Radiohead

It’s safe to say these are exciting times for Radiohead fans. Beginning with The King of Limbs, their eighth studio album nonchalantly announced and released in the space of a week in February 2011, the band are currently enjoying a productive purple patch, culminating last night in their first proper UK show for four years.

After casting off the shackles of traditional releases from 2007’s ground-breaking In Rainbows onwards, the band seem to have found a new lease of life, using their independence to release a string of material in the wake of the brilliant but somewhat brief TKOL album, as well as debuting a number of new songs live.

This influx of new material, including the double singles Supercollider/The Butcher and Staircase/The Daily Mail, and the unreleased Identikit, Cut A Hole and Skirting The Surface, has shown the UK’s passion for one of its most influential bands is a fervent as ever, with fever pitch reached this week with their first full UK tour since 2008.

While there may have been some grumblings about the fleeting length of the tour and the venues chosen, the tour’s first show last night at Manchester’s MEN Arena was everything the fans wanted, and more.

Those who were lucky enough to catch their secret gig at 2011’s Glastonbury aside, it was the first live outing for many TKOL songs in the UK, and they proved a revelation, finding their perfect home in the vast arena. Opener Lotus Flower effortlessly filled the open space, with punchy bass and entrancing drumming at its heart, it sounded truly anthemic and immediately set the tone for the whole evening.

Soon followed by Bloom, the swirling and offbeat album opener, the sweet and soaring Separator, and the frantic and intense Feral and Morning Mr Magpie, each demonstrated the extreme opposites that the album is made of and made for an exciting live show.

But, for me, the TKOL song that most demonstrated the perfect shift to the live arena was Give Up the Ghost, which was truly remarkable in the flesh. Coming as part of the second encore, with only Thom and Johnny onstage, loops of Thom’s vocals were built up, layering a rich, mesmerising sound that rang out and lingered long in the memory.

Other new material also included The Daily Mail, another high point, always surprising with its shift from falsetto ballad into rocking anthem, and brand new song Full Stop, which was musically similar to Jigsaw Falling into Place from In Rainbows, but a bit more distorted and synthy.

Radiohead’s epic Manchester gig on the In Rainbows tour of 2008 was probably the closest to a perfect gig I’ve ever seen, thanks to a perfectly balanced set list. Often painted as a difficult band who shun their biggest songs live, they did quite the opposite, playing a diverse and exciting set.

This was again the case last night, as the aforementioned new songs were surrounded and separated by an eclectic collection from their back catalogue. Airbag’s famous chords ripped through the room in only the second song, soon followed by the poles apart Myxomatosis and The Gloaming.

After These Are My Twisted Words, a free download from 2009, the mood was lulled with the hypnotic Pyramid Song and Nude, the beginning of a very well-received In Rainbows section also featuring a furious version of Weird Fishes/Arpeggi and wonderful percussion on Reckoner.

As the first set drew to a close, the big guns were brought out, with There There, The National Anthem and Paranoid Android all increasing the volume and intensity, sending the crowd into rapture.

The first encore began with You and Whose Army?, before an ‘old, really old’ one according to Thom, Planet Telex being the only song from their first two albums to be played. The first encore ended with an atmospheric version of the always devastating How to Disappear Completely – the high point of the entire gig for me.

The second encore continued the brooding sound, with Give up the Ghost followed by a long and haunting version of Everything in its Right Place, which saw the band depart the stage at various stages, each receiving a standing ovation as they did. But that wasn’t it, and they all returned for a final fraught burst of Idioteque, leaving the crowd truly stunned as the house lights came on.

On top of the near perfect set list, the physical set was also outstanding, with a dozen screens that shifted, rotated, rose and lowered above the band to provide a glimpse at each member, while huge walls of LED lighting morphed from one colour to another, reflecting and adding to the moody, smoky atmosphere.

As for the band themselves, they are completely at ease on stage. The day before his 44^th birthday – for which he was sung Happy Birthday by the audience - Thom was in a playful mood, joking around, introducing himself as Lady Gaga, and dancing like no one was watching.

