On 12/20/09, At ease reports that Radiohead are finally ready to head back into the studio to finish up album work started over the summer. Ed O’Brien posted on dead air space: “The vibe in the camp is fantastic at present (…) I am so genuinely excited about what we’re doing, but for obvious reasons I can’t divulge anything more.. anyway we all love surprises don’t we? 10 years ago we were all collectively (that’s the band) in the land of Kid A .. and although hugely proud of that record, it wasn’t a fun place to be .. What’s reassuring now, is that we are most definitely a different band, which should therefore mean that the music is different too and that is the aim of the game….keep it moving.”

Aside from a few new singles and some solo work by frontman Thom Yorke, this will be the first major release since 2006’s internet model and vastly successful “In Rainbows” Heres to hoping for a North American tour to follow.

So I’m listening to this Jonny Greenwood album. It’s the soundtrack from some documentary about the human body. Jonny Greenwood wrote all the songs, thusly, it is called “Bodysong.” It’s a really amazing record, one of those albums that is so complete, it is hard to tell when one song ends and another begins. In addition to Jonny Greenwood, I’ve been into a lot of Girl Talk, Beyonce, and Bjork lately. Expect that list to increase sometime within the near future, as now that exams are finally over, I’ll have time to give proper listens to some of the albums that have been gathering metaphorical dust in my iTunes.

But, oh wait! I forgot my iPod and headphones at school! It was probably karma, considering I made fun of my girlfriend last night for forgetting her Zune during a trip. The funny thing is, as I was walking out the door of my dorm room, I SAW MY IPOD, REGISTERED THAT I SHOULD GO PICK IT UP, but for some inexplicable reason, I JUST DIDN’T DO IT! While I do enjoy giving the middle finger to the Nike corporation’s slogan, it would be a lot more enjoyable of a break if I had my iPod, or at least my good headphones so I could listen to music. Oh well; worst comes to worst, I’ll just have to drop too much money on a new pair.

Either way, it is nice to be back home in Goldsboro, NC. Queens University of Charlotte is a fun place to be, but I tend to get sick of it rather quickly these days. The train ride back was a lot more enjoyable than the first time I rode the train to Goldsboro for the following reasons:

1.I had a good book, “You Should Get That Looked At” by S. Craig Renfroe Jr.

2. I had my laptop and was able to finish my latest short story. I won’t be posting it here because I’m hoping to get it published eventually, but I’ve got a few samples of my writing up here that you can enjoy (they’re kind of old, but I still kind of like them. Kind of).

3. I had a nice, quiet riding partner, who had an amusing sense of humor.

So, in 3 steps, I’m home. Merry Christmas? Doesn’t quite feel like it yet.

I know, I know. 2009 is still kicking and screaming and I’m already laying it to rest. Well there is method in my madness. Firstly, I’ve been neglecting this blogging-lark way too much so I need to get going again with something. (I was going to post a treatise on the last two Durutti Column box-sets but just couldn’t quite get motivated to do so). Secondly, I don’t think I have purchases that will arrive before we slam headlong into Christmas so it’s as good a time as any to do this.

I’ve just done a Select-All on my “Last 12 Months Additions” playlist in iTunes and popped the results into Excel. There’s 3845 songs. Don’t know how many albums, but if we take an average of 10 songs per album we’re looking at an album a day in 2009! I won’t be reviewing all of these, but I may post the full listing once I’ve finished the reviews so you get to see my more embarrassing moments too.

So let’s get started.

Christmas 2008 ushered in a new turn-table in the Walsh household. I spent most of the Christmas holidays assembling my new Linn Sondek LP12. I was determined to re-emphasise my commitment to vinyl in 2009 and I needed the correct platform upon which to express myself. I was determined that where possible I would look to vinyl as my primary audio source in 2009. Well, I’d say I’ve been about 20% successful. That’s to say, around 20% of my purchases in 2009 have been vinyl. Luckily, with most of the independent labels they’ve understood the necessity to provide free MP3 downloads which have given me the added benefit of vinyl on my iPod (??). I do think that once you’ve bought either the CD or vinyl version of an artists hard work you should be allowed access to a digital version by default.

Looking at the list I have just created, there are several vinyl gems missing that I have to cover (like the Thom Yorke/Jonny Geenwood 12″), so I’ll probably wrap-up this review with a vinyl dedicated section.

Let’s get moving…..

CSS “Donkey” and No Age “Nouns” were my first two vinyl purchases of 2009. Two hot tips from the Sub Pop stable. No Age play sub-2-minute punk-pop-thrashes, Sonic Youth meets “Land Speed Record” Husker Du with a fun-pop twist. So good I’d buy their follow-up later in the year. CSS were a bit too retro-pop-elctronica for this old git, but enjoyable none-the-less.

Bricolage “Bricolage” a Postcard Records reminiscent release and surprise, surprise the band was from Glasgow. The album was released on Creeping Bent. There were a couple of Postcard-esque releases in 2009, but this one stood out. Certainly worth a look. (Funny, 2009 was a bit of a Postcard year. This album. The Postcard Records documentaries that I watched from the BBC, downloaded of course. Edwyn Collins book. Malcolm Ross and the Low Miffs. A serious Josef K overload in June/July. And Pastels and Tenniscoats – I know, not strictly Postcard, but have definitely carried the torch for quality, independent, Scottish music).

The Factory Records CD Box-Set arrived just after Christmas. It was basically the repackaging of the old “Palatine” box-set. But as slice of musical history it’s a must have. Few record labels have shaped music and youth culture in the way that Factory did. If you’re a Factory completist (like myself) this is a must, and if you’re looking for a place to start your exploration this is a great reference. There’s nothing rare and unusual on this compilation – if you want those elusive b-sides or live tracks take a look at LTM.

From one re-release to another; “Urban Gamelan” by 23 Skidoo. Skidoo are one of the most sampled bands in history (“Coup” specifically). I’d waited for their back catalogue to become available on CD for years and been rewarded when most of it was released on Ronin Records around 2001/2002. These first re-releases certainly eased the wear-and-tear on the original vinyl versions, but it was the re-releases on LTM that I managed to get my hands on some of the rarities. If you want to understand how original Industrial morphed into funk, dance or ambient then add this to your collection. One question though….when will someone reissue all the Fetish back-catalogue, starting with “The Last Testament”? Skidoo does Hawaii 5-0, classic!

