popwreckoning

In celebration of the September 16th release of Drive, the latest picture from FilmDistrict, Popwreckoning has partnered with our friends at Cornerstone Promotions in order to bring you the following giveaway.

Popwreckoning will supply one contest winner with the following items:

1 copy of the Drive Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (out now on Lakeshore Records)
1 copy of the DRIVE book
1 pair of driving gloves
1 keychain
1 USB car charger
1 USB drive
Character Posters:
• 1 Driver
• 1 Nino – Ron Perlman
• 1 Irene – Carey Mulligan

In order to win, Popwreckoning requests that you email our Editor in Chief, Joshua Hammond, at joshua(at)popwreckoning.com with a brief explanation of why you should win. Please include your full name and address in the email so we may contact you, should you win.

This contest will end on Friday, September 16, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. central standard time. Winners must be a resident of either the United States or Canada.

In the meantime, please peruse the following preview for the film!

Indie-pop quartet Funeral Party will be opening for Panic! At the Disco along with fun. at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City this Sunday,  June 12^th. Their debut album, The Golden Age of Knowhere (released March 29^th), was produced by Lars Stalfors (Matt & Kim, The Mars Volta) and mixed by Dave Sardy (Band of Horses, LCD Soundsystem, Oasis). They’ve already performed on David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel, and have supported the likes of The Faint, Cut Copy, The Mars Volta, and Crystal Castles.

Amongst the insane amount of momentum they are gaining globally, Funeral Party is an Alternative Press Band to Watch for 2011 and they performed several sets at SXSW last March in Austin. With all of this press, they are definitely a band to see sooner, rather than later!

So how would you like two tickets to go see Funeral Party and fun. supporting Panic! At the Disco at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City on June 12^th? Leave a comment below by 12pm on Friday, June 10^th telling us the name of your favorite Funeral Party song and why. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.

Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you about picking up your tickets.

A mixtape for you to enjoy! For FREE.

PopWreckoning teamed up with Element Recording Studios to put together a Kansas City compilation CD to take to South by Southwest. Now that everyone is back to their normal lives here in KC – the mixtape is available for your listening pleasure!

For a physical copy please email your name, mailing address and phone number to casey@popwreckoning.com. No shipping fees are necessary, it’s 100% completely free. There are limited numbers available and once they’re gone – they’re gone!

Artwork was done courtesy of Studio N8 – make sure to check out his website !

Tracklisting:
1. Root & Stem – Desert Roses
2. The Sour Babies – Vagaries & Cemeteries
3. Soft Reeds – Brave New World
4. The Caves – Weekend Blues
5. The Republic Tigers – Merry Make it With Me
6. The Architects – Heartbreaker
7. Spirit is the Spirit – Seafarer
8. Lucky Graves – Torch
9. Bryant Carter Band – One Lane Bridge
10. Jenny Carr – Places I’d Like to Go
11. Kirsten Paludan – Under My Skin
12. Full Bloods – Candy
13. Everyday/Everynight – You’ve Died in a Dream
14. Hipshot Killer – Straight Line
15. Various Blonde – Ringtone Junky
16. Jessica’s Box – 10 Chinese Buffet
17. Beautiful Bodies – You & I

Manchester Orchestra + free = Awesome. Simple math, right? You’re in luck because that awesomeness is exactly what PopWreckoning has for you. We’re giving away a copy of Manchester Orchestra’s highly-acclaimed Simple Math on vinyl. As an added bonus, we’re also including an autographed lyric booklet.

To win, just comment and tell us your answer for this equation: Manchester Orchestra + [You] = …

For example, Manchester Orchestra + PopWrecker Bethany = a party.

Now, let’s hear yours…

We’ll pick a winner* from the responses on Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 11 a.m. EST. Please use a working email address so we can contact you about mailing your prize.

Be sure to check out more from Manchester Orchestra at themanchesterorchestra.com.

*You must be 18 or older to enter. You must live in the United States to enter. Download complete terms of giveaway here.

We now come to the final Radiohead revisited giveaway, and this time, for the 2009 deluxe edition of Hail To The Thief, which hands down is my favorite album in the entire catalog.  It might be my favorite because it incorporates all the different musical styles on the previous albums, or because it is considered a least favorite, or a “throw-away” album by some fans.

Regardless of the reason, this is Radiohead’s ultimate masterpiece, with two tablespoons of the guitar-heavy OK Computer, a cup of the experimental and electronic Kid A, one-quart of piano, and a pinch of The Bends.

