Radiohead begins work on new album!!!

[Josh]

Pitchfork has the story on the genesis of Radiohead's seventh LP!

[DvChWi]

Yay!  

[bloop]

Why does PF have to pepper their stories with profanity?  I don't have a huge problem with it, but my netfilter does.

Good news.  Hope they've sorted out where they want to go (and, of course, that whatever direction it is, that it's exciting).

[Josh]

Ah! Ah! Ah!

Spriiing!!!

[bloop]

People, like Josh, with scruples will have it in the Spring.  The rest of us will enjoy the early mix leak months earlier a la Illinois and HTTT.

[oneafroboy]

This is very exciting.

Two things to look forward to next spring:
1) Graduating from college.
2) Radiohead's new album.

Looks like next spring will be very wonderful.    

[thevoyager]

I'm relatively unfamiliar with Radiohead- my first and only record I own by them is Hail to the Thief.  I like to buy the newest of artists I am new too, for whatever reason.  
Honestly, I was really unimpressed with it...I'm guessing I just got unlucky and picked up one of their less impressive recordings.

I'm interested in seeing how this new record turns out though.

[BenBarrett]

"Hail to the Thief" was not their strongest album, but it certainly had interesting moments. personally, I can't wait to see what's in store for this next record (I probably will lack the same scuples as bloop, but I will buy the album when it comes out). Radiohead always has at least some songs on every album that I really get into. Pyramid song is still among my all time favorites.

[bloop]

"Hail to the Thief" was not their strongest album, but it certainly had interesting moments.

While I don't consider it their strongest, either, it's an A to A minus album when I think critically about it.  Their best is either Kid A or OK Computer according to most people here.  

But, I just have to voice some reservations for voyager in particular, because if he didn't much like HTTT, a Radiohead retrospective album if there ever was one, then I might guess that he likely wouldn't like any of their albums too much.  Their music might just not be for you, voyager, or just not for you right now.

[BenBarrett]

While I don't consider it their strongest, either, it's an A to A minus album when I think critically about it.

Wow, really? I think it has some really good songs, especially in the first half, but it doesn't even compare to OK computer for me. The songs on that album just seemed to have more depth and are more memorable for me.

[bloop]

Yeah, really.  OK Computer is one of the few albums that I would call a masterpiece - an A+ on the typical phorumer's scale, so you can pretty clearly see that OKC is the superior album by grade, also.  Even so, I find Hail to the Thief to be a very strong album even if a more conceptual focus isn't in place.

[Josh]

More news-- Thom compares the new album to Kid A! Well, kinda...

[dgp11776]

More news-- Thom compares the new album to Kid A! Well, kinda...

Did I just hear the sound of bloop wetting himself?

[bloop]

Did I just hear the sound of bloop wetting himself?

Yes, but I'm not looking forward to hearing another Kid A.  It sounds like he's saying they're going for another rather progressive leap, similar to that from OK Computer to Kid A.  

We shall see - "Arpeggi" has me thinking it will be closer to a Phillip Glass-esque modern minimalist classical tradition.  I was hoping they'd try out jazz in earnest, but I'd be very happy if my hunch is true.

[dgp11776]

It sounds like he's saying they're going for another rather progressive leap, similar to that from OK Computer to Kid A.  
 

That's why I mentioned it.  Jazz would be a nice thing to hear from them, now that you mention it.

[murlough23]

Did I just hear the sound of bloop wetting himself?

Sometimes parents learn from their kids' examples instead of the other way around.

NP: "The Feel Good Drag", Anberlin

[ALLALOM]

am I the only one that finds Radiohead extremely boring....and arrogent?

I always thought they were a mediocre British rock band, at best.

[bloop]

[BenBarrett]

Even if you don't like Radiohead, I don't see how you could find them boring. Well, maybe if you only prefer all-out rock...but then you're the boring one.    

[bloop]

Even if you don't like Radiohead, I don't see how you could find them boring. Well, maybe if you only prefer all-out rock...but then you're the boring one.  