Oh, by the way, we’re in February at the moment and my 41st birthday is looming. I updated iTunes with Light Syndicate’s “Last In Line” on Feb 6th, 2009. I’m trying to remember why I bought this, I can’t remember. The Piccadilly Records website (where I bought it from) says “Following in the footsteps of fellow Mancunian melodic prog-metallers Oceansize, Light Syndicate create a sound so layered and dense, you’d need a crowbar to prise it open. The band’s super-tight sound is no more evident than on the album’s instrumental opener “10 Seconds To Live”, it’s tense, protracted build setting up for a ride that’s going to be equal parts thrilling and ass-kicking. Following on from this taut, display of power “Highrise Buildings”, sees a sudden shift of dynamic, with a solo violin line giving way to a song crammed with structural complexities and slow builds, brimming with guitar riffs and vocal hooks. Chris Briden’s soaring, melancholic vocals seem to have graduated from the ’school of post-Jeff Buckley’, at times brushing up against Chris Martin’s most memorable melodies”. Well, I remember thinking that they sounded a lot like Radiohead in places and very prog-rockish in others. Worth a spin, or wait for their second album I’m sure it’ll be where this was supposed to be!

KTL. “IV”. Doom. Gloom. Drone metal and dark ambient. I think you get the picture. It’s great. Turn the lights down low. Close your eyes. Dream of destruction and demonic possession. Classic stuff.

“Merriweather Post Pavillion” Animal Collective. A high point of 2009 and destined for my Top Ten. (Yes I will try to do one). There’s been plenty written about this album this year, so you either already own it or don’t get it. (Digressing partially, check out their performance on the ATP Film – mind blowing). Just buy this. If you hate it – tough luck – if you don’t, congratulations you’ve just entered another phase in musical appreciation.

Mrs. P brought me a gatefold, vinyl version of the Fleet Foxes album from Sydney around this time. Included a download key for the “Sun Giant” EP, so this is where we end Part 1. Feb 7, 2009. Fleet Foxes. Need I say more?

The following represents what I consider the top ten albums of the last decade. The decision was beyond hard, but this reflects the albums which hit me the hardest and stuck with me the longest.

10: DM Stith – Heavy Ghost (2009, Asthmatic Kitty Records)

This is an extremely daring debut album from graphic artist David Stith. Stith contributed the album artwork to My Brightest Diamond’s album also featured in this list, with contributions made to Heavy Ghost by both Shara Wordan (of My Brightest Diamond) and Sufjan Stevens (who, according to the liner notes, on the song “Pity Dance” clacked a stapler, and a pair of scissors, and played a Lakewood 18 inch 3-speed high velocity fan with a Vermont state quarter). This experimental pop jem is just the beginning of things to come from Stith.

Notable Tracks:

02. Pity Dance

11. Braid of Voices

9: My Brightest Diamond – A Thousand Shark’s Teeth (2008, Asthmatic Kitty Records)

Shara Warden’s followup to her debut surpasses the album in most every way. An American Björk, Shara Warden’s voice runs the show. Trained in opera and the daughter of musically talented individuals, Warden uses her pipes like a surgeon uses a scalpel. The instrumentation is so lush it could stand on its own if it were required to, thanks to the contribution of the Osso String Quartet. The lyrics maintain the same personal exploration of relationships through simple imagery and observation which made Bring Me the Work Horse so great, but here they have the benefit of maturation a couple years can bring.

Notable tracks:

01. Inside A Boy

02. Ice and Storm

04. Apple

8: Jonny Greenwood  – There Will Be Blood (2007, Nonesuch Records)

Director P. T. Anderson took a risk when he asked Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood to write the score for his feature length story of ambition, power and betrayal. The risk paid off in a big way, giving us one of the most unconventional and unnerving scores in all of cinema. Equally as expansive and moving as the film which it was made for, the soundtrack is as rich and rewarding as oil itself. This album is a must have for any fan of the movie or of other similarly interesting neo-classical experimentation.

Notable tracks:

08. Proven Lands

09. HW / Hope of New Fields

7: Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2007, Jagjaguwar)

An exercise in minimalism which continues to reward repeated listens, Justin Vernon’s product of a Wisconsin winter thrust him into the indie spotlight. This album, more than most, proves that one does not need flashy, expensive studio equipment to make an incredible album of music. With the Blood Bank EP release and contribution to a few compilations being the only thing we’ve heard from him since his arresting debut, all of us are anxiously awaiting his follow-up.

Notable tracks:

01. Flume

03. Skinny Love

04. The Wolves (Act I and II)

6: Anathallo – Canopy Glow (2008, Anticon)

Anathallo is easily one of the single most talented bands which still has not had a real breakthrough record. Comparisons to Sufjan Stevens abound, with the major difference being that while Stevens himself often wears many hats, Anathallo is more of a many-headed creative hydra. Canopy Glow is a wonderfully collaborative effort, with every band member pulling at least triple duty, playing multiple instruments and contributing to the complex glee-club vocals and multi-layered chorals. It is the next step of maturation from their brilliant 2006 concept album Floating World. Unbound from any clear narrative, Canopy Glow is the sound of a musical collective, which has seen many lineup changes since 2000, finally find firm footing and create something truly unique.

Notable tracks:

01. Noni’s Field

05. Cafetorium

08. John J. Audubon

5: The Acorn – Glory Hope Mountain (2007, Paper Bag Records)

Being their LP debut, Glory Hope Mountain is a rich, folk-driven record which plays more like a punk-rock album. Each song is both bursting with energy yet quietly intimate under the surface. The album is loosely built around the story of songwriter and lead vocalist Rolf Klausener’s mother, Gloria Esperanza Montoya. The album title is a loose translation of her name.

