RAdiohead

Here we go again.

I like Radiohead -- Amnesiac was my favorite release of last year, and Kid A was high up on my 2000 list -- but I'm not really the kind of person who hunts down mp3s of unreleased tracks. I'd rather wait for the record and hear the songs in their finished versions. (Yeah, I know... "Aren't you special?")

To listen to a new song live, to experience it, to watch it unfold, to hear it change as it is reworked is a magical, wonderful thing. It's one of the joys of following unsigned bands is that they lack the fear and/or resources so they are more likely to do it in public.

But to record a live song, distribute it and critique it before the artist has had the chance to stand back from the painting and go "There, OK, that's done" seems kind of unfair. Both to the artist, who is being interrupted, and to the song, which may or may not take a completely different shape eventually.

Listening to works in progress is wonderful, but trying to pin them down and dissect them seems, well ... I'm not going to say disrespectful, but it does seem kind of ... pointless? Self defeating? What's the word I'm looking for?

That said, no I've not seen Radiohead on this tour, nor heard any of the tunes.

I would hope so I really do.

you couldn't resist it could you melissa.

''Scatterbrain: Sounds like the physical act of crying. A dischordant ballad with no way out. The aftermath of a storm.''

this is such a cliched description I don't even know where to begin. Get your head checked melissa.

''Up On The Ladder: Starts poorly, Radiohead try the whole "rocking out" thing again. Fail. But the ending is beautiful, desperate, his voice over mournful synth chords. A song about immense disappointment.''

Pushing the 'sad chords' triggers again. Mournful, desperation, dissapointment. sob, sob, sob...all the way to the bank we go.

''Where I End and You Begin: The day the earth stood still. The Ondes-Martenot keens its unearthly cry. The song is a sentinel, a prison.''

''Wolf at the Door: Each word is a knife. An impossibly hurt, fearful song.''

er...more crying then. I'm beginning to think Thom Yorke wasn't breast fed when he was a baby.

''A Punch Up At A Wedding: The most seethingly angry song I've ever heard. On the surface, it's all insistent beat, slightly rollicking piano, and bass. But it's coming apart at the seams. It's ready to rip your throat out.''

yes but angry at what. Is it like an adolescent who is just angry for no reason or is it actually anger at something specific. This is all bullshit.

''Go to Sleep: Eastern-inflected roots rock song. Dull, really.''

b-but why is it dull? don't just leave it at that.

and on it fucking goes...I avoided the golden jubilee but there's too many institutions and you can't avoid it all.

There, There - bit of a homage to Adam and the Ants circa Kings of the Wild Frontier featuring Ed and Jonny on JAMC Bobby Gillespie style stand up drums with a top acending climax - a fitting opener

Scatterbrain - needs a lot of work and doesn't really go anywhere.

Up on the ladder - pretty rocky with thom doing his 'you and whose army' unfocused anti blair schtick

We suck young blood - slow and swinging with harmonies from phil and ed (phil was wearing an amusing madonna style headset during his backing vox)

I will - an old song, briefly featured in the 'Meeting people is easy' doc with lovely harmonies from Thom and Ed

Myxamotosis - fairly fast rocky number with Ed playing a les paul (surely a first).

going for some lunch now, will post my thoughts on the rest later

melissa, thank you putting up your descriptions.

Melissa couldn't resisit it and nor could I.

''(This is why I don't post on ILM.)''

ILM isn't a radiohead list. Or a keiji haino list. Or improv or free jazz, etc. fans and non-fans of everything to do with [x] are here and when a thread is opened by soemone and I feel the need to comment I will do so.

I'm not 'pissing', I'm just adding my thoughts on your descriptions. Sorry about the 'checking your head' line though.

when you describe a song as ''The most seethingly angry song I've ever heard'' then I want to know at what as well.

irony = julio's stance as radiohead hata being JUST as cliched and as ho hum as he wants (hopes?) the new songs to be. he HASN'T EVEN HEARD THEM and yet he took time out to bash the fecking DESCRIPTIONS. and why?

its one thing to be convinced that radiohead are inauthentic or overrated; its another entirely to pounce like a wolf on anybody else who sees something in them, especially when the crux of that fan-music connection is one borne out of vulnerability.

he (or anyone else) can take the sadness, confusion, anger, fear and deride it, mock it, HATE it all he wants. me, i'll take it (as well as the songs) and celebrate it all. not because i'm a sad moany bastard (really, i'm not) but because the alternative, to deny all of that, is too ugly and dark and boring to bear.