Hey, Radiohead have all-out rock albums.  They just happen to be the weakest in their canon.

[murlough23]

am I the only one that finds Radiohead extremely boring....and arrogent?

I could understand being bored with them, or just about any band, for that matter. Every band does things that are going to interest different people.

But arrogant? I can't recall them making much of any pretense of being hugely important (unlike, say, U2). I'm sure they're aware of their popularity, but to make the albums you want to make despite that, acknowledging the huge risk of losing fans, isn't something that an arrogant band would do. An arrogant band would assume they were the best and everyone liked them, and keep trying to make an album they expected everyone to love and cherish. Instead they said, "Screw it, we're making the kind of music that we feel like making."

[ALLALOM]

Even if you don't like Radiohead, I don't see how you could find them boring. Well, maybe if you only prefer all-out rock...but then you're the boring one.  

nah, I prefer the softer stuff (LN, Frank Lenz, etc).

I just found their brand of brit-rock boring.

[BenBarret]

Understood. I guess I don't see Radiohead as producing a certain brand of music...I think if you've listened to the much, you would agree that they certainly have varied their sound a fair amount.

Perhaps you are uninclined to Thom Yorke's mostly depressed-sounding, lethargic singing style...or just his voice. That seems to be the main complaint I hear from people who dislike Radiohead.  

[Wildcatblue7]

Count me in as a Radiohead not-liker.  Weird doesn't scare me, but singers with crappy voices do.

[murlough23]

I'm not a big fan of Yorke's voice. It's a testament to the strength of most everything else about the band that I like them.

[bloop]

Count me in as a Radiohead not-liker.  Weird doesn't scare me, but singers with crappy voices do.

Wrong.  He has a brilliant falsetto when that's what he's going for.  Most of the time lately, his voice is obscured in some way or manic, I'll admit that, but songs like "Street Spirit (Fade Out) or "Blow Out" (from Pablo Honey of all places) are enough to show that this is just false.

(I think the more urgent, borderline psychotic sound of his vocals lately are purposeful and good for that purpose)

[Wildcatblue7]

Wrong.  He has a brilliant falsetto when that's what he's going for.  Most of the time lately, his voice is obscured in some way or manic, I'll admit that, but songs like "Street Spirit (Fade Out) or "Blow Out" (from Pablo Honey of all places) are enough to show that this is just false.

(I think the more urgent, borderline psychotic sound of his vocals lately are purposeful and good for that purpose)

I meant that I think he sounds like a castrated squirrel, as my opinion.  But that kind of fuzzy sound isn't really my thing anyway.

[bloop]

Well, then, I guess you need to go record a castrated squirrel and I'll buy it.

[Dan]

I meant that I think he sounds like a castrated squirrel, as my opinion.  But that kind of fuzzy sound isn't really my thing anyway.

But squirrels like nuts!

I find the voice annoying sometimes too, but it's grown on me. Then again, I am a Sixpence fan, so I don't think I have any idea what too-high-pitched is for normal people.  

[Brenden]

I have to go with I'm not a Radiohead fan, outside of a few songs, they don't interest me. I do think they're a good band, though, and my brother is a huge fan, because I got him hooked.

[adriftconscious]

I've never been able to get much into Radiohead, however I've never actually listened through an entire album. I've only heard individual songs. Since most of you seem to like them a lot, I figure they might be worth giving a shot. Could one of you guys give me a good album to start out with?

[danny316]

I've never been able to get much into Radiohead, however I've never actually listened through an entire album. I've only heard individual songs. Since most of you seem to like them a lot, I figure they might be worth giving a shot. Could one of you guys give me a good album to start out with?

Buy OK Computer. You won't regret it.  

[oneafroboy]

My first album was Kid A and I fell in love with Radiohead they very moment those first keyboard notes unassumingly came out of my car stereo stock speakers.

But supposedly this is really weird. So you probably shouldn't follow my example. OK Computer, Kid A and Amnesiac are all fantastic albums. A lot of people hear will probably suggest that you listen to OKC first, though.