The rest of the band, featuring touring second drummer Clive Deamer, were effortless. Coming and going when necessary, switching between instruments seamlessly, enjoying themselves immensely - they are all great to watch.

As the band approach the 20^th anniversary of their debut album in February 2013, they remain, in many eyes, the UK’s most innovative and important band. On recent evidence, last night included, that shows no sign of changing.

Gimmicks

Hate To Say I Told You So

After playing The Hives’ Hate To Say I Told You So yesterday (12 June), Radcliffe and Maconie on 6 Music discussed how the band were never likely to make it big, because bands with gimmicks never do.

Stuart said they were never likely to achieve the five-star reviews Jack White is currently enjoying, comparing them as The Hives and The White Stripes came onto the scene around the same time.

In reply to Stuart’s assertion, I tweeted him to point out that The White Stripes clearly had gimmicks of their own, with both the sibling ‘story’ and the red, white and black uniform outfits.

You can hear Mark and Stuart acknowledging my tweet on air below (apologies for the strange beach noises Mark chooses to play in the middle) and it got me thinking, do bands with gimmicks ever make it big?



The brother/sister White Stripes tale is still brought up, even now that Jack White is an all-conquering solo artist, but how important has that story and the subsequent reaction to the truth been to his career?

It seems to be a trade off. While some bands can become huge directly through their gimmick, they will likely never been taken seriously, as Stuart said. However, would they swap that for the possible obscurity that having no gimmick could have left them with? I doubt it.

The Hives’ gimmick wasn’t a particularly strong or unusual one. Wearing matching, often smart, outfits has been done by hundred of bands. I wouldn’t say it did The Hives any good or any harm. The reason they didn’t become as big as The White Stripes is that they are simply not as talented.

So which gimmicks have worked, or at least been the most infamous?

One band Mark and Stuart discussed, and perhaps the most famous gimmick in music history, is Kiss’ make up. Their made up faces have inspired a line of merchandise that far outweighs their musical output and, while they are considered a joke by many, they managed to set themselves apart in a genre as expansive as a pair of leather trousers.

Likewise, Gorillaz are at then end of the day a fairly average alternative band (except for On Melancholy Hill, which is extraordinary). But, by being the world’s first mainstream virtual band, they were at once distinctive and attention grabbing. But have they ever been any more?



OK Go revived their career somewhat with their clever, but gimmicky, homemade videos, winning a Grammy and a load more fans in the process. The attention soon faded though.



My favourite band Radiohead have also demonstrated a few gimmicks in recent times, with the name your own price scheme for the In Rainbows release and The Universal Sigh newspaper that coincided with The King of Limbs. Whether they are gimmicks or genuine attempts to be innovative and interesting is up for debate. Either way, when you have a back catalogue like theirs, you can pretty much do what you want, and both were considered a success.

And maybe that’s the point, if you’re music is good, you can do what you want. If it isn’t, while you can do things to get more attention, you will never be a better band.

Jubilee songs

Enthusiastic about the Jubilee? Thought not. Enthusiastic about a four-day weekend? Thought so. So grab your bunting, your union jack paper plates and your mask of her maj, and enjoy these Jubilee-appropriate songs. They are all right regal affairs, though not all are as positive about our beloved Queen as supermarket adverts would have you believe we all are. I couldn't actually find any like that. Be sure to check out the Mystery Jets vid too, featuring Lizzie herself. Carry on subjects.

Pinterest.

Music and photography have gone hand in hand for over 50 years. A beautifully taken album cover, a shot catching an artist in full flow on stage, there are thousands of images out there that have become equally as iconic as the music they relate to.

The spirit of punk captured in Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the cover of London Calling. Lou Reed’s black and white features on Transformer. Ian Curtis innocently gazing up into bright stage lights. Pete and Carl showing their Libertines tattoos. There’s an endless list, and there are also millions of great photos out there to discover. Like these.

I have begun compiling some of them on Pinterest, the new website taking the world by storm.

For the uninitiated, it’s essentially an online pin board, where you collect images you like and pin them to your boards. It’s a simple idea, which the best websites are often based on.