The album arguably has the best 1-2 punch of all of Radiohead’s albums with the multi-sectioned and eventually intense “2+2=5”, followed by the equally as powerful and building “Sit Down, Stand Up.”  How can one not be rocking out at the two-minute mark of the opening track?  For as layered as “2+2=5” sounds, it is one the more cleaner sounding guitar parts in long while.

“Sit Down, Stand Up” has one the funkiest and syncopated piano rhythms I have heard Jonny Greenwood ever play.  Atop that playing is a repeated “Sit down, stand up” until borderline creepy phrases of “walk into the jaws of hell” and “we can wipe you out anytime.”  For the final minute and 15 seconds,  “the raindrops” is repeated above an intense, trance-like music accompaniment inducing head banging.

“Sail to the Moon” reminds me of “Karma Police” and “Pyramid Song” with the heavy piano, which of course I thoroughly enjoy hearing.  I can never get too much of piano in any song.

After the Kid A-like “Backdrifts,” we go down memory lane to Radiohead’s second album The Bends. “Go To Sleep” has that guitar, alt-rock sound, bringing back their roots.  Even though the band has ascended by leaps and bounds musically, they can never escape their initial influences.  Some call it a blessing, and others call it a curse.

The next three tracks of “Where I End and You Begin,”  “We Suck Young Blood” and “The Gloaming” is a return to the experimental and trippy elements found on Kid A and Amnesiac.

Radiohead then goes back in time once again, but this time to Ok Computer, the days where they straddled the line between alt-rock and experimental with the lead-off single “There There”, “I Will” and “A Punch Up At a Wedding.”

With one more Kid A type song in “Myxomatosis,” the album comes to a close with the Amnesiac-like “Scatterbrain” and “A Wolf at the Door.”

Next time you sit down and listen to Hail to the Thief, really try and think of this album with ingredients from Radiohead’s back catalog.  It is almost a “Best Of” without actually having any previously released songs from prior albums.  If anything, I view this ultimate masterpiece as an homage to everything they had done, an amalgamation, if you will, of all that makes Radiohead arguably the most challenging, and never-conforming-to-mainstream-radio band the music industry has ever heard.

For grins, here is the tracklist for Hail to the Thief with the album it compliments, or rather, the “Best Of” feel:

1.  2+2=5 (Amnesiac)
2.  Sit Down, Stand Up (Kid A)
3.  Sail To the Moon (OK Computer)
4.  Backdrifts (Kid A)
5.  Go To Sleep (The Bends)
6.  Where I End and You Begin (Amnesiac)
7.  We Suck Young Blood (Kid A)
8.  The Gloaming (Kid A)
9.  There There (OK Computer)
10.  I Will (Ok Computer)
11.  A Punch Up At A Wedding (Ok Computer)
12.  Myxomatosis (Kid A)
13.  Scatterbrain (Amnesiac)
14.  A Wolf At the Door (Amnesiac)

The second disc contains b-sides from the “There There,” “Go To Sleep” and “2+2=5” singles.  Included among them are a live track of “Fog (Again),” a remix of “Myxomatosis” appropriately titled “Remyxomatosis,” the first demo version of “There There,” a remix of “Scatterbrain” and another version of “I Will.”

In addition, there are also live tracks from the Jo Whiley Show from May 28, 2003, Live at Earls Court in London from November 26, 2003 and Zane Lowe from December 8, 2003.

The DVD contains the promotional music videos to the three singles, including a promo video for “Sit Down Stand Up,” and live video footage from Belfort Festival, and Later…With Jools Holland.

The deluxe edition also contains the sleeve covers for the three singles, the booklet from the original album release, and a poster from the special edition released in 2003.

Hail To The Thief (standalone album) – 5 out of 5 stars
Hail To The Thief (2 CD/1 DCD) – 5 out of 5 stars

Disc 2 Track List:
(Taken from “There There” single)
1.  Paperbag Writer
2.  Where Bluebirds Fly

(Taken from “Go To Sleep” single)
3.  I Am Citizen Insane
4.  Fog (Again) – Live
5.  Gagging Order
6.  I Am A Wicked Child

(Taken from “2+2=5” single)
7.  Remyxomatosis (Cristian Vogel RMX)
8.  There There (First Demo)
9.  Skttrbrain (Four Tet RMX)
10.  I Will (Los Angeles Version)

(Jo Whiley Show – 28/05/93)
11.  Sail To the Moon

(Live at Earls Court, London – 26/11/03)
12.  2+2=5

(Zane Lowe – 08/12/03)
13.  Go To Sleep

DVD Track list:
(Music Videos)
There There
Go To Sleep
2+2=5
Sit Down Stand Up

(Live at Belfort Festival)
2+2=5

(Later…With Jools Holland 27/05/03)
There There
Go To Sleep
2+2=5
Where I End And You Begin

Editors’ Note: PopWreckoning has one unopened copy of this special edition of Hail to the Thief to be given away to a resident of the United States. To win, all you have to do is comment with your favorite song from the album Hail to the Thief and explain why the song stands out to you. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.

Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you for mailing information. Contest will run until June 10.

Primarily recorded during the same time as Kid A, Radiohead delivers Amnesiac less than a year after its predecessor.  With the successful experimentation done on the prior album, it was going to be difficult to follow up with anything at that level.  See, I am a firm believer that there are crap, ok, good, and excellent albums.  But then there are the rare albums that are a step above an excellent album, and for me that was Kid A.

So because Amnesiac was mainly recorded during the same time as Kid A, there are those same experimental elements found throughout the album.  However, a more accurate description would be to call it a unification of textures found on both OK Computer and Kid A.

“Packt Like Sardines In a Crushed Tin Box” begins with a sound like Kid A – the first 30 seconds is nothing but beats and grooves before a melodic instrument enters.  It is as if the songs “Kid A” and “Idioteque” had a baby.

The first single “Pyramid Song” is another favored among many fans of Radiohead.  One of the biggest discussions has been about the time signature.  Arguments have been made for 6/8, 2/4, 6/8 repeated.  Others have also argued there is no time signature, it is just felt, which is a sound argument in this case, but the majority of music has time signatures and one can still be “felt.”  I even once read a claim that it uses an old African time signature.  16/4, and 16/8 have also been popular claims as well, depending on where you place the value of each beat.

My own opinion is that it is a simple 4/4 time signature with the phrase extending over 4 measures.  The beauty of “Pyramid Song” is that it takes something simple and makes it complex through syncopation and beat displacement, and that is the genius behind Radiohead.

“Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” makes me think that if the voice found on the song “Fitter/Happier” was signed to a one-song record contract, this would be his claim to fame.

It takes four songs into Amnesiac and almost 2 minutes into “You And Whose Army?” for any discernable early Radiohead to rise up through all of the experimentation in an almost dreamlike flashback to the days of Pablo Honey and The Bends. In essence, the band breaks through its own amnesiac and remembers for the briefest of moments where they came from.

There is a striking similarity between “I Might Be Wrong” and “The National Anthem” from Kid A. Is it possible that “The National Anthem,” may have been some kind of blueprint for “I Might Be Wrong?”  Or that could just be crazy talk.

Amnesiac looses its momentum with the 3-song set of “Morning Bell/Amnesiac,” “Dollars & Cents” and “Hunting Bears.”  All three songs seem to start and go nowhere, and clocking in at a combined 10 minutes, that is a huge hit on the 40-minute album.

If our dreams had a soundtrack, I believe “Like Spinning Plates” would be the score.  The disjointed and cloudy music, in fact creepy sounding at times, would compliment the eerie visions that our subconscious feeds us in our sleep.

Amnesiac comes to a close with a final lounge/jazz like song, in a smoke-filled bar, with the booze flowing freely.  “Life In a Glass House” sounds like a good ol’ time drunken jam session.  Though, I don’t feel it is the appropriate closer for the album, and think “Like Spinning Plates” would have been more suitable.

CD Two contains b-sides from the “Pyramid Song,” and “Knives Out” singles, including live tracks recorded from Canal+ Studios on April 28, 2001, and “Like Spinning Plates” from the I Might Be Wrong : Live Recordings release.

I think Amnesiac would have been a solid album if the 3-song low moment was replaced with the b-sides “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy,” “Fast Track” and “Worry Wort.”  To me, these songs are far superior to “Morning Bell,” “Dollars and Cents” and “Hunting Bears.”

These B-sides are interesting in that “The National Anthem” is completely different from the take on Kid A, and the live versions of “Packt Like Sardines” and “Like Spinning Plates” have lost their electronic/experimentation feel found on the album and take on an alt-rock form.

The deluxe edition gives us a little more on the DVD than did the releases of OK Computer and Kid A. The DVD contains the promo music videos for the above-mentioned singles plus “I Might Be Wrong” and “Push Pulk/Spinning Plates.”  It also contains live footage from Top of the Pops and Later…With Jools Holland.  There are 11 tracks on the DVD, so that is a step up from the previous two releases.

