Happy New Year! Radiohead Stylee

The lads from Oxford are at it again. This time another webcast to commemorate the physical release of In Rainbows on New Years Day in the UK. The album will apparently be played in its entirety. Check in around midnight GMT on December 31st; I'm sure you've got nothing better to do at that hour.

Not my favourite cd of the year but very close, the band certainly captured my heart for innovative marketing and pure creative genius.

This information from Thom Yorke himself as captured below from http://radiohead.com

scotch_mist

Dear Reader
Hope you are having a peaceful christmas.
As you may now have heard we will be broadcasting a pre-recording of some songs and other bits on New Years Eve..
you will be able to view it online from here at midnight new years eve, uk time that is...
radiohead.tv
as well as other places that i am not sure about.this is a wee celebration of the release of the physical manifestation of 'in rainbows'.

yours hopefully

Thom

Radiohead Sell 1.2 Million Copies Of 'In Rainbows'

(Everything Radiohead week continues, all sweetnesss and rainbows. Just wait til the eventual backlash hits...)

By Scott Colothan on 11/10/2007 Gigwise has learnt that Radiohead have sold an amazing 1.2million copies of their seventh album ‘In Rainbows.’

The band and their long-term management company Courtyard Management have remained tight lipped about the exact sales figures, seemingly in a bid to add to keep a mysterious air around the album.

But speaking to a source close to the band last night, we’ve discovered that the Oxford band have achieved this monumental sales figure.

Even if every person who downloaded the album paid just 10 pence, the band will still rake in a massive £120,000. That figure is likely to be higher, with many speculating the average figure will even out at around the £1 mark.

With growing media hype around the release of ‘In Rainbows’, these unprecedented sales figures look certain to keep on rising. If they finally announce a world tour, audience figures are expected to be higher too.

Thom Yorke and co. will cash in again when the payments clear for the ‘In Rainbows’ box set which are on sale for £40 a go.

As expected, Radiohead are the clear victors of this radical way of releasing their album. Their success should prompt other big names to follow suit.

A Review of Sorts – Part II – Radiohead – In Rainbows

Five songs into it now and “All I Need” is rapidly emerging as a potential highlight of the first half of this record. Starting as a meager, reverb soaked piece, the song transforms itself with a stunning orchestral flourish. It is also the most "Radiohead like" song on the record. Not a criticism though, more a guidepost for potential listeners. "Faust Arp" follows and contrary to my hopes is not a direct homage to the German Electronic 1970’s minimalists Faust. But then again I am hardly qualified to know what goes on in the mind of M. Yorke. The song rather, is a acoustic number threaded with enough strings to raise Serge Gainsbourg. The resultant song would have been a good fit on their 2003 release Hail to the Thief.

Next up is “Reckoner”. Certainly recognizable at least in title to the song originally debuted in very different form on their 2006 tour. A notable rocker back then, the number now devoid of the rocking spirit that made it a real concert highlight. Not entirely disappointing, just unexpected.

The laid back "House of Cards" appears next and has a very isolated feeling to it. Very much in keeping with the overall feel of the record. What surely will be a potential highlight of their upcoming 2008 tour, the presentation possibilities with this song are numerous.

“Jigsaw Falling into Place” and “Videotape” fittingly end the record with Thom Yorke at his most vocally astute and lyrically passionate. Definitely more sedate than first group of songs I discussed but entirely appropriate in the most awe inspiring sense. I recall hearing Kid A for the first time and feeling similarly enthused.

In the end is it worthy of the hype? Is it worth the five year wait? ABSOLUTELY. This one is a stunner. Radiohead have reinvented everything with this project and are clearly at the top of their game. I urge everyone to investigate this band further, hopefully in a live environment. They are a truly significant musical entity and I hope they will continue to be so for many years. This band inspires me and enervates me. Their creativity particularly with In Rainbows, astounding. I am very much looking forward to the physical In Rainbows package that will complete this experience and offer some b-sides to boot.

Can you tell I like this thing? I just wonder how I'll get Thom Yorke to sign my digital download next time we cross paths.

Highly recommended.