Notable tracks:

04. Crooked Legs

07. Low Gravity

12. Lullaby (Mountain)

4: Damien Jurado – Caught in the Trees (2008, Secretly Canadian)

This benchmark of songwriting is the culmination of Jurado’s long career as troubadour. The songs feature deeply personal, narrative driven lyrics which while not unique to the genre, are visible here in a form only a mature. While not quite as intimate as Ghost of David or 2005’s Where Shall You Take Me?, Caught in the Trees features a more mature instrumentation and attention to detail not found to the same extent in any of Jurado’s back catalog. This album is a perfect example of a singer-songwriter at the top of his game.

Notable tracks:

03. Caskets

09. Everything Trying

10. Sheets

3: The National – Boxer (2007, Beggar’s Banquet)

Boxer is an album which on the surface appears to be a simple and solid piece of work, but upon repeated listens reveals complex facets in both musical craftsmanship and lyrical depth. The National have been doing their thing since 1999, but they didn’t gain much notoriety until this release eight years later. Apart from the guitar work by Bryce and Aaron Dessner, Padma Newsome’s orchestra flourishes add a depth to the instrumentation that compliments perfectly the deep baritone moan of Matt Berninger. What truly drives the album is the drum work from Bryan Devendorf. The entire album makes for the perfect late night, driving through the city, windows down, staring at all the lights, soundtrack to your life.

Notable tracks:

02. Mistaken For Strangers

06. Slow Show

11. Ada

2: Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002 , Nonesuch Records)

There remains very little to be said about this album, given how much has already been exposited upon pertaining to its bold experimentation, brilliant songwriting, and now legendary story surrounding its creation. Listening to it over and over again, there is still no track which gets old, no song that didn’t live up to its creative potential. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will go down as one of the greatest pieces of music of this generation, and one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

Notable tracks:

01. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

06. Ashes Of American Flags

10. Poor Places

1: Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (2005, Asthmatic Kitty Records)

Speaking of anxiously awaiting a follow-up (see Bon Iver above), it has been four years since the Brooklyn-via-the-Midwest multi-instrumentalist gifted the world with this epic masterwork. No concept album has ever used its subject material better in order to delve deeper into the self. The song “Chicago” isn’t about Chicago at all. Instead, Stevens’ personal association with the city throws the song into an existential meditation on traveling through different cities, the choices made along the way and where home might ultimately be found. Although he has kept plenty busy with a B-sides album, a box set of Christmas songs, a multimedia ode to The BQE, a couple producing roles on other albums, and compilation track contributions a plenty, the indie-rock world is rapt with attention watching what he will do next. Even if it his 50 States project won’t continue, it will be interesting to watch and listen to where Stevens will go.

Notable tracks:

10. Casimir Pulaski Day

15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!

19. The Seer’s Tower

Hoy en PRINCIPIO Y FIN, un maravilloso final de la mano de Paul Thomas Anderson, el hombre que nos regaló Boogie Nights o Magnolia (la única película en la que Tom Cruise ha estado bien en su vida, por cierto). En “There will be blood“, Anderson nos sorprende con un registro inesperado, construyendo una epopeya trágica alrededor del petróleo, la codicia y la familia, sin duda una explosiva combinación. En este final, el monstruo Daniel Day Lewis y un deslumbrante Paul Dano bailan un dueto interpretativo que es puro gozo. Así, cuando el simiesco Daniel Plainview se enfrenta al showman Eli Sunday, nos recorre un escalofrío de felicidad, esa descarga que ocurre cuando ves lo mucho que están disfrutando unos actores. En fin, una delicia, como el resto de esta opresiva e intensa película.

Por cierto, atención a la banda sonora, firmada por el cabeza de radio Jonny Greenwood. Aquí una perla.

1944

Nace en Inglaterra Peter Hammill Famoso por su trabajo con Van Der Graaf Generator

1959

Nace en Canada Bryan Adams

1971

Nace Jonny Greenwood guitarrista de Radiohead.

1974

Nace en Alemania Angela Gossow vocalista de Arch Enemy.

1977

Ozzy Osbourne renuncia a Black Sabbath para despues iniciar su carrera como solista,

La  pop anglaise rend-t-elle triste ? Voui.  Petite démonstration.

Je crois que la musique peut influencer nos humeurs. Ainsi le rap par exemple donne envie de faire des pompes (pause.) , d’être en club avec une belle enfant ou (cela existe encore) de réfléchir un peu.

Selon moi, la pop anglaise suggère la mélancolie.  Les voix (jamais puissantes, tout en finesse) des chanteurs, l’orchestration subtile très aérienne (souvent basée sur un instrument : un piano ou une guitare) me font cet effet.

Cette chanson de Radiohead est l’exemple parfait. De plus ce groupe britannique est depuis un moment dans le créneau “pop-alternatif” : ils injectent du jazz  et de la musique électronique dans leur rock.  Cela ajoute un coté encore plus “psyché” à leur musique.  C’est simple ici la voix de Thom Yorke et ses textes me donnent le cafard ! Cette chanson est à la fois belle, mais triste, pesante et en même temps rafraîchissante…Dans le genre, c’est une de mes chansons favorites.  Enjoy.

Celui qui peut m’expliquer ce clip gagne un séjour à St Anne.

C’était juste un puzzle de mots et de pensées.

For one, let’s not think that There Will Be Blood is a departure for Paul Thomas Anderson, who loosely adapted the film from Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil!. It was Anderson’s whimsical, lovely Punch-Drunk Love (2002) that left behind the director’s admirable, but portentous megagoliath films Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999). His last film turned towards crafting an almost expressionistic mise-en-scène, one built around a character, a world-view, a feeling, and not a smearingly glossy, over-broad narrative of grandiose linkage and showoffery. That most strange of Adam Sandler vehicles has as unified—and off-kilter—a film world as that of Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood: a style of cinema that finds its natural place as it tries to become accustomed to the eccentricities of the most eccentric of characters.

