Radiohead - Kid A (Ballads)

It’s been too long. Maybe certain things had to end. I like to think that it means other things could begin. I remember the days when writing used to be my near driving force on a day-to-day basis. Now I feel I’ve been looking for other things and yet, I still come back to it. But maybe it has to feel like a real investment of time, rather than a laboring task. I wrote a poem almost a month ago but it wasn’t anything legit: raw, unfiltered, jagged, jaded. And actually, it (writing) is about the music and having fun with it. Still, I don’t feel like I need to burden any more heady writing about it all here; if you stay past this paragraph then here’s to more posts, soon.

I remember being home, after school, in my room blasting this entire album. I vividly remember the moment when “How to Disappear Completely” moved me and how I felt so immediately entrenched in the moment. There I was, standing in the middle of the room with the speakers directly in front of me – singing along, as loud as I could (people may or may not have been home i.e. it didn’t matter) – and how amazing that felt. Music nerd in all of us, it’s one of those musical moments that will always be locked in. After the first three songs of this intense (yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon) album, the entire band decides to hop into the backseat for a drifting, string-laden, epic ride. There are still explosions, they just build, they stir and they grow before unloading. Throw in the blistering vocals, sweetly solemn at the beginning and grippingly forceful as it all develops – perfection in song crafting if there ever was such a thing.


I’ve been running a lot the past two months. I was fortunate enough to go to ACL in October (made in more ways than one possible by my sweet love) and after recovering from it I took to the new routes near our place. Kid A deserves its own post so this is just about the two killer ballads. Two stellar songs that are rightly in my top TEN songs by Radiohead (which I imagine would be some kind of monster list) and they are also not the most likely options. The last one, “Motion Picture Soundtrack” is what sounds most to me like vintage Radiohead but sparkling and utterly devastating. I love the bareness of the beginning and the vast hugeness of the ending and how it’s contrasting against Thom Yorke’s bitter, unapologetic lyrics about fake love in the movies. It isn’t a moment to be celebrating but the stark sadness that prevails is some kind of magic. Obviously for most diehards, it’s the pouring music and how it reigns over everything when suddenly, it just all goes away. The extreme emotion is beautiful – and now, once again, enclosed in a new room I can enjoy the music all over. Same as it ever was. - Bryan

Atoms for Peace - Ingenue

I’ve been way too behind on 2013 music thus far – I feel like I’ve only really heard a handful of new albums. While I intend to shift that focus soon, this particular album by Atoms for Peace, Amok, has slowly buried a nest in my heart. It’s easily the best album I’ve heard of this very young year; I want to say it’s not entirely because I’ve heard very little else. It’s also a creatively musical album that finds Thom Yorke and his side band (not Radiohead) relishing in Fela Kuti-inspired songs that both suck you in with their mesmerizing sensibilities and still, leave you craving for more. The album has gradually garnered more and more attention and this is the video to “Ingenue,” with more dancing by Yorke.

It’s as if spring has finally sprung. I’ve been behind on finding music, on listening to the mountains of music I already have, I’ve even been slacking it with my fifa playing but I don’t really feel down about it. The definitive love has certainly sprung. My heart flutters with a light, brisk beaming ray of light that seems to be turning the grayness into this bursting red color. While I discover some kind of balance to my brain’s waves of consciousness and what my heart is screaming about, I also realize that I’m incredibly happy because of how magnetic my heart feels. It’s as if spring has finally sprung.

