I offer this song to anyone who says “The King of Limbs” album was dumb except for “Lotus Flower”. Listening to this track is like floating on a cloud—it is anti-gravity. “King of Limbs” is definitely the most romantic Radiohead album, and I think this song really solidifies this point. They can talk about apocalypse on “OK Computer” without out-rightly saying “everything is destroyed”, and they can talk about love on this album without saying “I fell in love.” Though apparently Thom Yorke “fell off of a giant bird.”

Not only is this a love song, it’s a song about a love-at-first-sight-that-could-have-been. It’s amazing how all of this can be conveyed in very poignant metaphorical terms. It almost seems like a contradiction. I like the mixing of Yorke’s echo-y vocals with In-Rainbows-esque drumming. The song also manages to keep a certain softness even as it builds.

Ultimately, this song is hopeful: the repetition of “If you think this is over then you’re wrong” not only applies to the narrative of the track, but it’s Radiohead’s way of saying their musical career is far from over. All this at the end of the album. Maybe dreams do come true.

The third day of the festival or if you want to name it differently, it was the day of the flood. The daily tickets had been gone a long time ago and getting them through means of a parallel market seemed like a legitimate option for some.

According to the organisers, during the day, there were 55 million people present and close to 7.30 pm, when The Kooks came up on stage, you could feel it.

Dancing to the sound of the summerish and fun music of the Brighton’s boys, the crowd was enjoying saving their place for the headline of the night.

Circulating the precinct was complicated but in the Heineken stage, with three albums as luggage, The Maccabees were playing. With their melancholic, heart-robbing rock, the focus was on the guitars and on Orlando Week’s voice.

The Sunday vibe felt was one of impatience and Caribou, the project of the Canadian Dan Snaith, was a victim of it.

Together with three other musicians, guitar, key and battery, Snaith’s focus was on his most recent album, Swim. Even though their sound was contagious and almost sensual, there were some problems in creating a relationship with the onlookers and their poor quality ended up compromising their show.

It is important to mention now that the only reason the day was sold out was Radiohead. The band had already played in Portugal, both in Lisbon and Oporto in 2002 and since then they’d produced three albums. Apart from that, they are one of the favourites of the Portuguese audience and are celebrated for what are memorable concerts.

At 10.30 pm exactly, all other stages stopped so that Radiohead could capture full attention. There were no distractions or sounds that could ruin Bloom, the theme that was chosen to open their gig.

Using mainly their latest album, The King of Limbs, to hypnotise the crowd, the English rock band balanced it well with themes of In Rainbows, like 15 step and Reckoner, Hail To The Thief and Amnesiac, where the song I might be wrong was taken from.

The night closed with Street Spirit (Fade Out) and, by looking around, there was almost a church-like feeling impeding the crowd. The band members keep creating wonders with their instruments, but Tom Yorke’s voice makes its way effortlessly from the stage.

Considering that Radiohead aren’t exactly the type of band you would see in a festival, they were able to take advantage of that kind of environment. Moments of rare beauty were built provoking silence across the premises.

With the Optimus stage finished, it was time to focus on the Heineken one. Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince were released onto the stage like two wild animals.

The Kills, who always fail to disappoint, fell in love with the crowd. It was the other way around too. The duo gave the audience presents such as No Wow, Fried My Little Brains and Heart is a Beating Drum. Screams and effusive interruptions during the songs was something that left Mosshart and Hince surprised, but genuinely happy. With The Last Goodbye they emotionally surrender to the audience.

With one hour left to close the sixth edition of Optimus Alive, Metronomy showed up to finish it off. Joseph Mount, the creator of the band, admitted he was scared that there would be no one to see them given the time.

Indeed, those who waited to see The English Riviera band were rewarded. Until 4.00 am the mood was joyful and the punters infected with dance moves and beats produced by The Bay and Heartbreaker.

Optimus Alive ’13 has already dates – 12^th, 13^th and 14^th of July. The question is how will it go beyond its predecessor?

In Rainbows – Radiohead

10 October 2007

Listen to: Reckoner, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, 15 Step

It’s not music that’s new or upcoming, just music that I’ve recently discovered or am reflecting back on or just awesome music that I think you should check out! This is in no particular order by the way (it might start to go a bit alphabetical when I consult iTunes)

There are too many smiley faces already ahh! …

Okay…

• Radiohead – I’m really liking “In Rainbows” at the minute, especially the songs “Reckoner” and “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi.”
• Nirvana – I went through quite a big Nirvana “phase” earlier this year and around March/April my Tumblr was like a Kurt Cobain/Nirvana fan page (probably still is). I had “Nevermind” on repeat and became more interested in discovering more of their music and so I began watching live performances on YouTube as well as watching interviews with Kurt, where I became more and more intrigued by his life and how this came through in his music. If you haven’t already, check out the album “MTV Unplugged in New York” which includes much of the band’s lesser known songs and some awesome covers
• Tom Milsom – The blue-haired YouTuber from London released a new album last week called “Alien Home” which you can check out and listen/buy here: http://www.tommilsom.bandcamp.com. “Alien Home” includes favourites including “A Little Irony” and “Charlie’s Birthday Song” as well as some of Tom’s newer stuff such as “Baltimore” and “Sex Before Marriage”. If you haven’t heard of Tom’s music or would like to know more, check out his YouTube also: http://www.youtube.com/hexachordal. Definitely worth a listen!
• Frank Ocean, Channel Orange – Just listen! Mmmmmmmmm <3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyCglfjMOa0
• Regina Spektor – I first discovered Regina Spektor from the second Narnia film, Prince Caspian, where the song “The Call” was featured at the end of the movie. I bought the album “Begin To Hope” and from there, I’ve been looking out for her music. In May, Regina Spektor brought out a new album called “What We Saw From The Cheap Seats”. I think the song “Firewood” is my favourite from it

That’s it for now! I thought there would have been more but it seems my brain isn’t really working tonight I’ll edit this or post another post soon…(I’m new here…) when anything else springs to mind.

Bye etc!

In Rainbows

2007

XL Recordings

Every Radiohead’s record is usually anticipated by a long time lived with a massive expectation. All the months, weeks, days, hours before a new piece of music from Oxford’s band are lived by those fans (even just normal rock lovers) which don’t know what expect from every aspects of an album: songs, lyrics, artwork, etc. Each detail of a Radiohead’s record is never (and I say never!) the same as the one before. But we have to focus on the one that attract us more than the others: the music. In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by Radiohead and comes after 4 years of inactivity (except for a few shows in 2004 and Thom York’s solo debut, “The Eraser”, released in 2006, which has been followed by a mini-tour with the band to “test” all the new material). Throughout these 4 long years the fans (and, of course, the critiques) had been wondering “where will they go this time?”. One of the great Radiohead’s features is the fact that they always try to re-invent themselves (musically talking); they have been always doing that, from Ok Computer to Kid A, Amnesiac and even Hail to the thief.

In terms of music genres, In Rainbows may look like a kind of summa of all the previous records: you got the classic rock influence of works such as The Bends, the psychedelic touch of Ok Computer and the effects of the great electronic experiences of Kid A and Amnesiac. But, at the same time, it’s totally different and far away from them. Despite sounding exactly (or at least, really really really close) like such records, with In Rainbows Radiohead perfectly mix and blend many different influences and styles succeeding in making a great album of which you won’t get tired of so easily. The opening track, 15 Step, feels like the perfect start for a record but (how they showed during the tour) even for a gig; a 5/4 powerful drumming pattern which gets you straight at the legs, making you dancing on every single beat. Even the guitar and bass parts are all perfectly merged with the drum in a piece of rare precision. After this, the sounds rainbow keeps changing bringing us from the high beat rates of Bodysnatchers and Jigsaw Fallin’ into place to the soft delicacy of gems like Nude, Reckoner and Videotape (my three favourite songs from In Rainbows). There’s even some time for an acoustic moment (Faust Arp), and compositions where drum plays a vital role in the complex sounds texture (Arpeggi and All I need). The records end with Videotape, where a smooth skimmed piano and whispering Yorke’s voice gently suggest you that “today has been the most perfect day I’ve ever seen”.