And Daniel Day-Lewis’ early 20th century oil prospector Daniel Plainview is indeed eccentric, showcasing a proclivity to absurd obstinacy and capitalistic tenacity, and blessed with a gift of gab that, when tied to the cut-throat business of the booming oil trade, soon reveals in the character a merciless hatred for the people around him. He even says as much, in a moment of rare, though clearly relished, frankness; Day-Lewis practically lavishly smacking his lips as he curls his words of condemnation and isolation to his nighttime confessor. But to get back to Anderson, with the inestimable help of regular collaborator Robert Elswtt’s naturalistic photography and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood’s score (part Jon Brion’s avant-garde percussive work for Punch-Drunk Love, part the Penderecki/Ligeti of Kubrick), piece by piece he constructs his film around this oddity, this character of Plainsview.

It is noticeably an incomplete view of the man, as if from a book not with missing pages, as it is not that There Will Be Blood suggests other, off-camera parts of the man’s life and character, but rather it is a view of a book where the edges of the page leave off. It is artistically incomplete and fragmented, ideas gathered about this man’s dogged lifestyle and thoughts, his cruel, passionate character, but never truly brought together, strands connected, everything fleshed out to a reassuring depth of artistic perception. Anderson’s film is like a vision of notes he took on a Great American Epic, ideas and angles introduced but rarely followed through. Instead, we get a narrative that skips at will from the initially days of Plainview’s silver prospecting to the accidental adoption of another miner’s son, who takes Plainview’s own name under the initials H.W. (Dillon Freasier). The film finally moves elliptically to the older man’s fateful arrival at the promising field near the podunk town of New Boston. Here we seem to get at the meat of the film, Plainsview convincing a town that exploiting their bountiful oil will bring modernization and wealth all around, a promise that also suggests an inevitable clash with locals. The oilman’s nemesis takes the form of a young Christian minister, Eli (Paul Dano), who claims to be a healer and seems to threaten to turn the town, and potentially the employees of Plainview’s oil rig, towards a fevered fundamentalism.

We see snatches in Anderson’s sprawl: Plainview’s early injury in his mine and his wherewithal dragging his mangled leg along with his silver find to the assayer; brief moments of love, or at least care, between Daniel and his adapted son; the gab with which he wraps up an oil deal with a small town assembly; stuttered but never complete confrontations with Eli, and so on. It is not that the film moves at a montage-like clip as does much of Anderson’s two mega movies, but rather the narrative touches down at telling details, small and large, to suggest something of Daniel Plainview and the world he represents, and then moves on to another idea, rarely finishing the first.

Plainview is, like The Shining’s Jack Torrence, to which the film implicitly compares him, is as much a monster as a mystery. A man in a quintessentially American position, here the capitalistic prospector and entrepreneur (Torrence, the trouble writer, middle-class family man), he gradually turns monstrous—or, perhaps, reveals his monstrosity—piece by piece as he voraciously uses his passion to better his position. I do not wish I had take him at his own word, but Anderson does ets him explain himself in terms that leave little ambiguity to the character, his obsessive need to find a method to get the man out in the middle of nowhere, near only a representative and minimal amount of humanity. It is this mysterious drive and this mysterious misanthropy that is the center of There Will Be Blood’s appeal, and Anderson’s inadequate plotting often helps underline the gulf of understanding between Plainview and the audience. He seems to have a bit of everything in him, but with not enough given to us to explain him thoroughly.

Jonny Greenwood’s atonal score and Elswit’s long takes, many using tracking shots or the Steadicam and limited camera coverage, clearly present Plainview with an almost total strangeness. There seems little dissonant stylization as there was to Sandler’s idiosyncratic relationships in Punch-Drunk, or the slick, omniscient/omnipresent direction of Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Shot principally on location, There Will Be Blood views its subject with a fascination but also a kind of restraint or naturalism (a few shots early on, and a later, amazing confrontation at a restaurant, are covered like a Hou Hsiou-hsien film) that lets Day-Lewis’ rich acting dig itself into its own hole. Anderson holds back in muffled awe at the potential, growth, and finally the blossoming of Plainview’s warped character, of the mania that transforms from capitalistic fervor to psychopatholical in minute, elliptical shifts in Day-Lewis. As the film’s skittish plot and ideas fail to gel, it is only the presence of Plainview that holds the film together, and Day-Lewis’ fierceness makes up for, and helps cover, much of the film’s gaps and immaturities.

The perhaps inadvertent side effect of There Will Be Blood’s problems is that the discrepancy between the film’s knowing, considered distance and the oddness of its subject provides a gross dissonance in the film’s tone, producing a remarkable, ungainly strangeness, an inability to nail down purpose, meaning, and direction in even the most over-planned moments, the most over-scripted dialogs. Anderson has his plans, that’s for sure. The film has a propensity to hit its Biblical notes, its Kubrick influences, its doublings (brothers and twins, fathers and sons, mostly) as hard as it possibly can. Yet the film’s strangeness is so potent that the film escapes the aims of these over-determined structures, which seek to close the film off and seal in particular meanings, explanations.

The sprawl of the film, its somewhat ragged and unusual structure (perhaps sloppy), are where the film’s crevasses of mystery are to be found. In Day-Lewis’ swallowing of his ur-American comicbook villain from Gangs of New York into a more psychological and thereby more of-this-world, believably unhinged psychosis, and in the film’s avoidance or, as the case may be, eccentric versions of conventional or assumed plot high points are the film’s most powerful, strange visions. Eli and Daniel’s confrontations, breaks and re-unions between father and son, and inevitable oilrig disasters are not done as one would assume, an indicator both of Anderson not seeing his ideas through to the end, as well as his ability to idiosyncratically divert the film away from convention. How else to explain the turgid father-son concluding scene of the film juxtaposed against the brilliant grotesqueness of the final bowling alley showdown?

We can still see the old Anderson in There Will Be Blood, determined to control the film and the meaning, the experience itself, but thankfully we are blessed with the artist who grew into someone who could direct—believe it or not—the most plausible and lovely Adam Sandler romance ever to be made. We find someone embracing the strange; dedicating not just a film to it, but letting it, for the most, and brilliant, part letting that strangeness move and alter the film in frustrating, tantalizing, and often unknown and unknowable ways. The pleasure, then is to see this film, perhaps yet another re-invention of Citizen Kane (crossed with The Shining), find in its look at an American passion for moneymaking and adventure, its somewhat less fleshed out attraction to the security of the church, and both institutions bonds with human relationships and building foundations for tomorrow, a new weirdness, a freshness that finds in the these warped American archetypes evil itself.

