Radiohead - Kid A
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Free Music Notes for Kid A
Free Music Review: The "Sgt Pepper" of my generation.
Hit: 5 Stars
Whether you like it or not, you NEED to buy this album. Because as far as pop music goes, Radiohead are BY FAR the best thing going right now, and NO ONE deserves your hard-earned money than Thom and co.Now then... on to the album.
Okay. "Kid A" is music for the new millennium (as opposed to, I might add, the ACTUAL "Millennium"). "Future rock" I guess we should call it. It's new, it's different, and it's like NOTHING I've ever heard before. You sit there listening and you think "How'd they DO that?". Great CD booklet too. If you take out the black plastic that holds the CD you'll find ANOTHER twenty-something page booklet for some reason. And the album cover is nice and spooky. A mountain range rendered futuristic with abstract colors and stuff. The old and the new in the same world.
Lyricwise, Thom's still way off in paranoialand, but this time the lyrics are much more oblique (is that the right word?). Rumor has it that the lyrics are 100% percent random, but that's okay because the lyrics fit the mood perfectly, even though there's no conceptual unity like there was on "OK Computer".
Song-by-song:
- "Everything in its right place" sets the mood with electric piano and cut-up DJ Shadow-esque vocals.
- What IS that instrument they're playing at the beginning of "Kid A" (the song)? Sounds like some kind of baby music box or something. Like the drums in this one, too.
- There's the awesome Awesome AWESOME headache-inducing (which is exactly the POINT) horn scream blasts at the end of "The National Anthem." Thom has said in interviews that the horn players were told to imagine themselves being stuck in a traffic jam for four hours and the feeling of totally going off on somebody, that's what the horn section does just right at the end of "The National Anthem."
- Then right after that your headache is cured with the nice ballad "How To Disappear Completely". I guess you'd call this the album's equivalent to "Bulletproof... I Wish I Was." Soothing and pretty, which is a complete antithesis to the "I'm not here, this is not happening." recurring lyric. I guess. Thom's best performance on the whole album. He sings it like he means it. He's got charisma.
- "Treefingers" sounds like "ambient" stuff, but I don't really know what "ambient" stuff is. Music to fall asleep to. I dig.
- I also really like the completely unexpected groove thingy that happens at the end of "Optimistic". The album's only accessible "rock" song. But even this has a guitar solo with only one note (chord? I'm not exactly Mr Guitar expert so I wouldn't know...) repeated over and over again. How accessible is that?
- The nice little arpeggiated guitar melody that's played throughout "In Limbo" is AWESOME. "Lost At Sea" is a better title for it. Would have fit well between "Electioneering" and "Climbing Up The Walls" on OK Computer. Scary ending, too. How do they get these sounds?
- "Idioteque" is a dance number, but not really because it doesn't make me dance. When I want to dance I put on "One Nation Under A Groove", not Radiohead. GREAT sound effects on here. Women and children first.
- "Morning Bell". Not too much to say about this one. "Cut the kids in half??" The drums get cut up near the end and the arpeggiated notes from "In Limbo" make a guest appearance. LOVE the guitar screams used for like a split second near the end. Sounds like the ghost section in Pink Floyd's "Echoes." They should use that more often!!
- "Motion Picture Soundtrack". Hmmm... Well THIS certainly doesn't sound like pop music!! Harps? A whole orchestra? Choir? How do they do this without making it become pretentious? After about twenty seconds of silence there's a hidden track (a la "Second Coming" or "Abbey Road") but it's only like thirty seconds long. Sounds like theme music for a movie during the credits.
The final verdict? Great great great!! Weird AND original!! "Kid A" should influence other pop groups to start taking risks again and inject some much-needed innovation into generic pop music. And hopefully it will FINALLY be the saviour of rock as we know it, the "Nevermind" of today, because I don't know how much more I can stand of this MTV teen pop and metal stuff. Oh speaking of MTV, did you know that Radiohead are making NO videos, putting out NO singles, and only giving THREE interviews in promoting this album? That is a REALLY cool thing for a pop group to do these days. No sell outs indeed. THAT'S why everybody has to buy this album and tell your friends how great it is, so that it won't go straight to #1 the first week and then drop down to number ninety-seven or something the next week because all the hardcore fans had already gotten theirs (a la Nine Inch Nails' "The Fragile"). You should even be a REAL fan and buy it twice! I did!
Free Music Review: Brilliance achieves beauty
Hit: 5 Stars
I bought "Kid A" after buying the amazing "OK Computer," somewhat knowing what to expect. Though I got what I wanted, I got so much more.The critics lauded "OK Computer" as one of the greatest albums of the 90s, calling Radiohead genius and limit pushers. Surely if Radiohead had made "OK Computer II" the fans would have loved it, the concerts would be sold out in a flash, and the critics would have still ate it up.
