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My Top 50 (er... 52) Favorite Radiohead Songs (Part 5)

Posted by NoSurprises11 on July 16, 2008 at 1:23am

PART 5. THE TOP TEN.10/ There There (The Boney King of Nowhere.) - Hail To The Thief - 2003I knew I would forever love this song when, during my first listen, those tribal drums kicked in. The rhythm is incredibly catchy. And then that guitar riff in the beginning. Genius. I love how Thom's voice sounds so strained when he sings "There there." But my favorite part of the song is when Jonny Greenwood's guitar solo comes in. His guitar takes on a sort of cackle. It sounds and reminds me of a crow. I just can't get over how awesome the tone is. It's one of the scariest sounding tones I've ever heard. I love the lyrics sung here: "Why so green and lonely? Heaven sent you to me. We are accidents waiting to happen." Mind blowing. Absolutely mind blowing. Completely deserving of Top 10.09/ Airbag - OK Computer - 1997The fact that this is the opening track for their most renowned album says a lot. I know exactly what that says. It says that this is one HELL of a song. And it is. Every single piece and portion of this song is expertly crafted. The drums are cut up and sampled. The constant sleigh bells in the background. The amazing guitar riff. The awesome bass riff. The fantastic rhythm guitar. Thom's voice. And finally, the lyrics. "In an interstellar burst I am back to save the Universe."08/ Reckoner - In Rainbows - 2007When I first heard this song I expected to hear the gloomy, heavy rock song that was "Reckoner" back in 2005 and earlier. But they took me by surprise. This "Reckoner" was different. It was beautiful. It was celebratory. Instead of the original lyrics, "Feeling pulled apart my horses," there were new ones. "Dedicated to all you, all human beings." The bridge was completely different. "Because we separate like ripples on a blank shore. In rain, in rain. Because we separate like ripples on a blank shore (In rainbows)." I wasn't sure about it on first listen... but the more I gathered from it... the more I listened... the more I discovered that this is one of their best songs to date.07/ Paranoid Android - OK Computer - 1997What hasn't been said about this song? The story is that this is basically 3 different songs pieced together. There's the beginning. The curious melodies and playful guitars. But it switches moods rather suddenly. "Kickin screamin gucci li'l piggy!" The song becomes frantic and the time signature switches between 4/4 and 7/8... but just as your head is about to explode, the song breaks down into a slow-sung sad song. "Rain down, rain down, come on rain down on me from a great height. From a great height." But the crazy side starts to rear its head. "That's it sir! You're leavin! The crackle of pigskin. The dust and the screamin. The yuppies networkin and the panic. The vomit. The panic. The vomit. God loves His children. God loves His children, yea!" BLAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!-INSANE-GUITAR-SOLO.The perfect rock song.06/ No Surprises - OK Computer - 1997I once saw a video of two news reporters reporting on the premiere of Radiohead's new music video for "No Surprises." The lady news reporter, after hearing several seconds of the song, comments. "This is music you'd wanna cut your wrists to."I don't agree that this is a suicide song... but it certainly is a sad one. While it does reference suicide ("I'll take a quiet life and a handshake of carbon monoxide"), I don't think that the song is about this. It appears to be a song about being content with having an ignorant and safe life. Ignorance is bliss. No alarms and no surprises, please. But ultimately, the song's placement at #6 in my Top 10 comes down to it's simple melodies. It's an instantly memorable song and one of their best written.05/ Subterranean Homesick Alien - OK Computer - 1997For some of you, the title of this song may grab you as a direct reference to Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." While the titles are the same except for the last word, the songs sound and are written very differently. The song is what it sounds like. From the guitars to the keyboard, the song has a spacey quality to it, which is reflected in the lyrics. "I wish that they'd swoop down in a country lane late at night while I'm driving. Take me aboard their beautiful ship and show me the world as I'd love to see it." This song may not make many people's Top 10 Radiohead Songs but it does for me. After learning the song on guitar, I became hooked to the chord progression. I've loved it ever since.04/ Karma Police - OK Computer - 1997I personally think this is the catchiest song they have ever done. Even more catchy than "Fake Plastic Trees" or "My Iron Lung." Everything from the vocal melody to the piano part during the chorus just begs you to sing along. And that's not even the best part of the song! The ingenious lyrics of the verses bring you to the brilliantly crafted chorus of "this is what you'll get when you'll mess with us" before the song explodes into the catchiest melody of Radiohead's career to date. How dare you not sing your HEART out to "For a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself, I lost myself!" This is definitely the best song on OK Computer. But they outdid themselves.03/ Pyramid Song - Amnesiac - 2001It's very hard to believe that the follow up to Kid A would not only hold up as a great album but would also include, in