On this song, the third one of nine on the album, Yorke sings about a love that seems to be holding him down, while still bringing him back up for air. The video itself is a great depiction of the words he’s singing, with his pairing with another dancer a match made in heaven. Visually, it’s hard to keep your eyes off it and lyrically, it’s densely full of layers. And ingénue is by definition: a character in literature, film or any kind of theatre role whereby it’s an innocent or unsophisticated young woman. Some kind of purity, it could be a naïve woman who is still finding herself. He sings about being stuck in a mess and like being inside of a bell jar, suffocating. She tries to comfort him but at the end, he just needs more time to figure it out. It’s beautifully exposed and delivered and the video couldn’t be more perfect. It’s an album very much worth seeking if you haven’t already, in due time it will be one of 2013’s finest moments. It’s already been an immensely great year and here’s to more of the same. – Bryan

Talk Show Host

I want to, I want to be someone else or I'll explode
Floating upon the surface for the birds, the birds, the birds

You want me, well fucking well come and find me
I'll be waiting, with a gun and a pack of sandwiches
And nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing

You want me, well, come on and break the door down
You want me, fucking come on and break the door down
I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready... - Bryan (6/6)

Radiohead – In Rainbows

Your eyes, they turn me. I’ll be honest when I first heard this album back in 2007 it was like a ton of bricks had fallen on me. I was fortunate enough to get the heralded discbox and it was an album that arrived during that fall to very sensitive minds and hearts. It’s hard to believe we’re nearly five years removed from this album, it’s hard to believe just how amazing of an album it really is -- just another bona fide classic from Radiohead.

I remember loving the way it vastly improved from what Hail to the Thief left to be desired (flow and songwriting to name a few) and how it was ten stellar songs. It’s still an album people love with highest regards for Radiohead’s ability at combining amazing words about love and life, with amazing sounds and well, Thom Yorke’s absolutely flawless voice. Flawless in how it’s mesmerizing and uncannily always on pitch and through all the aesthetic value – his cadence, his delivery, his spectral tone – it’s a flawlessly perfect voice for this band. It’s a much different album from The King of Limbs, sure, but both are dissimilar beyond comparison; yet, heavy heavy listening experiences. Anyways, here’s my probable two favorite songs off this album.

On “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” the band truly reigns in on their forceful musicianship with a song that is both a complex discussion on song structure in the 21^st century and how the enveloping nature of words is like poetry for some of the best. At the heart of the album lies many of the album’s strongest looks and that isn’t to say it’s not naturally bookended with outstanding songs like every single Radiohead album, but to have this song, back-to-back with “All I Need,” still floors me every time. Well on this song, they take the Arpeggi and spread it throughout all the instruments, even the drums if you can take me seriously ha. An Arpeggi is plural for arpeggio and an arpeggio is the notes of a chord, spread out and played one at a time, instead of altogether. So maybe on this song it would be something like D-F#-A in succession into the five chord (A-C#-E) and probably some sevenths (G) for contrast and color and they basically circulate that into one massively growing ball of layers and sound. There’s, as always, lots of imagery here with the bottom of the sea, seeing her eyes and how the music prevails this underwater feel; the way it all comes together at the end is so great. 

Then there’s “All I Need,” which is basically, your perfect pop song in the 21^st century. Perhaps I’d be too confident in saying this, but we should save this album and use it to teach music to our kids when they’re old enough because very simply, this might be as good as it gets. Here they enter with a chilly entrance of overtones, before the kick drum and snare appear and then suddenly, boom, there’s that looping bass. It’s all about feel and composure and on this song, they sound entirely in control. But it’s the lyrics, (I’m an animal, trapped in your hot car) that make all the wild difference; by the time you get to “You’re All I Need” and singing it together, it’s sublime quality. There’s sadness in the music and a realistic defining moment in it all, “I only stick with you, because there are no others.” So even when he’s depressed as hell, “I am all the days that you choose to ignore,” he eventually realizes that he’s just as much in control of his infatuation with her as she is in control of him. I think by the time he sings the chorus the whole bottom just lets out and the ending chaos with the clashing cymbals and Yorke’s vocal yelps are downright everything you could ask for. Powerful music for sure. ---  Bryan 

Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings

I don’t think I’d mind it much if this whole blog was majority Radiohead posts. I think that would be a pretty decent representation of my music background in one all-encompassing shell of bliss. I think the blog still invites diversity but well, I seem to be the last one standing at the moment. I think, though, if not anybody cares that by the new year at this rate, I’d be foolish to survive it alone. But if I could present a solid amount of deserved praise for a band, before and after In Rainbows, it would need to be Radiohead.