Article can be found on The Auteurs website (http://www.theauteurs.com/film_articles/88)

Indie Rock is a term given originally to artists of independent status. In other words bands who ran themselves, smalltime labels, small distribution and with no help from major labels. Like all things in the end the corporate moved on this term like a rash, and started to brandish the term ‘indie rock’ referring to younger, newer artists, typically playing retro guitars and amps and shying away from the modern look, a small leather jacket is standard.

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that most notably exists in the independent underground music scene. It primarily refers to rock musicians that are or were unsigned, or have signed to independent record labels, rather than major record labels. Genres or subgenres often associated with indie rock include lo-fi, post-rock, sadcore, C86, and math rock, to list but a few; other related (and sometimes overlapping) categories include shoegazing and indie pop. Indie rock artists place a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels (sometimes their own) and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, and airplay on independent or college radio stations for promotion. Some end up moving to major labels, often on favorable terms won by their prior independent success.

Radiohead – One of the few major bands who control their output

In the United Kingdom, indie music charts have been compiled since the early 1980s. Initially, the charts featured bands that emerged with a form of guitar-based alternative rock that dominated the indie charts, particularly indie pop artists such as Aztec Camera and Orange Juice, the C86 jangle-pop movement and the twee pop of Sarah Records artists. Some definitive British indie rock bands of the 1980s were The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The Jesus and Mary Chain, whose music directly influenced 1990s alternative rock movements such as shoegazing and Britpop.

In the United States, the music commonly regarded as indie rock is descended from an alternative rock scene largely influenced by the movements of the 1970s and early 1980s and their DIY ethic. In the 1980s the term “indie rock” was particularly associated with the abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds of Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Big Black, and others that populated American indie labels, separating them from jangly college rock bands like R.E.M. and 10,000 Maniacs, who, by the end of the decade, were signed to major labels. The late eighties band Pixies is said to be the main influence in 1990s-present indie rock

Shellac Yesterday

With Arts Council funding for some independent bands, and an increasing range of advertising and commercial opportunities to distribute music, few popular acts are wholly independent. However indie music in the UK has perhaps benefited from the relatively broad overlap between ‘mainstream’ and ‘indie’ music genres. Radiohead release their music independently, do not accept corporate sponsorship and continue to make music which is experimental. They are also popular and well-known. There are many artists who make original, distinctive music, without aiming for mainstream success, in genres such as grime music. In this sense, the UK retains a tradition of creating original, experimental music, which has one eye on achieving mainstream success without being subsumed by major music corporations.

Indie Band Equipment

Often artists will record on old or poor recording equipment, ostensibly out of financial necessity but also due to the unique aural association such technologies have with “authenticity”, an association created in listeners by exposure to years of demo, bootleg, and field recordings, as well as to older pop studio recordings produced more simply. The growth in lo-fi coincided with the growth of extreme slickness and polish associated with the multitrack pop recording techniques of the 1980s. Cassette technology such as Tascam’s four-track Portastudio became widely available. Prime early exponents included Daniel Johnston, New Zealand bands such as the Tall Dwarfs, who recorded on Tascam 4-tracks.

Guitars & Amps

The guitar simply cannot be an Ibanez, a Dean or anything spikey for that matter!, Fender , Gibcon, Gretsch all the traditional names. It helps if it  looks like it was possibly bought in a thrift shop circa 74′. The amplifier must be valve, preferably a Fender Twin, a Vox AC30 or something of that nature, a modelling POD just will just not cut the scene!

Lets take a look at Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead (circa200)

White Lies Gear Guide:

Here’s the White Lies equipment that we managed to spot: Roland A-37 MIDI Controller, Fender Telecaster with Bigsby, Fender Thinline Telecaster, Gibson ES-335, Boss RV-5 Delay Reverb, Boss TU-2 Tuner, Electro Harmonix Graphic Fuzz, Electro Harmonix Big Muff, Line 6 DL4 Delay and an Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail (sadly now discontinued, replaced by the Holy Grail Plus). Guitarist Harry McVeigh also uses a Hiwatt Hi-Gain Head Amp into a white Marshall 412 cab. Cool.

* Post-punk revival: Placebo, Arctic Monkeys, The View, Maxïmo Park, Franz Ferdinand,Editors, The Cribs, Razorlight, Royal Joker, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, The Futureheads, Interpol, Boy Kill Boy, Dirty Pretty Things, The Wombats, TV on the Radio,The Fratellis, Spoon, The Bravery
* Garage rock revival: The White Stripes, The Vines, The Strokes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Subways, The Libertines, The Hives, Ikara Colt, Motel Motel, Mclusky, Mooney Suzuki, The Horrors, The Von Bondies, The Black Keys, Dirty Little Rabbits, The Raconteurs, Johnossi, Modest Mouse, Little Joy
* Dance-punk: Death From Above 1979, Metric, MGMT, The Rapture, Klaxons, The Presets, MSTRKRFT, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Shitdisco, Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem, New Young Pony Club, !!!, Q and Not U, Foals, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Cut Copy, VHS or Beta, The Faint
Additional, less clearly defined genres include:
* Baroque pop: Arcade Fire, Danielson Famile, Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, Dry Paint, John Vanderslice, Broken Social Scene, Stars, Cloud Cult, Vampire Weekend, Ra Ra Riot
* New prog: Mew, Porcupine Tree, a.P.A.t.T., Muse, The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, The Secret Machines, Los Hermanos, Battles, People in Planes, Doves,Mystery Jets,Oceansize, Pure Reason Revolution
* Post-rock: Explosions in the Sky, Pelican, Sigur Rós, Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Slint, Tortoise, Mono, 65 Days Of Static, iLiKETRAiNS, God Is an Astronaut
* Indie folk: The Dodos, Iron and Wine, Fleet Foxes, Motel Motel, Mount Eerie, Beirut, Bright Eyes, Vetiver, Feist, Bon Iver, Noah and the Whale, Damien Rice, Okkervil River

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Lists are funny things.

