I've read a great many knuckleheaded comments lately about The King of Limbs, Radiohead's new album, which is too bad because it means that a lot of people are not appreciating it for what it is: a deepening of their musical concept and process (which do overlap, but are not precisely the same thing). And it seems like the band are getting it from both sides - either the record is too experimental or not experimental enough... It's neither actually. In fact, it's simply further exploration of a way of making music, which they invented, by the way, and which produces results that are unlike those of any other artist. Think of that: after all these years, there's still no one that sounds like them. Of course, this means that there might not be as much of a change between this one and In Rainbows as there was between, say, The Bends and OK Computer, but that's as it should be. It means that they're honing their process. And it's important to keep in mind that these guys are a great and unique rock band, not trend-followers. They'll be remembered among the greatest musicians of our time, of any, in fact. And the best thing I've heard about them recently came in an interview with Jonny Greenwood, in which he said (and I'm paraphrasing) that the band has learned a lot about how to speed up their process. My hope is that this means that we're going to get new music from them more frequently. Here are links to their most recent release (a two-sided single for Record Store Day). For maximum enjoyment, listen to them with the right mindset: "Supercollider"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ii-FumszIg. "The Butcher": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w19ZlO_JEJ0&feature=related.

I've been reading quite a bit of commentary on Radiohead's latest release, The King of Limbs, and I've been left, more than a few times, quite puzzled. I'm not entirely sure that some critics are entirely sure what to listen for in the band's music. So today, I'm going to start with what not to listen (or look) for: 1. The length of an album is quite irrelevant when music of this quality is under discussion. Radiohead's music is intricate and detailed to an unparalleled level in the history of rock, and the only way to appreciate the fact is with repeated listenings, and I mean many of them. Music, like poetry, is about compressed power, not length. Examples? Sgt. Pepper's clocks in at 39:42, and A Love Supreme at 33:02. (I think it was Robert Christgau who started all of this, with his "consumer alerts" for albums under a certain duration and so forth. It was a wrongheaded approach, and it wasn't his only one either - the stuff he's written about this band is pretty dumb, too.) 2. The lyrics are incidental to what Radiohead is doing. And while they shouldn't be disregarded, the band's art is located in its extrapolation of the various emotional states that the words hint at. Therefore, "Feral" has as much to say, in its own way, as does "Green Plastic Trees" or "Paranoid Android". 3. I remember Thom Yorke saying something about being "sick of melody" about ten years ago (or so), and while many of his songs belie that statement, it should be remembered that what the band is really after doesn't have a lot to do with a song's tune. T.S. Eliot once said that a poet uses ideas the way a burglar uses a piece of meat: to distract a dog, while he goes about his business. This also applies to the approach Radiohead takes to melody. Try listening to "Lotus Flower" for its texture, its details, its rhythms, which are put together with such care and originality that they sound new and different with every listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8.

Further to yesterday's post on The King of Limbs: with a few more listens it's become apparent that not all of the tracks are as complex as "Bloom", "Little By Little", or "Lotus Flower". In fact, "Codex" and "Give Up the Ghost" are, by Radiohead's standards, fairly straightforward, with the former showing clearly some of the influence of Neil Young on both Yorke's singing and writing. So the point that I made yesterday, about how this will be a difficult album for those who cover Radiohead, may not apply to all of its songs equally. In any event, I always enjoy hearing people do the songs, mainly because they help me to hear even more deeply into the complexity of the original versions. So I hope that I'm wrong, and that there will be many more covers to come in every style we've heard in the past, from reggae to string quartet, solo piano to small jazz ensemble, and in some we haven't yet. Let The King of Limbs reign!

After some more listening to Radiohead's The King of Limbs, one thing that occurs to me is that the material on this record is going to be very difficult for other artists to cover. The group's song-writing has always been of such originality and excellence that it has led to musicians from all genres and backgrounds doing versions of their songs. First on the list of these, simply due to the sheer number of tracks he's recorded from the Radiohead repertoire, is the classical pianist Christopher O'Riley, who has made a very interesting career out of arranging and performing works from some of the more advanced rock composers such as Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Radiohead of course (two full albums worth, in fact), and others. But The King of Limbs strikes me as so complex, even by their standards, that I'll be amazed (and very impressed) if Mr. O'Riley (or Brad Mehldau, or any of the other jazz musicians who've tackled their music in the past) can do so with songs from this album. And it isn't only the rhythms that are demanding, the melodic material is also full of surprise with lines taking unexpected turns and sometimes suggesting two or more tunes being referred to at once. It's music that asks a lot of its listeners, to say the least, and of those who would like to play along. We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, here's O'Riley's version of "Talk Show Host": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj4zFWnaF7U&feature=related

Quite the day for Radiohead fans. Checked into their Dead Air Space website this morning (http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/), found out that the album was available a day early, got the download done and have given it one listen in its entirety, found it phenomenal. Before hearing it, I was of the mind that they wouldn't be able to make the kind of progression that we've become used to hearing throughout their career; I didn't see how they would move past In Rainbows, in other words. But they have. This album has complexity and depth of a kind that I'm not sure I've heard on a rock album before. Many of the early reviews have pointed out that this is a record that will require a lot of listening, and therefore strong opinions of any kind should be avoided at this stage, and I don't disagree, but it's not going to stop me: The King of Limbs is a high-water mark in rock history. More on it in posts to come, but in the meantime, a few more listens needed.

I'm really glad to find out that Radiohead's new album is to be released (via digital download) this Saturday, because it gives me something positive to write about. You see, I was going to write about what a farce the Grammys are, and always have been (fun fact: Milli Vanilli won a Grammy before Bob Dylan did!), but now I don't have to. But before I leave the subject entirely, let me posit the following: the Grammys are about money, not music. They have about as much relevance, for someone serious about music, as does American Idol, which is to say, none.

OK, back to The King of Limbs (that's the title), because it's such a cool thing to have a great band at the height of their powers that can generate tremendous excitement with a forthcoming release. I was pretty young during the Beatles years, but I do remember how it seemed like their every move was an event. And then there were the many rock acts during the seventies who made me anticipate their new stuff. The Clash, Bowie, Queen, Neil Young, to name a few. Now, there are two: the chaps from Oxford mentioned above, and Wilco, who will be releasing their next album later this year. So, in celebration, here are "The Tourist" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAXRKPGKXWs) and "War on War" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-b37qFXvZw)