There’s some sort of ‘getting back to basic’ fundamental reach for Radiohead in a large sense as well. Their music has always felt strongly enveloping; moments where they’ve been able to rush goosebumps to my skin are hard to all recount. So before when I was still lost in myself as a young soon-to-be junior in high school, I remember reaching for my walkmen and getting lost in the haze of “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors.” And recently I got back to basics and pulled out my vinyl copy of the other album they released in 2001 and it brought me all back again.

Well Amnesiac was the sordid smash hit of the summer of 2001. Released on June FIFTH it acted as a sort of prerequisite to some of the madness that was soon to follow. But mostly, it was an emotionally-packed release that followed up Kid A with sort of, more than, lofty expectations. I remember it being good, not great. Then I remember the I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings and their release in the winter of 2001. Drastically different times for me both as a growing person and times of the year, the latter is a live collection of songs from their two previous albums and of course, the masterful “True Love Waits” is on it too.

There’s the solemn, subtle version of “Like Spinning Plates” and its chilling strings. In a way, for me at least, the way the piano melts in and around Thom Yorke’s voice is a thing of beauty. So much so that I’d dare argue that this version is probably better than the original. Sure, the regular version resonates into that album’s (Amnesiac) cloudy discord and this version basks in the glory of a soaring piano and towering strings but it’s still spectacular. It’s partly cool when you realize the crowd finally clamors when they realize what it is because of how dissimilar it all starts and ends from the original; there’s a silence the song demands and finally receives.


The recordings are mostly endearing because of how it’s a quick, eight-song excerpt of what the band sounded live at that time. Easily the best band of our time, the I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings were a great treat for Radiohead fanatics like yours truly. Here the version of “Everything in its Right Place” is added with more atmospherics, less bumping beats and drums, and more manic lulls by Yorke. It twists and shouts in a circular motion as the heady synth line maintains current the whole way throughout: a seven-minute revealing of musical chaos. It’s getting great to be able to hear a lot of this again and remember the music, more so than the time, although they both weigh importance. Naturally, the past is past and music is much more current here than ever before. – Bryan

Radiohead - Supercollider

Last Saturday was Record Store Day. It was also – coincidentally – day two of Coachella. I heard there was a street sale at All That Music, I heard there were some good deals and when I checked my e-mail I heard Radiohead released a special 12” for Record Store Day. Whoever got the vinyl, luuuucky. They sent digital copies of the two songs they released; “Supercollider” is such a perfect song. It probably sounds the most different from The King of Limbs and that’s probably because although started during those sessions, it was finished after the album.

I really like how at first it’s just this electronic beat that almost tricks you into believing its something different. It acts more as the set up to the mysterious strings that creep in and by the time Thom Yorke’s voice has appeared, the heavens have already been far removed. I’m guessing the song’s about the new possibilities out there, the darkness and ominous textures act as uneasiness and how there might be a super collider out there that separates everything. The ending lyrics are perhaps the most cryptic, ‘I put the shadows back into the boxes’ is sung against a sweepingly cold line and the angels that hang over the balcony could be nothing but everyone’s lost faiths, unproven. Mostly I think the song sounds like a typical Radiohead beauty: a perfect melody, a perfect flow and absolutely perfectly sung. I don’t think there’s anyone that has a better voice than Yorke and this sounds like heavens opening – it almost makes it hurt that it wasn’t included on The King of Limbs. – Bryan

