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Radiohead have always been the "it" band, the trend-setters, number one on a kid's list of who to namedrop for that all-important "indie" cred (irony is, of course, a necessary virtue of hipster protocol). Admittedly, the darlings of Pitchfork and thus everything pretentious, have undoubtedly embraced something their major-label contemporaries have shrank away from: progression.
With the furor surrounding their online release of "In Rainbows" distributed for "any price you want," Radiohead have dealt yet another wildcard: this time, in a tight slap across the face of record companies and their money-grabbing ways (it's all a conspiracy, I tell you).
HOOKED presents to you, in any way we want, a review on Radiohead's latest, but not-so-new album - "In Rainbows".
While their first two albums were essentially guitar-driven rock records, they hinted at something far greater, a vision finally realized in Ok Computer with its tastefully rendered hybridization of rock and electronica.
But even the great Radiohead cannot maintain such protean energy: Amnesiac was a poor twin of Kid A, and Hail to the Thief shoddily rehashed everything they've done.
Their contract to EMI fulfilled, to self-release "In Rainbows" seemed to mean to the band so much more than simply a method of distribution. It meant a greater honesty to themselves, a truer and more accurate representation of the band and the culmination of their sound.
The opening track 15 Step, with its glitched, Squarepusher-esque IDM intro and Thom Yorke's unmistakable lilting falsetto, fools the listener into expecting another electronica-derived album to follow.
However, once the 40 second mark hits, and Jonny Greenwood's unexpected languid guitar lines flow over the incessant drum pattern, all bets are off. And these first 40 seconds are all that is left of Kid A/Amnesiac territory. It is a completely fresh direction altogether; Radiohead finally sound like a band of five individuals rather than just Thom Yorke pressing a couple of keys on his computer, while Jonny Greenwood toys with his Moog synthesizer.
Here, a surprising side of Jonny Greenwood instead, emerges. The fluid, almost jazz-like quality of his guitar lines are emphasized in the overall mix: Jigsaw Falling into Pieces clearly exhibits this newfound maturity and reservation while Reckoner, easily the best song on the album, shows how sloppiness, but executed with swagger and aplomb, can work, like a modern, updated homage to Johnny Marr.
Neither is "In Rainbows" a mere shift back to pop sensibilities. While the album certainly affords itself a greater accessibility with its return to organic sounds and instruments, flashes of indeterminate noise and minute blips are littered throughout.
Nude opens with melodic washes of dramatic synths and treated vocals but little swatches of noise still furiously make their presence known. The classic verse-chorus-verse structure is also abandoned here, in favour of a graceful, gradual climactic buildup, an uncommon trait in strict rock/pop music.
"In Rainbows" ends on the same note as its beginning: a harking back to their electronica-infected period. While 15 Step is led from this, Videotape, on the other hand, leads into it.
Phil Selway's steady drum beat gives way to a drum machine and the piano slowly trails off as much as Kid A did, evidence perhaps, of the band finally coming full circle, taking everything in their oeuvre, sieving out their true sound and realizing, finally and ultimately, what they truly stand for. HOOKED
Iliyas is a guest writer on hooked, who noticed hooked's drought of English album reviews and decided to do something about it. hooked encourages all competent writers to do the same.
Images courtesy of:
www.brokekid.net
http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/10/01/radiohead.jpg
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Written by Guest on 2008-02-27 06:28:10
Brilliant piece. Your obscure IDM/Johnny Marr/Squarepusher references render you a man of great wisdom and profound musical knowledge. Very incisive comments. You should seriously consider a career as a professional music critic. I am also certain that someone of such status must be above any monkey jumping stone roses indie-esque sort of hype bands. Serious......yet, sexy.......and, Dangerous. Indeed, indeed, everything is a Konspirasi, my friend. You are well-learned in the cruel ways of the world. | quasimodo
Written by Guest on 2008-03-20 14:57:19
calling johnny marr obscure is a travesty to all those indie scensters who throng Home club every weekend and mindlessly consume the Smiths cause they are cool, like that. Nevertheless, good piece, i'd refrain from the patronising "profound musical knowledge" rhetoric though. i have some music reviews in mind, of the jens lekman, camera obscura bright eyes stock but i doubt anyone would subscribe to such mindless chatter.  | quasimodo
Written by Guest on 2008-03-20 14:58:47
how wonderful it is to see double | Written by Guest on 2008-11-01 04:45:20
 I love radiohead  |
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