Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen
I could just leave it at “you’re going to have to scrape me off the floor with a spatula because I have been flattened by Radiohead love” but where’s the fun in that?
If you want random squealing go to stormantia’s journal here. However, I have chose to present to you an almost-coherent review of Radiohead’s In Rainbows:
01. “15 Step” [lyrics]
Rhythm and blues. You’d think that, with Thom Yorke’s vocals this just wouldn’t work, but the band rises to the occasion. Yorke’s singing is a lot less composed than it usually is - at points you can hear him gasping for breath and it lends this really subtle sense of desperation to the song.
The layering is great - it starts out with just rhythm and vocals, then this sexy as hell guitar riff comes in and yes, if I wasn’t sold yet I totally am now.
Of course that’d be well enough, but in the last minute of the song the add in this totally catchy bass line with these weird suspensions over it and it’s this amazing mix of classic Radiohead and that blues-y style bass and it’s so fucking fun.
This track is just flat-out fun, actually. In that kids-playing-jump-rope-while-a-gigantic-meteor-plummets-towards-the-planet-way.
02. “Bodysnatchers” [lyrics]
Weird, again, because “Bodysnatchers” has the traditional “rock” beat that we honestly don’t see very often. Once again, we get an upbeat track where Yorke’s voice is going a little ragged around the edges.
Of course, it’s not like Radiohead lets it be traditional for very long. About 2 minutes into the track, we get some weird vocals that segue into an instrumental interlude with these vaguely uncomfortably chords and it just goes on, eventually degenerating into lots of weird chords and distorted noise and then Yorke is as close to yelling as it gets and the sound goes this weird kind of desperate that matches the lyrics perfectly.
Also: one of the things that I love about Radiohead is that it seems like the devote a lot to the instruments, so we get these great pieces of instrumental music within the songs. The band isn’t all about “LOL WE GOT A LEAD SINGER YEY” which is something, as a musician myself, I really appreciate.
03. “Nude” [lyrics]
And then we get this gorgeous, lyrical piece with an introduction that reminds me of one of Sarah Brightman’s big, operatic songs. It’s mixed with weird synth whatever-the-hell-you-call-it and these synth strings (or is it a real orchestra?) and it’s just gorgeous.
Then it goes almost simple - plain and to the point without a lot of harmony and it delivers the point-blank message of the lyrics pretty well. There’s some pretty simple guitar arpeggios and some synth stuff that ghosts in and out like it’s barely there and it has this ethereal, really stunning effect on the listener.
And then 2 minutes in there’s this almost choral-type bass stuff going on and it adds so much depth that you didn’t even notice was missing and I don’t know why I think of Barber’s Adagio but I do and then there’s Yorke doing this weird duet thing and you forget what’s a human voice and what isn’t and yeah, I know he’s not going to be belting out Jean Valjean any time soon, but for a rock band Yorke has these gorgeous vocals and this song showcases them amazingly well - perhaps better than any other work of theirs to date.
04. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” [lyrics]
It certainly lives up to its name. That being said, this song is really reminiscent with one of their former tracks - one I can’t happen to think of at this moment but I think it’s something off Amnesiac or Kid A - they both had that lighter instrumentation and the mumbly lyrics. Anyway, this track - not my favorite off the record, though I certainly don’t have a problem with it. I think it gets much more interesting in the last minute or so where Yorke’s voice gets deeper and the instrumentation gets heavier and slightly uneasy and you kind of get a sense of swimming, which also makes sense.
05. “All I Need” [lyrics]
Opens with these deep, warm, synth chords/rhythm whatever that, if anything, reminds me of certain Postal Service tracks.
Except for the Postal Service never has those weird whatthefuck background noises and yes, there are creepy sounds in here that makes “All I Need” almost as creepy as “Climbing Up The Walls” - yes I am your malformed stalker friend that will always be there.
But oh god, around three minutes where the piano is added in and the drums and it’s this lush, gorgeous melodic landscape suddenly it’s not all that creepy, and maybe the serial killer living in your closet really loves you and isn’t going to hack you to bits as soon as you close your eyes.
It’s almost like two contrasting realities - the dejected sociopathic lover/friend/child/whatever in reality, stating these emotions through the lyrics, and then the instrumental representation of these emotions, that portrays the sincerity the words cannot.