The deluxe edition also contains the sleeve covers for “Pyramid Song” and “Knives Out,” the original album insert for Amnesiac and a library card for the album.

My biggest complaint with the production of the deluxe edition is that they kept the original font alignment from the album release.  While I understand the nostalgic value, I hated it then, and I hate it now.  They didn’t choose right align, or left align to keep it organized.  Instead, it’s this horrible version of “justify” that makes it very difficult to read.

And if it was done as some sort of connection to the theme of the album title or the music itself, I still don’t like it.  I wish on the deluxe edition release that they fixed the original font alignment.

Amnesiac (standalone album) – 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Amnesiac (2 CD/1 DVD) – 4 out of 5 stars

Disc 2 Track list:
(Taken from “Pyramid Song” single)
1.  The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
2.  Trans-Atlantic Drawl
3.  Fast-Track
4.  Kinetic

(Taken from “Knives Out” single)
5.  Worrywort
6.  Fog
7.  Life In a Glasshouse (Full-length version)

(Taken from Canal+ Studios – 28/04/11)
8.  You and Whose Army?
9.  Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
10.  Dollars and Cents
11.  I Might Be Wrong
12.  Knives Out
13.  Pyramid Song

(Taken from I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings)
14.  Like Spinning Plates

DVD Track list:
(Music Videos)
Pyramid Song
Knives Out
I Might Be Wrong
Push Pulk/Spinning Plates

(Top of the Pops 17/08/01)
Knives Out

(Later…With Jools Holland 09/06/01)
Packt like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
Knives Out
Life In a Glasshouse
I Might Be Wrong

Editors’ Note: PopWreckoning has one unopened copy of this special edition of Amnesiac to be given away to a resident of the United States. To win, all you have to do is comment with your favorite song from the album Amnesiac and explain why the song stands out to you. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.

Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you for mailing information. Contest will run until June 10.

I was working at WUPX, the college radio station at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan during the 2000-2001 school year.  In addition to being the Classical Music Director, I also had a mid-day show where we had to play the songs in rotation.  I remember when Kid A first came out and our station director was really pushing multiple tracks in rotation, especially the title track “Kid A”.

Many of the college DJs were kind of scratching our heads at the song and the album as a whole; I mean we were all familiar with OK Computer, but where had Radiohead turned this time?  I remember the DJ before me was finishing up his show, and the last song he played was “Kid A” and he said something that stuck: “If you thought OK Computer was Radiohead experimenting, then explain to me what this is?”

In fact, even the experimentation on OK Computer, which I will call “pseudo-experimentation” compared to Kid A, pales in comparison to this album.  The closest song to the previous album would be “Optimistic,” but even then that had its alt-rock and early experimentation elements stripped from it.

While I compared OK Computer to U2’s Zooropa in terms of its experimentation and departure from anthem rock, then Kid A would be akin to U2’s Passengers. The only difference is, this was much more successful and not as pretentious.

Like Passengers, lyrics are stripped way back on Kid A, and are mostly instrumental, combining classical, techno, and just a hint of house-beats, as found in “Idioteque.”  The complete instrumental “Treefingers” always reminds me of “An Ending (Ascent)” from Brian Eno’s Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks album, which appeared in the film Traffic. The trippy “The National Anthem,” and the somewhat depressing “How To Disappear Completely” and the swirling  “Motion Picture Soundtrack” are definite standouts on this thoroughly constructed and artfully mastered experimental album from Radiohead.

The second disc contains live tracks from the BBC Radio One Evening Session on November 15, 2000, LAMACQ Live In Concert at Victoria Park in England on October 2, 2000, Canal+ Studios on April 28, 2001 and I Might Be Wrong live recordings.

The DVD is more of a let down than the one on the OK Computer deluxe edition.  This time, we are given three songs from the Jools Holland performance.  I realize that the DVD was limited since there were no official singles, and thus, no official music video promos, but surely they could have found more than three songs recorded on video for this album.

For instance, where was the video for “Motion Picture Soundtrack” that contained all of the 30-second films to promote Kid A originally seen on MTV?  After doing some searching on YouTube, I found the video that Radiohead released for this.  It appears that the poster changed some things in the video,  but it contains all of the original “blips.”  You can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7RKakVGvPc

Since there were no official singles released, there are no sleeve covers in the deluxe edition.  However, in addition to the original CD insert, it also includes the hidden booklet that was in the original pressing.

