radiohead IN RAINBOWS

RADIOHEAD - IN RAINBOWS. Radiohead's latest opus has been shrouded in mystery for nearly five years, and after a economically dicey proposition which allowed fans to decide how much they wanted to download the album for via the band's website, here they are with the final project: a shimmering, flawlessly orchestrated calvacade of neuroses-rock ballads, all complete with an emphasis on neatly honed polyrhythms, dense, nervy ambient soundscapes and Thom Yorke's unmistakable lyrical grace- his lyrics are as poignant, funny and classically, winsomely sad as anything the band has recorded since the heyday of "OK Computer". Abandoning the brutal polit-rock of "Hail to the Thief", things start off with the jittery drum-box antsiness of "15 Steps" which has Thom Yorke pondering "How come I ended up where I started/ How come I ended up where I went wrong?/I won't take my eyes off all of you" over layers of dulcet keyboards and Johnny Greenwood's melancholic, emotively sparse guitar work, shifting gears into hard-rocking parables of paranoia like "Bodysnatchers", or devastating, fuzz-heavy love ballads like "All I need". By the time the doom-heavy aura of the final number rolls around, a sour, reflective piano ditty entitled "Videotape", Radiohead have successfully absorbed us in their tragic, surreal world- one where passion is muted by forces beyond our control, and music is the only escape from the crushing alienation of modern urban life.
-Nicholas Laskin (University of California, Santa Cruz)

15 Step - RADIOHEAD mp3;

House of Cards - RADIOHEAD mp3;

Nude - RADIOHEAD mp3;


Bangers & Mash - RADIOHEAD (YOUtube: live from the basement)