06. “Faust ARP” [lyrics]
I’m going to preface this by saying, of all of Hail to the Thief “A Wolf at the Door” was one of my favorite tracks (tied with “Myxomatosis,” actually). One of the things I loved about “A Wolf at the Door” was the style of singing - the lyrics almost tripping over each other trying to get out fast enough, fast enough. “Faust ARP” is like that.
But anyway. Was I the only one who thought of that time honored Dust in the Wind when the first chords started?
But this song is so much more than that. Like “Nude,” “Faust ARP” is a piece of slow, gorgeous music. They’re also not remotely similar beyond that. While “Nude” was point-blank and a little cold, “Faust ARP” has these meltingly beautiful textures within the melody - Radiohead uses strings liberally here, relying on the lower registers of an orchestra rather than something flashier. It adds a warmth, but there’s something reserved about the strings - a lack of really pronounced vibrato and a strong reliance on the lower register that doesn’t let the strings get too warm.
Yorke’s inflections are great as well - you listen to the opening line, and you can hear these weird echoes of sarcasm, in this almost kind of sing-song vitriol or maybe I am imagining things but yes. This is slow and gorgeous and tragic but reserved enough that it doesn’t get sentimental which is what I love about Radiohead.
And Yorke’s vocalizations towards the end of the song? Stunning.
07. “Reckoner” [lyrics]
Normally I detest any sort of high singing in a man - it usually sounds hollow and a little whiny, but here Yorke manages this high, delicate sound without stretching too thin. I’m almost reminded of Gnarls Barkley here, odd as that sounds.
And then in the second stanza of the lyrics there’s this counterpoint that’s introduced and adds this weird double edge to the song and it’s so gloriously creepy and I don’t feel comfortable listening to it but at the same time I cannot get enough of the weird duality.
Also, it’s nice that you have this slow melody underpinned by a fairly upbeat rhythm - it’s a nice contrast between the two and keeps the song from getting boring.
Then the song breaks up about 2 ½ minutes in and I feel like I’m listening to part of “Life In A Glass House” in that good reminiscent way and not that “oh god, more of the same.”
Then they bring in the strings again - this time the violins are in a higher register with more vibrato but there’s still this distance and it’s such a perfect feel. Like the music could go all out but doesn’t and so you’re left to imagine what they’re holding back.
There’s just so many layers going on here - so much variety that it’s hard to hit on it all at once and of all the tracks on In Rainbows this one has some of the most re-listening potential. I’ve been through it ten times and every time I find something new.
08. “House Of Cards” [lyrics]
My least favorite of all the tracks; I probably would enjoy it more if it weren’t 5 ½ minutes long. Or, even if it were along the lines of “Paranoid Android” where there’s almost sections that are drastically different and all of them interesting. Not so much here.
It’s like “hm, this wouldn’t be bad - actually enjoyable - if … this song … weren’t … still … playing? Why is it still playing? Nothing’s … happening” and not all of the whatthefuckery in the background is going to make up for it - sort of the same issue I have with “The National Anthem” off Kid A, or some of the stuff of The Eraser which, while I liked well enough, I wasn’t any great fan of.
So, we’ve got this laid-back almost vaguely - tropical (?) sort-of feel going. I’m digging it. I’m also … kinda … falling asleep. And vaguely reminded of The Arcade Fire in … not really a good way.
09. “Jigsaw Falling into Place” [lyrics]
This is another one of my immediate favorites - the song starts off distant and just gets progressively more desperate.
“Jigsaw Falling into Place” relies a lot more heavily on vocal innovation than any kind of really drastic instrumental changes. At the beginning of the song, Yorke starts off singing rather distantly - that same kind of reserved feeling that accompanies a lot of the CD.
The first stanza is very matter of fact: this is what is happening. Yorke is almost just speaking - almost like this is a reality he doesn’t want to deal with at the moment and
Then the third stanza starts and you hear more gasping - Yorke starts this singing-yelling that we get a lot of in Hail to the Thief and there’s the same duality of the former speaking-singing and the current singing-yelling like the speaker cannot decide whether to let go or not. And the line “come on and let it out” means so much in the musical context.
By the time you get to the final actual “stanza” Yorke is full-fledged in his singing-yelling tone and the duality is gone; his voice desperate and waxing melodic and sliding up to these high, beautiful notes, and not only is it the high point of the song it’s almost the high point of the entire CD.