Kid A (standalone album) – 5 out of 5 stars
Kid A (2 CD/1 DVD) – 3 out of 5 stars (For only 12 minutes of playing time on the DVD)

Disc 2 Tracklist:
(BBC Radio One Evening Session – 15/11/00)
1.  Everything In Its Right Place
2.  How To Disappear Completely
3.  Idioteque
4.  The National Anthem

(LAMACQ Live in Concert: Victoria Park, Warrington, England – 28/04/01)
5.  Optimistic

(Canal+ Studios – 28/04/01)
6.  Morning Bell
7.  The National Anthem
8.  How To Disappear Completely
9.  In Limbo
10.  Idioteque
11.  Everything In Its Right Place
12.  Motion Picture Soundtrack

(I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings)
13.  True Love Waits

DVD Tracklist:
(Later…With Jools Holland -   09/06/01)
1.  The National Anthem
2.  Morning Bell
3.  Idioteque

Editors’ Note: PopWreckoning has one unopened copy of this special edition of Kid A to be given away to a resident of the United States. To win, all you have to do is comment with your favorite song from the album Kid A and explain why the song stands out to you. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.

Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you for mailing information. Contest will run until June 10.

It was evident on Radiohead’s 1995 sophomore release The Bends that the musical style was beginning to shift gears with songs like “Planet Telex,” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” even with its heavy alt rock-laden singles “Fake Plastic Trees” and “High and Dry.”  While other bands, such as U2, were trying their hand with experimentation in the critically successful Zooropa, they failed to generate that same success with Passengers: Original Soundtracks I, and thus ditched the experimentation in favor of commercial success.  Radiohead, influenced by the soundscapes that U2 created on Zooropa, took their own stab with electronica and synth textures in their effort to ditch the anthem rock mastered on The Bends.

Still considered in the alt rock genre, “Paranoid Android” was released as the lead-off single to OK Computer in late may of 1997.  With an anti-alt rock groove that begins the song, it is almost a a plea to forget everything you had ever known about Radiohead on Pablo Honey and The Bends. As it grooves along for the first couple of minutes, Thom Yorke suddenly jolts us awake as he belts “you don’t remember!” with scorching guitars and heavy drums.  After a short guitar solo, the third section of “Android” begins, much slower, solemn, before returning back to the scorching guitars for rockin’ outro truly making the listener paranoid – are we really hearing our beloved Radiohead in this A.D.D. of a song?  But it’s that sheer brilliance within the A.D.D. and paranoia that forces one to get the album upon its release.  And the album doesn’t fail; instead, if anything, OK Computer is Radiohead’s first complete thought and true album.

It is so hard to say which song is my favorite, as they are all great in their own right.  Take any of them away, and OK Computer is an incomplete album.  From the opening guitar strums in “Airbag,” to the mellow and laid-back “Subterranean Homesick Alien” and “Exit Music (For a Film),” the first third of the album leaves you wanting more, to see what other wondrous sounds they have created.

“Let Down” is far from being a letdown in itself, instead it’s the perfect bridge from “Exit Music” into probably one of the most popular and liked songs on the album “Karma Police.”  Even today, the song still gets regular play on alternative and college radio.  As a classically trained pianist, I can’t help but immerse myself in Jonny Greenwood‘s piano playing.  ”Electioneering” pays homage to early Radiohead, as if to say “yea, we’ve changed our sound, but still have our roots.”

If I had to pick two songs that would be standouts and my favorites, they would be the slow-building, heavy climatic “Climbing Up the Walls” and the slow waltz-like closer “The Tourist.”

Admittedly, my reviews on Pablo and Bends didn’t go into this much detail with the original release, but they didn’t hit me as much as OK Computer. In the many years of listening to Radiohead, OK Computer has gotten far more plays on my iTunes than the first two albums combined.

CD Two contains b-sides from the “Paranoid Android,” “Karma Police” and “No Surprise” singles, including some remixes and live tracks, in addition to the BBC Radio One Evening Session from May 28, 1997.

The DVD is where I feel that this Deluxe Edition fell short.  The previous Deluxe Editions for Pablo Honey and The Bends had plenty of videos and live footage on the DVDs, but the OK Computer Deluxe Edition only has the music videos for the singles and live footage from Later…With Jools Holland with three songs.  Only live footage of three songs on the DVD for this masterpiece of an album?  If there was a time to say it, now is it – what a “Let Down”.

The Deluxe Edition also contains the sleeve covers for the three singles, and the booklet from the original CD release.