Jules: "Get your head checked melissa" constitutes personal attack with intent. But what's this claptrap about banning the guy??? Tell me that's a fucking joke. I thought what he said was valid ranting.

And right-on Mark P - you are on the money.

yeah. I've heard everything they've done up to this and when I saw the descriptions it just reminded of the past. Irony indeed.

''its one thing to be convinced that radiohead are inauthentic or overrated; its another entirely to pounce like a wolf on anybody else who sees something in them, especially when the crux of that fan-music connection is one borne out of vulnerability.''

i did not intend to 'pounce'. I didn't know it was borne out of some 'vulnerability'.

''he (or anyone else) can take the sadness, confusion, anger, fear and deride it, mock it, HATE it all he wants.''

I love or hate a lot of music with nothing in between, which is unfortunate sometimes.

melissa- hope you accept my apologies.

''"Get your head checked melissa" constitutes personal attack with intent.''

yeah, and I apologised for that.

it means Phil was sacked iirc

After seeing the couple "boring" posts on here I went in with tempered expectations and I really enjoyed it on first listen! Almost more immediate for me than the first.

whenever any of them are asked about radiohead's future in interviews they say they haven't broken up and intend to do something eventually but there aren't any plans yet. i figure it'll happen once thom & jonny run out of momentum with the smile, but that might take a little while, it wouldn't really surprise me if they just jump back in and make the smile lp3 once they're done touring wall of eyes.

Other than Bending Hectic, wasn’t really feeling the prerelease tracks. And yet…LOVING the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhivN4GJQCQ

^ this is very pretty! there's some British prog thing going on the bass that I can't seem to nail...

Top youtube comment;

“Kids in the crowd “PLAY CREEP!””

there's some British prog thing going on the bass that I can't seem to nail...

The sound is very Van der Graaf Generator/Atomic Rooster.

This might be my favourite Radiohead-related album since King of Limbs.

I guess I quite enjoyed what I've heard of this. Yes it is "boring", or at least lacking in high energy flash-bangs, but not unpleasantly so. I can imagine myself putting this on quite a bit when I just need music to listen to and can't decide what.

Still can't quite work out what projects like this are about, as in, where the two most prominent members of a band decide to do a side project that doesn't sound especially different in style and scope to the main project.

I mean, I'd understand if Thom and Jonny had this real urge to explore a specific sound away from Radiohead - post-punk or hip hop or something. But A lot of this really does sound like A Moon Shaped Pool to me.

I understand if this were released as the next Radiohead album there'd probably be a backlash, but what then is The Smile other than a platform for Radiohead "B-songs" done in a slightly more stripped back style?

It sounds less fussed-over, more "first thought, best thought" to my ears, liberated from the expectations surrounding "the next entry in the Radiohead canon", just musicians doing what comes most-naturally to them, and I like that. The same way I don't think I'd claim that any Beak> album is superior to any Portishead album, and yet I listen to more Beak> than Portishead because it feels like less investment, less emotional weight, but a similar set of sonic rewards

Wasn't The Smile *supposed* to be more of a post-punk thing? I recall reading that somewhere before hearing any music...in any case I never got that vibe from the finished product.

i don't think they were supposed to be more of a post-punk thing explicitly or anything, maybe people just said that's what they sounded like after the first few songs they premiered or something

the reason the smile exists is just that thom & jonny wanted to make music during the pandemic but the others were unavailable. that seems to have been a very creatively productive time for them - they said they still have more smile material they're working on, mostly dating back to back to that big creative burst during the pandemic, but they've been writing more on tour too. they're just feeling creatively energised at the moment

there are a number of reasons i do not really want to listen to radiohead or associated projects anymore, but i really like this new record. i mean, i knew i would from the moment everyone decided it was boring and lacked compelling songs. the mistier and harder-to-pin-down the compositions are in the better imo, the main reason moon shaped pool and king of limbs are my fave radiohead releases these days

Lol yeah I actually liked this more than I thought I would. I really like the production too… I feel like Godrich is good but sometimes a slight change is good.