Radiohead – Feral

Part of the reason why some people prefer vinyl over digital is the pure improvement of sound the former has on the latter. And honestly, for me, that’s like 90% of the reason, while the other 10 would be made up of different aesthetics. I think the point of music is for it to be loud, rich and clear and if you can get it at its BEST sounding state, go for it. So after hearing “Feral” for a solid 3 minutes, on full blast with headphones, on my computer, I can’t wait to hear how it sounds on vinyl. There’s something about that last section where everything is ten times louder than before – far more extensive and far more immersive – that it sounds absolutely perfect. I can’t really place why the song is exactly named “Feral” either. You can definitely hear Thom Yorke singing some kind of words maybe? I always just picture a wild horse roaming the free area again after finally being let loose and other crazy images, ha. But either way, it follows “Little by Little” so nicely and precedes “Lotus Flower” so well, too. It’s like an electronic-influenced song that is soaked in jazz influences at the same time; you can hear so many different voices throughout it all and in the end, it’s memorable. Loud is always better in my opinion so hopefully people can listen to this and just blast it because it’s worth it. – Bryan

Radiohead - Bloom

Little by little, this is really starting to become quite an obsession. I’ve realized so many different thoughts with this album; the first song, “Bloom,” (Above is "Almond Branches in Bloom" by Van Gogh) seems to be about the budding growth of knowing that it’s time to move on – that you’re finally ready to make that first step. Whether it is knowing that you’re ready to move to a new town, or that it’s best to switch jobs or that it’s time to fall in love, the bloom is where the natural desire comes in to play. So I think “Bloom” is probably a very meaningful choice to open it all and it sounds…so right.

I think the crazy snare rhythm – the triplet repetition – is downright infectious. I find myself crazily tapping the rhythm away to myself either in my head, out loud or even just tapping it incessantly as if the rest of the instruments are all playing alongside of me. Some people look at me like I must be nuts and a few recognize what I’m doing and probably still think I’m nuts either way, ha. But the emphasis here is probably on realizing that what you’ve been trying to chase is actually what’s been holding you back. There’s these rapid keyboard and piano lines trading off melodies and a ghost of voices behind Thom Yorke as he declares “While the ocean blooms, it’s what keeps me alive” before wondering “So why does it still hurt?” and the music is so justly poignant. Typical fashion, all of the words are embellished and elongated and this whole time, on top of all this mist, clutter and denseness is that crazy rhythm always pounding away. It’s like if you don’t know what to focus on and the entire time, all the band is doing is merely gelling off each other. In the end, it’s about never taking yourself seriously really, “Don’t blow your mind with why” and just go with it. Or at least that’s what my weird head thinks. – Bryan

Radiohead - Little by Little

Here’s the third song off the album, “Little by Little.” It’s channeling these worldly sounds while driving through a thick groove of headiness and percussion. You can almost feel Thom Yorke’s shaking pulse throughout the song’s seams and everything just seems to burst with stunning skill. There’s darkness in it sure but it’s amazingly good darkness.

So there’s the fact that Yorke’s voice sounds just so perfect on every word right? I mean, I certainly don’t think that could be a gross exaggeration because it is downright perfect, it really is. I love the way he sings about never being nervous, never getting judged before affirming, “I’m no idiot, I should look…once you’ve been hurt you’ve been around enough.” The last line in particular is so apt about everyone today that’s ever been hurt at one point or another (that’s everybody) in that once you've been hurt that first time, you’re in a way, ruined forever. And not in a bad way per se, but you’re always gonna be that much more careful, that much more weary and that much more skeptical of jumping into something with anyone else. No one likes to be hurt, ever. But I also think the song’s about how ‘little by little’ we just tend to grind away, we tend to die a little, we get a little more sordid. He sings that routines and schedules and how they 'drug and kill you' and that, is in my opinion what Radiohead have always been about. They’ve always been about telling it like how it is - morbid and critical and absolutely vivid with imagery. That’s why people find them so ‘weird’ and how it could be ‘depressing’ music when really, it’s gorgeous stuff. In the end, they make another observation, ‘I’m just a tease and you’re such a flirt,’ it’s just such great stuff. – Bryan