my opinion, one of the best songs of all time. It seems like the only way they could go is down after that album. While Amnesiac certainly isn't as good as Kid A (or even, arguably, OK Computer) there's this one song on there that just stands out. It is, in essence, the collective emotional energy of the band packed into 4 minutes and 49 seconds.When the song opens with its first 3 piano chords, there's a split second where it sounds like it is going to be at a certain time signature. But there's this slight pause between the 3rd and 4th chords. Then it goes back into a steady pace of the 4th chord, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th... but then another pause. It's as if Thom just doesn't want you to follow along at all. When I first got this album around 2004, I couldn't make sense of the chords. I heard their beauty and heard Thom singing along... but I couldn't wrap my head around the way the chords were placed. It seemed unimaginable that there could be a time signature to this song. Some people familiar with music theory might pick up on what's going on quite early but to the average listener, it doesn't click. Not even when the drums first pick up. But after a couple of seconds... the drums begin a steady rhythm... and now it all makes sense. I could go on and on and on... but I'd only be talking about the music.The words tie everything together. It's an incredible story of a dead man's journey to the afterlife. I cannot remember if the Egyptians believe in a similar journey to the afterlife (which would make a connection to the title) but I do know that the Greeks believed that you had to ask a boatman to ferry you across the river Styx. In the song, Thom sings about jumping into the river and seeing black-eyed angels swimming with him. It's an incredible image to think about. The next line, "We all went to heaven in a little rowboat. There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt" marks the segway into a rythmic song. It's mirrored in the lyrics. "All my lovers were there with me. All my pasts and futures." The last line in the song sums up the whole of the song. "There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt."02/ How To Disappear Completely - Kid A - 2000This is the only song more emotional than "Pyramid Song." As a teenager, I connected to this song for many reasons that only a teenager could make sense of. But my connection with this song has held strong for the duration of nearly 8 years now. Just for different reasons. Having studied music theory and learning so many things about music I can love and connect with this song for so many reasons. The beauty of the vocal melody. The way the strings and ondes martenot are constantly making noise. The way the srings mirror the vocal melody. How when the strings take over during Thom's "ooh and ahh" part, they go from a perfect harmonic blend to a dissonant array of pitches that finally come together at the last moment and tie the song together into a beautiful close. The lyrics are simple. "I'm not here. This isn't happening." There isn't anything too complex. It's beautiful without having to find new ways of being it. It's proof that Radiohead is made up of some incredibly talented musicians.01/ Idioteque - Kid A - 2000One day, Jonny Greenwood walked into a record store and was browsing through records when he found First Recordings — Electronic Music Winners. On the record were two pieces. One titled Mild und Leise by Paul Lansky and the other called "Short Piece" by Arthur Krieger. Apparently Jonny Greenwood was so impressed that he shared the record with the others and they ended up sampling both songs in my favorite Radiohead song.When the song opens, it is a very obvious departure from their pre-Kid A material. The drums aren't real. In fact I'm not sure WHAT is a real, physical instrument being played in this song, apart from Thom's vocals. The song's lyrics capture a sense of chaos in the midst of a pending nuclear fallout. It's an apocalyptic song of sorts. "Who's in bunker? Who's in bunker? Women and children first." "We're not scaremongering. This is really happening." It's incredible how the 4 chords taken from Mild und Leise fit the mood of the song so well.But what I love about this song isn't really the lyrics. It's the musical depth of this song. There are layers upon layers upon layers of sounds, melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and words to be found. Until I got my hands on a version of this song with the middle channel cut out and another version with the left and right channels cut out, I thought I had discovered all there was to discovered. Up to about 3 months before I got the two new edits, I had discovered something new about every other month. Then when I got the 2 edits, I discovered a handful of other things. It's really incredible how packed this song is. The harmony vocal line just under the lead in the chorus... the multiple vocal takes being sung at the same time at certain points in the song... the 3 vocal parts at the end all being sung at the same time... the drum sounds upon drum sounds upon drum sounds... the ambient noises all over the place... It's a song to marvel at. I've not heard a single song that has done this as well as this song. Combine this with the incredible lyrics and the signature electronic chord progression and you have found the reason why this is my favorite Radiohead song.Thanks for reading my lengthy fan-obsessions for the past couple of weeks.

