album of the week: 4.1

Radiohead

The King of Limbs

why you'll love it - interesting, moody, and calculated in the way only Radiohead can do

why you'll hate it - not so much of an album, few highlights

Put on your safety goggles and crash helmet; someone on the internet is gonna talk about Radiohead! Going by what we read, we'd think Radiohead is one of those ultimate "Love em or hate em" bands. While I believe OK Computer did change the production landscape of the modern rock album; fanatics have made it so anything less than glowing infallible praise for Thom Yorke and co. for each album since then is the voice of low-brow stupidity, or stubborn trolling.

I try my best to ignore the cries on either side of "pretentious rubbish" or "artistic genius", and give each Radiohead release a fair shake. It's been a month since The King of Limbs was released, so that should be enough time for the songs to breathe, as some of their material doesn't catch on the first couple listens. After a good month spent with this album, I'm realizing that announcing its existence about 5 days before release was the best thing for it. This did not allow hype to ferment, only to be dashed away by this 8 song release with no real sense of flow or theme.

These are pretty much just 8 songs. Some of the songs are really good. "Lotus Flower" is amazing. People complain about Yorke's falsetto, but the way it bounces off the drum machine loops and around the baselines… damn. I can't imagine this song done any other way. "Little By Little" and "Morning Mr. Magpie" have that kind of aggressive melancholy attitude that defined Hail To the King. They create this feeling of uneasiness in me, but at the same time it's hypnotic and hard to turn off.

There is some repetitiveness in their use of loops and related lyrics that may get on your nerves. It's sort of like noticing an exit sign when sitting in a movie theater, and never being able to zone it out from then on. The instrumental, "Feral", may do this to you. I've found "Give Up The Ghost" to be impossible to listen to because of a repeated line.

As much as I like some songs, it's the lack of stability that keeps me from me coming back to this like I do with other Radiohead albums. The closer, "Separator" is the only upbeat song on the album. It's distractingly upbeat, considering the album begins with "Bloom" (interesting, but hardly a song). It's not as if any songs in-between have any kind of progression from opener to closer, to sort of create a point A to H sort of thing. They're just there.

With very few memorable moments, and a seemingly random assortment of songs, to release this as an "album" kinda puts a shrug on the whole thing. Radiohead probably could have let these songs sit another year and released something epic, but I'm not sure if they care. They've already made a handful of landmark albums. They've got enough credit (critically, and financially) to do whatever they want. Fans probably shouldn't care, for the same reason. They've already proved themselves. Just enjoy more Radiohead.