Turn it up:
Radiohead – The King of Limbs (TBD)
In the past week, Radiohead’s been pretty busy dropping bomb after bomb on their fans and critics. Similar to the way 2007’s In Rainbows was released, the band announced last Monday, or Valentine’s day, if you were busy having a romantic life and not combing the internet for Radiohead news, it would be releasing its new album online – in five days.
After giddily reading the opening statement the band posted, fans slipped into a near music-nerd coma after reading the concept of the new album, The King of Limbs. The album is expected to be the world’s first “newspaper” album: the group’s $50 pre-order-only collector’s set, which ships out in May, will include newspaper-like prints and tons of small pieces of art, all on eco-friendly paper, of course. A mp3 version of the album is also available for a more-than-reasonable $7.
And if this wasn’t enough, the fans that pre-ordered the album woke up last Friday morning, a day before the album was supposed to be released, to find a download of TKOL was already waiting for them.
Holy crap, is Radiohead cool or what?
Turn it down:
Radiohead – The King of Limbs (TBD)
But with all of the mystery and hype the album built up in those four days, it’s easy to forget Radiohead put out an album that has some music on it, too. And isn’t that what the fans are really there for, anyways?
Like Kid A, Amnesiac and for some, Hail to the Theif; The King of Limbs’ appeal isn’t an immediate one. Clocking in at 37 minutes, the album is lean, filled with a bunch of well-written and awesomely-executed sonic experiments. But unlike the manner the album was released, really digging into these songs takes some time. That’s the only reason I’ve included this album in the “turn it down” section; The King of Limbs simply won’t appeal to a very broad audience, especially upon first listen.
While the rock-friendly In Rainbows was a ray of hope for those who prayed the band would return to guitar-rock, the new album takes a jagged turn in line with albums like Kid A, Amnesiac and frontman Thom Yorke’s solo-effort The Eraser. As one fan mused on Rolling Stone’s website, “Did Radiohead fire their guitar players?” If you’ve refused to listen to anything by Radiohead past ’94’s OK Computer, you’re gonna hate TKOL.
But, if you’re like a lot of Radiohead fans that embrace the band stepping forward, The King of Limbs has a lot to offer. Like Kid A and The Eraser; TKOL is a record that isn’t about stadium-filling chords or whacked-out guitar solos, but the careful placement of sounds and melodies. The album isn’t a group of songs, it’s an experience.
Nuances in the excellent stereo mixes of opener “Bloom” and the acoustic-twined “Little By Little” are best listened to with headphones and the lush “Lotus Flower” argues that being quiet doesn’t mean you can’t be more intense than someone screaming their head off.
Although it’s doused in electronic instruments, TKOL explores ways of making those machines seem like living things.
Whether it is grafting the sound of drummer Phil Selway’s beats or leaning on the tones of warm, analog synthesizers, The King of Limbs never feels overly-processed or produced. And in the more theatrical moments, the band embraces Jonny Greenwood’s recent role as composer for film scores such as There Will be Blood and Norwegian Wood.
The bottom line is, The King of Limbs isn’t trying to be anything other than what it actually is: a good album of recorded music by
one of the top bands in the world right now. If you can’t get over the fact that there isn’t a three-guitar attack on most songs, then save yourself some time by skipping this album. But if there’s a little part of you that thinks you might like The King of Limbs, it would be a shame if you didn’t give it a chance.
