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CD review: Four stars for the new Radiohead
Well, here we are. The new Radiohead album, “In Rainbows,” has arrived, ones and zeros hurtling through hi-speed cable modems, ultra-modern delivery for this most modern of classic rock bands. As the little kids sampled on “15 Step” put it, “Yay!”
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Radiohead announced Oct. 1 that this immensely anticipated collection, the follow-up to “Hail to the Thief” that the band had been working on for two years, would be available for download Oct. 10. Fans could register at their site and pay whatever they like for a 160kbps DRM-free MP3 version. A deluxe “In Rainbows” boxset is scheduled for release Dec. 3, with a regular CD version due in early 2008.
Music fans, bloggers and others who report on the music industry went nuts. This was declared the end of major label hegemony, even after the band said it would likely sign with a label for the CD release.
What? The music? Oh, yeah, the music. Well, it might be the most consistent album Radiohead’s ever released, but I’ve never been sure if consistency is something fans want from this band. They want the grand gesture, the large statement. (Of course, the grand gesture here is in the marketing.) The proggy melodicism of the 10-year-old “OK Computer” and the electronic frippery that defined “Kid A,” the more tuneful “Amnesiac,” and the mopier “Hail to the Thief” have become, as Salinger put it, “smoothly amalgamated.” The band is still in love with Krautrock’s rhythmic tropes — check out that fuzz bass on “Bodysnatchers,” a kissing cousin to the throbbing riff from “The National Anthem” and the electronic loops on “15 Step” — but seem more at ease than ever at turning them into songs-qua-songs. It helps that Radiohead has become amazingly good at making electronic music feel like guitar rock and vice versa.
“Nude” features synthy strings that go for corn rather than drama (note: this is not a bad thing; if there’s one band that could use a little less drama, it’s Radiohead). “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” strips everything back for a minimalist guitar-drums flicker that moves like electronica, while “All I Need” is a ballad with break beats that build to a wide-screen finale. “Videotape” is the stately closer, all hums and a stumbling beat and pianos for days. All the bits of the band’s personality have come together in ways that probably surprise even them. After two years of work, Radiohead sounds as if they could do this every day.
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