Syd Barrett: Hipótesis y Mariposas

Posted by maraña on July 15, 2008 at 7:00pm

Syd Barrett enloqueció y lo echaron de los Floyd.En escena aguantaba tocando el mismo acorde una vez tras otra. En los estudios de la EMI se ponía a romper el material. Sus compañeros de grupo temían su mirada alocada y apenas entendían lo que quería decir.Un día, la furgoneta del grupo pasó de largo, enfrente de su casa. Se sentaba a las afueras del estudio, pero nadie lo invitaba a entrar, aunque tampoco lo pedía.Pero, ¿por qué? Ustedes dirán. Hay algo que no cuadra cuando uno se pone a leer su historia… De genio del pop (iba para estrella interplanetaria después del éxito de "The Piper at the Gates of Down") a esquizofrénico perdido en su sótano de Cambridge en solo dos pasos y dos discos que no salieron de su círculo de fanáticos.Qué le pasó, realmente? ¿Hay gato encerrado? Podría ser. Y podría ser incluso que hubiera dos gatos encerrados, ambos tomando ácido en su plato de la leche."Todo lo que quería hacer cuando era un niño era tocar la guitarra y hacer el cabra. Pero se me puso en medio demasiada gente."Ácido.…los traumas de la infancia… la pérdida de su padre…"Todo el mundo dice que fué feliz de niño, no sé por qué, pero yo no lo fui". Dice Syd Barrett. Es curioso, oyendo sus canciones.Syd explota. Como muchos de sus contemporáneos, cae víctima de la droga, Joplin, Hendrix... la bruma púrpura se levanta y solo se ve un montón de cadáveres. Todo cuadra.Los misioneros visionarios del ácido, Duggie Fields el artista psicodélico rival, Lindsay la novia ideal y luego Iggy, la esquimal de la portada de "Madcap Laughs", como una especie de mini-Yoko Ono, Jonty Meades el straight-cat, las visitas de Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger y Marianne Faithful...Ácido.En la grabación de "See Emily Play" Syd empieza a dar las primeras muestras de cuelgue serio. No responde a las conversaciones y su mirada, entre burlona y ausente, espanta a su grupo. La desastrosa gira americana pone sobre a viso a todo el mundo, desde el grupo, a Peter Janner, el cual más tarde diría que el ácido era a la vez fuente y sumidero para Syd: " Estoy seguro que su creatividad salía de su locura. El ácido trajo la creatividad, pero lo que es más importante, trajo la locura."Syd es el loco de la fiesta, el despreocupado y el alma libre. Le colocan a todas horas, en el té, en el agua, como sea. Cuando se desfasa demasiado le encierran en el armario. Incluso suministran ácido a los gatos de Syd, "Pink" y "Floyd". Todos los que visitan el piso lo saben y evitan tomar nada allí, recelan de todo, menos del agua del grifo, y solo si la sirven ellos mismos.La rotura de Syd empieza a ser cada vez más notoria. Las cosas se van complicando y empiezan a circular rumores cada día un poco más extraños… Es famoso el incidente del Mandrax, Syd está en camerinos ansioso porque su pelo no le queda bien. Al parecer esta vez la permanente que le acaban de hacer es una cagada. Cansado de intentar arreglárselo, opta por una salida curiosa. Mezcla un porrón de mandrax con Brylcreem y se lo unta en su cabellera. Sale a escena y con el calor de los focos, poco a poco la mezcla se vá derritiendo y resbalando por sus ojos, su cara... las niñas de la primera fila se horrorizan. ¡Syd parece una figura de cera derritiéndose!Lindsay, la novia de Syd aparece en las escaleras de la casa de Jenner seriamente maltratada."Estaba empezando a ponerse algo loco…la esquizofrenia se había instalado" decía Lindsay Korner antes del incidente. Se dice que le rompió una guitarra en la cabeza, se dice que la tuvo encerrada durante dos semanas en una habitación, pasándole la comida (galletitas) por debajo de la puerta, solo entrando para pegarle…Syd Barrett ya es un muñeco roto certificado. Esquizofrénico o no, loquito o no, Syd ya no se sentía en si mismo, cosa que desde la letra de "Jugband Blues" hasta hoy en día deja claro, como se puede ver en sus incoherentes y descompuestas declaraciones. Sin embargo, nunca hablará explícitamente de traumas de la infancia, ni tampoco mencionará las famosas "voces". Si se referirá a una extraña descomposición de su psique, habla de "poner las cosas en su sitio".Gilmour presiona para que un psiquiatra examine a Syd, Finalmente deciden consultar a un psiquiatra algo abierto de miras, prescindiendo de médicos ortodoxos que (sin duda) sepultarían a Syd en una institución mental para siempre. Se ponen en contacto con R.D. Laing seguidor de la hipótesis de que la locura solo está en el ojo del espectador. Escucha una cinta de Syd conversando. Su veredicto: "incurable".Syd está ya en la periferia de la razón.Parece ser que se dedica a pintar. Pinta sus cuadros y luego los quema. "Yo no pinto, pero el chico que vive en la puerta de al lado lo hace y eso es suficiente".David Bowie y otros adinerados fans de Barrett logran hacerse con ejemplares salvados de la quema.Syd Barrett iba para pintor. Quizás como cualquiera que haya hecho algo relacionado con el arte, se deleite pensando en que podría dedicarse a ello a tiempo completo, algún día. De repente se ve en los Pink Floyd, con una guitarra, dando las sesiones UFO...…Experimenta la fama ya no como concepto, sino como realidad. Yo no quiero pensar en él como un drogado errático, sino como un tipo más despierto de lo normal. Se queda con todo. Se lo pasa todo lo bien que puede en su nuevo piso lleno de personajotes y ácido. Pero ya tiene claro que el camino que ha empezado, ya lo ha recorrido en su cabeza y que al final no hay nada, y que el que va a llegar ni siquiera va a ser el que empezó. No siente aprecio por el compromiso entre un artista y el público, o aún peor, entre el artista y la Humanidad. Se ha visto obligado a condensar sus ideas en sencillos de tres minutos para estar en la onda, pero una vez allí ya no le sale de nuevo, o no siente la necesidad de hacerlo. La gente ya ha pagado por un Syd Barrett que no era el de la foto, basta de engaños. Syd ni siquiera se quiere engañar a si mismo, ya no quiere más Pink Floyd, porque eso solo significa más presión del público, más presión de la banda, más presión por todos lados.En el escenario no rinde porque no siente la urgencia de protagonizar un sueño que ya no es suyo. En el nuevo disco se limita a dar una explicación, "Jugband Blues" (que si se ve desde la óptica del Syd desencantado, renegado de su propia condición de pop-Star y de sus sueños, tiene su punto) y un estado de ánimo, destructivo y asolador, que logra convencer a todo el grupo para que pueda soltarlo en paz.Es curioso que en aquel momento la hipótesis más comentada fue la de que Syd estaba subido de tono, que la fama le había pegado fuerte y que estaba muy. Digo que es curioso porque al final lo que ha quedado es lo de la locura y las drogas. Que, curiosamente, es lo que más se ha repetido.Se le subió la fama a la cabeza, pero no de la manera que todos pensamos. El le dio vueltas y vio que no merecía la pena. ¿Quién podría desperdiciar una oportunidad así? Alguien que tuviera algo mejor, alguien que apreciara su singularidad y quisiera protegerla a toda costa. Todo el mundo que le conoció entonces coincide que aquel Syd no era un tío cualquiera. Aún así ninguno habló de protegerlo. Él mismo se tomó la molestia.Se rapa el pelo al cero, para podar a esa pop-Star que un día estuvo en sus zapatos. Sigue con su vida, la vida que Roger Barrett decide, no la de un negociante de ideas y canciones.Después llega el día que decide sentar cabeza, dejar el ácido. Se pasa a la ingesta masiva de mandies. Graba los discos con Gilmour como un pasatiempo, mientras aterriza en el mundo de los vivos. Los Pink Floyd están bien sin él, Waters estaba esperando su turno para decir sus cosas."Tengo una nevera muy grande y he estado comiendo un montón de cerdo últimamente", dice a los que le preguntan en la sesión de "Wish you were here" por su peso. Además se está quedando calvo. Ellos lloran, porque no entienden que nada es para siempre. Llorarán incluso hoy en día.…y Syd es feliz.

