Saturday, February 19, 2011

The King of Limbs

Guess I get to be the first person WWLTN to proclaim the brilliance of the new Radiohead album, what an honor.

I just got it this morning and I've been listening to it basically over and over again all day. Not as groundbreaking as Kid A but maybe their best album yet? I know I need to give it a little time, and I'm also prone to hysterical hyperbole, but there's not a track that I haven't instantly liked.

You guys see the video for "Lotus Flower" with Thom Yorke dancing around? What a badass, great song.

BTW, interesting side-note, Thom Yorke's brother Andy used to work for the same firm I currently work for. Dude is a PhD in Russian history and/or politics and also a musician, though considerably less successful than his rockstar brother (which I thinks causes him no small amount of angst).

I haven't read up on what Radiohead's done this time around in terms of selling this. I participated in the mass experiment they sponsored the last time around and paid $5 for their album. But this time I couldn't find the power/instant-gratification/cheapness of King of Limbs + Mediafire _________________ = :)

4 comments:

Pete said...

I dropped the $54 for the "package". I felt I owed them for not paying for, but thoroughly enjoying much of their material. I really like the last track Separator. They always have a really special last track. This might be my favorite. That beat! I'm def going to try to get tickets when/if they come around to NYC this year.

DC said...

Weird, i posted this before you, yet you are ahead of me? Damn you and your tricks, Rootless! PSS Divide on this one as on first blush i was thinking worst Radiohead CD yet, not best, but i'll give it some more time to marinate.

rootless said...

your post was way weaker than mine, DC. and PSS divide, still loving the album, though I think it's a bit short.

comfortstarr said...

Just got the .wav version. I like, but I'm not floored. That said, I often find myself getting more and more into their records over time, so it's tough to really say right now. The video is weird--gutty, but I would've recommended a different approach.

As to the length: LOVE IT. For tons of bands, CDs single handedly were responsible for ruining what should've have been nice tight sets by offerring too much running time. The mind-set went from 40 min/record to at least 60. That's 2/3rds more. Most bands, even great ones, struggle to fill a record with quality songs each time out--adding 33% more time to fill... It's like cable TV.

Perhaps, being an oldster (forty-fucking-four) I'm particularly attuned to this--as I came of age musically with LPs.