Lists, to men, are like catnip to cats. We can’t resist them. It doesn’t matter what it is, we’ll create a list for it. It’s our anally retentive side coming into play; we like to know everything has its place. Most men I think can name their favourite albums, movies (and perhaps girlfriends) in a specific order since we’ve had every waking day to think about it.

When we forget to take the rubbish out, or wash up, it’s probably because we’re making a mental list of something (boring household chores perhaps…)

Lists are also endlessly used in television.

No doubt you will have sat through the Top 100 Singles of All Time, Your Favourite Films Ever or Top 100 Celebrity Sex Scandals – all the cheapest of TV formats and laziest of concepts, which is why they usually end up on satellite channels you’d rarely watch otherwise. They bring out the same D- and C-list celebrities (who’d turn up to the opening of a Coke can) to sit in front of a brightly-coloured animated backdrop – similar in style to a Lava Lamp – and then talk about an event/film/album/song/person the producer had reminded them about a few minutes earlier was such an important part in their life. The better celebrities may retell an amusing anecdote; most will resort to just laughing about nothing (the more they laugh, the more we’ll notice their smug faces while we’re drifting off to sleep) and talking bullshit.

“Oh yeah – haha – this one time my brother and me were – haha – were listening to this Queen song and doing that thing they do in Wayne’s World – haha – and – haha – my brother hit his head on the window of the car! Haha (remember me from that obscure show five years ago?… No?…I was great, honest…)“

However – and the producers of these shows know it – there’s something strangely addictive about them. Even if you get the most irritating celebrity most of all; stitching all the segments together with a witty thing to say before and after each advert break.

One of the worst example of this was probably David Gest (winner of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!) presenting the 100 Best Michael Jackson Songs (or something). It was an old show, repeated especially for the death of MJ. The embarrassing links provided by Mr. Gest reached their apex when he announced something along the lines of “You’ll live forever, Michael – you’re the best!”. David? I’m Embarrassed, Get Me Out Of Here!

Blogs also use this format. It’s a sure-fire way of getting people looking at your blog – people love lists remember!

So, all this being said, for the sake of both selfish amusement and the irony of my last paragraph, I’m going to resort to a list myself.

This list is (as you will have noticed from the title) regarding The Ten Best Music Videos in the World… Ever! (The title inspired by all those compilation albums from the late ’90s – in fact, they’re probably still churning them out).

The reason I’m picking music videos is that, by chance, I was watching MTV and between the irritatingly inane shows they put on, and the endless Rihanna videos, something interesting (and refreshingly pleasant on the ears) came on. Something with a wonderful hand drawn style featuring a superhero fighting squirrels and things to reach the princess in distress. The video is number one on my list (which is actually not in any particular order) and it inspired this little blog entry, so blame it for any boredom caused for this post.

It’s worth saying that I’ve been a fan of music videos ever since I got MTV2 a long time ago (in the good old days before it turned into the channel for Shit American Rock), so I know my Michel Gondry from my Chris Cunningham. There are many, many wonderful music videos around (and really, the top ten directors would have been more appropriate since so many are consistently fantastic) but leave any comments if you think I’ve missed out something really amazing.

1. Coldplay “Strawberry Swing” directed by Shynola. View on YouTube
This the first Coldplay video I’ve loved. The others have been okay, but either linked to a damn durge of a song (The Scientist) or just a bit too odd for their own good (Don’t Panic). The basic concept is that Chris Martin is a superhero on a background drawn, with chalk, on a pavement. Obviously this kind of effect could have been achieved in a computer but it seems Shynola actually hand-drew the damn thing with Chris Martin balancing/laying/hand-standing for each frame – I imagine having to wait for the artists to finish each drawing. To someone lacking patience like myself (I love animation but really, it’s boring as hell doing it frame by frame – see this fantastic Fast Show sketch) this makes Chris Martin an absolute star in my books (as if the rest of the world didn’t already consider himself one).

As for the song itself, I didn’t actually think much of it when I first listened to the album (to the point where, on seeing the video, I wondered whether it was even on an album) but now, I listen to it on an almost daily basis.

Users on YouTube obviously love it as well… “this is the most coolest video i have ever seen” is one of the more insightful comments.

It’s a rare but wonderful thing when a music video makes you like a song even more – or even to notice it at all. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does it makes for a great experience. You’re able to listen to the song at any time and, even if the lyrics don’t connect specifically with you or if they are too abstract in the song to relate to anything, being reminded of the video makes it much more visual. It’s like a soundtrack album to a movie but in reverse, I’ve listened to The Shawshank Redemption soundtrack countless times, and it always evokes memories of the film (which is my favourite by the way – I’m sure I’ll do a ten ten movies as well some time…)

The talented artists behind this video are called Shynola who created the wonderful animations for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (one of the better things about the film) along with countless other videos – their best listed below, check ‘em out as they say in the States.

• Blur “Good Song” – Drawings by my favourite cartoonist, David Shrigley, animated – again, making an otherwise fairly pedestrian song come to life in what I think is the funniest music video I’ve ever seen, although I appreciate it’s not to everyone’s taste. View on YouTube

• UNKLE “Eye for an Eye” – An amazing video about cute little things running around their happy place being duped into drinking from giant nipples by an evil race of wasp things that then assimilate them all and take over their land. A thinly veiled political comment about the way the West come in, guns blazing, promising a better life and leave having destroyed everything. Well, I think that’s what it’s about anyway. It’s an amazing song and I bought the album because of this, which is lucky because it was, in my view, the best album of that year. View on YouTube

• Junior Senior “Move Your Feet” – I’m of the Commodore 64 generation, so anything with pixel graphics gets my vote, and it doesn’t get any better than this. It’s a crazy song (let’s face it – gay as cheese) and sounds like Terence and Philip from South Park singing, but it fits the video perfectly. As before, I bought the album after this, which is why I refuse to put this video in the overall Top Ten; the album is beyond terrible. View on YouTube

2. Radiohead “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” directed by Jonathan Glazer. View on YouTube
In those good old days on MTV2 that I spoke about with tear-filled nostalgic eyes earlier, this video was one of the most shown – with good reason. It’s a great song for a start. I’m not a massive Radiohead fan (I think they’re vastly overrated) but this one is tortured, weird and has a great tune.

