In Rainbows | Radiohead

Release Date: Oct 10, 2007
Genres: Alternative Rock
Number Of Tracks: 10
This is the OK Computer of the new millenium. Every song is perfectly fitting, there isn't a misplaced track, and everything synches into perfection.
Sound: This is it. The album that has caused so much controversy, with it's "Pay What You Want" premise. Thanks to the time difference I got my copy at around 4pm after paying the low low price of 0 pounds for it (I'm broke and I'm getting the discbox for X-mas, so don't hassle me about it). So, I've gotten quite a few listens in this past 18 hours and not that much sleep(midterms aren't that hard, are they) In Rainbows, has been long awaited by Radiohead fans for the past four and a half years and up until 10 days ago, we all thought it wasn't coming out until March. Lucky us! Radiohead, is one of the only modern major-label bands to release an album without a label, so they have complete creative control and no deadlines. What has come out of this can only be described as Radiohead. This album is pure Radiohead. The mellow, cryptic, electronic, progressive-but-they-don't-like-to-be-called-that band we fans adore. Thom Yorke has said this albums is "almost embarassingly minimal" and he's almost right. It's like someone took every Radiohead album, put them in a blender and ran it through a strainer. It's minimalistic but in every good sense of the world. Like with all records I own, I listen to the record at least three time before I make my mind up about it and I've definitely listened to this album more than three times, so I have a pretty good idea about In Rainbows. This is a must with Radiohead records because you get something completely different out of each listen. I recommend this before you label this album as anything, good or bad.

01. 15 Step - this song caught me quite off guard. It's Radiohead but it isn't. There's this hip-hop-esque synth beat throughout the song but it evolves into a Amnesiac/Hail to the Thief progression and Thom is just rockin' along to it. Then the guitar, bass and drum come in and that's when the song comes alive. My favourite part is when Thom sing "etcetera etcetera" and then the bass follow in.
02. Bodysnatchers - bass intro, sweet. This song gets down to business right away. This song reminds me of the Pablo Honey days but it has the charm of the the more recent experimental releases. The bass has to be the best part of this song and you'll want to tap your toe along to it's groove.
03. Nude - this song has been floating around since the OK Computer days and a couple seconds into the song you'll know why they waited a decade to release it. I always love sons that float around for a couple years before they're released because the end result is usually nothing short of amazing and Nude is another great example of this. The song begins with Thom singing his beautiful falsetto and some backwards parts compliment his voice. Then the rest of the song is mostly Thom and the rhythm section. The guitars make their appearance but even they kinda act like rhythm instruments, complimenting the bass and drums.
04. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi - a live fan favourite for the past couple years and with very good reason. This song has translated very well to the studio. Very mellow track that has a very lively beat. This song is abundant with synth like the last three albums and since it's done in stereo, the effect is very pleasant and unlike some of the tracks from Kid A/Amnesiac, it isn't overwhelming at all, not even to the first time listener.
05. All I Need - another bass intro, but with synth! Simple track with what appears to be a glockenspiel or metalophone in the backround. The chorus is quite catchy and I think if Radiohead wanted to release a single from this album, this song would probably do best chart-wise. But they've never cared about how popular their singles are. Tis why I love Radiohead, they always find a way to stick it to the man.
06. Faust Arp - an acoustic track accompanied by a string quartet. An absolutely beautiful song. I have no idea what Faust Arp is but it is a song that will never cease to send shivers down my spine.
07. Reckoner - this song is driven by cymbals and very high vocals. I'm not sure if Thom is singing in falsetto or not or whether he is harmonizing with himself in falsetto. Either way he is singing really high and it sounds great. The strings return for certain parts but they're not as centric as they were in Faust Arp. It's not the strongest track on the album but it's a lot better than some of the crap that's on the radio these days.
08. House Of Cards - this track is a little more guitar driven than any of the previous tracks and they're is a delay effect that kind of acts as a constant rhythm for the track that plays around with the drums and bass. The instruments each stand out in this track but they work well together, which seems to be a constant throughout In Rainbows.
09. Jigsaw Falling Into Place - acoustic guitar and heavy bass, how can you go wrong? Well, if it's a Radiohead song, you can't. Thom's vocals go from a slow drone to a high belt, which he does to great affect. A very catchy tune. The melody is already stuck in my head and I'm more than happy to give it a permanent home in my cerebellum.
10. Videotape - I bet you thought that the video of Thom in the studio wouldn't translate to studio. I know I was worried, when I saw how awesome his performance was, but my worries have been to lain to rest. The vocals are much clearer in this version and I can hear the words and the emotion more clearly. There is a rhythm with a quick attack and decay and almost no sustain and it acts as a counter to the piano. It may seem out of place on the firt listen but you soon come to realize that it belongs there and it compliments the piano beautifully. // 10