So what does Radiohead do? They go back to the studio for a long period of time and produce "Kid A," an album that totally departs from anything Radiohead has done in the past, and album that takes a patient, artistic ear to appreciate. "Kid A" contains few real verses or refrains, no hooks, and usually just a build up of electronica or maybe one simple guitar chord repeated over and over. "Kid A" is airy, concept-full, disembodied, and a little inaccessible. It seems as though a lot of people think that this album is just something the critics liked because Radiohead did it, and that it was so different. I beg to differ. The album really took some deep thinking to create.
There are no real "songs" in the traditional sense; in fact, nearly the entire album literally flows together, switching from one direction to another gracefully and slowly. There are no stand-out tracks that are pleasing to listen to; you have to absorb the sometimes off-key, out-of-tune music slowly. 'Everything In Its Right Place' (such an appropriate title, because you know that that's not true) opens with just a few minor-key electric piano chords, which sound too easy to be on a huge artist's album. And then a whole bunch of heavly synthed "voices" are heard, and Yorke is just singing a lot of "blips, blehs," and "bluhs." This continues and gets even more synthed and alien on the bell-looped 'Kid A,' which sounds something like a future lullaby diddy for children (or clones, as the case may be). 'The National Anthem' finally lets guitars come into the melody, but only the bass, layered against spooky sounding whooshes of synths. And also on this track Yorke's vocals actually sound somewhat human. Then, midway through the track, these off-key brass and wind instruments start buzzing in, out of tune with each other. Towards the end, it sounds as though the whole brass band is willingly walking off of a cliff. 'How To Disappear Completely,' my favorite, is a song with a simple guitar chord, and a far-off sad synthesizer slowly screaming in tune with Yorke's angstful voice (just listen to him sing over and over "...I'm not here... this isn't happening")- he just sounds so mellow, but hopeful at the same time. 'Treefingers' is your average ambient song, sounding extremely similar to the work of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp. 'Optimistic' sounds almost- almost like your average Radiohead song, full of far-off guitars and average Yorke vocals. The dizzy, sometimes haze-like 'In Limbo' is the ultimate song if you've just come off of a roller coaster (it'll only make you more sick to your stomach). 'Idioteque' is the closest Radiohead ever got to a pure techno song, but this has a soul to it. It has a wishy, repetitive percussive sound to it; oversampled is something like a drawn-out bell sound. 'Morning Bell' seems to be other reviewers favorites, but I guess it's a little too avant-garde and dark for me, with a minor, evil sounding chord and Yorke singing "...cut the children in half..." The album ends with a track ('Motion Picture Soundtrack) that sounds something like a funeral song, with and organ and a harp in the melody. Also, a hidden 'track' occurs at the back of the album, which sounds something like all the tracks mixed into one as they float to heaven. It's almost as if this album is conceived in 'Everything In Its Right Place,' born in 'Kid A,' and dies and then resurrects in 'Motion Picture Soundtrack.' Now for an album to do that, well, it's got to be pretty interesting.
I suppose this album is about the dangers of cloning and playing God, but it's not really that easy to decode. It is VERY avant-garde and only the most unrefined, open-minded ears will appreciate this album. However, don't get too much into this album, because if you listen to it straight through without stopping, you'll find that it took you somewhere way out there, in the loose fabrics of reality, but you're not sure where. And if you stay out there too long, I'm afraid there could be long term side affects.
Free Music Review: A quantum leap from even OK Computer
Hit: 5 Stars
The most anticipated release of the year is finally here and wow is it ever here. Radiohead the best act of my generation and Kid A both cements that and makes me wonder if they're even rock anymore. Gone are the stormy riffs that defined The Bends and were still in force on OK Computer. Replacing them are a variety of analog synthesizers and dense sonic collages. I had heard about Radiohead's infatuation with contemporary electronic music/Techno/IDM and was both excited and concerned that the influence could sound gimmicky. Fortunately, Radiohead has a genuine feel for what people like Aphex Twin, Autechre, and Boards of Canada have been creating and the result is an influence that is both lived-in and taken to a new level. The first track, "Everything in the Right Place" announces the arrival of a new Radiohead very, very softly. With a synthesizer loop that is almost a dead ringer for Boards of Canada's "Olson" the song has a wonderful hazy quality. This is augmented by heavy distortion of Thom Yorke's vocals only to have to gradually fade in to understandability. The song sounds drenched in a haze that is prevalent for the whole album. Gorgeous.
"Kid A" comes in with a riff on a treated piano and again has vocals so distorted they are almost a texture.
"The National Anthem" slams in with an almost punkish bass riff and is the most tension-filled songs on the disc. Its one of the few that most would immediately pin on Radiohead. Still no vocals without effect though. Here they're processed in a way that makes them sound like the echo in a freezer chamber. Clearly this an album about creating a palette of enjoyable sounds. Ambience and mood, if you will.