In terms of moods In Rainbows is years, or maybe ages, far from the coldness of Amensiac and Kid A; it’s even not that close to Ok Computer and Hail to the thief. In Rainbows simply reflex the great artistic evolution of a band that, through the years as only the good wine does, gets better and better, giving us probably the best music of the last two decades. I hope that we may have more records such as In Rainbows every year, for the spirit but, most of all, for the soul.

Starter: Nude

First Course:  Reckoner

Main Course: Videotape

Dessert:  Arpeggi (Weird Fishes)

To listen while: as any Radiohead’s record, every particular moment is good enough to appreciate their music. While tasting food, I suggest to listen to In Rainbows while having a warm bean, onion, potatoes and leeks soup in a Cottage away from the bloody cold November British rain.

p.s: Sorry If I disappeared for a few months. My life has slighlty changed till now, but I have finally the time to come back writing.

Love.

1) I could keep track of weekly activities and duties.

2) I could have my yearly goals set right in front of my face and be accountable for them.

There were silly ones like get a membership at the local Y,

get myself a colonic,

take piano lessons.

Then there were the serious ones like buy a longboard,

take a cruise out of New Orleans and most importantly hit up my old stomping grounds for SXSW.

Last year I badly wanted to go because there were so many bands I wanted to see.

The Great Lake Swimmers interested me, I believe M. Ward was playing, this band out of Quebec, Final Flash was making an appearance. Unfortunately I didn’t get my schedule request in on time and couldn’t get the days off I wanted (I just cringed remembering that I wanted  to go see Donald Glover perform as Childish Gambino).

So I didn’t go.

This year it was a priority.

But with my recent increase in pay, I was delighted to find that I could afford to purchase really good seats for Thunder games. I bought 3 for the month of March alone.  I had tickets to see the Clippers, Timberwolves, and the Spurs.

I also had lucked into a ticket at the Radiohead show in Austin. On top of that Of Montreal was playing in Dallas at Trees.

Something had to give. It was going to take some serious creativity to do all of this AND keep my job.

SXSW was suddenly looking iffy. Two trips to Austin in a week seemed a bit crazy. But as some who know me would say, crazy was what I was best at (especially when it came to women).

Radiohead would be easy. That fell on the 7th which was an off day. I took the first bus out of Tulsa ( 4AM) and got into Austin about 3 that afternoon. I met up with my friends around 5 and we got ready for the show.

Let’s just say I ingested an assortment of party favors so that by the time the boys from Oxford took the stage I was seeing tracers ( and it wasn’t just from the light show).

Some quick history about me and Radiohead:

I’d first gotten turned on to them before my freshman year of high school. There was this punk ass kid who lived in my apartments who liked making trouble even more than I did. We immediately took to each other. We’d open unlocked cars and pilch through them, smoke cigarettes and drink beer from his mom’s fridge.

We eventually had a falling out over a girl. He asked out someone I was digging on at the time and this soured things between us. She would come spend the night at this place which perturbed me because he was already sexually experienced and I hadn’t even French kissed a girl yet.

One night when we were chilling at his place–the three of us– time got away from us, and before we knew it, six in the morning had come. A mixture of fatigue and melancholy hanging over me when this video came on MTV. It was a slow ditty, with this fella who had a beautiful voice, and it just captured me. There was a build up that led to a well timed feedback, and then it had this nice crescendo. Obviously this was the Creep video.

I went to school the next week and during social studies I looked over at this guy’s notebook and it had the words

“I wish I were special. You’re so fucking special.”

Yes. He knew. And I looked at him differently from that point on (PAUSE).

1993-1994 was a pretty interesting period for music when I look back on it.  At the time I was only into hardcore hip-hop and totally missed out on the alternative wave. I couldn’t understand what all these white people were so angsty about in their dull flannel shirts and weird hairdo’s  (though I do remember digging on some Mazzy Star–that shit went hard).

Fake Plastic Trees/High and Dry was the first single I bought when it came out in ’95 (I didn’t finally get Pablo Honey til ’97 because the only song I knew was Creep). I jammed the fuck out of that during my teen depression period–having finally kissed a girl but still not gotten laid.

At this point I was listening to the shit out of some U2 along with the hardcore hip hop (I was progressing) hiding my “white boy shit” in the closet whenever my black friends came to hang out.

By the time OK Computer hit the shelf I had graduated high school and was completely intrigued with this band that kept coming up in different junctures of my teen aged years.

This album  got me to buy in completely. I first heard it on headphones and it completely blew me away. Took me to places I’d never been. I spent months just driving around North Dallas listening to that album on full blast.

My friends called me a pussy. Though critics were hailing their latest work, most of my friends still knew them as the ‘Creep band’. Radiohead were certainly not in the mainstream quite yet.

When I found myself driving to Fair Park Music Hall to go see them, I was driving alone because no one I knew wanted  to go to the show. I didn’t have a ticket–in fact I had planned on watching a Red-Sox game on ESPN. It was a last minute decision to check them out.

I found a scalper and paid $80 bucks for a third row seat then I walked into the venue. It was pretty awesome to say the least. It was a life changing experience, one that I shared with only a few hundred people. It felt like being in a cool little fan club. It seemed like all the artsy kids I never hung out with in high school were there.

After the show I went out and bought their previous album, The Bends, and having heard a lot of the material live; I was officially a fan.

In the fall of 2000 I  met a guy at North Texas who had all the B-sides. He burned them for me and I couldn’t believe how many good songs there were that had never made it to an album. He had to put them onto two discs so that I could get them all.

This couldn’t have been timed any better because Kid A was their highly anticipated release. No one knew what to expect. When it came out I was a little disappointed. The beautiful depressing songs were few in number, replaced with these weird electronic beeps and noises.

What the fuck? I thought.  Yorke has this beautiful ass voice and he was hiding it behind synthesizers and weird effects and compressors. I couldn’t understand it, and just as weird as their music would become, so would the decade.

Every time I could finally catch up to what they were playing they would go in a different direction. And man the B-sides from that Amnesica-Kid A period was pretty fucking grooving. Some of them were better than songs that they put onto album(Fog is definitely in my top 20). Eventually I stopped trying to get it and just started digging it. Some songs of course were easier than others.

When In Rainbows came out I felt like that was the album I had expected to hear when they dropped Kid-A. It was an album I wanted to shag to, cry to, laugh to, dance to, it was impeccable.

When King of Limbs came out I knew better than to try and guess what it’d sound like. I even gave it 50 listens before I made a judgment about it. I knew there were some songs I liked, but some I wasn’t quite sure of (I still can’t listen to Harry Patch or Daily Mail).

I did know this would be a different show. They’d added a drummer to their stage show, and I was hoping this would be the thing to shake things up. I’d always been vocal about something having to change. I wasn’t sure if they were going to break up or what,especially after hearing how funky the Atoms for Peace band was.

My biggest fantasy was them doing an album with Brian Eno just to switch things up ( It made sense to me. Work with the guy who worked with the Talking Heads? they got their name from a Heads’ song).

But as always, the artist knows what’s best for them, and adding Clive Deamer (the drummer from Portishead) was a solid decision.

Every Radiohead concert I attended seemed to coincide with a transitional period in my life.  The first concert that I’d seen them in Dallas (OK Computer tour) was a pivotal period in my life. I was 19 and was just tapping into this other side of reality (beyond what I had known as a dumb jock). My tastes in art, fashion, and music (and consequently drugs) would drastically change. My reality would forever be altered.

I missed the Kid-A/Amnesiac tour because I was saving my money to make a move to Austin.