Hepatitis, uncoordinated, weldings, nuclear power

Posted by Marine on July 15, 2008 at 1:56pm

Do I have an hepatitis ?Let me explain : I had a laugh last week. Yeah. As we say in France, a rire jaune (litterally laughing yellow). This is translated as a forced laugh in English ; and I searched for the origin of the expression in French.[French language cultural moment]Yellow, when it's bright, is the symbol of gods. Conversely, when it's matt, it represents sulfur, therefore hell, but also perfidy. However the expression "rire jaune" mostly comes from the fact that hepatic people are moody, and when they force themselves to laugh, bile stains their face with this pale yellow colour. By extension, this expression applies to every person who seems to be forcing themselves to laugh, trying to calm down or not wanting to show they are offended.[/French language cultural moment]Question is, what made me laugh ? Urrggh, politicians again. The télépresident, as he is called outside France, is returning to his all good habits.Before I begin ranting, I have to say it's incredible how much you learn from your own country when you read the news from abroad - not in the same language of course !So what did he do ? Well, early 2008, he announced the end of advertising on the state television channels. Yeah, great. But how would these channels work ? With no money at all ? Oh wait, there's still money from the state, hmm... Journalists started worrying for their future, talked about it for a few days, then, nothing. Yeah, the value of the private TV channels went up at that time... Oh, and sarkozy said that the director of the group of public TV channels was to be chosen by... the President himself, and a qualified majority of MP and the CSAEverything was fine until I read the following stuff : Bolloré is buying the CSA ! Do I need to remind that Bolloré is a close friend of sarkozy ?More stuff about French TV here, here and here.I have to admit, it's good strategy.Soo... Probably no hepatitis, just irony. Or bewilderment.To continue on a brighter note, yeah, surgery went OK for the wii... I managed to burn myself with the soldering iron but my finger is still alive. Incredibly enough I did the best weldings of my short life, must be the ingested liquids that developed my self-confidence. At school I had the worst marks ever for this kind of things. Who would have thought that I wasn't worthless in that field ? Next stage, spaceship building ?Anyway, it looked like good work, even if I fucked the last two up, and got lucky it worked out fine, but it did. It went through the night in my bag, and woke up the following evening. I still have five or six orphan screws that got kicked out of the house - er, wii - as I've never been good in putting back together what I had been disassembling. Ahhh...someday...Still writing incoherently...Don't wanna spam so I bring all I write in one post but it has no logic in between paragraphs :(However, I DO agree with this vision of life (For those interested, it's from the postsecret website). But, as I am not talented in any artistic field, what am I gonna do that will last forever ? Kids ?!?Ending with environment once more. I wonder what the government will respond to nuclear power opponents after this : what isn't written (I read this this morning in a French newspaper ) is that they found uranium evidence in the groundwater, but it seems that the leak of last week is not the cause of it ! Could it be that nuclear-related stuff is not reliable ? I am sooo surprised...