The video ticks several boxes for me:

It’s in black and white (almost everything looks better in black and white); it has bits that are slowed down; bits that speed up; jumping nuns; locusts flying in slow motion; evil dogs; Thom Yorke looking weird; band member, Jonny Greenwood looking like a woman (many women would kill for his figure); glass smashing and someone falling over on their chair.

It’s put together with so much style that you can forgive them for what I imagine amounts to just a ‘brainstorming’ session where they thought “would would look cool slowed down in black and white”.

I’m sure there are many more videos considered better than this but this just sticks with me far more than most, I think due to its haunting nature and probably just that it’s, in my opinion, Radiohead’s best song.

The director is top of his class with a string of fantastic videos to his name. He also directed the wonderful film, Sexy Beast, which, if you haven’t seen, needs to be watched as soon as you can; Ben Kingsley should have gotten an Oscar for it. If that wasn’t enough, he’s the man behind the Guinness ad with the horses in the sea, the Sony Bravia ad with the exploding towerblocks of paint and the Levi’s ad with the emaciated boy and girl jumping through walls in order to reach space (apparently the most expensive advert ever at the time).

Other great videos by Jonathan Glazer:

• Jamiroquai “Virtual Insanity” – The irritatingly popular Jay Kay prances about with his stupid hat while the furniture moves around. Very cleverly done (albeit quite simple when you know how) and an example of a really good pop video, which is quite a rarity. View on YouTube

• UNKLE “Rabbit in Your Headlights” – A scruffy man walking down a tunnel, mumbling to himself, getting hit by cars. I’ve no idea what he’s thinking about (I read that he’s trying to work out the meaning of life) but the ending is spectacular. View on YouTube

3. Bjork “All is Full of Love” directed by Chris Cunningham. View on YouTube
This is one of the first videos (I think) released as a DVD single and it was the perfect video for the format. It’s stark and fascinating (like Bjork herself I suppose) and manages to be beautifully classy, despite the ridiculous premise (two robots, both with Bjork’s face, ‘get jiggy with it’ whilst robot arms prod them and cover them with something suspiciously milky and white).

The director, Chris Cunningham, has a something of a midas touch giving all his work a strange, sometimes scary, stylish as hell look that must be damn difficult to do.

In an ideal world, he’d direct an Alien film. Maybe one day…

Two of his other videos for you to look at (do a Google search for his others – they’re all great):

• Madonna “Frozen” – I think it’s Madonna’s best video. Not much happens, she’s a bit goth, she’s in the desert, there’s a black dog… but it’s a great song and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling seeing Madonna grown-up, sensible, and not jumping around in a leotard telling people they’re ‘motherfuckers’ and pretending to be twenty again. View on YouTube

• Aphex Twin “Windowlicker” – One of life’s great annoyances for me (proving I don’t have too many) is that music as God-awful as Aphex Twin gets to have a decent video to go with it. This video is wonderfully stylish, funny, strange, freaky and deserves mention because it highlights the ridiculous conventions set in rap videos where some idiots ogle girls in bikinis. This video is the antithesis of The Thong Song. View on YouTube

4. A-Ha “Take on Me” directed by Steve Barron View on YouTube
Given my love of animation and ’80s music, it’s no big surprise that this is in my list and I think most people of my age remember this video very vividly (even down to the “Nice Cold Ice Cold Milk” poster in the cafe that haunted my youth in the school canteen).

Looking back, the video is extremely cheesy but the animation is so well done it’s easy to forgive it. I also wish they’d resisted the temptation to shoehorn the rest of the band into the video using crappy footage of them playing their instruments against a suitably ‘comic book’ style background. (The same problems haunt videos these days as well – it’s so much better when a band’s ego-driven demand to feature in the video doesn’t get in the way).

The director was very successful during this period, working on loads of other memorable videos but none were really as innovative as Take on Me.

5. The BPA “Toe Jam” directed by Keith Schofield View on YouTube
The BPA (or Brighton Port Authority) is a Fat Boy Slim (aka Norman Cook) project and this, the first release, comes with a fantastically inventive video.

To explain it would ruin the joke of it, so just watch and smile…

6. The White Stripes “Fell in Love with a Girl” directed by Michel Gondry View on YouTube
When I was young (here he goes again with nostalgia) I loved Lego and animated little things with it as well. I imagine the director, Michel Gondry, did the same when he was growing up since this video (like most of his actually) has a whimsical quality.

It’s a video comprised solely of animated Lego blocks. People swimming, the band singing and playing their instruments, running – everything damn difficult to animate anyway, especially in Lego.

Michel Gondry has a knack for doing really complex things (‘high concept’ should be his middle name), as his other videos prove even further. He’s now mainly doing feature films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind being one) which is a shame as I think his ideas suit a short running time much better.

More of his videos:

• Kylie Minogue “Come Into My World” – Kylie must have gotten dizzy making this video; several versions of her walk around several times in a circle. I have no idea how he co-ordinated a shoot like this but it’s wonderfully done. View on YouTube

• Massive Attack “Protection” – A great video with the camera moving into different windows of a big house. It doesn’t sound exciting and, well, it isn’t really, but it’s a great video. View on YouTube

• Bjork “Bachelorette” – Difficult to describe, this video starts with a story being told and then a theatre production based on that story played out within it. Just watch it, it’s fantastic. View on YouTube

7. Blur “Coffee & TV” directed by Hammer & Tongs View on YouTube
Like Shynola, Hammer & Tongs are another group of talented chaps that have worked on many videos and they all (well, the ones I’ve seen) tend to have a humourous slant which defines their style.

Coffee & TV is the tale of a little milk carton that goes off on a little quest to find a missing person. It’s the kind of video that appeals to everyone; it’s funny, cute and there’s even a bit of emotion in there as well for the kind of people that cry over spilt milk.

They’re now doing feature films as well. Their first, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was good, but flawed. Their latest – Son of Rambow – is supposed to be very good but I’ve not seen it yet unfortunately.