TKOL is easily a top 3 RH album for me - probably top 2 if Staircase and Supercollider were part of it - idk why so many Radiohead fans seem to rank it next to Pablo Honey.

The new issue of The Wire is out, so here's my full review of the Smile album:

The Smile
Wall Of Eyes
XL CD/DL/LP
Why do The Smile exist? Jonny Greenwood has done brilliant work as a composer for films. Thom Yorke has his solo work and Atoms For Peace. Is it just a way to play concerts without being asked to sing “Karma Police”?

The group’s previous studio album and its accompanying live document offer songs that feel as half-sketched as those on the last two (or three, or four) Radiohead albums. Occasional post-punk outbursts tease the prospect of excitement, but middle aged ennui always wins out, and Tom Skinner, one of the most exciting drummers on the London jazz scene, is reduced to delivering somnambulistic half-remembered Ethio-jazz, like a library music version of Sault.

The title track lays a gentle Brazilian guitar strum over booming tympani. In the back, electronics crackle like distant firecrackers, and eventually strings come in. The music is gentle but ominous, and it’s hard to be sure which impression they want to linger. “Read The Room” and “Teleharmonic” are more conventional rock songs; the former in particular could have come off any 21st century Radiohead album. “Under Our Pillows” has a math rock feel to start, guitars sliding into place like the gears of a watch; in the song’s second half, a motorik bassline materialises, pumping the energy level up somewhat. “Friend Of A Friend” pulls from multiple early 1970s sources. Yorke’s near falsetto vocals bring to mind Elton John at his most mawkish and the orchestral arrangements amplify that tendency, but there’s some Bowie-ish theatricality and King Crimson-esque buzz around the edges.

In the final moments of the inexplicably eight minute “Bending Hectic” someone plugs in an electric guitar, an almost bafflingly aggressive gesture compared with everything before. And/but the minute all these songs end, they vanish from your mind’s ear as if they’d never existed. Again, why?

Home visiting my folks and going through boxes of stuff from youth, found my copies of the 'Drill' EP 12", the 'Pop Is Dead' 12", original UK 2LP of 'OK Computer' and 2x10" of 'Amnesiac' all in a closet unplayed (and upright) the last 23 years...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGIJLFIWQAA8EOP?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGIJT-wXMAAW9Uq?format=jpg&name=large

Should probably sell them, right?

always valuable to learn who an obscure young vocalist like this Yorke fellow "brings to mind"

Again, why?

fuck Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke too, vile human beings

Palestinians call for boycotting, peacefully disrupting, and creatively protesting @thesmiletheband's concerts following its failure to distance itself from band member @JnnyG's shameful artwashing of Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/u8sfaGs1zD

— PACBI - BDS movement (@PACBI) June 7, 2024

"this is an interesting and intimidating challenge .. !
adapting the original music of Hail to The Thief for live performance with the actors on stage to tell this story that is forever being told,
using its familiarity and sounds,
pulling them into and out of context..
seeing what chimes with the underlying grief and paranoia of Hamlet,
using the music as a "presence" in the room,
watching how it collides with the action and the text.
Ghosting one against the other."
- Thom

Thom has worked with designer & director Christine Jones and director & choreographer Steven Hoggett to create a new adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The songs from Hail To The Thief have been deconstructed and remoulded into a score to serve the play, to be performed by live musicians and cast members.