Finally on "How to Disappear Completely" we get a taste of Thom Yorke without disruption. Its worth the wait and even augmented by virtue of being placed this deep in the album. There's also gentle acoustic guitar. This is probably the song most reminiscent of OK Computer. Still with some eerie string drones and the lack of a standard verse/chorus structure its definitely fits in with the rest of Kid A. The song just builds and builds over a slow march. Eventually incoporated disorted brass flourishes.
"Treefingers" concludes side A with a completely instrumental cut that wouldn't be out of place on Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Work Vol. II". Beautiful melody lines juxtaposed with ominous tones.
Side B starts with the album's most straightforward song "Optimistic," a mid-tempo rocker without unprocessed vocals (though they are fairly back in the mix).
"In Limbo" is probably my favorite song on the album and ranks with "Fake Plastic Trees" and as my favorite Radiohead song ever. Its got a gorgeous, echoey arpeggiated guitar riff/loop with touches from a Fender Rhodes. There's also a recurring sample that sounds like the soundtrack from an early Nintendo game. Great unintelligible lyrics by Yorke again as the song keeps taking on more and more until it builds to a dense crescendo of drones.
"Idioteque" has an intro thats straight from Autechre of Funkstorung. I pegged this for another excursion in textural instrumentals, but no. Its got the most direct and up front Yorke vocals of the album. Sheer brilliance too. His voice is double-tracked and mimicks the robotic rhythmic underpinnings of the song.
"Morning Bell" has a minor-keyed but soothing synth line and some eventual guitar. Another great one. Finally, "Motion Picture Soundtrack" closes the album in style with a dirge like organ melody and dirgy vocals that gradually incorporate a choral backing with some nice harp arpeggios.
In spite of the previous songs being described in the sounds that make them up the reason this album absolutely brilliant is that all the songs seemlessly blend and wind up sounding like a whole lot more than a collage. Its an album thats really hard to even categorize, and is very different from any of their other work. Kid A is so brilliant I think nearly all of their open-minded fans will love it, but for those of you who thought OK Computer was short on guitar, you may be disappointed by this release. Kid A is quite simply the most groundbreaking pop/rock album I've heard since about 1991 and is an even better listen.
Free Music Review: Is it better than OK Computer? Who cares!
Hit: 5 Stars
Radiohead's Kid A was 2000's most longawaited album, & for a bloody good reason. If any of you haven't noticed, after the release of 1997's OK Computer artists all around the US, the UK & northern Europe started to treat music differently. All of a sudden every single band on the planet was combining guitars with electronic soundeffects & oblique, Thom Yorkesque lyrics in attempt to get the same attention OK Computer got. & the media, particularly the British one, was just as bad. All of a sudden semigood balladrock bands such as Coldplay or Travis were enthroned as the new Radiohead, just for doing the same thing they always did. OK Computer changed the face of music as we know it, forever. & Radiohead themselves, particularly Thom Yorke, loathed every moment of the sudden fame. That's why Kid A was a smack in the face for both critics & listeners- An antipromotional hyped, exceedingly difficult album, who seems to be on a completely another level- Not only compared to OK Computer, The Bends or even the soso Pablo Honey, but also compared to everything else released in between OK Computer & Kid A. Once you get thru Stanley Donwood's astral/appalling artwork (You won't be able to sleep for a while after you'll take a peek in the hidden booklet, which is to be found only on the initial pressings), you'll discover, as one critic put it, what nightmares are made of- As the first track, the unrest "Everything In Its Right Place" plays you'll get the exact opposite feeling- That nothing is in fact in its right place- But without a sense of cynicism. If you still haven't felt shivers when you heard lines such as "Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon" or "There are two colours in my head", the subsequent electrofreaky titletrack will sure make you cringe, with lyrics such as "We've got heads on sticks & you got ventriloquists". Just when you thought you can't get darker than that comes "The National Anthem"- A perfect antianthem, that manages to deliver panic once again- Only this time it comes with a catchy guitarriff & a cacophony Charlie Mignus horns ending, & with surprisingly "transparent" lyrics ("Everyone is so near/Everyone has got the fear/What's going on?"). "How To Disappear Completely" turns out to be the Kid A equivalent to OK Computer's "Exit Music (For A Film)", well more or less- A simple yet poignant ballad, reinforced by strings, with stormy lyrics going hand by hand with a tranquil melody. "Treefingers" sounds like meditation music- A nice interlude, but with the everremaining sense of anxiety inbetween the notes. The Kula Shakerish "Optimistic" then follows & makes us all singalong to cahotic lines such as "The big fish eat the little ones" or "Dinosaurs are roaming the earth" in a way only Radiohead can acheive. After the Blurry outro comes "In Limbo", which seems to be the sequel to "How To Disappear...", only more lost, musically & lyrically. Then comes the best track in the album, in my opinion & also in Thom Yorke's- "Idioteque". An electronic, apocalyptic piece that'll remain stuttering in your head days after the first listen. "Idioteque" transfers into "Morning Bell"- A cryptic electronic (Surprise surprise) song which seems to be written about a divorced couple ("Cut the kids in half"- Says commentator Thom Yorke). The ending track, "Motion Picture Soundtrack", might've letdown the fans who heard the initial version in Radiohead concerts around 1998, but it still makes a nice, somewhat calm ending (It's the only song here who actually manages to sound like a lovesong- Loads of strings, lyrics that deals with cheap sex & sad films, ya know). After the song ends there's a minute of silence, then a minute of noise, which seems to be the remainders of the famous (Well to fans @ least) "Pearly*" B-side. & that's all folks, it's over. Best, most original album of the year 2000. Is it better than OK Computer then? No. It simply can't be compared to OKC as it comes from a very different place, a darker place, not a better one, not a worse one, just... Itself.Free Music Review: Read this review.