Radiohead - Give up the Ghost

I’m not entirely sure if it’s weird to like a certain saying or phrase but something about ‘give up the ghost’ always, affected me, for some reason. One of the processes in getting over my breakup was through many great friendships that included discussing music, movies and well, life. There’s something to be said about simply being able to discuss your passions and desires with people in sharing a close bond. One close friend I had made was a wiser person who was chock-full of great advice and was always able to convey certain notions in the best of ways. And I remember one day being paranoid and bitter and annoyed and he said, “man you need to give up the ghost already” (or something very close to that nature). Now, I’m the kind of person that if someone says something like that and I obviously don’t get it, I’m gonna ask first what it means before I bother thinking about it. Yeah, it’s very annoying in it of itself to be that way but hey, I like being taught. Ha. So he took a while to get back to me and in the meantime, I came across a bunch of different meanings for the saying. Eventually, he vaguely said something else about it and by then, I had already sorted out my own ideas on the saying myself. Where this goes is that I’m guessing it’s best to try and learn and discover and find things on your own, too. It’s amazing to have great guidance but sometimes, life needs to be battled with on an independent level and maybe then, the successes and ‘overcoming the impossibles’ are that much better. And now, I love that saying because of its simply subtle imagery and well, it has its own personal stuff too and that’s probably more significant, heh.

Anyways, so Radiohead decided to write a song entitled “Give up the Ghost” and it serves as that head-changing moment on The King of Limbs where maybe – for some, finally – it makes sense just why people love this band so much. For starters, it’s this broken down, stunning acoustic guitar melody that supplements Thom Yorke’s voice in the sweetest of ways. His voice sounds so sad and disappointed when he sings lines like “I think I have had my fill…in your arms” and the memorable way he sings the song’s title is definitely amazing. Then there’s all the gorgeous details intertwined in it: the soaring birds that sing to introduce the song’s lush sounds, and the fact that the first uttered words are “don’t haunt me.” It’s a defiant request and it’s definitely uplifting; this is like the outpour of the album’s entire fruitions. There’s all these themes about letting go, about losing all of the bad and about finally just giving in and now, it’s time to give up the ghost. It’s like that lulling and bearing figure that has been haunting you for far too long and you’ve been just dreading its presence – it’s finally time to shake it off you. I think that’s what I’ve developed is maybe what it means but either way, it feels amazing when one is rid of it. I mentioned how “Lotus Flower” was followed by the album’s two heaviest hitters and so this incredibly spooky but soothing song is what precedes “Separator.” Hopefully others have enjoyed it so far too. – Bryan

Radiohead - 4 Minute Warning

So back when I wrote about the bonus disc for In Rainbows I probably didn’t properly disclose how awesome the six, formal, songs are on it. Radiohead’s last album is still the ten-song beast we’ve come to love but with it are these other choice cuts that while they aren’t on the album, are probably just as amazing as anything else on it. Either way, “4 Minute Warning” is the gorgeous closer to that bonus disc and in talking about “Separator” last night, it made sense to maybe touch on why this other stuff that they were making before The King of Limbs is so good too.

There’s just something so perfect about it: its structure is a basic verse-chorus combination that gels in just over, well, four minutes, there’s a great deal of noisy darkness at the beginning of it and then, by the end of it you’re left with a beautifully light stunner. There’s background chatter on this one and there’s even more amazing words on it. I think the part about nightmares that’s most scary is the fact that you’re just dying to wake up from them and yet you just can’t seem to. I got to see most of Eternal Sunshine… yesterday (through an awesome pick by an awesome person) and wow, dreams and feelings and nostalgia. Radiohead’s beautiful in pin-pointing those aching feelings we feel when we’re in complete denial: “I just want to run and hide” is what Thom Yorke sings to the support of a choir of voices that sound like ghostly creatures. At the end, he’s even more uplifting, “Soon I'm going to wake up…someone’s going to bring me around” and it’s that sort of swoon one feels when their lover shows up to take them away. Then again, this could just be about wanting to escape or it could be about something concrete and much deeper than silly feelings. I’m not entirely sure but well, Radiohead’s been destroying me all over lately and this is still part of the massive collection of music they made during the In Rainbows. Their depth is what’s so amazing, you can hear U2 and R.E.M. on something like this and still, it’s a Radiohead singular closer. – Bryan