The world premiere takes place at Aviva Studios, Manchester, home of Factory International from 27th April - 18th May 2025, before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 4th - 28th June 2025.

i don't have the energy to type booo in all caps, so this is a low energy boooo. booooo

i do hope the hamlet version of hail to the thief includes a full solo from jonny on Go to Sleep, always thought it was a bummer that it cuts off so early

stepdad works at the RSC in Stratford, this explains why he was asking me about HTTT in the summer.

xp I kind of agree but also one of my favorite song tricks is when something really cool happens just before the song fades out. Maybe I'm a bit of a masochist in that respect. Anyway this Hamlet thing sounds dumb as hell

Why do The Smile exist? Jonny Greenwood has done brilliant work as a composer for films. Thom Yorke has his solo work and Atoms For Peace. Is it just a way to play concerts without being asked to sing “Karma Police”

7 months pass

with all due respect, the clear answer is that phil and ed were sacked several years ago; colin is gently bunny hopping on his toes to a beat in a pasture

https://i.imgur.com/wQiQa3w.jpeg

with all due respect, the clear answer is that phil and ed were sacked several years ago; colin is gently bunny hopping on his toes to a beat in a pasture

― z_tbd

and i mean thank fucking god for that

thom yorke and jonny greenwood are doing their thing being professional rock musicians (who probably insist they're not rock musicians) to a mid-sized fanbase and hopefully we will never have to deal with the spectacle of "One of the biggest rock bands in the world is back, and this time they're genocidaires!"

i watched _twilight_ for the first time yesterday (no i will neither explain nor justify having done this) and the most cringe thing about it for me was when "15 step" came on over the closing credits

and to be clear _twilight_ was _profoundly cringe_. that's not necessarily a criticism.

fine with me, I was able to just buy fourth-row seats to see The Smile last year whereas during Radiohead's heyday that kinda spot would've cost about eight hours of sitting outside a gate.

boooooo

Love Zero Sum off the new Smile album. My TikTok feed is full of people trying to play that guitar part.

“Zero Sum “and “Eyes and Mouth” might be my favorite Smile songs yet. The new record is definitely a step up from Wall of Eyes.

“zero sum” and “eyes and mouth” are indeed great. i def gravitate more to the rockers and freakouts on smile songs, ones where jonny locks in with the drums for one of his twisty riffs. thom’s melodies don’t grab me so much anymore and his lyrics have grown so inscrutable that i just tune them out. it’s easier to ignore that stuff when the compositions are good, less so on the slower songs

Def their best one, the first I've felt compelled to go back to multiple times

definitely getting some laffs at po-faced Thommy Boy scatting "Windows 95, Windows 95" on Zero Sum

I saw Thom on the first date of his solo tour last week, was very good. Started with Weird Fish, ended with Karma Police with a whole load of Radiohead and solo stuff and one (I think) Atoms for Peace song and one Smile song.

feel like the kerfuffle over the guy interrupting Thom's show to yell at him about Palestine was a bad look for everyone involved. certainly correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think anyone in the band has done or said anything blatlantly pro-Israel aside from playing some gig(s) over there like seven years ago. at the same time, Thom's response to the protestor was extremely some loser shit, telling him not to be a coward and come up stage. like, say what you want about the guy, but he certainly wasn't being a coward, surrounded by thousands of people telling him to shut the fuck up. certainly the best way to have handled this was a simple comment in the moment or even afterwards making it clear that they stand with Palestine and fuck Bibi and all that. getting his back up and then walking off was a total bitch move by Thom, maybe there's more to this than I know but I certainly wouldn't think he or anyone else in Radiohead would be supportive of the Israel position here.

dont read up on jonny and jonny’s wife then. or what jonny has been up to over in israel either

I was gonna say

I interpreted Don't Get Me Started as being a winge about his predicament

well please enlighten me, what has he and his wife been up to? I know she's Israeli, that's all I know.

zero excuse at this point, fuck these guys

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/thom-yorke-breaks-silence-on-israel-controversy-126675/

"we're not retarded, you know"

fuck off

if you would have told me like, I dunno, when did Thrift Shop come out, that Macklemore and Dave Matthews would lap Thom Yorke (and frankly most of our faves) politically in 2024, I would have looked at you like you grew another ear

That article was from 7 years ago, but there's no indication that they've changed their minds. In my imagination Johnny supports his wife and Thom supports Johnny, idk it's depressing to me.