I caught them on the Hail to the Thief Tour which signaled my return back to university life back in Denton. I had moved back to the north Texas area after being swallowed alive by the Austin rat race. My grandmother had just passed away as well and I had just moved into my own apartment. The highlight of that night was seeing them play Lurgee off the Pablo Honey album (Jonny’s guitar wailing made me misty-eyed)

There was a touch of bitterness because I wasn’t close enough to the stage (my mother had purchased me GA tickets because she didn’t think I’d want to stand up all night in the Pit seating). The whole show my eyes looked longingly towards the pit area, wondering what if.

I had ridden with this girl that I had known back in the dorm days.  She had an OK Computer tat on her ass. She and her boyfriend drove down (with me in tow) and that was the first time I had a listen to the Gagging Order b-side, one of the prettiest tunes Thom had ever written.

In 2006, a buddy and I drove up to Toronto from his parents’ home in Michigan hoping to score some tickets to a show at the Hummingbird Theatre. They were only doing select gigs in theaters in a few cities across America. We scored some balcony seats for about 120 US dollars.

It was a great show. Very small and intimate. Not a bad seat in the house. But the night was soured because I couldn’t quit thinking about how much we’d spent to see them. I kept hoping that they’d play certain songs (Talk Show Host mainly) and frankly felt a little ripped off ( PLAY SOME B-SIDES DAMMIT!!!).

To punctuate the evening me and my buddy got into a fight because I wanted to eat at this Hooters by our hostel and he wanted to go somewhere local. We ended up wandering the streets looking for something open, both of us hungry and bitchy. We finally settled on a Falafel joint and went back to our room to smoke and go to sleep.

I’d go on to stand outside of 3 more concerts that tour, increasingly dissatisfied with their set lists. Why was I such a malcontent? Why did I suddenly dislike them?

Or was I just frustrated at how distant the band seemed from me in relation to that first concert? It seemed like every frat boy and douchebag liked Radiohead now.  Some of these yahoos probably couldn’t tell the difference between them and Coldplay. But Radiohead’s increasing popularity was driving the price for tickets up and it was damn near impossible to get floor seats for their shows.

So yeah I was sour. This was (probably?) silly backlash, and a juvenile response for their success. They were no longer this underground band that made me feel cool to be at their show. Just observing the crowds and hearing them scream like groupies at Thom made me sick. I  needed a break.

I skipped the In Rainbows tour for that reason and because most of the songs on that album I’d seen previewed on the theaters tour in ’06.

I wasn’t exactly sure if i’d see them on the King of Limbs Tour. My buddy Roach was very excited about the new stuff and had already bought a floor ticket for the Dallas show. He’d had good reports. Said it was easily the best show he’d seen by them.

This was encouraging.

So there I was.  I was 33 years old watching a show in a venue I’d worked at in my early 20′s, working shows like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tool, and Tom Petty. Hanging with some old school Austin friends. The moment was speaking to me. The douchebags and sorostitutes weren’t bothering me that much either. I even had a real job.

But what the fuck was I still doing in Tulsa when there was a bad ass city like Austin for me to live in?

“If you think this is over then you’re wrong.”

The show was incredible. And easily the best set I’d ever seen by them. They had somehow surpassed the Dallas ’98 gig. I realized a few things that night.

They were not going to break up. In fact they were better than ever. Somehow they were also super funky, with lots of poly rhythms and percussion. The addition of Deamer added a lot to the set (kind of when Talking Heads added more musicians to their live act).

They seemed so loose also. In my head I attributed it to them taking a dip at Barton Springs, and getting in tune with the city.

Greenwood was wearing a Texas shirt. The audience showed them so much love. You could tell they were enjoying themselves. Yorke even told jokes on stage.

” what do you call a fish with three eyes?”

A Fiiish” 

Yea I didn’t get it either at first.

But it was a perfect night that had given me something to think about. Mainly that I was way too liberal to be living in Oklahoma. But I was living there for a reason. Part of that was because I had a decent paying job that would allow me to do some crazy shit like I was doing this month.

I only got to spend a day and a half there on this venture but I’d be back in four short days for a week of mayhem. But I was not prepared for what I was about to encounter in the monster that SXSW had become.

Are Crytek to become a trendsetter as they make their transition to a free-to-play business model?

On the last day of a somewhat uninspiring E3, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli announced that all of Crytek’s future endeavours would follow the regime of a free-to-play model. It’s one of, if not the first major developer to change their business model to this hippie-like (“share the love, man”), yet noble approach. Maybe that’s what Crytek are going for… This generous, laidback, (maybe) inebriated knight-in-shining-armour of the game developer world, that’s on a crusade against those devilish packaged goods developers and their DLC and what not.

By Adam Venner

One word: Risk. The level of this is yet to be known – if this knight is too succeed on its quest, then its noble steed – its first free-to-play offering – Warface, has to reflect the high standards and good track record that Crytek is famous for.

Impressive isn’t it? For something that is free, the gameplay oozes Crytek’s famous graphical power and silky smooth gameplay seen in the Crisis series. It’s launched in Russia and China is currently running a closed beta with it expected to come to western markets in 2012.

A game that looks that good + it’s free = It’s certainly creating a buzz but, perhaps for the wrong reasons. Alas, we have all had the wool pulled over our eyes at some point, and thus, it’s natural for innovation to be met with scepticism. Everyone’s simply trying to guess what the catch is. At the end of the day, it’s nighttime… Joking, seriously though, there is no such thing as a free lunch and the customer will pay at some point – I know that sounds rather like something a villain would say during a speech after surviving something that definitely should have killed him at the end of a film, but it’s true. As long as video games are a business, it’s true.

This is why free-to-play but pay-to-win are uttered in the same breath. Think about all the other content that they could potentially charge for… Hey, that AK47 isn’t going to buy itself ya’ know *wink*. The virtual armoury market never had it so good – kids will be begging, “Oh mum please, mum, there’s a C4, flashbang and surface-to-air missile mix n’ match deal tonight. Oh please mum can I get it?”

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli spoke of ending the “milking” of customers, but could Crytek’s free-to-play ventures simply replace how we are “milked”?

Also, if that is the case, instead of perhaps charging a one of fee or infrequent fees due to the sporadic nature of released downloadable content, Crytek could potentially be making money throughout a game’s entire “lifespan”… Until the cows come home, indeed. (Moooo). To keep the cow metaphor going, the “milking [of] customers to death” that CEO Cevat Yerli was so adamant to oppose in his interview with Videogamer.com, may happen anyway, just under the more concealed and less financially harmful (at first glance) process of microtransactions. – “I think this is a new breed of games that has to happen to change the landscape, and be the most gamer-friendly business model.” – because what is more “gamer-friendly” than parting with perhaps just £1 for a gun, right?

It’s a business model that goes hand in hand with mobile phones (yay! An appendage pun) or more specifically, mobile phone games. Users often utilize the wonders they offer for usually only tens of minutes either during commutes or when on the toilet launching their very own missile if you get my (very crude) drift. However, when you translate that business model to PC and console gaming, not only is the time you pledge to blasting an alien to bits far greater, but also how much more you’re competitive and dare I say it “serious”. This is why Crytek’s free-to-play but (an assumed) pay-to-win strategy could have our wallets running and hiding from us out of fear. I couldn’t begin to imagine how much money I would have spent notching up the four days worth of playing time that I have on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 if I had to buy guns and grenades.

It’s possibly not just Crytek though, the news that the new Xbox is unlikely to have a disk drive would mean the end of the “packaged goods” that Cevat Yerli is also waging war against. It would mean downloading. It would mean “online”: exactly what Crytek is pursuing, “As we were developing console games we knew, very clearly, that the future is online and free-to-play,” said Yerli. So although there is a perceived dedication to PC from Crytek we could see more and other major game developers making the same transition that Crytek is and adopting this business model to PCs and consoles.