OK Computer (standalone album) – 5 out of 5 stars
OK Computer (2 CD/1 DVD) – 3 1/2 out of 5 stars (due to the limited live footage on the DVD)

Disc 2 Track list:
(Taken from “Paranoid Android” single)
1.  Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)
2.  Pearly
3.  A Reminder
4.  Melatonin

(Taken from “Karma Police” single)
5.  Meeting in the Aisle
6.  Lull
7.  Climbing Up the Walls (Zero 7 Mix)
8.  Climbing Up the Walls (Fila Brazillia Mix)

(Taken from “No Surprises” single)
9.  Palo Alto
10.  How I Made My Millions
11.  Airbag (Live in Berlin)
12.  Lucky (Live in Berlin)

(BBC Radio One Evening Session – 28/05/97)
13.  Climbing Up the Walls
14.  Exit Music (For a Film)
15.  No Surprises

DVD Track list:
(Music Videos)
Paranoid Android
Karma Police
No Surprises

(Later…With Jools Holland 31/05/97)
Paranoid Android
No Surprises
Airbag

Editors’ Note: PopWreckoning has one unopened copy of this special edition of Ok Computer to be given away to a resident of the United States. To win, all you have to do is comment with your favorite song from the album Ok Computer and explain why the song stands out to you. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.

Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you for mailing information. Contest will run until June 10.

Two years after the radio-friendly release of Pablo Honey, Radiohead changes gears slightly as they begin their transformation into the band that fans and critics alike have grown to love. If Pablo Honey was their respectful rookie attempt at alternative rock of the early 90’s, then The Bends was their confident and ambitious application to steal away anthem rock from bands like U2 and R.E.M.

“Fake Plastic Trees” and “High and Dry” were the well-charting singles from the album that have continued through today on alternative radio stations, but The Bends is complete and loaded with meticulously and masterfully created songs that challenge the listener. “Planet Telex” opens with spacey and dream-like effects and echoey keys, teasing us that Radiohead may have suddenly shifted musical gears, which seems to be the case with the rest of the opening track.

But as soon as we are teased with a slightly different sound, the title track “The Bends,” brings us right back to the Pablo Honey days. The only difference is the sound is matured.

“Just” shows influences of the Pixies, while the reflective “Bullet Proof…I Wish I Was” reaches to the future for that new style. “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” is the perfect closer to The Bends, as it too looks ahead for something new.

The beauty about The Bends is that it is one of those “on the fence” albums, meaning Radiohead has honed in on their alt-rock sound, but are also unsettled and wanting something new, more challenging and satisfying. And with songs like “Planet Telex,” “Bullet Proof” and “Street Spirit,” it is clear the experimentation has begun.

The 21-track bonus CD contains b-sides from “My Iron Lung,” “High and Dry/Planet Telex,” “Fake Plastic Trees,” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” singles, as well as four tracks from the BBC Radio 1 Session recording in September of 1994.

The DVD contains music videos from four singles, including both the UK and US version of “High and Dry,” the remaining eight songs from the May 27, 2994 Astoria Theater performance in London, the February 27, 1995 2 Meter Session from Holland, their May 27, 1995 performance on Later…With Jools Holland and three different appearances from Top of the Pops.

In addition to the 1995 album re-release, the Deluxe Edition includes a 6-page booklet with lyrics from The Bends, and the sleeve covers of the five singles.

The Bends (standalone album) – 4 out of 5 stars
The Bends (2CD/1 DVD) – 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Disc 2 Track list:
(Taken from “My Iron Lung” single)
1. The Trickster
2. Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong
3. Lozenge of Love
4. Lewis (Mistreated)
5. Permanent Daylight
6. You Never Wash Up After Yourself

(Taken from “High and Dry/Planet Telex” single)
7. Maquiladora
8. Killer Cars

(Taken from “Fake Plastic Trees” single)
9. India Rubber
10. How Can You Be Sure?
11. Fake Plastic Trees (Acoustic)
12. Bullet Proof.. I Wish I Was (Acoustic)
13. Street Spirit (Fade Out) (Acoustic)

(Taken from “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” single)
14. Talk Show Host
15. Bishop’s Robes
16. Banana Co.
17. Molasses

(BBC Radio One Session – 14/09/94)
18. Just
19. Maquiladora
20. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
21. Bones

DVD Track list
(Music Videos)
High and Dry – UK Version
High and Dry – US Version
Fake Plastic Trees
Just
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

(The Astoria, London – 27/05/94)
Bones
Black Star
The Bends
My Iron Lung
Maquiladora
Fake Plastic Trees
Just
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

(2 Meter Session, Holland – 27/02/95)
My Iron Lung
High and Dry
Fake Plastic Trees
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

(Later…With Jools Holland – 27/05/95)
The Bends
High and Dry

(Top of the Pops)
High and Dry 09/03/95
Fake Plastic Trees 01/06/95
Street Spirit (Fade Out) 01/02/96

Editors’ Note: PopWreckoning has one unopened copy of this special edition of The Bends to be given away to a resident of the United States. To win, all you have to do is comment with your favorite song from the album The Bends and explain why the song stands out to you. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.

Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you for mailing information. Contest will run until June 10.

upcoming CD Release party next week in NYC at The Knitting Factory.  PW readers a pair of tickets to the CD release show

NYC-based indie trio The Nowherenauts formed during their early teen years, brother and sister Anders and Sofie Kapur were introduced by Guided By Voices drummer, Kevin March, to Hunter Lombard. Along with live drummer Tony Franco, the three songwriters and musicians have been hailed by The New York Times as “effective miners of late-80s and early-90s indie rock, with a ferocious lead guitarist…and a kinetic lead singer.” They have played various legendary NYC venues, including The Living Room and The Bowery Ballroom, where they opened for art-punk heroes, Shudder to Think. The band is set to release their long-awaited, debut album at The Knitting Factory in NYC on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. PopWreckoning chatted with the trio about how the band formed, their first show, and what we can expect from The Nowherenauts in the future. 

Also, The Nowherenauts are giving one lucky PopWreckoning reader the chance to win a pair of tickets to the CD release party. In the interview below, the Nowherenauts share their favorite NYC venues. To enter, comment and tell us your favorite venue by May 2 at 2  p.m. EST. We’ll pick a winner then. Please use a valid email address.

Brianna Hernandez, PopWreckoning: You hail from NYC and met when you were very young. How did you meet and how old were you?
Hunter Lombard, The Nowherenauts: I met Sofie and Anders at a music school in the city when I was 12 years old.
Anders Kapur, The Nowherenauts: Sophie and I met Hunter in like 2006 or 2007. So at this point, we’ve all been playing music together in some capacity for at least four years.

PW: When did you each start playing an instrument? What are your musical backgrounds?
Hunter: I started playing guitar when I was 10. Jack White was a huge influence as a guitar player.
Anders: I started playing bass in 6th grade. A bunch of my friends had a cover band together, and, feeling left out, I borrowed a shitty bass from my friend’s dad so I could learn to play. My musical evolution pretty much followed that of your typical rocker kid; I started playing and loving classic rock like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and through the years my tastes and playing style have gravitated more toward modern sounds.
Sofie Kapur: I started playing violin when I was in second grade, but stopped around the time I started singing and taking piano lessons, when I was eleven. My dad’s dad played jazz piano and my mom’s dad loved classical music so there’s a little bit of both influences there. Also, my parents always loved music and played pretty much everything they liked when we were younger, like: New Order, The Who, Dar Williams, and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few. It was a very wide range though.

PW: How did Kevin March of Guided By Voices influence you to start a band?
Anders: Kevin taught at the music program where Sofie and I met Hunter, so I guess he recognized our potential from our time there. Kevin brought us all together as a sort of “music experiment,” and we kind of grew into our own from there. He’s been a huge help and we wouldn’t be where we are without him.
Sofie: Kevin’s vision and inspiration is what got us together in the first place, otherwise Anders and I may have never played with Hunter.

PW: What is the story behind the name, The Nowherenauts?
Anders: Well, we had a different name, Blame the Patient, but due to some unfortunate, unforeseen circumstances we had to change it. So we’d be on stage and people would yell “What band are you guys?” and someone else would shout, “They’re Blame the Patient!” And we’d say, “No we’re not!” That evolved into NowhereNauts, and it stuck.

PW: Critics have noted your 80′s and 90′s sound. Is that how would you describe your sound and style?
Hunter: As a band, we’re definitely influenced by music from the 80s and 90s, but each of us has such different tastes in music that we like to think that our sound isn’t pigeonholed into one era or genre.
Anders: I guess it’s a fair comparison, because that stuff definitely does influence us. But I don’t know how I’d describe our sound. It’s difficult. There are a lot of influences in there. We’re just trying to make music that everyone can enjoy!