Radiohead - Separator

I love how this is simply, fittingly titled “Separator.” After “Lotus Flower” come the two heaviest songs on the album before this lulling song sweeps in. The memorable guitar line shimmers on top of everything and eventually Thom Yorke is singing, “If you think this is over then you’re wrong,” while the entire time he’s been asking to be awaken. There’s something about the way the drums sound – they’re crisp and precise when needed, looming and booming in other parts and they have an impeccable tempo. When the music creeps in and you hear the snare against the sound of background chatter, there’s something great about that for some reason. After you’ve come out of the deep abyss that the previous two songs put you in, this is like the sky opening up only to find that you’re in a deep slumber.

The song itself is probably about a million different things but I think the line, “I wanna slip over and get back under” is probably the most poignant one. Something tells me that a lot of the songs are about letting go and often, our dreams take over our realities and blur them. The words recall a lovely encounter with someone that you still long for and desire but she continues to reject you and so in the end, you want to be awaken from the bittersweet dream of being with someone who can’t give you what you want. There’s uplifting confidence everywhere on the album and it’s such a stunning way to close it all out. – Bryan


(P.S. Apparently there's been talk that maybe Radiohead is getting ready for another album to release to all - which i personally doubt - but it's interesting to note the song's words and how the song title refers to a separation of sounds. Maybe like one album to another...supposedly orders for the album are classified as TKOL1 (The King of Limbs 1?) meaning that maybe TKOL2 is out soon but who knows. Thought i'd share it too.)

Radiohead - Lotus Flower

The new Radiohead album. I’ve been in love with it since Friday night. I pre-ordered my copy after a smart bird told me about it and was waiting for the digital copy on Saturday. I found out about the day before trick later on in the day on Friday so I got home in the evening and next thing you know, I had a fever and was pretty sick. Around midnight I decided to get my copy and listen to it right then and there from front to back as I played FIFA. It was a pretty amazing experience actually. Here I was with a sordid fever, a bad cough and a throat that was killing me and I was getting rewarded with Radiohead’s gorgeous new album. The album was a shock to my ears and it still is, every single sound off it continues to just pour this amazing energy, soul and heart, it’s absolutely beautiful.

I find it crazy when reading reviews that say it’s not that good, or that it’s gonna be their most divisive, that it’s too short, that it’s not In Rainbows. I mean, come on.

So through the weekend, I tried to get better by taking vitamins and drinking lots of liquids. It didn’t work because I found out Monday afternoon that I had a throat infection and well, I was pretty sick apparently. But through that time, The King of Limbs tried to nurse me back to health the best way it could. I’m finally almost better although yes, I still have a small sick vibe ha, and now, I cannot listen to this album without finding something else I love in it. I’ve probably already outplayed the heck out of it but it’s a new album, it takes a lot of listens to finally ‘get’ and yes, it’s a Radiohead album – too – so it’s gonna be awesome, always.

“Lotus Flower” was one of the first ones that I really connected to when it came to the lyrics. But there’s so much going on here. The patterns the percussion plays envelope this circular path where there’s hand-claps, scattered snare parts and a relentless kick-drum that bangs away forcefully and that’s percussion only. All the other instruments shift in and out focus while Thom Yorke’s voice is in the spotlight again. But the words, right, he’s singing about maybe the fact that it feels beautiful when you can feel that empty space in your heart for the one you used to love and tonight, we get to set them free? There’s that affectionate side where you’ll inch up to someone and next thing you know you’re the little toy in their pocket and basically, they’ll do whatever they want with you. And that’s because all you do is balloon their head even more by showering them with love. Radiohead’s songs can also draw various inspirations, Buddhism is felt here, especially with the lotus and the fact that it’s all about accepting your faults, your strengths and everything as whole. And the way he sings, “Because all I want is the moon upon a stick” and how his voice climbs the walls is amazing. I was even more enthused when I found out that they did a video for the song where you get to see Yorke dance the entire time and it is below. They’re amazing for not selling out to vevo, for making such an amazing video on such a basic idea and well, after listening to the songs about 20 times and then seeing a video where Yorke moves to the aforementioned different beats and patterns is amazing too. It’s an amazing song, but I’ve probably already mentioned that and so are the other 7 songs on the album and maybe I can talk about them later. There’s a more ‘professional’ review of the album by me in other publications but here, it’s all from my heart. And why not, ending it all, Yorke offers some advice to this harsh world: “Listen to your heart.” Sounds good to me. – Bryan