The whole enigma that Crytek’s transition proposes, has also thrown the whale vs. “True Fan” argument into the erm, argument. Radiohead famously launched their In Rainbows album digitally and let the customer decide what to pay for it. Although the final revenue for the album remains unknown (it is estimate that up to $10 million could have been made) it revealed a very important dynamic. A “True Fan” will make an active and thought-out purchase because they love the product; the purchase is directly linked to the enjoyment they receive from being able to immerse themselves in the product.

However, “whales” or high spenders (it stems from the world of gambling) in free-to-play games tend to simply spend, spend, spend. It goes back to users wanting quick and immediate reward – spending to get the new shiny “thing” would only take seconds. Crytek may earn a reputation of being eviiiil because, how much money is too much money to take away from a single person each month? At how much does it become immoral and unethical? (Again, look at the example above.) Those that even only dabble in impulse buying, may god have mercy on your soul. The “malicious” Zynga is testament to this – brimmed with marketing tools and game mechanics that are only included to get the customer to come back and spend more. The question is, who is Crytek targeting?

Crytek: Knights in shining armour ready to save us? Maybe…

There are already yelps of “R.I.P Crytek” and just because the free-to-play model works on mobiles and social networks, doesn’t mean it can be easily adapted to a major game developer on a much “bigger” platform. However, until all the pieces have fallen into place, there is no way to know if Crytek is going to be the “savior” that they’ve set themselves up to be. There is no guarantee of customers with any product that gets launched – the model and company could quite easily fail – but, depending on how they manage it, Crytek could rescue us from a business model and a genre that we’ve witness grow more and more expensive and exploitative. But, the answer is not replacing that exploitation with a different kind of exploitation.

If you’re unaware, Radiohead is a band of five talented Brits that began making music together in Oxfordshire in the mid-1980s under the atrocious name “On a Friday.” They regrouped after school, took a new name from a Talking Heads tune, and hit it big in ’92 with alt-grunge anthem “Creep.” Since then, they’ve gone experimental, trading guitar solos and riffs for drum machines and synthesizers. Thom Yorke leads the group on vocals and occasional guitar and piano. He’s backed up by virtuoso multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood, his brother Colin on bass, Ed O’Brien on guitar and Phil Selway on drums.

But my varicolored journey with the band began with one simple name: Jeff Smith, the coworker who pushed me in Radiohead’s dappled direction.

Jeff had an explosion of dark yellow curls atop his head and an unbeatable smile. Such untamed hair proved difficult to gather up underneath the job-mandated hairnet, so Jeff often sported a ponytail. As genial as he was while taking drive-thru orders, he thrived the most during coworker side chatter sessions.

We got to talking about music one wintry day when it fell dark by 5. Jeff liked metal (as a handful of similarly follicled kids at his college did), and as a 17-year-old, I dug mostly acoustic, singer-songwriter-type pop-rock. Our Venn Diagram was empty and lonely in the middle. Then, Jeff mentioned Radiohead.

The name to me conjured images of brightly colored supermarket aisles and Thom Yorke’s twisted face mewing in a shopping cart, as featured in the “Fake Plastic Trees” music video. Beyond that, “Radiohead” meant nothing to me. Still, my curiosity grew with Jeff’s mention of them.

“You know, they just released an album directly from their website,” he said, “and you could pay whatever you wanted for it.”

“Really?” I responded, intrigued.

“Yeah, it’s totally nuts. You could pay a penny if you wanted to,” Jeff said. “And the album’s amazing, too.”

This Internet DIY phenomenon, I later discovered, was In Rainbows, the band’s seventh album and first without a major label. Instead of bankrupting their brand with the creative yet risky promotion of In Rainbows, the band sustained itself. Their online ploy worked: In Rainbows reportedly raked in more cash than their previous album, Hail to the Thief, in presales alone. Even the people who paid nothing for the album didn’t offset the overall profit the band earned from those who paid full price. Talk about a bunch of loyal fans.

When Jeff brought up the band, I knew about five Radiohead songs and, from what I remembered, enjoyed them. There was nothing keeping me from actively delving through the band’s discography in terms of sound, but intimidation was another thing. It happened with The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Stones, Dylan, Springsteen — all these staples of popular music you’re supposed to be born with knowledge of. Sure, it’s hard to go through 17 years of life without at least a fragile understanding of these classic artists, but what about the contemporary classics? Radiohead surely fell into that category, and it intimidated me. A band with seven albums and an ever-evolving sound — where the hell should I begin?

Jeff praised In Rainbows again and again at work until I relented. I downloaded “Bodysnatchers,” the album’s lead single, and let its waves of fuzzy guitars overtake me. A rock song! A real rockin’ tune with some cool and interesting sounds! I probed further, cherrypicking from the band’s storied discography: The foreign rhythms of “Pyramid Song.” The gentle acoustic pop of “Fake Plastic Trees.” The stuttering electronic pulse of “Idioteque.”

I devoured Radiohead in those winter months and into the following spring. By summer, I owned two full albums and was accruing more and more songs in my iTunes library. I moved into college and made a few quick friends with similar opinions on the band, then joined my college radio station and promptly acquired the albums I’d been missing. It was a jigsaw falling into place, as one of their tunes goes.

All this leads up to June 6, 2012. I’m in the back row of the pavilion at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, waiting for the band to take the stage. It’s 8:30. I’m excited, though “curious” is probably a better word for this certain kind of anticipatory joy. My girlfriend stands to my left in wait of the experience. The 24-ounce Budweiser can in my hand is more for show than for actual enjoyment. The illuminated sky above is twisting into a pink-yellow sunset. No threat of rain or foul winds.

Despite all this, I simply can’t force myself to gush with giddiness. Perhaps it’s like finally getting to meet your favorite celeb or kissing the girl you’ve loved from afar for so many years — my mind has made these people into infallible gods, perfect the way they are (which, to me, is only on record). They can’t possibly translate the studio magic of their eight albums into live perfection. It’s too layered, too cataclysmically beautiful, too painstakingly produced to be recreated on stage. I’m forecasting disappointment.

But now, the lights dim to a purple glow. It’s just after 8:45. I’m about to witness a miracle.

“Open your mouth wide,” Thom sings to begin “Bloom,” the leadoff track on their most recent album and the tune they’ve been using to open each show this tour. A perfect introduction to the band’s current sound, “Bloom” begins quietly with soft drums and a jangly guitar bit then unfurls into a grand swell of produced noise.

The aural component is dazzling, but the visual one is hypnotizing. Blinking blue and purple electronic lights simulate the spacey and underwater allusions in the lyrics. By the time they get to “The Gloaming,” the lights go green and glitchy like The Matrix. The warm red-orange twinkles during “Separator” accentuate the sweetness of the song’s major-key tonality. This is the work of intelligent design. This is the work of musical demigods.

But am I satisfied? Is this the show I envisioned five winters ago in the doughnut shop? When you pay money to see Radiohead live, you’re not paying to see them twist their tunes into long-winded jams with 20-minute solos. You’re not paying to hear the hits. You fork over $90 to gape at these five mixologists (six if you count touring second drummer Clive Deamer) methodically recreate in minutes the sounds they spent years crafting in the studio. It’s like watching Denny Dent replicate van Gogh’s “Starry Night” onstage. You pay to see the pieces of Radiohead’s gigantic puzzle come together. You pay to see everything settle into its right place.

As such, the entire concept of a rock concert is redefined. The closest thing to a ballad you’ll find is “House of Cards,” the delicately upstroked ode to unrequited love. But for Radiohead, it’s close enough — eons of concert patrons grabbed their significant others and swayed to the song’s quiet percussion. The lighters only came out once, for “Give Up the Ghost,” a fragilely gorgeous acoustic number featuring Thom and a handful of looped harmonies. Only one guitar solo, too, on “Paranoid Android,” to close out the night with a bang.