PW: What was your first show like?
Anders: Our first show was a mess. We were all in high school back then, and we played this showcase at the Cake Shop with a bunch of other high school bands from around NYC. Pretty much every other band there wanted to borrow a piece of our gear, we couldn’t hear ourselves, and I’m pretty sure I broke a bass string in the middle of the set. But it was still a fun experience. Hey, you gotta start somewhere.
Sofie: It was nerve-wracking primarily because we had never played our own music for anyone before. We had practiced together and were used to that, but playing a song you wrote for complete strangers can be scary, especially when it’s a new experience.

PW: NYC is a such a great hub for live music. What have been some of your favorite places to play? How are The Nowherenauts able to stand out among all the other NYC bands?
Hunter: My favorite place to play, so far, has been the Bowery Ballroom. We played there opening for Shudder to Think a few years ago. The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn also has a really cool stage and great sound.
Anders: NYC is THE place to be if you’re a musician. We’ve had the opportunity to play at the Bowery Ballroom and the Mercury Lounge, which are both awesome venues that are also humbling to play as well. But we’ve also played smaller and more intimate shows at places like Spike Hill (in Williamsburg) and the Rock Shop that are always a lot of fun too. So far, we’ve mostly played in opening slots, so our goal for those shows is to make our act impossible to follow. The comment I keep hearing is “You guys are really tight!” It comes from college students, 20-something hipsters, elderly, high school kids, small children, scenesters, metalheads, people who just happen to be hanging out at the bar at the venue we’re playing…. If that broad a range of people care enough to tell me that after our shows, I figure we must be doing something right!

PW: If you weren’t playing music in The Nowherenauts, what would you be doing?
Hunter: I would still be making music. I would probably have another band and hope that everyone loved playing music as much as I do.
Anders: That’s a possible scenario? I guess I’d have to be playing music is some other band.
Sofie: I honestly have no idea. Possibly perpetually competing with my twin sister.

PW: What is your creative process like when you are writing a song and creating music?
Hunter: It varies. Sometimes one of us will bring in an idea and we’ll all work on it, but other times we’ll just get to rehearsal and jam until we have a song.
Sofie: Usually we come up with music and melodies and the lyrics follow. Everyone suggests ideas and plays around until we hit on something we like. It’s not until we have the basic idea that we start to really give the song a form and meaning lyric-wise.

PW: Who/What inspires your music and lyrics?
Hunter: Television and movies. I came up with the riff for “Delightfully Distracted” while I was watching Hannah and Her Sisters. I like to write lyrics with a specific character or relationship in mind, but personal experiences and people I know always help too.
Anders: We all have very different backgrounds, and I think that comes through in our writing. Hunter’s guitar playing is very influenced by Jack White and St. Vincent. I like to think of my bass playing as halfway between Peter Hook and Matt Sharp (from Weezer). And nobody can seem to pin Sofie’s influences down, which makes for something very original and interesting.
Sofie: For a lot of my melodies I listen to other singers and if there are little hooks or stylistic things they use I’ll try to capture the essence of those bits. I also try to write some lyrics as I work on melodies and polish them later. They come from books I’m reading and ideas I have. I also try to take my point of view on a situation and twist it or flip it so what I’m singing is more interesting. In fact, sometimes I even combine thoughts or experiences in one song or line to get the right mood.

PW: Who/What are you currently listening to?
Hunter: Recently I’ve been listening to Austra, Tune-Yards, Twin Shadow, Washed Out, The Avalanches, and Fever Ray.
Anders: Maybe it’s a reaction to everyone comparing us to bands from the 80s and 90s, I don’t know, but I’ve gotten more and more into that music recently. So a lot of Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., New Order, Wire, early Weezer, stuff like that. I’ve also been getting deep into a wide range of Brazilian music. But no matter what it is, rock, folk, psychedelic, samba, cheesy popular dance music like Forró, it’s all united by a strong rhythm section. As a bass player, I’m really drawn to that
Sofie: I just recently bought three albums down in Chapel Hill, NC. One was a Yeah Yeah Yeahs album and I’ve been listening to that nonstop for the past week. I tend to listen to albums I like to death. Then I listen to them some more

PW: What does the remainder of 2011 have in store for The Nowherenauts?
Anders: We have our record release on May 4 at the Knitting Factory, so after that, just gigging around and seeing where the year takes us! Writing and recording perhaps? A second album? I’m excited for whatever comes our way.
Sofie: The album release show is a looming event. We’re working like mad to be ready for it. After that we’re hoping we can keep playing and building our fan base. We have to get our music out there so that’s priority number one at the moment; let people listen and hope that they like our sound.