Hit: 5 Stars
This is long and boring for probably all of you:I looked in my case of CDs recently and realized that all of the CDs in it I had bought after I bought OK Computer. Before OK Computer, I was a casual music listener, with a small amount of CDs, and not too many opinions on what good music was. I then received OK Computer as a gift. At first, I didn't think it was that special. Some good, some terrible. I kept listening, and I realized that there was so much more in the CD than I first saw. The lyrics, as I started to pay attention to them, were so much more meaningful than anything I heard before. I then saw the music as a background for the great lyrics. At that point, there was no turning back. I saw that there was so much more to be found in the world of music, and after listening to OK Computer until the CD was visibly worn, I moved on.
First, I completed my Radiohead collection, none of which topped OK Computer for me. Then, I heard lots of people compare Radiohead to Pink Floyd. I then got Dark Side of the Moon. To me, it sounded nothing like Radiohead, but I loved it. Subsequently, I gathered lots more Pink Floyd discs. Along the road somewhere, I discovered Portishead, who blew me away with their film noir trip hop. From my fanaticism of Radiohead, people were aware of my love for 'intellectual' music, and introduced me to Laurie Anderson and similar avant-garde workings. That landed me a group of Laurie Anderson CDs and a massive cache of Philip Glass. Glass re-fueled my interest in classical music, and I picked up a bunch of Gustav Mahler. With Glass and Anderson came Brian Eno. Then, my friend then introduced me to Mogwai and through them I discovered Godspeed You Black Emperor! After making many connections to my favorite CDs, I found King Crimson and picked up two of their old discs.
About that time, word was spread of October 3rd. OK Computer sent me on a 2.5 year musical journey. I've learned a lot and have been to some seriously "far-out" places (Floyd, Eno, Mogwai, Godspeed), and some frighteningly close-to-home places (Floyd, Portishead, Anderson, Glass, and King Crimson). I'm glad to be back. All I have to say is, "Thanks, Radiohead!"
Now about Kid A. While it obviously can't impact me more than OK Computer, it definitely deserves its 5 stars. Kid A is a beautiful record. Everything in its Right Place is a great opening track. It is subdued yet in-your-face at the same time. I love Kid A simply for the opening bell sounds, which remind me of a song from my favorite movie, Pi. The National Anthem is a great song. When I first heard the saxophones come in, I was thinking "Yeah. King Crimson." Its so frantic and great. How to Disappear Completely is completely beautiful, especially with the strings and lyrics. Treefingers-oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Complete ambient feel. Nice. Optimistic is great, kind of reminds me of Airbag in some spots. It segues into In Limbo, which is similarly great. Idioteque was a refreshing techno-ish song with great vocals. Morning Bell is a delightful song that just feels good. Motion Picture Soundtrack is as beautiful as How to Disappear Completely, and a great closing piece. Even the backwards-type atmospheric treatment at the end is beautiful.
How does it stack up against OK Computer? Well, lyrically, I doesn't do it for me as much as OK Computer. How to Disappear, Idioteque, and Motion Picture Soundtrack are great lyrically. Actually, most of the songs are-but it just doesn't have the lyrical impact of OK Computer. In addition, it lacks the conceptual flow of OK Computer (which actually doesn't really flow in terms of Dark Side of the Moon flowing, but it sure feels like it). However, Kid A soars higher than its predecessor. OK Computer was atmospheric, but Kid A is interstellar. The music gets to my inside a lot more than Computer did, and it takes the listener to a more remote place than Radiohead have been before. Radiohead have changed with my musical taste. Kid A is more intense, experimental, textured, and hard-to-swallow than anything the 'Head have thrown before, but I like it and I don't care if you mark this review unhelpful. I'm a happy "camper" and that's all that matters.