Radiohead - True Love Waits

The basis of my love for Radiohead is probably Thom Yorke’s voice or the fact that, in my book at least, they are the most musical band of my time. And I remember falling in love with their words and music in my primitive years, when everything was forming inside of me – it’s like if we bonded but not really. Their lyrics always get a huge flack from haters that don’t seem to grasp the bigger picture: sure “All I Need” is a shattered lovelorn shout for attention but it’s also completely beautiful isn’t it? In many ways, Radiohead’s lyrics are some of the best I’ve ever heard and there will probably be no one greater for me – no matter how jaded or nostalgic they may imply to be.

“True Love Waits” was one of the few songs during the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions that spoke to me; and it didn’t even come out on either of those albums. It’s somewhat of a guitar ballad that features Yorke’s voice in prime position. Hard to believe this was going on in my head when I was nothing more than a punk high school kid because it’s pretty powerful and endearing. The twists are magnificent; it’s also depressing in many ways and entirely downtrodden. At the end, “don’t leave” is all he can say as he begs for her to stay. Nothing more or less than an outstanding song, just kind of feeling it. Here's an awesome version I found when they did MTV's "$2 series." – Bryan

Radiohead – In Rainbows (Bonus Disc)

Back in October of 2007, Radiohead self-released In Rainbows, offering a ‘pay-what-you-want’ process for purchasing the album. You could put as little or as much as you wanted and still, you got the music no matter what. With that offer was a special little discbox (that isn't so little) that would include the album on CD and 2 vinyl LPs, artwork, a special edition case and a second, bonus disc. That bonus disc wasn’t released when the physical CD hit the shelves on New Year’s Day 2008 but it has some of the best songs the band wrote during the In Rainbows sessions.

Here is a personal video for “Last Flowers,” a piano-driven ballad. This version is probably almost identical to the album version, with the most important factors being highlighted: Thom Yorke’s voice and the piano melody. “And If I’m gonna talk, I just wanna talk” is simply sung, as if that’s something we rarely receive. I think it’s better than the other piano-led stuff they left on In Rainbows (“Nude,” “Videotap”) but maybe that’s just me:


And here is the version of “Down is the New Up,” that appears on the bonus disc. It’s creatively strong and a superb song on all accounts. “What is up…buttercup?” is what Yorke asks on this one, I wonder what is up myself sometimes. A lot of the album was about distorted realities and how some people’s perception is really, their reality. Here, a new agenda is brought up, as if to question what we desire and in the end, it’s Radiohead's trademark blur of sounds and mastery that wins out. – Bryan

Radiohead – Amnesiac

The thing about Radiohead is that no matter which album you turn to, they’re all so incredibly rich and diverse. We could argue over which one is the best, over which one was truly their breakthrough one, and other super-pretentious subjects but I don’t think you could really say one is more diverse than the other. I remember falling in love with their ability at re-creating themselves with every new album and it’s still arguably, their strongest trait: musicianship. Listening to so much Björk has gotten me back into Radiohead and it’s found me really digging deep; it’s especially fun when you can dig back into the music you first fell in love with and find even more gems.

So I’m probably going really left-field with this choice but “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” is, in many ways, a microcosm of what Amnesiac is about. The album that really is Kid A Pt. 2 (they should’ve just made one massively superb album of 16 tracks of the best of each): it’s stunning, divisive and impeccable. I love how loud it is and after the shining melody on “Pyramid Song,” it’s a brisk change of pace. But still, it comes back to Thom Yorke’s haunting voice, singing about doors. As much as some like to hate, there is always a point to Radiohead’s lyrics and they’re all amazing. Here he sings about the doors opening in our lives but he warns, “There are doors that let you in and out but never open…but they are trapdoors…that you can’t come back from.” Then they end it all with a smashing amount of killer noise? Sweet.


