More productive: Screw Rock 'n' Roll Live-blogs "In Rainbows"
I've never live-blogged anything, mostly because all the fancy-ass award shows that folks usually live-blog don't air in Australia until the next day or so, so there's no point. Also, I'm not a big fan of award shows. But albums are another thing. I am a very big fan of albums. And while they may not actually be as live-bloggable, considering there isn't much live about them, I think I'll make an exception with this new Radiohead album, In Rainbows (Get it for $free.99).
I'm making this exception because, if I understand my record industry analysis, the release of this album on to the internets is going to mean that EMI, Time-Warner and Universal are all going to go bankrupt by about 11.17 a.m. tomorrow morning, with Jonny Greenwood installed as the head of the world's only record company. That's pretty exciting news, so I'm going to play my part in the hype by live-blogging the album. All times Australian Eastern Standard Time.
Alright, let's do this thing.
9.50 pm: Hey, thanks Hotmail. It was so smart of you to stick an email with the title "DOWNLOAD IN RAINBOWS - DO NOT REPLY" into my spam folder. That'll learn me for trying to avoid Radiohead spamming my real e-mail address for the rest of eternity.
THANK YOU FOR ORDERING 'IN RAINBOWS'.
THE LINK BELOW IS YOUR UNIQUE DOWNLOAD ACTIVATION CODE.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK OR CUT AND PASTE INTO YOUR BROWSER TO OBTAIN YOUR DOWNLOAD.
IF YOUR LINK APPEARS AS TWO SEPARATE LINES, PLEASE CUT AND PASTE THEM CAREFULLY INTO YOUR BROWSER.
THE ALBUM WILL COME AS A 48.4MB ZIP FILE CONTAINING 10 X 160KBPS DRM FREE MP3s.
MOST COMPUTERS NOW HAVE ZIP SOFTWARE AS PART OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM; IF YOUR COMPUTER DOES NOT, YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT HERE
PC: http://www.winzip.com/
MAC: http://www.maczipit.com/
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING YOUR FILE, PLEASE CONTACT OUR DOWNLOAD CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM: downloadinrainbows@waste.uk.com
WE HOPE YOU ENJOY 'IN RAINBOWS'.
Thanks Radiohead. I hope I enjoy 'IN RAINBOWS' too. Incidentally, I wonder how one gets a job working for Radiohead Customer service. Do they have call centers in India?
Fortunately, I don't have to download my own link, because I'd already downloaded an illegal copy from someone Radiohead chose to bless with a link three hours before I got mine. So, excuse me while I get my Winzip going.
9.58 pm: Winzip is too slow. Someone should do something about that. I expect instant unzipping. But after, oh... 5 seconds, I now have In Rainbows in my iTunes. No artwork, but that's not a surprise. I'll stick with the Care Bears up there. It's all nicely tagged - thanks Radiohead - but I do notice that they haven't given themselves a genre. Because they are wild rock stars who will not be tamed.
10:02 pm: Well, I would press play, but I'm going to get a beer first. It will be Pilsner Urquell. Does a pilsner go with Radiohead? I welcome suggestions for suitable beverage accompaniments to In Rainbows. In the comments box, please
10:06 pm: Mmm... beer and Radiohead. Alright, let's get this bitch going. Play.
10:07 pm: "15 Step" has great crunchy scattery beats. I don't understand a word Thom is saying, but he's got a bit more soul in his voice than usual. I think this is Radiohead's version of R&B. It's all the Alicia Keys they've been listening to.
10:09 pm: Is Thom singing "et cetera et cetera" because he ran out of 1984 quotes to steal? He sounds pretty happy on this one. "Happy" as in "fucking nuts," I mean. Also, shouting children? Good move.
10:11 pm: The "Bodysnatchers" riff sounds like they mugged Faith No More, and mangled it pretty badly in the process. This is actually pretty rock 'n' roll. But in a good way. Not in the way Coldplay listeners want them to make The Bends again.
10:13 pm: Not that there's anything wrong with The Bends.
10:15 pm: Jonny Greenwood's playing guitar again. Like playing guitar
10:16 pm: I've never been one of those huge "Nude/(Don't Get Any) Big Ideas" stans (nor was I that in love with "True Love Waits"; "Fog" is my b-side/rarities obsession), but I'm happy it's finally found its way on to an album. Sounding good, too. Rich and full and over all, quite lovely.
10:19 pm: Incidentally, you rarities/b-side kids should check out this if you haven't already. 24 discs of non-album Radiohead shit.