[bloop]

If I were new to them, I would start at the end and work backwards.  HTTT, then Amnesiac, then Kid A, then OKC, then The Bends, then I guess some EPs if you must go on.

[Josh]

Radiohead is back in the studio... but without a label.

[bloop]

I don't think they have much to worry about at this point in their careers.  There are probably a few labels that wouldn't mind having them on-board - it just sounds like they have to present something palatable (I hear the band's become a bit disenfranchised with EMI).

[starhawk]

My first Radiohead record was Hail to the Thief, and I was very underwhelmed.  
But a friend of mine who is a big Radiohead fan encouraged me to go get Ok Computer, so I'm planning to get that one soon.
For me, I think choosing to listen to a band's most accessable record first, rather than their best, is not the best way for me to be introduced to a new band.  From what I hear from some other fans HTTT is a bit more accessable but not quite as good as some of their other stuff, but I don't know for certain.

[bloop]

Interesting.  I generally choose HTTT as the record for first-time Radiohead folks because it covers their major styles, from the forward rock of OK Computer and The Bends to the more experimental electronic Kid A, about as well as a best-of album would without actually being a proper retrospective.  

I was not disappointed with HTTT in the least.  Although it didn't mark any real progression for Radiohead, it still sounded quite removed from the typical.  But, if you were hoping for something more inaccessible when you bought Hail..., I think Kid A and Amnesiac may be the best next step.  Not that OK Computer isn't experimental, but today at least, it doesn't seem like as brazen a statement as those Kid A-era records.  In terms of accessibility alone, HTTT is firmly planted in the middle of the Radiohead cannon.

If Kid A isn't strange enough for you, I don't think I can help you when it comes to Radiohead.  I might suggest Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, or The Danielson Famile or something, but Radiohead is more mainstream than that and they always have been.

[murlough23]

My first Radiohead record was Hail to the Thief, and I was very underwhelmed.  
But a friend of mine who is a big Radiohead fan encouraged me to go get Ok Computer, so I'm planning to get that one soon.
For me, I think choosing to listen to a band's most accessable record first, rather than their best, is not the best way for me to be introduced to a new band.  From what I hear from some other fans HTTT is a bit more accessable but not quite as good as some of their other stuff, but I don't know for certain.

HTTT is a better stylistic overview, but OKC is simply a better set of songs, and also much more cohesive as an album, both sonically and thematically. I'd definitely recommend that one first to any Radiohead newcomer - not just because it's the best, and certainly not because it's the easiest to adjust to, but because it's a unified album that still shows a good amount of diversity of talent.

I started with Kid A, though, and I listened mostly out of curiosity after being totally weirded out by their performances of "The National Anthem" and "Idioteque" on SNL. I had read a few reviews that panned or made fun of the album, and I basically had to witness the train wreck for myself, so that I could make fun of it too. And that's exactly what I did, until some of the songs managed to get their shifty little hooks (or non-hooks) into me. It wasn't until Amnesiac came around, a much more uneven album but one that had a few songs that I took to more immediately, that I went back and learned to appreciate Kid A, and subsequently OKC, which I had found to be rather boring at first listen.

I would not recommend that most people start off the way I did, though. I purposefully went for their most difficult material because subconsciously, I think I wanted to be baffled.

[bloop]

I had read a few reviews that panned or made fun of the album, and I basically had to witness the train wreck for myself

Yeah, I had to as well, more because it was so polarizing, with very few critics in the middle.  I wasn't sure what I would think of the album after reading what I did, so I went to a local store that was going out of business and bought it for $6.  As it turns out, the train wreck ended up being the future credibility of those that panned it...

Kid A is as good or better than OK Computer, but I have to say a part of me agrees that OK Computer is the safest choice for someone starting.  It presents what I would guess is the right mixture of the band's tendencies, and also it is the undisputed classic where Kid A is still debated (although the debate more and more is shifting from "poor or good" to "classic or just good").