PPPPP

A REVIEW OF SORTS Part I – Radiohead – In Rainbows

(Radiohead's new album In Rainbows was available to download this morning, with fans choosing exactly how much they wish to pay for the album.) For the record (no pun intended), I paid for the discbox option and the digital download portion was part of that package. Acquisition of said 160k bitrate mp3 files earlier today was efficient and surprisingly fast (less than 2 minutes). With that distribution method alone Radiohead have singlehandedly set the record industry on its ear. Creatively speaking though it's still early and my critical opinions on this one will change. They often do. This has been the case with me for every Radiohead release since 1993. For that reason, it's best not to write a conventional review directly. Further, due to the fact because it's not yet fully clear whether I should be critiquing Radiohead the corporate entity, who have made a soundtrack to their latest commercial outing, or Radiohead the musicians, who have made another album full of conceptual minutiae for fans to love worldwide. For now I offer a review of sorts; Remarks and observations on something important in my life, in all of our lives perhaps. Life changing? Not really. Life affirming? Indeed.

One particularly hot August night ten years ago I had an unusual brush with celebrity behind London’s Centennial Hall. A small throng of fans had gathered for a chance meeting with Radiohead who were in town promoting OK Computer. As he left the building, head “Head” Thom Yorke wryly commented that I appeared to be, “…the only one at the show without pimples”. Marginalization by celebrity is such a capricious thing, (damn you greying temples for belying my age!) but what a story for the grandchildren.

Yes, my teenage days are quite behind me at this point but this morning I felt like I was 15 again. Today I, like so many others was downloading the new Radiohead release, In Rainbows; today, for the first time in a long time I was truly excited about a new music release. My excitement in fact was two-fold. First, that I finally have some new music from the most important band on the planet and second, that this brave step in music marketing was actually working. The new Radiohead distribution model is genius and record companies had better pay heed. The future is now.

Bleary eyes aside, it seems rather appropriate that I hear In Rainbows for the first time in the early morning. These are my initial impressions. The first two tracks "15 Step" and "Bodysnatchers" are like that time in the morning just before the sun begins to squash the darkness of the night before. Announcing its presence quickly and assuredly, the record feels like the calm ‘after’ a storm. It feels exceptionally bright and airy and lacks the compression of earlier recordings. No heavy chords and little to no guitar strumming, In Rainbows is a record full of empty space. For as much as Kid A revelled in its darker themes this one absolutely sparkles. That is not to say it is a cheery romp. The third song “Nude” makes that clear immediately. The fourth track Weird Fishes/Arpeggi was somewhat familiar since the demo showed up earlier this summer throughout the interweb. The results though, even more captivating this time as the song is fleshed out, the treatment exquisite.

To be continued.

New Radiohead - In Rainbows

**UPDATE**

You will eventually have three ways to pick up the seventh Radiohead LP, the Nigel Godrich-produced In Rainbows. It all depends how much you want to pay, which goodies you'd like, and how soon you want the tunes. Observe:

1. As a DRM-free mp3 download, beginning October 10 (and available for preorder now), via www.inrainbows.com . This version contains the 10 tracks that comprise In Rainbows, and you can pay whatever the hell you want for it. This is basically the band leaking the album and asking you for a donation to access it.

2. As part of a deluxe "discbox", available for preorder now and shipping in December. In addition to the 10-track In Rainbows on CD, you also get the release on LP and as a digital download, plus an enhanced bonus CD packed with eight more tracks, photos, and artwork (and an LP of the bonus tracks), plus art and lyrics booklets and some nifty looking packaging. This thing costs £40.00/$81.00.

3. As a traditional CD, available in early 2008. This will presumably cost as much as traditional CDs tend to cost.

What Radiohead is doing here is actually pretty cool. Rather than preface their new album's release with the usual three months of press ballyhoo, only to have it leak at some random time before it comes out, they've kept it completely under wraps, then essentially gone and leaked it themselves. What's more, they've turned this into a moral question of sorts, by giving us the freedom to pay actual money for what amounts to an album leak.

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At last!

A rather cryptic message on their website, but I'll take it.

New Radiohead October 10th? (soon).

Autumn just got even better.