Everyone has his or her breaking point, too. Of course you know these songs; you wouldn’t be at the concert unless you’ve been breathing them for at least a year or two. But some of the most devoted musical fans (myself included) are more reserved when it comes to showing our love for the band. Sure, we make playlists and check setlists and post YouTube videos to our friends’ Facebook pages, but when we’re actually hearing our favorite jams live, we might appear unmoved. And to the naked eye, we are, save for a few head nods or foot taps. Our outsides are still, but our insides are aflame. So, when I say that everyone has a breaking point, I mean simply this: Chances are, you’re going to hear at least one song that you absolutely cherish. You might have an emotional connection to the tune, or maybe it just grabbed you by the collar one day in the car and never let loose. Whatever the reason, whatever the song, there’s a chance you’ll hear it at this show. When you do, all bets are off. You’ll flutter like a windup toy set free, like a sugar-high kid at a birthday party, like a butterfly traveling in unnatural shapes. The fan next to me stood stoic for most of the show until they launched into “Reckoner” to punctuate the first encore. He played the air cymbals for most of the song, in fact, once he reached the threshold. It was the propulsive riff-rocker “I Might Be Wrong” that did me in. Those behind me must have thought I was enduring a standing seizure.

But this is all part of the experience, no matter what concert you attend. If it’s the Dave Matthews Band, you might ham it up with your chums afterward about how killer the extended jam on “Halloween” was. If it’s the Foo Fighters, you might quip about how sure you were that Dave Grohl’s werewolf transformation was almost complete by the time they ripped into “Monkey Wrench.” With Radiohead, you’re sure to hear post-performance choruses of “Duuuuuuude!” by legions of fans who simply can’t put their enjoyment into coherent sentences. You’ll hear adjectives like “amazing,” “unbelievable,” “unstoppable” and maybe even “transcendental,” and you’ll have to make a decision: Do you want to be the fan who nearly has a conniption talking about incredible the show was? How it basically changed your life? How it was the best show you’ve ever been to? I chose to remain silent and internally bask in my own contentment. The gal and I admired the orange moon hovering over the grass lot where the car rested in the messy tangle of traffic. We joked and held hands, letting the crowds of drunken wanderers pass us on the left. After an hour, we were back at the hotel, embracing the fluid calm of the evening’s end.

Every concert leaves you with at least one tangible souvenir: your ticket stub. I left also with a $40 T-shirt, the ultimate validation of my efforts. For every concertgoer, in addition to your physical rewards, you’ll always have the memory of the show itself in all its foggy glory. I’ve already forgotten what the place smelled like (I assume it was at least a little marijuana-tinged), what the crowd’s general demeanor was and how I felt immediately after the house lights came on. I do, however, remember Thom’s red pants, his quirky onstage dancing, the general order of songs played, my favorite pleasant surprise (“Climbing Up the Walls”), my favorite encore performance (“Exit Music (For a Film)”) and what the wood-paneled venue looked like all lit up with bright LED lights projecting from the stage. It was beautiful and a bit supernatural, like the band itself.

“Let’s go down the waterfall / Have ourselves a good time / It’s nothing at all,” Thom sang on “I Might Be Wrong,” but he might actually be right. It really is nothing at all for these guys to make the kind of sounds they do — equal parts organic and synthetic, liberating and claustrophobic, soul-rending and spirit-weaving. Radiohead may have conquered the world, but they keep pushing for the summit. We’re the ones who get to reap the rewards. “No matter what happens now / You shouldn’t be afraid / Because I know today has been the most perfect day I’ve ever seen,” goes In Rainbows closer “Videotape.” I vowed to never be a superlative concert-describing fan, but that’s just too damn perfect to pass up.

Well, I managed to check off a long-standing item on my bucket-list of bands to see before I’m too old or dead to enjoy them. And this was a goodie – Radiohead!

While I’ve been a rabid listener to the band’s music, somehow the live experience has eluded me – partly because of our moving to the US about a decade ago, and my always finding out they were touring the country after the tickets had sold out.

So, when a friend got in touch a couple of weeks back with a spare ticket, for a gig just 80 miles up the road – I was over the moon.

And what a night it was.

My twitter-stream for last night literally says:

7:10pm - Is this the most chilled pre-gig crowd ever? I think it may just be… ‪#Radiohead‬ ‪#MySetlist‬.co

7:32pm - Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that there are a LOT of Brits here? #Radiohead #MySetlist.co

7:40pm - Enjoying Caribou who are supporting tonight #Radiohead #mySetlist.co

8:55pm - Fucking hell! #Radiohead

That last tweet was posted during either the first song (Bloom from The King of Limbs) or second song (15 Step from In Rainbows) – after that, I stopped tweeting, as I got lost in the pin-sharp performance, epic soundscapes, compulsive beats and astral son et lumiére.

Wow.

So many impulses, feelings and thoughts – partly wonderment at how this band has elevated itself so far from others born and raised in the same era – Radiohead were conceived around the same time as grunge, and came of age alongside the headlong rush of Britpop - how they’ve transcended a dying industry which retains a death-grip on its belief in conformity and in-the-box thinking, how the band as a unit is so much greater than its parts, and on, and on.

I’ll list the set in a moment, but one noteworthy aspect is that the farthest they reached back was to OK Computer, and even then to two songs (Airbag and Lucky) which wouldn’t have been most people’s choices. So, a set that ignored/shunned/avoided the mainstream hits – it should have been a flop, surely?

Nope.

At one point a guy yelled “play something we know!” and seemingly two thousand people told him to shut up and enjoy himself. Politely. This set was seamless, what an incredible canon of songs from which to pick.

Of all the gigs I’ve seen, I can think of only a handful that have left me completely satiated, and that I wished would never end.

Radiohead is top of that list. See them.

Here’s a short clip of Lucky – I didn’t get the whole thing, I wanted to be focused on the band, not the camera:

And here’s the band’s full set from Coachella 2012 – which gives a good flavor of what I saw last night:

Finally, this being MySetlist.co, here’s the full setlist:

Bloom
15 step
Airbag
Staircase
The Daily Mail
Myxomatosis
The Gloaming
Separator
Pyramid Song
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Good morning Mr. Magpie
Identikit
Lotus Flower
There There
Feral
Idioteque

Encore:
Supercollider
The National Anthem
Lucky
Everything In It’s Right Place

Encore 2:
Give Up The Ghost
Body snatchers
Reckoner

We traveled 4.5 hours to see these magnificent specimen, from Staten Island all the way to Mansfield Massachusetts.

I honestly could not ask for a better set list. They played a lot from their new album, but also a lot a lot from their older…Many from In Rainbows, like Reckoner and Weird Fishes. And, they played a BUNCH from Kid A, like Everything in its Right Place, at which point I saw my whole life come together into one perfect point.

Excuse the melodrama, but it was my dream to see Radiohead live, ever since I was a grungy preteen—up until now, when I am a grungy young adult.

And as if the show was not enough, Paula and I played every album of theirs on the way back home; especially those songs that are most appropriate in small, dark, intimate space, i. e. Faust Arp, No Regrets and House of Cards.

My life is almost complete.