Lyrics: The lyrics range from the weird cryptic lyrics that we Radiohead fans spend hours trying to decipher when we should be doing other things (ex. studying, feeding the dog, putting out the fire in the kitchen) to the simplistic, like All I Need: "all I need is you, all I need is you" and House of Cards: "I don't want to be your friend I want to be your lover." The lyrics compliment the music and vice versa. It's just a wonder how the music and the lyrics capture each other so well. It's the reason why Radiohead continues to sell tonnes of records. Thom's voice is as mellow as always and Ed provide excellent harmonies. The harmonies on the record are not only more abundant but they will blow your mind if you take the time to search for them. // 9

Impression: Like I said, this album is a compilation of all Radiohead has done before but it's been stripped down to great effect. All the instruments, rhythms, and computers stand out but they blend nicely. Like all Radiohead albums, this record takes a couple listens all the way through with your complete and undivided attention to understand. This is the beauty that is Radiohead, it filters out the people who have the attention span of a goldfish and can't be bothered to listen to one track all the way through. The rewards will be grand for anybody who listens to this album a couple times. It gets better each time and I'm sure it will have a permanent place in my top 20 albums that I keep in the car with me for long trips. I will be reviewing the discbox when I get it, so look out for that. On a final note, don't be cheap like me unless you're getting the discbox. I recommend a price of 5 pounds (10 bucks Canadian and American and about 7.5 Euro) as a minimum if you just want the download now. Or you can wait until you get the hard copy in December. // 10

R.E.M. Lacks Direction On New CD

R.E.M. definitely isn’t my favorite band of all time, but if I had to pick one group that epitomized my taste in music, it would be these particular Hall of Famers. They’ve just never released anything I haven’t liked. From Murmur to Out Of Time and everything around and in between, the Georgians have woven through countless genres and produced dozens of incredible tracks. Naturally, I’ve been eagerly awaiting their new album, but news on the general direction has been scarce.

According to Billboard, the disc is roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of the way finished, paving the way for a 2008 release. Mike Mills was recently asked for more details about the project, but in typical R.E.M. fashion, he revealed almost nothing. Later this year, the acclaimed threesome will drop their long awaited live CD/DVD R.E.M. Live; so, expect the anticipation to be at a near frenzy by the time their fourteenth album of new material is released.

Bo Diddley Suffers Heart Attack

The terms originator and pioneer are incredibly overused by today’s media. A band’s importance is often grossly exaggerated, but in the case of Bo Diddley, every piece of praise heaped upon the songwriter is completely deserved. His infamous ‘Bo Diddley’ riff perfectly melded Blues with Rock N Roll, setting the stage for an uncountable number of future musicians. Sadly, Bo has been in poor health the last few years, and his condition seems to be deteriorating.

According to Music-News, the seventy-eight year old suffered a heart attack last week during a visit to the doctor. He was quickly given emergency surgery and moved from intensive to cardiac care. We here at Cinema Blend send out our deepest thoughts to the singer’s family along with his millions of fans effected by these recent health problems.

Bo Diddley’s music has been covered by everyone from The Who to Aerosmith to Creedence Clearwater Revival. He’s opened concerts for The Clash and even appeared in the Dan Akroyd classic Trading Places.

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CD Review: Our Love To Admire

The boys from Interpol are in a dangerous spot. While their two albums have been almost incredulously well received, neither is very different from the other; beyond that, they’re wrapping up a successful North American tour, but they’re apparently disappointing live.

As they release their third album on July 10--hopefully something different from their first two--we think to ourselves, “If this isn’t good, they might just be finished.”

