The King Of Limbs
Radiohead
(This blurb was first published on No Ripcord...)
Radiohead told the
world they were going to release The King Of Limbs on Saturday. For whatever
reason, they set it free on Friday instead. That quibble of dates may read as
insignificant but rest assured: in a musical climate fraught with leaks and the
increasingly topical argument that full-length records are an antiquated format
for pop art, Radiohead are worth waiting for. People attacked the band for
being rich enough to afford the luxury of releasing their own music, for being
reclusive amid the age of Twitter and for having only thirty-some minutes of
music to show for four years away. I mean, the gall!
Admittedly I, like
most fans, felt a tad slighted when hopes of a King Of Limbs II evaporated and
the usual b-sides bundle was replaced with a slew of mostly forgettable
remixes. But why were these people – myself included – sleuthing the digital
avenues of fan-sites as though this shit was The Da Vinci Code? Because,
despite its failure to reach for the grandeur of previous classics, The King Of
Limbs remains a fascinating exercise in pattern-breaking; bizarrely sequenced,
melodically brittle but ferociously rhythmic, and surprisingly humble. Although
its reception revealed a bitter group of fair-weather fans looking to define
and embellish the record’s flaws, the faithful remember that Radiohead made
their legacy by defying expectations.
1 comment:
It sucks you in that slaps you in the face. We never learned!
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