Radiohead
1ST BANK Center – March 13, 2012
Broomfield, Colorado

Bloom // Little By Little // National Anthem/Hunting Bears // The Gloaming (Softly Open Our Mouths in the Cold) // Morning Mr Magpie (Morning m’lord) // Staircase // Separator // Codex // Nude // Karma Police // The Amazing Sounds of Orgy // Bodysnatchers // Feral // Lotus Flower // Reckoner // Street Spirit (Fade Out)

ENCORE I

Weird Fishes / Arpeggi // There There (The Boney King of Nowhere) // Lucky // True Love Waits // Everything In Its Right Place

ENCORE II

Give Up the Ghost // Myxomatosis // Idioteque

[all below photos from:  Westword.com / backbeatlog.com unless noted from Daniel Petty - The Denver Post]

~~~~~~~

~

Bloom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2084nQbmvk

Open your mouth wide / A universal sigh / And while the ocean blooms / It’s what keeps me alive

So why does it still hurt / Don’t blow your mind with why

I’m moving out of orbit / Turning in somersaults / I dive into those eyes / Jellyfish go by

It’s what keeps me alive

Released: February 18, 2011
Found on: The King of Limbs

~

Little By Little

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxeCKTfHaDU

Turned too nasty now / It does somehow / The pillar of my soul / The last one out of the box / The one who broke this spell

Little by little by hook or by crook / Never get noticed / Never get judged / I’m no idiot / I should look

Little by little by hook or by crook / I’m such a tease / And you’re such a flirt / Once you’ve been hurt / You’ve been around enough

Your clue on hold, snapped up / Crawling with my love / The last one out of the box / The one that broke the seal

Obligations / Complications / Routines and schedules / Drug and kill you / Kill you

Little by little by hook or by crook / Never get noticed / Never get judged / I’m no idiot / I should look

Little by little by hook or by crook / I’m such a tease / And you’re such a flirt

Released: February 18, 2011
Found on: The King of Limbs

~

The National Anthem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQiNBAKvPiU

Everyone / Everyone around here / Everyone is so near / It’s holding on / On and On

Everyone / Everyone is so near / Everyone has got the fear / It’s holding on / On and on

On and on / On and on / On and on . . .

Released: October 2000
Found on: Kid A. Live version found on I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings.

Hunting Bears

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=araNgb-FfFM

Instrumental

Released: June 2001
Found on: Amnesiac

~

The Gloaming (Softly Open Our Mouths in the Cold)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqrfivd_Ffs

Genie let out the bottle / It is now the witching hour / Genie let out of the bottle / It is now the witching hour

Murderers you’re murderers / We are not the same as you

Genie let out the bottle / Funny haha funny how

When the walls bend / When the walls bend / With your breathing / With your breathing

When the walls bend / When the walls bend / With your breathing / With your breathing / With your breathing

They will suck you down / To the other side / They will suck you down / To the other side / They will suck you down / To the other side / They will suck you down / To the other side

To the shadows blue and red / Shadows blue and red / Your alarm bells / Your alarm bells

Shadows blue and red / Shadows blue and red / Your alarm bells / Your alarm bells

Should be ringing . . .

This is the gloaming

Released: June 2003
Found on: Hail to the Thief

~

Morning Mr. Magpie (Morning m’lord)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pckb6DmJWfA&feature=related

You got some nerve, coming here / You got some nerve, coming here / You stole it all, give it back / You stole it all, give it back

Good morning Mr. Magpie / How are we today? / And now you stole it, all the magic / Took my memories

(Ooohhhh)
(No no no no no no)

You know you should, but you don’t / You know you should, but you don’t

Good morning Mr. Magpie / How are we today? / And now you stole it, all the magic / Took my memories

Released: February 18, 2011
Found on: The King of Limbs

~

“Staircase”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldM_9jS4EE4

Walk down the staircase / Magnetic pull / Back to the other place / Where I cannot go

Send in the chopper / Steal you away

My pot is full / Let me take control

Let me take control

My pot is full / Of secrets to be told / Secrets to be told

I have always / And I always will

My pot is full / Let me take control

Let me take control

My pot is full / Of secrets to be told / Secrets to be told

Released: December 19, 2011 with “The Daily Mail”
Recorded as part of live:  The King of Limbs:  From The Basement sessions

~

Separator

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIMCO-s2gKc

It’s like I’m falling out of bed / From a long, weary dream / The sweetest flowers and fruits hang / from the trees / Falling off the giant bird that’s been carrying me / It’s like I’m falling out of bed / From a long and weary dream

Just exactly as I remember / Every word / Every gesture / I’m my heart, in my mouth

Like I’m falling out of bed / From a long and weary dream / Finally I’m free of all the weight I’ve been carrying

And as a woman blows her cover / In the eye of the beholder / I’m a fish now out of water / Falling off a giant bird that’s been carrying me

I fell open / I laid under / At the tip out / Lost your number

I wanna slip it over / And get back under

And if you think this is over / Then you’re wrong / If you think this is over / Then you’re wrong / If you think this is over / Then you’re wrong

If you think this is over / Then you’re wrong

Like I’m falling out of bed / From a long, weary dream / Finally I’m free of all the weight I’ve been carrying

When I ask you again / When I ask you again / Wake me up, will you wake me up . . .

Released: February 18, 2011
Found on: The King of Limbs

~

Codex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw5eGtpe7CY&feature=related

Sleight of hand / Jump off the end / Into a clear lake / No one around

Just dragonflies / Fantasize / No one gets hurt / You’ve done nothing wrong

Slide your hand / Jump off the end / The water’s clear and innocent / The water’s clear and innocent

Released: February 18, 2011
Found on: The King of Limbs

~

Nude

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsLn9Wl1u_Q&feature=related

Don’t get any big ideas / They’re not gonna happen / You paint yourself white / And fill up with noise / But there’ll be something missing

Now that you’ve found it, it’s gone / Now that you feel it, you don’t / You’ve gone off the rails

So don’t get any big ideas / They’re not going to happen / You’ll go to hell for what / Your dirty mind is thinking

Released: October 10, 2007 digitally, December 3, 2007 CD & Vinyl
Found on: In Rainbows

~

Karma Police

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUI-aCqFslI

Karma police / Arrest this man / He talks in maths / He buzzes like a fridge / He’s like a detuned radio

Karma police / Arrest this girl / Her Hitler hairdo / Is making me feel ill /
And we have crashed her party

This is what you get / This is what you get / This is what you get / When you mess with us

Karma police / I’ve given all I can / It’s not enough / I’ve given all I can / But we’re still on the payroll

This is what you get / This is what you get / This is what you get / When you mess with us

For a minute there / I lost myself, I lost myself / Phew, for a minute there / I lost myself, I lost myself

For a minute there / I lost myself, I lost myself / Phew, for a minute there / I lost myself, I lost myself

Released: June 1997
Found on: OK Computer & Karma Police single. Fila Brazillia Club Remix found on 12″ single.

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

The Amazing Sounds of Orgy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grMTDW7qpOQ

I want to see you smile again / Like diamonds in the dust / The amazing sound of the killing hordes / The day the banks collapse on us / Cease this endless chattering / Like / everything is fine / When sorry is not good enough / Sit in the back while no one drives / I’m so glad you’re mine

Released: May 2001
Found on:  Pyramid Song Single CD1

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Bodysnatchers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpWf02hRLOM&feature=fvsr

I do not / Understand / What it is / I’ve done wrong / Full of holes / Check for pulse / Blink your eyes / One for yes / Two for no

I have no idea what I am talking about / I am trapped inside this body and can’t get out / Ooooohhhh

You killed the sound / Removed backbone / A pale imitation / With the edges / Sawn off

I have no idea what you are talking about / Your mouth moves only with someone’s / Hand up your ass / Ooooohhhh