There’s so much about the mind in here and while the song itself is melodically pleasing, it’s the psychological aspect that truly renders it a gorgeous piece of art.
10. “Videotape” [lyrics]
And this is the winding-down.
We’re given a subdued 4-chord piano part that sometimes has this lower register added and sometimes doesn’t. Overlaid is a simplistic melody - there’s not a demanding range and there’s nothing fancy about it. We’re back to the reserved speaker, holding everything back. And yeah, first time I was worried.
But about 1 ½ minute into in the song there’s this layering of rhythm and about 15 seconds layer there’s some wordless vocal harmonizing going on and it’s gorgeous and tragic and then Yorke’s voice cuts through all of this by coming in with the second half of the lyrics most, but not all of this stuff fades out and the piano has similar chords, but they’re a little darker and it fades out on one single, cold understated chord.
Overall?
Unlike its direct predecessor, Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows isn’t quite as heavy. If I had to cite the closest comparable album it’d be Amnesiac, or perhaps Thom Yorke’s solo album The Eraser, but In Rainbows transcends both of these - for one, there’s a refined feeling to In Rainbows that Amnesiac doesn’t have (indeed, Amnesiac feels more like a collection of b-sides than a true, blue album to me) and there’s the fullness of Radiohead that the Eraser lacks.
But, comparisons aside, In Rainbows is simply gorgeous - each track is a gem and moreover, all of the tracks work well in concert to present an album that has themes of isolation, alienation and distance. Moreover, musically, the tracks are diverse enough that they remain each individual and interesting, but also blend well together - something that Radiohead has been doing wonderfully ever since OK Computer.
Like Modest Mouse’s 2007 album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, Radiohead’s In Rainbows may have taken the spot for my favorite Radiohead album to date. What with these two albums and Bright Eyes' Cassadaga 2007 simply has been an awesome year for new albums that are both innovative and show oodles of musical improvement. Modest Mouse is slowly maturing, and Radiohead is just getting better.
Anyway, In Rainbows: it is simply amazing, and if you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can get it here. For free! Though, if you’re a really great person you’ll support this utterly amazing band and shell out at lest £5.00 ($10) for it. And if anyone is wondering: yes, I paid £8.00 for the download.
Anyway, thoughts?
If you want random squealing go to stormantia’s journal here. However, I have chose to present to you an almost-coherent review of Radiohead’s In Rainbows:
01. “15 Step” [lyrics]
Rhythm and blues. You’d think that, with Thom Yorke’s vocals this just wouldn’t work, but the band rises to the occasion. Yorke’s singing is a lot less composed than it usually is - at points you can hear him gasping for breath and it lends this really subtle sense of desperation to the song.
The layering is great - it starts out with just rhythm and vocals, then this sexy as hell guitar riff comes in and yes, if I wasn’t sold yet I totally am now.
Of course that’d be well enough, but in the last minute of the song the add in this totally catchy bass line with these weird suspensions over it and it’s this amazing mix of classic Radiohead and that blues-y style bass and it’s so fucking fun.
This track is just flat-out fun, actually. In that kids-playing-jump-rope-while-a-gigantic-meteor-plummets-towards-the-planet-way.
02. “Bodysnatchers” [lyrics]
Weird, again, because “Bodysnatchers” has the traditional “rock” beat that we honestly don’t see very often. Once again, we get an upbeat track where Yorke’s voice is going a little ragged around the edges.
Of course, it’s not like Radiohead lets it be traditional for very long. About 2 minutes into the track, we get some weird vocals that segue into an instrumental interlude with these vaguely uncomfortably chords and it just goes on, eventually degenerating into lots of weird chords and distorted noise and then Yorke is as close to yelling as it gets and the sound goes this weird kind of desperate that matches the lyrics perfectly.
Also: one of the things that I love about Radiohead is that it seems like the devote a lot to the instruments, so we get these great pieces of instrumental music within the songs. The band isn’t all about “LOL WE GOT A LEAD SINGER YEY” which is something, as a musician myself, I really appreciate.
03. “Nude” [lyrics]
And then we get this gorgeous, lyrical piece with an introduction that reminds me of one of Sarah Brightman’s big, operatic songs. It’s mixed with weird synth whatever-the-hell-you-call-it and these synth strings (or is it a real orchestra?) and it’s just gorgeous.