I signed up thinking it could be used alongside sites such as This Is My Jam and last.fm, to let interested people find out more about that most important of things, my musical taste.

Amongst others, I have boards for compiling my favourite music photography and my favourite album artwork.

It’s a great website, easy to use and aesthetically pleasing, it can soon become addictive, as the need to fill your boards and pin every picture you find takes hold. I hope it will soon become a staple for bands, alongside Facebook, Twitter, last.fm, Bandcamp etc. It would be a great tool for bands to showcase the pictures of themselves they like the most.

To see more music photography and album artwork I love, see my Pinterest page here.

In other news, I’ve just got RADIOHEAD TICKETS!!!!! To celebrate seeing my favourite band again, I urge you all to enjoy this new song, which I will be seeing in October :)



I also have a new About page on the blog, with links to my other sites and the option to Like my blog on Facebook, you know you want to.

What were they thinking?

I love Dark Side of the Moon. Not an inflammatory or unusual statement in the slightest I know. But, depending on my mood, I generally have two different experiences when I listen to it, due to certain aspects of the record.

What is it that makes this album so polarising for me? The sound effects. The clinking coins, cash registers, clicking adding machines and quotes that pepper some of the albums best songs.

Random is an overused word these days, but some of these are pretty damn random. Sometimes I love the album because of them, thinking they are meaningful and innovative, and sometimes I love it in spite of them, and I’m left asking, what is the point? Obviously it make sense to a certain point to have money sounds on a song called Money, but what is the need? We all know what money is.

And this led me to think about other songs that feature unusual, abstract or just random bits in them. Some that work, and some that don’t. Early disclaimer, I love all these bands and understand I have no right to question their genius, try to relax.

Anyway, one of the first songs that came into my head with this train of thought was Everlong by Foo Fighters, a great song no doubt, that features some inaudible whispering during the instrument break.

Apparently, the whispering heard is three different things being read on top of one another, a love letter, a technical manual and a short story.

It’s a great song, one of my favourites, and I’m loathe to criticise it, but I’m not sure what the whispering adds to it, or why they included it. Sorry Dave, it’s pointless, thanks for Nirvana though.

Which leads me on to my next revelation, that I spent my teen years painted black, listening to only rock, metal and emo, caught up in the first wave of emo before it soon lost what little credibility it had and the audience grew up. My favourite band of said era was Funeral for a Friend.

I remember being as excited for the release of their second album Hours in 2005 as I have been for any album, based on the pre-album single Streetcar, which I loved.

The song begins with the sound of someone dialling a phone, the dialling tone beeps along in the background as the guitar intro comes in and then a female voice answers Hello just before the vocal starts.

I thought it was awesome the first time I heard it and still think it gives the song a great burst to begin with. But it is utterly meaningless really, and I even read somewhere that fans used the dial tones to work out the number, which was lead singer Matt Davies’ phone, and bombarded it with calls, forcing him to change it. Meaningless and a hassle to boot.

Radiohead. They are beyond questioning in my eyes. I go all gooey-eyed fanboy at the very mention of them, and criticise them around me at your peril, apart from these two words, Fitter Happier.

The two-minute recital of slogans by an electronic voice has been described as ‘everything the album Ok Computer stands for in one song’. Personally, it’s never done it for me, and another song as perfect as the rest of the album would have been more appreciated.

Another of my favourite bands is The Kills, whose debut album Keep On Your Mean Side is a lo-fi, garage-blues classic.

They’ve (quite correctly) been held up as a throwback, a band where attitude and appearance is as important as the music and, in Alison Mosshart, have one of the coolest women alive today.

However, they may have believed their own press a little too much when including a couple of rambling monologues from Alison on this album. At the end of first song Superstition, she says a few unintelligible lines before coughing and saying Oh fuck. Rock on!

Later, as an interval, they include her telling a story about how weathermen used to draw the weather on a board and needed makeup on their hands. Hmm, ok. Still an amazing album, and I could listen to her ramble all day.

Like I said I love these bands, but feel free to defend them against my sarcasm, or to suggest any other songs that include weird effects, quotes, samples or anything really. There are plenty more out there.