Pickens Plan

Posted by Carol on July 15, 2008 at 12:30pm

Learned about this just today. I think it's a great start to getting Americans thinking about changing our economy and our dependency on fossil fuels. As consumers, we have an unbelievable power if we act in unison toward a common goal.I do think the answer is solar, but wind and natural gas are great ways to break our addiction to oil until solar technologies can be developed.So, check it out: www.pickensplan.com

Find more videos like this on PickensPlan

New 'House Of Cards' Video - Geometric Informatics 3D motion Capture

Posted by Helen D on July 14, 2008 at 6:30pm

New Radiohead video of 'House of Cards' posted at this address( http://code.google.com/radiohead )using Geometric Informatics, a type of LIDAR Scanner to capture close action in 3D, and Velodyne LIDAR which captures the surrounding scenery using multiple lasers. Amazing effects to go with what I think is a much underrated track from In Rainbows. Also brilliant 'making of' videoThanks for the heads up to 'green plastic radiohead' at their website.Enjoy.

look for us now in Beautiful Decay fashion editorial...

Posted by Balbone Martinez on July 14, 2008 at 6:30pm

http://www.beautifuldecay.com/currentissue.php

post-concert syndrome

Posted by tanja voronina on July 14, 2008 at 10:00am

i definitely have a "post-concert syndrome" which sounds very romantic but is extremely bad for work))its hard to think that its over for me for this summer - and still there was no wolf at the door, exit music or street spirit on the set lists of the gigs i was atand now its perhaps another couple years of waiting) how cheerfuli know that musicians are not machines producing what you love but once you get addicted to the music its difficult to stop yourself from absorbing itsometimes its almost physicali'm afraid i sound stupid)

rack 'em willie rack em rack em rack rack rack rack

Posted by Thomas Jerome Newton on July 14, 2008 at 4:00am

its me againtraviswell im back againback where i started. id been up in the window before. i could look down below at people, and things, and the house across the way. now im in a rut. a ditch of dirty bedding, sweat, laziness, lethargy. doing the wrong thing, for the wrong reasons, just to see if i could beat some feeling into my numb limbsbut im okay because i know the CIA will take care of me when they need me i'll be right there me n daisy will be fine we'll be just fine here. you just be safe now and be careful. hey thom hows it going? i hope this card takes care of everything.

crossed legs

Posted by sll on July 13, 2008 at 7:00pm

forage through swampsand get the shine out of your eyessliced in half apple skins and milkfull in every corner, lingeringcrossed legs.

I

Posted by Ben Z. on July 13, 2008 at 10:09am

justwanttopasoutt

Prince

Posted by £ø£ø on July 13, 2008 at 7:23am

I've been hearing about this whole Prince covering Creep issue and I have to say I am so mad that I can't watch it. I love Prince too and I know he put his thang down! That mess is crazy. That's why I did have to stop fukin w/him. He is very somtimey.I still wanna see it though. So I'll be following ang posting anything I find. If I don't lose interest....

HA!HA! I FOUND IT!!!!

My Top 50 (er... 52) Favorite Radiohead Songs (Part 4)