Jonny Greenwood's wife wrote a column back in June for Haaretz, which is worth reading. Link: https://archive.is/UrQ2N

I am wary of rushing to paint every Israeli citizen as being pro-war/pro-apartheid, and I am (even as a BDS supporter myself) wary of castigating those who do not support the boycott as being necessarily pro-genocide.

i’m thinking of her insanely racist and unhinged anti vax tweets mostly

mmmm. some sorts of silence speak volumes.

what israel is doing to the palestinian people is genocide. full stop. i'm not completely informed on how greenwood, yorke, and katan feel about the genocide of the palestinian people. i haven't heard them mention any of the things the israeli government is doing to the palestinian people.

what's happening to the palestinian people is _far_ more dire and critical than my personal concerns. having said that, greenwood and katan give every indication of holding "gender critical" views. i would gladly give them the benefit of the doubt, were either of them able to say two words: "trans rights". i'm unaware of either of them ever saying those words.

when i was younger i loved radiohead. greenwood is an amazing arranger. a lot of radiohead's work is pretty personally meaningful to me.

it's not in my best interest to give them the benefit of the doubt, unfortunately. :(

god, and angela morley's scott walker arrangements are such a big influence on him as an arranger too, aren't they? almost as much as alice coltrane's arranging.

yeah I was as big a fan of Radiohead as any other 38 year old so the gradual revelation of their actual politics over the past decade does hurt

yeah that haaretz article is really terrible, basically implies everything bad that happens to Israel is because of anti semitism. just a very bad argument and perspective, definitely not dispositive of any criticism made of the band here

thanks for reading the article uptown churl, i honestly didn't have the stomach so i didn't want to make any judgements. the thing i see a lot of when people defend israel's actions is that they don't actually _talk_ about or acknowledge what israel is actually doing. classic "whataboutism" ("tu quoque" is latin and sounds really pretentious). this litany of things jewish people have suffered (not just israeli citizens, but jewish people at large), talk of palestinians denying the holocaust, of saying that israel has no right to exist - plenty of that but no overt acknowledgement of what the israeli government is doing to the palestinian people. "i want peace". yes, yes, and all lives matter, sure.

that said, i _am_ inclined to be dispository. the stuff katan says is far more extreme and overtly bigoted than anything i've heard from greenwood or yorke. katan is not a member of radiohead, and i am _very hesitant_ to judge people based on who they associate with. i don't judge greenwood or yorke based on katan's statements. my judgement is based on the way katan's statements seem to have influenced greenwood's actions. stuff like liking "gender critical" tweets and then claiming it was an "accident" when called on it. this is a pretty established pattern followed by people who are working to, uh, "come out", if you will, as gender critical. yorke, honestly, i don't judge to the same extent as i judge greenwood. in musical terms, they're just kind of a package deal, and have been since radiohead started. that said, i'm _not_ closely knowledgeable about all the details of yorke and greenwood's behavior. at some point i did the "dead to me" thing and haven't followed them closely since.

the other thing i want to make clear is that this is a _personal decision_. i think "cancelling" and "cancel culture" is, to be blunt, stupid. i've stopped listening to radiohead, but not as a _moral act_ or a _political act_. when i listen to their music, which i find beautiful and great, i can't help but think about their beliefs, about what they would like to see happen to people i care about. that feels bad. i wish i could listen to their music the way i used to, without those dark thoughts coming into my mind. i can't. i tell other people about jonny and thom's actions, about the beliefs they are _very likely_ to have, not because i want to see them "cancelled", but because i believe that... it's important for people to know. i don't want people to stop listening to radiohead. i don't want people to _denounce_ radiohead. i do want... people to have to reckon with it. so i am willing to be the bearer of bad news. i do find it important to speak up. i feel like i _have_ to.

i'm certainly not in a position to judge anybody else for listening to and enjoying the music of radiohead, for listening to and enjoying the music of the smile, of jonny greenwood, of thom yorke. i listen to led zeppelin. i love led zeppelin. i know what jimmy page has done. i know he hasn't been held accountable for it. maybe it would be more "moral" of me, whatever that means, if i quit listening to their music. i still listen to it, i still enjoy it. jimmy page is a rapist, he's committed at least one brutal rape, and he hasn't been held accountable for it. and he should be. but i still listen to led zeppelin, so i'm not going to say, ever, that people shouldn't listen to radiohead. they're a great band who made great music. i just wish i could enjoy it like i used to.