And then we hear Our Love To Admire and remember, “Oh yeah, these guys are good musicians.”

“Babe it's time we gave something new a try,” frontman Paul Banks sings on “No I in Threesome,” coincidentally addressing the exact worries of Interpol fans everywhere. Though for almost the entirety of the album, upon first listen, it doesn’t sound like they’re giving anything new a try. Our Love To Admire starts off as something creepier than what we’re used to, but nothing is really that different.

As the tracks drone on--and they do drone, although it’s about as pleasant as droning can sound--it becomes evident that Interpol’s sound has changed, but only a bit, and very subtly; the musicians are more in control with an overall slower sound. They’ve also taken a few steps to invite closer examination: By emphasizing percussion more than echoing guitars, they’ve developed a deeper, more textured album than we’ve heard from them before.

And then we listen to tracks like “The Heinrich Maneuver” and remember that they’re still capable of fun songs, too, despite their generally slower sound. We hear “Mammoth” and are taken a bit aback--is this the same lead singer? He’s practically whispering at first, until he belts out lines like “Just spare me the suspense/ Now it's enough with this fucking incense,” and things really start to vary up as they show off the tightness of their sound as perfectly as they can.

It’s not until the final track--an almost experimental, radically different song, the likes of which we’ve never heard before--that something clicks. “This space is set to break/ It's just too safe for me outside tonight/ And I want that/ I face the storms at the time/ From the lighthouse”; The vocals sound distant, almost haunted as ambient noise fades in and out each second. Its subject matter is depressing and isolated.

This is not the Interpol we’ve heard before; this sounds like atmospheric post-rock, like Godspeed You Black Emperor or Explosions in the Sky. And as the track finishes, it forces us to reconsider, to take a step back and listen to the album again, perhaps a bit closer: Does the band really sound the same?

source: cinemablend.com

CD Review: Favourite Worst Nightmare

It would be a natural impulse to dislike the Arctic Monkeys on principle. Their debut, last year's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, sold 360,000 copies its first week in England, based on one single, some Internet demos, and a deafening buzz. It became their country's fastest-selling debut CD, making them ''one of the most important British bands of all time,'' to quote one U.K. music writer — a breed known for using hyperbole the way Emeril does garlic.

So dismissing them as another overhyped British act would be understandable — but also wrongheaded, at least if you love loud, fast, witty rock songs. And while their second set, Favourite Worst Nightmare, may not be as revelatory as the first, it's nearly as good, and suggests they may eventually live up to the most impassioned accolades. Still, they have some convincing to do Stateside: Despite ranking high on numerous 2006 best-of lists, Whatever's first-year-plus sales haven't even matched that first week in England.

Nightmare's lead single, ''Brianstorm'' — an oblique dis (or tribute?) to a ladies' man — may not be the best transatlantic come-on lyrically, but it's a musical thrill ride that seems engineered for coke-fired dance-clubbers, with its high-speed high hat, fuzzed-out bass line, explosive heavy-metal opening, and spectacular false ending. No doubt these lads, ranging in age from 20 to 21, can play their riffs, which are steeped (sometimes excessively) in those of grizzled '00s vets like the Strokes and the Vines, with a few older echoes.

But their lyrics set them apart, with verses that can stand alongside those by Stephen Sondheim, Nas, and Dylan Thomas on Wikipedia's internal rhyme page. ''Now the shaggers perform and the daggers are drawn,'' frontman Alex Turner slurs on ''Balaclava.'' The Monkeys grew up on hip-hop, and while they're not rap-rockers, they know how playful poetics and regional flavor can be more pleasurable than mass-market lingua franca.

Whatever shone with details about working-class youth culture in the group's hometown of Sheffield. Nightmare is less culturally specific — a minus. But on the best tracks, when Turner dreams of a distant lover (''...lying on your side, with your hands between your thighs'') or an unhappily reformed party girl (''You used to get it in your fishnets/Now you only get it in your nightdress''), it feels more intimate — a plus. The latter tune sounds like a mere insult until he casually addresses the subject as ''my love,'' and you glimpse a hurt smart-ass counting down his own rabble-rousing days. It's the sort of wisdom, and emotion, of which rock poet laureates are made