Has the light gone out for you? / Because the light’s gone for me / It is the 21st century / It is the 21st century / It can follow you like a dog / It brought me to my knees / They got a skin and they put me in / They got a skin and they put me in / All the lines wrapped around my face / All the lines wrapped around my face / And for anyone else to see / And for anyone else to see

I’m a lie

I’ve seen it coming / I’ve seen it coming / I’ve seen it coming / I’ve seen it coming

Released: June 2008
Found on:  Promo Single CD with “House of Cards” and on In Rainbows

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Feral

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q137mI_uF0

You are not mine / And I am not yours / And that’s okay

Please don’t judge me

Released: February 18, 2011
Found on: The King of Limbs

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Lotus Flower

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xumBcPNCzpA&feature=related

I would shape myself into your pocket / Invisible / Do what you want / Do what you want

I will shrink and I would disappear / I would slip into the groove / And cut me off / And cut me off

There’s an empty space inside my heart / Where the weeds take root / So now I’ll set you free / I’ll set you free

There’s an empty space inside my heart / Where the weeds take root / So now I’ll set you free / I’ll set you free

Slowly we unfurl / As lotus flowers / ‘Cause all I want is the moon upon a stick / Just to see what if / Just to see what it is / I can’t kick the habit / Just to feed your fast ballooning head / Listen to your heart

We will shrink and then be quiet as mice / While the cat is away / Do what we want / Do what we want

There’s an empty space inside my heart / Where the weeds take root / So now I’ll set you free / I’ll set you free

‘Cause all I want is the moon upon a stick / Just to see what if / Just to see what is

The bird that’s flown into my room / Slowly we unfurl / As lotus flowers / ‘Cause all I want is the moon upon a stick / I dance around a pit / The darkness is beneath / I can’t kick your habit / Just to feed your fast ballooning head / Listen to your heart

Released: February 18, 2011
Found on: The King of Limbs

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Reckoner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPWvpDm076o

Reckoner / You can’t take it with you / Dancing for your pleasure

You are not to blame for / Bittersweet distractor / Dare not speak its name / Dedicated to all you / All human beings

Because we separate like / Ripples on a blank shore
(in rainbows) / Because we separate like / Ripples on a blank shore (in rainbows)

Reckoner

Take me with you / Dedicated to all you / All human beings

Released: October 10, 2007 digitally, December 3, 2007 CD & Vinyl
Found on: In Rainbows

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Street Spirit (Fade Out)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NczzWao_rVU&feature=related

Rows of houses all bearing down on me / I can feel their blue hands touching me / All these things into position / All these things we’ll one day swallow whole / And fade out again and fade out

This machine will not communicate / These thoughts and the strain I am under / Be a world child, form a circle / Before we all go under / And fade out again and fade out again

Cracked eggs, dead birds / Scream as they fight for life / I can feel death, can see it’s beady eyes / All these things into position / All these things we’ll one day swallow whole / And fade out again and fade out again

Immerse your soul in love / Immerse your soul in love

Released: March 1995
Found on: The Bends & Street Spirit single. Acoustic version found on Fake Plastic Trees CD2.

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcANFVcJeOM

In the deepest ocean / The bottom of the sea / Your eyes / They turn me / Why should I stay here? / Why should I stay?

I’d be crazy not to follow / Follow where you lead / Your eyes / They turn me

Turn me on to phantoms / I follow to the edge of the earth / And fall off / Everybody leaves / If they get the chance / And this is my chance

I get eaten by the worms / Weird fishes / Get picked over by the worms / Weird fishes / Weird fishes / Weird fishes

I’ll hit the bottom / Hit the bottom and escape / Escape

I’ll hit the bottom / Hit the bottom and escape / Escape

Released: October 10, 2007 digitally, December 3, 2007 CD & Vinyl
Found on: In Rainbows

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

There There

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbrJNMaqx-s

In pitch dark I go walking in your landscape / Broken branches trip me as I speak / Just because you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there / Just because you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there

There’s always a siren / Singing you to shipwreck / (Don’t reach out, don’t reach out) / Steer away from these rocks / We’d be a walking disaster / (Don’t reach out, don’t reach out)

Just because you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there / (There’s someone on your shoulder) / Just because you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there / (There’s someone on your shoulder)

There there

Why so green and lonely? / Heaven sent you to me

We are accidents / Waiting waiting to happen

We are accidents / Waiting waiting to happen

Released: June 2003
Found on: Hail to the Thief & There There single

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Lucky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO77yY2SKvg&feature=fvwrel

I’m on a roll / I’m on a roll this time / I feel my luck could change

Kill me Sarah / kill me again with love / it’s gonna be a glorious day

Pull me out of the aircrash / Pull me out of the lake / I’m your superhero / We are standing on the edge

The head of state has called for me by name / But I don’t have time for him / It’s gonna be a glorious day! / I feel my luck could change

Pull me out of the aircrash / Pull me out of the lake / I’m your superhero / We are standing on the edge / We are standing on the edge

Released: September 1995
Found on: OK Computer & Help! (Warchild Benefit). Live version found on No Surprises CD2.

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

True Love Waits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikWL-9UCQfg&feature=fvwrel

I’ll drown my beliefs / To have you be in peace / I’ll dress like your niece / And wash your swollen feet

Just don’t leave / Don’t leave

I’m not living / I’m just killing time / Your tiny hands / Your crazy kitten smile

Just don’t leave / Don’t leave

And true love waits / In haunted attics / And true love lives / On lollipops and crisps

Just don’t leave / Don’t leave

Just don’t leave / Don’t leave

Released:  November 12, 2001. Recorded during live performance in Los Angeles on August 21, 2001.  Found on:  live EP:  I Might Be Wrong:  Live Recordings.

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Everything in its Right Place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phyKJJR305s

Kid A, Kid A / Kid A, Kid A / Everything / Everything / Everything
Everything in its right place / In its right place / In its right place / In its right place

Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon / Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon / Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon / Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon

Everything / Everything / Everything / Everything in its right place / In its right place / In its right place / Right place

There are two colours in my head / There are two colours in my head / What, what is that you tried to say? / What, what was that you tried to say? / Tried to say / Tried to say / Tried to say / Tried to say

Everything in its right place… (to end)

Released: October 2000
Found on: Kid A

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~~~~~~~~~~~

Give up the Ghost

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JbvN356udI

Don’t hurt me / Don’t hurt me / Don’t hurt me / Don’t hurt me

Gather up the lost and sold (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me)

Gather up the pitiful (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / What seems impossible (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me)

I think I have had my fill (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me)

I think I should give up the ghost (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me) / In your arms (Don’t hurt me)

Released: February 18, 2011
Found on: The King of Limbs

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Myxomatosis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsXdI7NUHpY

