{"id":4202,"date":"2011-03-21T13:30:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T20:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/?p=4202"},"modified":"2011-03-26T23:40:59","modified_gmt":"2011-03-27T06:40:59","slug":"ladies-gentlemen-radioheads-back-in-the-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2011\/03\/21\/ladies-gentlemen-radioheads-back-in-the-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Ladies & Gentlemen: Radiohead’s back in the building!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Radiohead
\nThe King of Limbs<\/em><\/h1>\n
\nIndependent Release, 2011<\/h5>\n

Reviewed by Kent Manthie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Radiohead\u2019s back and they’re still not playing nice with record labels. With their just finished new CD, The King of Limbs<\/em>, just like their previous and brilliant album, In Rainbows<\/em>, they put it up on their website, selling it for a song, compared to those ripoff record store chains (Virgin Megastore, being the biggest ripoff I can think of). <\/p>\n

If anything, this \u201cdeclaration of independence\u201d goes hand in hand with the experimentality, the depth of sound and the \u201canything goes\u201d atmosphere in the studio: both In Rainbows<\/em> and this new CD, The King of Limbs <\/em> just blows one\u2019s mind. The basic structures of the songs are not so intricate, but it\u2019s the little touches, the tweaking, the knob turning and re-turning, the long, perfectionist grind that they must make look easy, since this is what they want to do, which means that it shouldn\u2019t be a chore to put together such brilliance – it seems more like a labor of love. In case you\u2019re already tempted to go buy it now, you can get it at their own website: www.radiohead.com\/deadair. <\/p>\n

The King of Limbs<\/em> is pure and unmistakable Radiohead; it\u2019s not watered down or diluted at all, making it impossible for even the most cynical critic to talk smack about it, unless it just made them feel inferior because of their own frustrated plans, goals, etc. <\/p>\n

The first two tracks start the album off in a nice entrancing way, slow but really dreamy and hypnagogic. Track three, \u201cLittle By Little\u201d speeds things up a little and sets the mood for the next few tunes – \u201cFeral\u201d, then the club overdose, \u201cLotus Flower\u201d, really blows fairy dust around the room. The album then winds up with an extraordinary range of melodic trials and tribulations, ones that are all intricate and sound beautiful. \u201cCodex\u201d is a really special cut. The album ends on a surprisingly upbeat way, in the form of \u201cSeparator\u201d – upbeat in that it has a beat, is louder than most and, even though it may be about loss, abandonment, getting apart from one that you love and hate simultaneously, it still ends the album in a way that leaves you feeling positive; positive that Radiohead are at the top of their game and that with each new album they just get better and better. Now, I know that In Rainbows<\/em> was a revolutionarily great CD, not just because they went independent and ended up with a superior product, but also because it showed that you do not have to follow any set pattern for success. <\/p>\n

The \u201cmasses\u201d are not that stupid. Talent sells itself; it doesn\u2019t have to masquerade as a fad or as pop music or pop culture, whatever the hell that is. And so it is with The King of Limbs<\/em>, another revolutionary CD – still going indie and still making, some of the most beautiful, most wonderfully put together stuff I\u2019ve heard – on any label. The first cut, \u201cBloom\u201d starts out in that typical understated Radiohead way – a deceptively simple piano chop, which melds with synths and other electronics; by coming across like this, Radiohead\u2019s music seems, at times, to be dehumanizing, but at the same time, this futuristic programmed wall of beautiful but dark nightmarish, dystopian futures is juxtaposed with pleading, personal, introverted lyrics that don\u2019t hold back the songwriter\u2019s inhibitions and, after all that, they are more human (or at least humane) than most other rock bands who play at being superheroes (listening Bono? Michael Stipe? You\u2019re friggin\u2019 rock singers, not UN diplomats, for chrissakes). <\/p>\n

But don\u2019t just take my word for it – go to their website and check out a cut or two before buying it so you know just how awesome an album this is.
\n -KM<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Radiohead The King of Limbs Independent Release, 2011 Reviewed by Kent Manthie Radiohead\u2019s back and they’re still not playing nice with record labels. With their just finished new CD, The King of Limbs, just like their previous and brilliant album, In Rainbows, they put it up on their website, selling it for a song, compared to those ripoff record store […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[573],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10404,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2014\/08\/02\/yoshimi-by-the-adversary\/","url_meta":{"origin":4202,"position":0},"title":"cd review: “Yoshimi” by The Adversary","author":"Reviewer Rob","date":"August 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cYoshimi\u201d The Adversary, featuring Jenny Electrik(1-track disc, 4:03 minutes) reviewed by Reviewer Rob A rather ordinary single track cover cd of \u201cYoshimi\u201d by The Adversary. 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Minneker 18 years has more intensity and intelligence than most people who have been at this type pf work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2009\/03\/30\/lp-2-cd\/","url_meta":{"origin":4202,"position":3},"title":"LP 2 CD","author":"admin","date":"March 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"LP to CD Conversionsby Reviewer Rob There's people who convert old LPs into CDs. I think those people should be revered as heroes in today's musical culture. 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His \u201cHearts in Atlantis\u201d was the best the book of short stories I\u2019d read since Joyce\u2019s \u201cDubliners\u201d and now \u201c Full Dark, No Stars\u201d puts him in serious contention for being the being the Poe of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/FullDark.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":142,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2006\/09\/11\/cd-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":4202,"position":5},"title":"CD reviews","author":"admin","date":"September 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"new CD reviews by Kent Manthie UBZORB (s\/t) (Cordhead Recordings) One cool tune on this record is track 5: \u201cSize Mick\u201d, the chorus: \u201cSeismic waves and Cosmic Rays\/destroy the maze\u2026\u201d Cool, huh, so California. 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