Then it goes almost simple - plain and to the point without a lot of harmony and it delivers the point-blank message of the lyrics pretty well. There’s some pretty simple guitar arpeggios and some synth stuff that ghosts in and out like it’s barely there and it has this ethereal, really stunning effect on the listener.
And then 2 minutes in there’s this almost choral-type bass stuff going on and it adds so much depth that you didn’t even notice was missing and I don’t know why I think of Barber’s Adagio but I do and then there’s Yorke doing this weird duet thing and you forget what’s a human voice and what isn’t and yeah, I know he’s not going to be belting out Jean Valjean any time soon, but for a rock band Yorke has these gorgeous vocals and this song showcases them amazingly well - perhaps better than any other work of theirs to date.
04. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” [lyrics]
It certainly lives up to its name. That being said, this song is really reminiscent with one of their former tracks - one I can’t happen to think of at this moment but I think it’s something off Amnesiac or Kid A - they both had that lighter instrumentation and the mumbly lyrics. Anyway, this track - not my favorite off the record, though I certainly don’t have a problem with it. I think it gets much more interesting in the last minute or so where Yorke’s voice gets deeper and the instrumentation gets heavier and slightly uneasy and you kind of get a sense of swimming, which also makes sense.
05. “All I Need” [lyrics]
Opens with these deep, warm, synth chords/rhythm whatever that, if anything, reminds me of certain Postal Service tracks.
Except for the Postal Service never has those weird whatthefuck background noises and yes, there are creepy sounds in here that makes “All I Need” almost as creepy as “Climbing Up The Walls” - yes I am your malformed stalker friend that will always be there.
But oh god, around three minutes where the piano is added in and the drums and it’s this lush, gorgeous melodic landscape suddenly it’s not all that creepy, and maybe the serial killer living in your closet really loves you and isn’t going to hack you to bits as soon as you close your eyes.
It’s almost like two contrasting realities - the dejected sociopathic lover/friend/child/whatever in reality, stating these emotions through the lyrics, and then the instrumental representation of these emotions, that portrays the sincerity the words cannot.
06. “Faust ARP” [lyrics]
I’m going to preface this by saying, of all of Hail to the Thief “A Wolf at the Door” was one of my favorite tracks (tied with “Myxomatosis,” actually). One of the things I loved about “A Wolf at the Door” was the style of singing - the lyrics almost tripping over each other trying to get out fast enough, fast enough. “Faust ARP” is like that.
But anyway. Was I the only one who thought of that time honored Dust in the Wind when the first chords started?
But this song is so much more than that. Like “Nude,” “Faust ARP” is a piece of slow, gorgeous music. They’re also not remotely similar beyond that. While “Nude” was point-blank and a little cold, “Faust ARP” has these meltingly beautiful textures within the melody - Radiohead uses strings liberally here, relying on the lower registers of an orchestra rather than something flashier. It adds a warmth, but there’s something reserved about the strings - a lack of really pronounced vibrato and a strong reliance on the lower register that doesn’t let the strings get too warm.
Yorke’s inflections are great as well - you listen to the opening line, and you can hear these weird echoes of sarcasm, in this almost kind of sing-song vitriol or maybe I am imagining things but yes. This is slow and gorgeous and tragic but reserved enough that it doesn’t get sentimental which is what I love about Radiohead.
And Yorke’s vocalizations towards the end of the song? Stunning.
07. “Reckoner” [lyrics]
Normally I detest any sort of high singing in a man - it usually sounds hollow and a little whiny, but here Yorke manages this high, delicate sound without stretching too thin. I’m almost reminded of Gnarls Barkley here, odd as that sounds.
And then in the second stanza of the lyrics there’s this counterpoint that’s introduced and adds this weird double edge to the song and it’s so gloriously creepy and I don’t feel comfortable listening to it but at the same time I cannot get enough of the weird duality.
Also, it’s nice that you have this slow melody underpinned by a fairly upbeat rhythm - it’s a nice contrast between the two and keeps the song from getting boring.
Then the song breaks up about 2 ½ minutes in and I feel like I’m listening to part of “Life In A Glass House” in that good reminiscent way and not that “oh god, more of the same.”
Then they bring in the strings again - this time the violins are in a higher register with more vibrato but there’s still this distance and it’s such a perfect feel. Like the music could go all out but doesn’t and so you’re left to imagine what they’re holding back.