And I remember getting a burned copy of this album as a gift the summer before my junior year and I wanted to immediately throw it away because I hated the girl that gave it to me. Plus, Kid A was the one that opened everything, so I wasn’t entirely stoked to hear something else just a year later. But I sucked on to the last two songs of the album like no others before it. “Like Spinning Plates” drive and outpour of reverb, atmospherics and those menacing keyboards was some kind of magic. Some kind of euphoria that exploded into your stream (“My body’s floating down the muddy river”) of consciousness and then, after an intense set of four minutes, you get the painstakingly gorgeousness of “Life in a Glasshouse.” I mean, are you serious? First of all, it starts with that open cymbal stomp and piano clank and it’s an evident style shift from the darkness of before - it’s jazzy, there’s clarinet, trumpet and trombone, and the dynamics are sublime. My descriptions are becoming worse and worse I fear but I completely get the gist of saying, “Well, of course I'd like to stay and chew the fat” but we must be honest at the same time, “Only, only, only…if someone is listening in.” – Bryan

Peanut

I had to bury the first dog I've ever had tonight. She was fourteen years old and was the family dog, Peanut. She had been sick for a while now and we were actually planning on taking her in to be put down tomorrow. Different people kept asking me what I was going to do after work (my new schedule is from 230-11, which is much later than my previous one) and something kept telling me to just head home.

So I walked in and I swear, I looked down at her and saw her take her last breath. Who knows how much she had struggled or what she was feeling but I do know that something was trying to tell us (my mom and I) that she wasn't going to be left at some hospital to be creameated. I immediately began digging a hole in the back and I buried her. I said a prayer for her and we shared some stories about her and that was that. She was a good dog, she was loyal and she lived a pretty long life but I can't help feeling guilty because she was sick for a while and perhaps I should've taken the initiative to bring her to the vet. I take full blame on that.

I didn't realize how hard it would hit me and how much it would affect me. I felt helpless and somewhat angry that she passed, as if I was in some delusional state assuming she was never going to die. I'm an animal lover, I'm a freaking sensitive loser and I'm a weak-ass dude so I felt it best to honor her in some way. I mean, animals have zero control over what happens to them once they've been domesticated; they are literally ours and somehow, they don't judge and love you as the selfish, stupid person you are.

I went to my room and looked for music and I did the math: Peanut was born and given to us when I just entered the 5th grade, that means she was born in 1995. I wanted to play an album from her birth year as a sort of going away gift, to share in the music that was playing at that time - even if this then ten-year old punk kid had no idea the magic music possessed.

So I grabbed Radiohead's The Bends, an album that is deeply rooted in memories and nostalgia. It was the first album by theirs I heard, after I stole it from my sister. It's still the album I feel is their second best and it's the one that mostly, brought Amber and I together. I remember having my discman with me and my cheap headphones as a dorky freshman and there, in front of me, was this hot sophomore taking it from me. She said she only wanted to borrow the discman and gave me my CD case and said "don't worry, your cd is in there." And I left home for the weekend only to realize she purposely left with my cd to listen to because naturally, she fell in love with it too. It was cute and sure, sweet and later on, we'd hear the band play "Black Star" in 2006 in Berkeley and yes, it was awesome. But in all, it is an album that is still, very very good.

I played it all and sat outside in the dark through it all. Nostalgia is horrible and those ghosts seem to still haunt me, even when I lay down and close my eyes at night. I hope that somehow Peanut could feel what I was going for and she will be missed. I'm sorry for those that read this spiel and wish they could've had those five minutes of their lives back. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" is still my favorite Radiohead song, its the closing song off the aforementioned album and it follows, below, R.I.P. Peanut - Bryan.