365 – New Music Daily

Hello again, mothafucka. This one is going to touch a lot of different shit so be prepared. Or maybe it’ll just touch like three things.

First off, apologies to the people that do read this blog. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that hearing from people about my lack of output was nice. My absurd reviews or terrible reviews or whatever you all are deriving from this, something is getting through a bit. Appreciated. June has been crazy. July might be as well. But I’ve still been listening, and I will soon be writing plenty again. Hopefully I didn’t lose it. There will also be some more serious reviews, just because upcoming albums include Blonde vs. Channel Orange, Foo Fighters newest release post Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl’s mom’s death, and honestly because sometimes shit is serious. Deal with it. It’s my blog.

Secondly, the crux of the issue here. This album has already been featured on this blog. In fact, I remember exactly where I listened to it, on a train in Scotland (which in theory should provide a nearly perfect atmosphere for a Radiohead album).

I not only shat on Radiohead here, but also called Thom Yorke pretentious and told everyone I could that I didn’t understand the whole Radiohead deal. I thought they were overrated and I just didn’t get it. I picked a few songs out from OK Computer – which, if you didn’t know, is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the past ~25 years.

So what happened? First, Karma Police stuck around Rabies Radio (trademarked). I’m not sure why, but one day it came on and I perceived it completely differently than before. It was trapped in my brain and I loved it out of nowhere. That spread to Subterranean Homesick Alien, then most recently to Paranoid Android. All of these songs have A) beautiful guitar leads and harmonies, B) ingenious song structuring and really original lyricism and C) incredible builds. Thoms Voice grew on me. I had to give it another shot, and god dammit I hope no one ever reads this but I think I’m a Radiohead guy now.

In Rainbows provides a wholly different sound, as does (soon to be reviewed) The Bends, which is a much more straightforward rock record going between harder and softer sounds. Kid A (also, soon to be reviewed as Radiohead week has taken over Beatles week) is incredibly creative, an aspect of their music i undervalued and have grown to respect. The varied sounds on this entire record are fucking fantastic (see Subterranean Homesick Alien vs. Electioneering).

All this to say, I was wrong, like incredibly fucking wrong. Albums and artists grow on you. And sadly I’m a secret Radiohead guy now. This is almost Aries level bad. But Radiohead is actually quite good. Fuck.

Favorite songs: Airbag, Paranoid Android, Subterranean Homesick Alien, Exit Music (for a film), Karma Police, Electioneering, Climbing Up The Walls, Lucky