Posted by NoSurprises11 on July 13, 2008 at 6:53am

20/ Bodysnatchers - In Rainbows - 2007This is one of their most solid rock songs to date and one of my most favorite songs to play on guitar. And that's all that needs to be said about this amazing song.19/ Motion Picture Soundtrack - Kid A - 2000The perfect end to their perfect album. From the harps, to the pump organ, to Thom's voice, this song is such an incredibly heartfelt and emotionally strong song. Everything is written so beautifully. The song ends with Thom singing "I will see you in the next life." There's a peaceful death at the end. The harps are plucked so that it sounds as if you're slowly falling asleep... then... silence. One minute of silence before a single note penetrates. And then that single note turns into a short crescendo of beautiful sound. I describe it as the sound that you hear when you see Heaven.18/ Let Down - OK Computer - 1997This song was written about the feeling you get looking out of a fast-moving car or train and everything just whizzes by. And it definitely feels like that. One of the greatest things about Radiohead is their knack for new things to come up with. New sounds to make. New rhythms. And "Let Down" has a brilliant guitar riff that starts off the song. It's a simple and pretty series of notes and they're played in 5/4 time. For those that aren't music-term-literate, 5/4 means instead of the beat going 1-2-3-4, the beat goes 1-2-3-4-5. The twist on this is that the entire song is in 4/4 (typical popular music signature 1-2-3-4) time. So when the riff is played in the beginning, it's repeated twice. On the third repeat, the riff gets to the 3rd beat before the drums come in. So when the song bursts into motion after the intro, the riff starts at the 4th beat while everything else starts at the 1st. But each fourth series of 4 beats, the guitar riff starts one beat later. So it becomes guitar riff = 5th beat, everything else = 1st beat. Another four times through and the guitar's riff then starts with everything else, on the 1st beat. Then the 2nd and so on and so on. I could go on and on and get more and more confusing but that has always been something I've admired about this song. The molding of two time signatures so seemlessly. Everything else is golden too, don't get me wrong. It's got some of my favorite lines in the song. "One day I am going to grow wings. A chemical reaction. Hysterical and useless. Hysterical and let down and hangin around. Crushed like a bug in the ground. Let down and hangin around."17/ Big Boots - Live in Salamanca - 2002In a very recent interview with Ed O'Brien, Radiohead's rhythm guitarrist, the guy basically said that "Big Boots" is, without a better way of putting it, dead. Unless they decide to play it live again, this song is probably never going to get a proper recording in the studio. Very, very unfortunate news. This is an INCREDIBLE song. Imagine this scenario:You go to a movie theatre to see the newest 007 flick (this is a fictional situation. don't start thinking about Quantam of Solace here). It stars (English guy) and is titled Man-O-War.Radiohead's "Big Boots" would be the song played in the opening credits, right after he shoots the camera. This would be the perfect Bond song. And yet it's so Radiohead sounding. My favorite part of this song is Jonny Greenwood's signature riff for this song after the chorus.16/ Everything In Its Right Place - Kid A - 2000The first 5 notes of this song (a descending arpeggio in C) are the first 5 notes I heard of any Radiohead song ever (I'm not counting "Creep," sorry). I had just purchased Kid A and was listening to the CD. It's the first song on the CD, obviously. Those descending notes are some of the most memorable notes of all time for me. They essentially started my love for music. I have Radiohead to thank for my undying passion for it. They're so warm and inviting. And then Thom's voice comes in... but sampled. It's all over the song. Split-second clips of him in the middle of singing being repeated back and forth. Then Thom comes in, with all of his glitchy vocal samples, and sings "Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything in its right place. In its right place. In its right place. In its right place." It certainly is, Thom. Next comes my favorite Radiohead lyric of all time: "Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon." I still, to this day, have no idea what it means but I absolutely love the ideas this one lyric gives you. I just... love this song. So much. The way the keyboard gets colder and colder by the end of the song... The way the sampled Thoms try and sing along with the real one.Interestingly enough, on May 8th of this year, probably my most beloved musical moment of all time happened at my first-time Radiohead concert. During the performance of this song, while I was singing along, I looked up at Thom (who was facing my side of the stage on keyboard) and he looked at me and, while bobbing our heads together in rhythm to the song, we sang "yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon" together.15/ <--not intentional-->15 Step - In Rainbows - 2007So while we're on the subject of Radiohead firsts...This is the first song on their newest album. Everyone already knows about their pay-what-you-want scheme. Well. I paid $80 to have my awesome discbox on October 1st. On October 10th they released the album online. Having a ticket for the download from the discbox, I received the email. I opened the attachment and downloaded the album. I checked and doublechecked everything. I saw the folder titled "In Rainbows" appear on my desktop. I threw that bitch in my iTunes. I got my best headphones and plugged them into my computer and pressed play. "BOOM clack clack clack clack - clack clack clack - How come I end up where I started?"I about pissed.I heard the birth of this song live in 2006 and now I was hearing its final studio version. And it was perfect. I had to keep from yelling outloud and waking up my parents. From the combination of drums and drum machine to the spacey guitar to Thom's vocals to the little kids yelling "YEAAAAAH!!!!" after he sings "Fads for whatever!" I adore this song. I have never danced as hard as when they played this song live in Atlanta. Insane.14/ Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box - Amnesiac - 2001I love the beginning. It's like someone is just playing a pair of metal bowls for the hell of it and they just managed to capture it and put it in a song. And then that bass line comes in. One of my favorite bass lines from Colin. And I can't help but love the lyrics: "After years of waiting, nothing came. As your love flashed before your eyes, you realize I'm a reasonable man. Get off my case." !!!!! Haha! I love it! Unfortunately, I think they murder the luster of this song live. The fuzzbass needs to go, Coz.13/ The National Anthem - Kid A - 2000I don't know what genre to place this song in. I just don't. It's Radiohead genre. With the funkiest bassline ever, the song paints the picture of a few seconds of black and white footage of a man in a suit from the 20s dancing, repeating endlessly. It has an eery quality to it. And then Thom starts singing and it sounds like he's trapped in a metal box and singing into a long pipe that extends out from the box. And then... SAXOPHONE?! Yep. And then more brass. And more. Until finally it's just one big ball of brass that comes crashing to an end. But Thom sings it all back to life and it gets going again. But the furosity with which these musicians play their instruments causes the song to come crashing down once more. This time it's irreparable. This is the most remarkable example of fusing different styles of music I know of.12/ Planet Telex - The Bends - 1995The sheer intensity of the electric guitars playing the first chord of the chorus just makes me sweat. I love every single thing about this song. "EVERYTHING IS BROKEN. EVERYONE IS BROKEN." A perfect rock song. I don't think that Radiohead need to go back to pure rock. They've already made the perfect rock album. The Bends has been out for 13 years. Let it be. They won't be able to outdo themselves.11/ All I Need - In Rainbows - 2007This is an example of how to make a song in a major key sound kinda creepy. But it's not TOO creepy. It does have a stalkerish feel to it but it isn't overwhelming. When Thom sings the verses, it has a very aggressive feel to it. But then he sings the chorus and it takes on more of a delicate feel. "You are all I need. You're all I need. I'm in the middle of your picture lying in the reeds." And at the end of the second chorus the song takes a turn for an explosion of emotion. Strings, piano, and glockenspiel back Thom basically crying out "It's all right! It's all wrong! It's all right! It's all wrong!" This was one of my favorites when they premiered it live in 06 and I feel that they did the song justice. I love the hip-hop drums in the song combined with the dark-yet-inviting bass synth. And then the chords that sound like they're played by ghosts in the background. It's an atmosphere that they perfected in the studio. And that's why it's my 11th favorite Radiohead song.PART 5 SOON