The mongrel cat came home / Holding half a head / Proceeded to show it off / To all his new found friends / He said I’ve been where i liked / I slept with who I liked / She ate me up for breakfast / She screwed me in a vice

But now I don’t know why / I feel so tongue-tied

I sat in the cupboard / And wrote it down in neat / They were cheering and waving / Cheering and waving, cheering and waving / Twitching and salivating like with / myxomatosis / But it got edited fucked up / Strangled, beaten up / Used as a photo in/ Time magazine / Buried in a burning black hole in Devon

I don’t know why / I feel so tongue-tied / Don’t know why / I feel so skinned alive

My thoughts are misguided and a little naive / I twitch and I salivate like with / myxomatosis / You should put me in a home or you should put me down / I got myxomatosis / I got myxomatosis

Now no one likes a smart arse but we all like stars / That wasn’t my intention, I did it for a reason / It must have got mixed up / Strangled, beaten up / I got myxomatosis / I got myxomatosis

I don’t know why / I feel so tongue-tied

[Myxomatosis:  an infectious viral disease of rabbits and hares, which is usually fatal.  However, some strains of rabbits develop resistance to the disease.  Myxomatosis was used by Australia and the UK in the 1950s to reduce the rabbit population, because rabbits were causing significant damage to crops.]

Released: June 2003
Found on: Hail to the Thief

Daniel Petty – The Denver Post

~

Idioteque

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1qJY9GtU0o&feature=related

Who’s in a bunker? / Who’s in a bunker? / Women and children first / And the children first / And the children / I’ll laugh until my head comes off / I’ll swallow till I burst / Until I burst / Until I

Who’s in a bunker? / Who’s in a bunker? / I have seen too much / I haven’t seen enough / You haven’t seen it / I’ll laugh until my head comes off / Women and children first / And children first / And children

Here I’m alllowed / Everything all of the time / Here I’m allowed / Everything all of the time

Ice age coming / Ice age coming / Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both sides / Let me hear both / Ice age coming / Ice age coming / Throw it on the fire / Throw it on the fire / Throw it on the

We’re not scaremongering / This is really happening / Happening / We’re not scaremongering / This is really happening / Happening / Mobiles skwrking / Mobiles chirping / Take the money run / Take the money run / Take the money

Here I’m allowed / Everything all of the time / Here I’m allowed / Everything all of the time

Here I’m allowed / Everything all of the time / Here I’m allowed / Everything all of the time

The first of the children

Released: October 2000
Found on: Kid A

You Died. But, I Love You
AL KAPONe
THe BeLLWEATHER
HOPE A.D
THE SiCK
DEViCE
iRAMOTiVE
DEAD ASTRONAUTS
AK42
iLLNOiSE
UNCLE MARCo
THe BeNDS
THE FiNKS
PAW PAWS
1984
THe COMPLeX
THE STRUGGLES
FiLLALLSOFAR
CLiMBiNG UP THE WALLS
iT iS WHAT iT iSN’T
C’EST LA ViE
BLOODLiNES
SiCKoH.
THE WiZARD OF PAUSE
LAY, CHARiOT
DEADB3ATZ
SAY LAA VEE
HE DREAMS AWAKE
KNiFA
A. KEiTH FiNK
iAN KURTiS
A CLEVER NAME

I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD VOICE MY OPINION ABOUT THE COWARDS WHO SPEND MOST OF THEIR TIME SITTING BEHIND A COMPUTER SCREEN AND EITHER TALKING
MAD SHIT ABOUT ANYONE OR ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN, OR
YOU ACT LIKE A TOUGH GUY
AND MAKE PUSSY ASS, RACIST
MEL GIBSON-ESQUE COMMENTS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALS, AFRICAN AMERICANS, LATINOS, MUSLIMS, MENTALLY & PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED PEOPLE ALONG WITH SO MANY OTHERS INCLUDING DIFFERENT VIEWS REGARDING RELIGION, ABORTION, SAME SEX MARRIAGE, DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, ETC.

TWITTER IS THE ABSOLUTE HOTBED FOR THESE STUPID, IGNORANT, ARROGANT IDIOTS WHO HIDE BEHIND THEIR COMPUTER SCREEN IN THEIR MOTHERS BASEMENT RANGING IN THE AGE FROM 14 ALL THE WAY INTO THEIR 50′S~ I HAVE FAMILY IN THEIR LATE 50′S AND EVEN EARLY 60′S WHO SPEND AT LEAST 4 TIMES LONGER THAN ME
ON THE INTERNET USUALLY ACTING LIKE THEY ARE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL AND LIVING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH THEIR KIDS WHILE THEY GET DRUNK AND ACT ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. IT’S BAD ENOUGH BEING IN YOUR MID 20′S & LIVING
ON FACEBOOK, LET ALONE THEIR 30′S AND 40′S~ AND THIS IS HYPOCRISY AT IT’S FINEST AND THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK, BUT I HAVE VALID REASONS IN
MY MIND, JUST LIKE ANYONE ELSE. I ACTUALLY GOT A LITTLE SICK OF FACEBOOK AND PEOPLE ALWAYS LOOKING INTO WHAT I’M DOING AND WHAT NOT, BUT I AM A WRITER/BLOGGER/FILMMAKER & MUSICIAN AND I MAKE A LIVING BY WRITING ON DIFFERENT BLOGS, SELLING MUSIC OVER THE INTERNET, COMPOSING SCORES FOR FILMS AND KEEPING ALL
OF THAT GLUED TOGETHER WITH WHAT HAS BECOME AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY FOR ARTISTS, EVEN DIGITAL ARTISTS LIKE MYSELF ALL THE WAY DOWN TO PEOPLE WHO ARE ADDICTED TO SITES LIKE FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE AND THAN THE WORST KEPT SECRET IN THIS DIGITAL AGE.. PORN~!!!! I COULD DO A FEW SEARCHES AND READ UP
ON SOME OF THE SUBJECTS THAT I KNOW EXIST IN THE DARKEST PLACES OF PEOPLE’S DIGITAL LIVES~ I HAVE SO MUCH THAT I HAVE TO DO TOMORROW AND THERE ARE STILL A HANDFUL
OF SONGS THAT I NEED TO DO DRUMS, VIOLINS, PIANO & VOCAL PARTS TO AS WELL. I ALSO NEED TO GET ONTO THE SECOND PART OF MY WEBSITE WHICH I AM PLANNING TO LAUNCH IN THE LATE SUMMER, RIGHT BEFORE RELEASING MY DEBUT ALBUM WITH MY MAIN PROJECT: THE BELLWEATHER ~ AN ALBUM WITH MY SIDE PROJECT: DEADB3ATZ ALONG WITH ALBUMS WITH THE FIRST 2 ARTISTS THAT I AM WORKING WITH INCLUDING:
MAY I NEVER END (M.I.N.E)
&
DJAJ

There Is Still So Much To Be Done. I Would Not Or Could Not Even Say That The Surface Has Even Been Touched, Let Alone Scratched & Considering I Have A Grand Scheme With A Beautiful, Emotional & Powerful Debut Album Constantly Playing In My Head, With Different Tempos, Genres, Chord Structures, Changes, Moods & Melodies All Spinning Around Like Dorothy’s House In The Wizard Of Oz Waiting To Land On The Ground With The Door Opening In Color With “Money” By Pink Floyd Preferably Playing Versus The Film Score Which Was Entirely Overlooked Just Like The Rest Of The Movie In 1939 Which Lost The Academy Award To “Gone With The Wind.”

OK Computer, The Best Album Since Dark Side Of The Moon In My Opinion As Far As A Complete Album That Peaks In Every Aspect Of Artistic Expression, Musicianship, Cover Art, Tracklisting & Overall Flawless Conception And ****Execution**** Action(What’s The Word?!! I’ve Been Sitting Here For 20 Minutes Racking My Brain!!!!!! So, I Didn’t Give Up, But The 20 Mins At 4:55 Went Until 5:17!! 42 Minutes~ It Is Time To Go
To Sleep!!!) Definition Of Accurately Pulling The Trigger~?!!!!

I Mentioned Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon” because of the uncanny, unbelievable & stunning fact that there are a striking number of coincidences between events in the movie and musical cues (and lyrics) on the 1973 1Pink Floyd album, “Dark Side of the Moon”. It is highly improbable that the band had a print of the movie with them at Abbey Road, and few attempt to claim it to have been deliberate (David Gilmour dismisses it as nonsense), but the coincidences are remarkable nonetheless. If you begin the album on the third roar of the MGM lion (using the NTSC version of the movie, not the 25 fps PAL version which runs a little over 4% faster) the coincidences include (but are not limited to): – The line “balanced on the biggest wave” comes as Dorothy balances on the fence. – The song “On the Run” starts as Dorothy falls off the fence. – “The Great Gig in the Sky” begins when the tornado first appears. – The song “Us and Them” is played when Dorothy meets the Wicked Witch of the West. – The line “black and blue” is repeated when they are talking to one another (Dorothy in her blue outfit, the Wicked Witch in black). – The line “the lunatic is on the grass…” coincides with Dorothy meeting the Scarecrow. – When we first see Miss Gulch on her bicycle, the song “Time” starts with its bells and alarms. – Dorothy asks Professor Marvel what else he sees in his crystal ball as the line “thought I’d something more to say” comes along in the song “Time”. – As the Scarecrow sings “If I Only Had a Brain”, Pink Floyd sing “Brain Damage”. – Side 1 of the original vinyl album (up to the end of “The Great Gig in the Sky”) is exactly as long as the black and white portion of the film. – As Dorothy listens to the Tin Man’s chest, the album ends with the famous heartbeat sound effect. This phenomenon is known as “Dark Side of the Rainbow,” “Dark Side of Oz,” and “The Wizard of Floyd.”