I’ll go ahead and say it just to get it out of the way. Radiohead is one of my favorite bands of all time! We don’t have a thing going on, we have a full on relationship! Going back to when I was in the fifth grade when Pablo Honey came out. I hadn’t really gotten into them as the only song I had heard was the overly played (and overly abused at Karaoke nights) “Creep.” But then again, when I was in fifth grade, my best fried Josh and I rode our bikes to school from the apartment complex we lived in, taking turns sharing the headphones of my walkman while jamming out to “Rump Shaker” by Wreckx-n-Effect. Yes, it wasn’t until Jr. High that Grunge/Alternative would overtake my life thanks to a group of friends introducing it to me just like that first day you were introduced to smoking weed in college. Unfortunately I really didn’t get into Radiohead until high school. I had owned The Bends, but never really enjoyed it. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that my three favorite bands at the time were Bush, Oasis and Alice in Chains… And yes my aunt bought me a Jars of Clay album which ended up as a coaster for my soda on my computer desk in my room. It wasn’t till I heard Paranoid Android that changed everything for me. OK Computer was the beginning of how I listened to music and how I appreciated it for the art and not just for “a good time feeling.”
I’ll be honest, I didn’t think Radiohead was going to release a new album any time soon. Yes, I had mentioned before on my year end list, and I had heard rumors that they were in the studio. But Thom Yorke and company are very unpredictable when it comes to releasing new material… Especially being that they self release their own albums like that of Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre. This time instead of giving a release date of the new album, Radiohead decided to surprise us and announce it last week and on top of that they even released it a day early online. However, we weren’t given the “Pay what you feel” choice that was given to us for In Rainbows.
The King of Limbs starts out with “Bloom,” a piano/techno based track with Thom’s haunting vocals remixed in between. Other stand out tracks include “Morning Mr. Magpie,” which has an upbeat electronic feel to it and my personal favorite “Lotus Flower,” which has elements of “Idioteque” from Kid A. If you were expecting anything like In Rainbows you will be very disappointed, or really excited depending on what your Radiohead taste is. Radiohead decided to go back to their Kid A/Amnesiac days which isn’t a bad thing, as Kid A was masterpiece in itself. Amnesiac, on the other hand, wasn’t as great and got boring after a few listens. This album is what Amnesiac should of been.
The other problem with this album is the length. It only has eight songs and some of them are not very long, which makes you want more from this record. Could this mean we might get another album later this year like how Amnesiac was released three months after Kid A? That I don’t know. But with the way things the band is doing these days and the fact that we can’t predict when they release material, it wouldn’t surprise me. Needless to say, it’s no Kid A, OK Computer, The Bends or even Hail to the Thief. But it’s sure as hell better then Amnesiac, and to some extent, In Rainbows, which I felt was really good for what it was but left me feeling empty. (XD Note: I’m leaving Pablo Honey out of this as I get really tired of hearing “Creep” and to be honest, it was Radiohead’s weakest album to date when compared with their other releases.)
Overall, this album is very enjoyable, but very short. I can’t say it’s as great as Kid A or OK Computer (which is hard to even compare to) for an electronic/experimental based Radiohead album, but it’s a lot better than letdown Amnesiac. This makes a great chillout album for when you need one of those stress free days… Or if you’re stuck living in Laporte, IN and working at Family Video and grow tired of kids running around, you can always plug this in and zone out for the next 30-something minutes. Just don’t zone out too long, or your boss might fire you.
Track Listing:
1. Bloom
2. Morning Mr. Magpie
3. Little By Little
4. Feral
5. Lotus Flower
6. Codex
7. Give Up The Ghost
8. Separator
