

that should say

There's a vinyl format that you can buy as well (a tad expensive at $50, though).

Surely the point is there aren't that many 100K selling albums that aren't up on iTunes these days? Isn't that point that if he can do it, why can't yer Beyonces etc?

He's kicked up a bit of dust and all of sudden he's an ugh pariah. Whereas if he'd just put it on all the normal distro channels like a good boy, it wouldn't even be an issue, and everyone would be talking about the music rather than anything else. Surely smth is wrong with that picture.

i think it's a bit absurd to pretend "all of a sudden" he's a pariah. obv non-fans found him obnoxious before this, obv plenty of his fans still love him

Yes I don't get why people in this place are hating on this simply because of the distribution method. It's not ill-intended, maybe extremely naive but his intentions seem pretty clear to me.