There’s just so many layers going on here - so much variety that it’s hard to hit on it all at once and of all the tracks on In Rainbows this one has some of the most re-listening potential. I’ve been through it ten times and every time I find something new.
08. “House Of Cards” [lyrics]
My least favorite of all the tracks; I probably would enjoy it more if it weren’t 5 ½ minutes long. Or, even if it were along the lines of “Paranoid Android” where there’s almost sections that are drastically different and all of them interesting. Not so much here.
It’s like “hm, this wouldn’t be bad - actually enjoyable - if … this song … weren’t … still … playing? Why is it still playing? Nothing’s … happening” and not all of the whatthefuckery in the background is going to make up for it - sort of the same issue I have with “The National Anthem” off Kid A, or some of the stuff of The Eraser which, while I liked well enough, I wasn’t any great fan of.
So, we’ve got this laid-back almost vaguely - tropical (?) sort-of feel going. I’m digging it. I’m also … kinda … falling asleep. And vaguely reminded of The Arcade Fire in … not really a good way.
09. “Jigsaw Falling into Place” [lyrics]
This is another one of my immediate favorites - the song starts off distant and just gets progressively more desperate.
“Jigsaw Falling into Place” relies a lot more heavily on vocal innovation than any kind of really drastic instrumental changes. At the beginning of the song, Yorke starts off singing rather distantly - that same kind of reserved feeling that accompanies a lot of the CD.
The first stanza is very matter of fact: this is what is happening. Yorke is almost just speaking - almost like this is a reality he doesn’t want to deal with at the moment and
Then the third stanza starts and you hear more gasping - Yorke starts this singing-yelling that we get a lot of in Hail to the Thief and there’s the same duality of the former speaking-singing and the current singing-yelling like the speaker cannot decide whether to let go or not. And the line “come on and let it out” means so much in the musical context.
By the time you get to the final actual “stanza” Yorke is full-fledged in his singing-yelling tone and the duality is gone; his voice desperate and waxing melodic and sliding up to these high, beautiful notes, and not only is it the high point of the song it’s almost the high point of the entire CD.
There’s so much about the mind in here and while the song itself is melodically pleasing, it’s the psychological aspect that truly renders it a gorgeous piece of art.
10. “Videotape” [lyrics]
And this is the winding-down.
We’re given a subdued 4-chord piano part that sometimes has this lower register added and sometimes doesn’t. Overlaid is a simplistic melody - there’s not a demanding range and there’s nothing fancy about it. We’re back to the reserved speaker, holding everything back. And yeah, first time I was worried.
But about 1 ½ minute into in the song there’s this layering of rhythm and about 15 seconds layer there’s some wordless vocal harmonizing going on and it’s gorgeous and tragic and then Yorke’s voice cuts through all of this by coming in with the second half of the lyrics most, but not all of this stuff fades out and the piano has similar chords, but they’re a little darker and it fades out on one single, cold understated chord.
Overall?
Unlike its direct predecessor, Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows isn’t quite as heavy. If I had to cite the closest comparable album it’d be Amnesiac, or perhaps Thom Yorke’s solo album The Eraser, but In Rainbows transcends both of these - for one, there’s a refined feeling to In Rainbows that Amnesiac doesn’t have (indeed, Amnesiac feels more like a collection of b-sides than a true, blue album to me) and there’s the fullness of Radiohead that the Eraser lacks.
But, comparisons aside, In Rainbows is simply gorgeous - each track is a gem and moreover, all of the tracks work well in concert to present an album that has themes of isolation, alienation and distance. Moreover, musically, the tracks are diverse enough that they remain each individual and interesting, but also blend well together - something that Radiohead has been doing wonderfully ever since OK Computer.
Like Modest Mouse’s 2007 album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, Radiohead’s In Rainbows may have taken the spot for my favorite Radiohead album to date. What with these two albums and Bright Eyes' Cassadaga 2007 simply has been an awesome year for new albums that are both innovative and show oodles of musical improvement. Modest Mouse is slowly maturing, and Radiohead is just getting better.
Anyway, In Rainbows: it is simply amazing, and if you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can get it here. For free! Though, if you’re a really great person you’ll support this utterly amazing band and shell out at lest £5.00 ($10) for it. And if anyone is wondering: yes, I paid £8.00 for the download.
Anyway, thoughts?