Me being just as catty as the person I'm accusing of being catty

Posted by Ben Z. on July 13, 2008 at 12:30am

There's a girl from my high school who keeps a regularly updated livejournal. I didn't become privy to the whole livejournaling scene until the end of high school, but from what I can gather it's not something that you keep around past a certain age, that age being maybe 16 years old.But this girl updates her journal several times a week. Every entry is like something from a diary - the things she did that day, the people she talked to on the phone, the movies and TV shows she's seen. She includes her current "mood" at the end of every entry in the form of Hamtaro icons. I think this girl is 20 years old. Her posts are infused, also, with a cliquish, 8th-grade cattiness that at times seems to border on self-parody. Her concern with friends being "bitches" and mapping out the intricate web of infighting and alliances, especially as they pertain to finding an apartment, smack of juvenility. She had a dream once that her boyfriend was cheating on her, and that became a big issue for a while, according to her LiveJournal.What fascinates me about her livejournal, then, is how un-bloglike it is. She treats this website like, holy shit, a journal. I don't think that if she kept an actual journal the content would be any different. But for most bloggers, myself included, the content placed online and the content that one would traditionally expect to find in a journal are very different. Blogs are hipper, less detail-oriented, and less personal as a whole. They typically chronicle, usually in a concise format, something that interests the writer at the moment. The online act of journal keeping seems to die out as kids leave high school, for a couple of reasons: they are incriminating as fuck, and no one else reads them. They're also extremely superficial, in that an honest journal-keeper isn't writing to the world, but to himself. An oft-updated Live Journal demands an undue amount of self-absorption and narrow-mindedness.From May 20th:"Oh and I asked my Tarot cards about M___a and how i should deal with that situation and I did a one card draw: shuffled cut, shuffled cut and took the top one. And I got "Death" in the upright position, signifying change for the better, so id like some thought on that."no one commented.

Hello

Posted by £ø£ø on July 12, 2008 at 5:30pm

Today is the first day I even looked at my profile. It's my day off so I'm sure I'll be workin on it all day.

hello?

Posted by Alice on July 12, 2008 at 4:30pm

the day before yesterday(i can't believe that it was so long time ago) i got up at 7 am; caught some zzz at a half past one and woke up again two hours later. phew. i've mixed up while i write it!early morning we've driven to the railway station and i think it was pretty good because of dawn and music and so on.there was no one in the streets. well, maybe some cars.what am i talking about? i can't rememberbtw, there's my first post on w.a.s.t.e:) hurrayand sorry for my bad english:\today i've tuned last.fm profile and now it's scrobbling again. eventually!

Let's start it... Robot Reckoner Celeste 2...

Posted by Thanelien on July 12, 2008 at 4:30am

Well... This is a particular blog! Well it's a bit related to Radiohead, so it's normal it's a bit particular. I'm from Belgium and speak French, so, that's strange to do a blog in English, and there might be mistakes on sentences but I don't care. All I want is to be understood.

Right now, I'm listening to robot reckoner celeste 2... I found it on Thom Yorke's page. I'm confused cause I can't listen to it in repeat. I have to press the button. But it sounds so great, so nostalgic... It remind me moments I had with my ex girlfriend I still love. It hurts me a bit... That's strange cause I like it. It's a bit like fairy tales songs. A beautiful woman in a beautiful white long robe... She's walking in the dark. But there are lights all around, like floating in the air.

Well. So, I'm crazy. Never mind. We all are. Welcome.

BWM

Posted by Ben Z. on July 12, 2008 at 2:01am

Well, God is in HeavenAnd we all want what's HisBut power and greed and corruptible seedSeem to be all that there is

Memories...