10:20 pm: I was just wondering why this next song sounded so familiar. Turns out that it's "Arpeggi," of which there were plenty of bootlegs available for the past year or so. It's now called "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" and its my first disappointment in the album. Not that it sounds particularly bad, but I really fell hard for that ethereal, swirling live take that was swimming around a year ago. This is good, but it sounds more grounded. The original "Arpeggi" sounded like Thom Yorke had finally detached himself from anything at all corporeal, the way he did with "How to Disappear Completely," but even more so.
10:24 pm: Nice dramatic crash to end it though. I'm serious: I appreciated that crash a lot.
10:25 pm: Incidentally, does anyone know who produced this? I can't believe I haven't found that out. Was it Nigel Godrich?
10:25 pm still: "All I Need" is not a Jay-Z cover (I'm disappointed too), but it does have a fantastically evil, slightly sickly bass line. And chimes! Oh boy, chimes!
10:26 pm: "I'm just an insect." Ha, you still got it Thom. "All I Need" is quite possibly my favorite track so far.
10:28 pm: This is turning out to be an interesting album, though of course, I won't know how I properly feel about it for a while. I'm quite shocked at how much guitar there is, though, but also relieved that it doesn't sound like a step backward. I always feared that if Radiohead picked up their guitars for a full album again, it would sound like a boring retread. This isn't the futuristic shock Kid A was, but there are still plenty of surprises.
10:30 pm: Like "Faust Arp". I don't even know what to think of that one.
10:30 pm still: "Reckoner" is yet another example of the interesting percussion going on with this album. If anything, these tracks are even more rhythm-based than all but their most discordant IDM experiments ("Pulk/Pull"), but the percussion is based on live-sounding clatters, not glitches and scratchy drum machines.
10:34 pm: They're really giving the film score strings a workout, aren't they? It's not mushy background music like latter-day Massive Attack, though.
10:36 pm: "House of Cards" brings the drum machine out from the closet, but to compensate, it has some of that nu-soul guitar and Thom Yorke pretending he's Musiq Soulchild (OK, well... sort of).
10:39 pm: Honestly, "House of Cards" sounds a little aimless on first listen.
10:40 pm: Some guy on the Internet (Wikipedia counts as fact-checking for lazy journalists) says Mark Stent produced the album. Doesn't give a source for that info, though, so who knows who did what?
10:42 pm: Ha, I never mentioned that I ordered the discbox of this, did I? I'm liking this record, but I'm not sure if I'm liking it £40 yet. Ah well, Radiohead have my money now, and they're probably on their way to the bank, L their AO. Do you reckon Radiohead would be interested in doing an "I Get Money" remix with 50? Seriously, that'd be awesome.
10:45 pm: "Jigsaw Falling into Place" just finished. I didn't notice anything particularly exceptional about it. "Videotape" on the other hand is setting out to be Radiohead's best closer since "Motion Picture Soundtrack." Its stacked with mournful keys and Thom Yorke doing his Thom Yorke voice. Then a beat starts limping in. This could be the best song of the album; it's really kind of frightening. They sounded pretty happy for most of this, but "Videotape" is the come down. It sounds like the record is collapsing in on itself, and it undermines the joy that preceded it. What seemed like genuine happiness has become hollow and illusory. Very nice work, you cynical, sad-sack bastards.
10:49 pm: Radiohead are pretty good with the final tracks, though. There's "MPS" and this one, of course, but "Life in a Glasshouse," "Wolf at the Door" and "Street Spirit" are all career highlights. Like the Hold Steady, these guys really know how to end an album.
10:51 pm: And that's it. I won't offer any final opinion just yet, because I don't know what to think. Perhaps I'll post a more complete reaction after a few more listens. Thanks for sticking round, guys.
Labels: liveblogging
posted by Jonathan @ 9:31 PM
2 Comments:
You can't go wrong with screaming kids... YAY!
15 steps is at the top of my list atm. As in at the top of my playlist, being track one, but also the track that i connect with the most. My kindof style.
As for the beer..., which is exactly what i did too btw, even if it was only 3 in the afternoon... It's 11 now. Tooheys New was my choice. Being the only beer i had in the fridge and not want to go for the hard stuff.
Nuff said.
On to listen number... 5? Lost count already.
I got scared on my first listen, when I was halfway through and realised there was only half the ambum left. I survived.
Man, if only I didn't have to work. I could really go for 3 p.m. drinks and non-stop In Rainbows.
And, yeah, "15" is pretty awesome.
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