Posted by erin on July 12, 2008 at 12:23am

Let's see...I'm *gasp* almost 30 years old, and have been a Radiohead fan for 13 years...I can even pin-point the exact moment I went from someone familiar with them (you really would've had to work hard in 1993 America if you had MTV or a radio to not hear Creep. I lived in West Virginia of all places at the time and often heard it on the radio, in an area with no so-called "modern rock" stations...It was practically on a loop on MTV back then. Those were the days when they actually played videos...but I digress.)I remember distinctly when the Bends was popular (I was living in Houston, TX by then). The first time I drove by myself after getting my license in spring 1995, Fake Plastic Trees came on the radio. I still associate that song with the freedom of being 16 and driving for the first time. It is forever a "driving song" for me. Windows down (no A/C), radio blasting (my car at the time didn't even have a cassette player--I was all radio!), the feeling of flying/"Oh Shit!" when I'd hit the train tracks going 50 mph (don't try that at home, kids!), singing along at the top of my lungs to the radio. The ridiculous things that make 16 yr old girls have fits of giggles, like when I accidentally referred to it as "Flake Pastic Trees" and my best friend and I laughed about it for literally an hour. (It was one of those things where we'd both giggle, then just as we'd start to calm down, one of us would say it again starting another round.)Hearing that REM was coming to Houston in Sept 1995 and that Radiohead was opening was exciting. I didn't even ask my parents if I could go...I just went to the grocery store (they had a Ticketmaster outlet inside back then) and bought a ticket for myself and my friend to go to my first concert without a parent/sibling with me. To be honest, I was totally going for REM (who I've loved since my best friend back in WV, Abi, gave me a tape with Reckoning on one side and Life's Rich Pageant on the other)--I was familiar with Radiohead, and I liked Creep, Fake Plastic Trees and Just (the 3 songs with the most tv/radio play up to that point) but I didn't have anything of theirs. I'd heard Pablo Honey (on a 10 hour road trip to Myrtle Beach, SC from WV with my church youth group--the minister was driving, and those of us in the back would strategically cough over the "fucking specials" in Creep--like he couldn't hear the song through the speakers..)Finally, the day of the show arrived...I got home from school, my parents agreed to drive my friend and I up to the Woodlands (it was a 90 min drive across Houston from where I lived at the time and since I was still a fairly new driver, they didn't quite want me on the highway that late at night.) They dropped us off and said they'd be back to pick us up after the show. My friend and I walked in, scoped a spot on the lawn and waited. We hopped up as soon as Radiohead took the stage and I heard the opening notes of their first song. I was completely in Awe. Honestly, I can still remember that feeling, and thinking "I have no idea what this is...but it is my new favorite thing!" (I was 16, after all.) What it was, turned out to be My Iron Lung, which for me is forever "the song that made me a Radiohead fan." Who would've guessed that those 9 songs they played that night would change my life so completely?I saw then the second time in 1998 at the Aerial Theater (it's now the Verizon Wireless in Houston). That was the show that sold out in 5 minutes...I only got a ticket because my friend Jason worked for Ticketmaster at the time, and he hit print the second they went on sale. The show was 2 weeks after my 19th birthday, and I took a bus home to Houston from college to attend. The most vivid memory from that show (besides the annoying biker dude standing beside me who kept yelling out "Creeeeeeep" when ever it got quiet, that is) was when they started to play No Surprises. They got through the intro part, and Thom was just joining in...he strummed his guitar, frowned down at it then over at Johnny, then said "stop, stop". He then looked over at someone standing off stage, and proceeded to re-tune his guitar to the correct key. They started the song over, and this time, Thom grinned right before he started to sing, and all of us in the crowd cheered (even the Creep guy)...I heard Pearly* and Banana co. live for the first time at that show...When Kid A came out, I was in the store at midnight to buy one of the first copies (same with Amnesiac). Then, rushed home to listen to the cd over and over, even though I had classes the next day and really should've been sleeping or studying. I sat on the floor with my head between the speakers of my stereo listening to Kid A on repeat until 3 a.m. with amazement about how well the sounds from the 2 sides blended in the middle. Somehow, the way the 2 halves combined created something indescribably cool. I remember driving from Austin to Houston with Eric and Erik, breaking my cardinal concert rule ("don't listen to the band's album before the show") by blaring Amnesiac b/c Erik hadn't heard it yet, as we rushed to get to the concert (that was the 3rd time I saw them). And, the amazing feeling of finally getting to the Woodlands (damn Houston traffic!) finding a spot on the lawn, the lights going down seconds later, and instead of the opening band taking the stage, hearing Colin's bass and cheering like mad as Radiohead opened the show with the National Anthem. (the Beta Band's vehicle broke down on the road to Houston, we later learned.)...and Thom's intro for Packt Like Sardines, when he declared how lucky we were in Houston b/c we couldn't possibly have traffic as bad as the UK, and when we all yelled "No!" (in a you're crazy/must be joking way) he was stunned and said "Really?!? You've got so much space, I'd think you'd all just off-road it, or something." ...then, seeing them again at the Woodlands 2 years later, again with Eric along with Marisol and Rachel for the opening date of the U.S. leg of the Hail to the Thief tour...They played lurgee ("this is a very old song") which was incredible! My friends and I danced like crazy most of the show--especially during the Gloaming and Idioteque...I can hear it all just like it was yesterday...I've seen them several times this year as well, making them the band I've seen the most times by far. (followed by REM with 4 shows) The last time I saw REM was when I "camped" all day at the front of the stage at ACL fest when they headlined it, so that I could be in the very front...which is also my game plan for Radiohead at this year's Lolla...and, thus the journey continues.

....

Posted by mela... on July 11, 2008 at 11:10pm

the sale box in the mall next to the office has a certain appeal. maybe it is compulsive music shopping whilst trying to not think about work. well or. whatever.ideally there is a reason for buying jethro tull, jimmy smith, ray charles and a west coast blues compilation at once. then there is reality. at least there is the whole universe of cross references. uhm. yeah. i plea guilty of contribuiting to the cultural studies bullshit-a-verse. since there is nothing better around to play with why not do that? the cross refrence between 'middle' jethro tull and 'fleet foxes' was a bit striking tho.. since i am musically almost illiterate it took me up to now to get it. a certain touch of ignorance is helpfull during dj sets tho. really. no lie.

Dee dum

Posted by Angelo Muredda on July 11, 2008 at 10:00pm

Today I am to think and write about involuntary euthanasia and disability.I have chosen instead to watch Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.It's a good one!

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