Hammer & Tongs have worked on many great videos, but two of my other favourites are below:

• REM “Imitation of Life” – Worth watching for Michael Stipe’s interesting dance moves as well as the technical cleverness involved. It’s a piece of camcorder footage that keeps running forward, then backwards for twenty seconds at a time – we zoom into parts of the video to see details. A tough one to explain, but worth watching, and it’s a nice little tune! View on Spike (I couldn’t find a version on YouTube with audio)

• Fatboy Slim “Right Here, Right Now” – Evolution squeezed into 3:30 minutes with a great social comment at the end. Well, I think it’s meant like that anyway, or it’s just that they wanted to end with the guy from the album cover. View on YouTube

8. David Bowie “Ashes to Ashes” directed by David Mallet View on YouTube
It makes no bloody sense at all, but it’s an example of a really inventive video when music videos were still very ‘new’ (it was back in 1983 – MTV had only been around a couple of years at that point. It was also was less shit than now). I think it was the most expensive video ever at the time due to its use of the fancy video effects (things we can all do on an iPhone these days with the correct app).

Director, David Mallet, directed loads of rock videos (specialising on Queen and AC/DC, strangely) but this is, I think, his most famous.

Of all these videos, it’s probably the one you’ll disagree with the most. “It looks crap”, mate, “You’re getting nostalgic and losing your sense of style.” But, there’s just something about it that I love. I’m not a big David Bowie fan particularly, but there’s something wonderful about him walking down the beach dressed like an idiot with an old woman wagging her finger at him (and telling him not to trust Major Tom).

9. Michael Jackson “Thriller” directed by John Landis View on YouTube
I include this video a little reluctantly as every damn list of “best music videos ever” has this in it, but it really has to be. I’m not a fan of musicals (I turned Chicago off after the DVD menu) but there’s something mesmerising about a really great piece of choreography.

There’s also the fact that this music video was an ‘event’. I was too young to remember it at the time but enough people have told me how they stayed up late to watch it to make me think that perhaps it was more of a big deal than we can appreciate these days. The Internet has ruined things a bit really… we don’t have ‘events’ any more, do we?

Anyway, the director’s other films include American Werewolf in London (that qualified him to make Thriller really), Trading Places and Coming to America so that makes him damn good in my book.

10. Massive Attack “Teardrop” directed by Walter Stern View on YouTube
God knows how a video comprised entirely of a foetus singing can be so good, but it really is.

The director is another fairly prolific one, working on videos for Prodigy, David Bowie, Madonna and INXS as well as another two for Massive Attack.

Another of his videos:

• Verve “Bitter Sweet Symphony” A riff on Massive Attack’s video for Unfinished Sympathy, this was the video that, thanks to Richard Ashcroft walking down the road like an arrogant bastard, helped launch Verve into the public eye when we already had arrogant bastards, Oasis. View on YouTube

So, that’s it.

You’ll have noticed that I’ve cheated a little bit by including other videos from some of the directors (making the list far more than just ten) but I don’t care, it’s my list, I can do what I want with it.

There are, however, some other videos I’ve not mentioned that I feel I should for various reasons – those are listed below. Have a look at all of them if you find the time!

Leftfield “Swords” View on YouTube
Summary: A bunch of people in cars, singing along to a chilled out track. I find it mesmerising.

Fatboy Slim “Weapon of Choice” View on YouTube
It’s Christopher Walken. Dancing. Nothing more needs to be said.

Supermen Lovers “Starlight” View on YouTube
Traditionally, 3D animation tends to be quite slick but here the animator has gone at great lengths to make the characters as ugly as possible. It’s a great little story and strangely emotional at the end!

Elbow “One Day Like This” View on YouTube
I’m including this partly because the song is wonderful but also because I think the video is so strange. It doesn’t match the lyrics at all but just focuses on one guy finding joy doing a mundane job. Beautiful.

Nizlopi “JCB” View on YouTube
A wonderfully nostalgic little song with a video to match.

Super Furry Animals “It’s Not the End of the World?” View on YouTube
Another great piece of 3D animation.

Pet Shop Boys “I’m With Stupid” View on YouTube
I’ve never been a fan of the Pet Shop Boys’ videos, but this one is great since it’s the guys from Little Britain doing a terrible (yet accurate) impression of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.

Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer” View on YouTube
Most ‘top video’ lists include this at a high position because it was groundbreaking (and it marked the arrival of Aardman Animation – the makers of Wallace and Gromit). It is a very clever video, and perhaps the Coldplay video I mentioned at the beginning of the list wouldn’t have existed were it not for this. Oh, and it’s about shagging, but you knew that…

Definitely not on any of my lists:

Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody” Don’t View on YouTube
Just plain awful.

I hope you liked this list and feel free to write a comment challenging me on any of my picks. I’m sure I’ve left out some great videos, so tell me and I’ll be happy to rethink any of the ones above if you prove that I’m wrong in some way.

If someone came to me… let’s just say God… and said “Here’s the deal. The World is going to end, and I am going to spare you. So pick a person that you want to live with forever on the one little tiny island that will survive.”

After careful thought, I would first ensure there would be power on this island, and then I would pick Jonny Greenwood. He seems like the shy but funny type, he could nerd out on his computer shit all day making music and programming some sort of thing to find other survivors, he would like every creation I made out of coconuts and pineapples, and we would repopulate the Earth with tall, skinny, talented kids.

It’s a perfect life. I bake all day on an island for an uber-talented Radiohead nerd and we make tall skinny rad kids.

Damn. I hope this happens.

Ordinarily the release of a single isn’t heralded all that much nowadays, what with downloads and chart positions meaning a bit less than they used to. However, a couple of interesting ones have been announced in the last week or so, so I thought it’d be worth mentioning them.

The first is a double A sided single from Graham Coxon. He is releasing two songs, Brave the Storm and Dead Bees, from recent album The Spinning Top on 28 September, but they’re not on CD or vinyl. Instead, they’re both art prints, limited to 1000 copies, which have a download code on the back so you can download the track. This is quite a decent idea really, as I can’t really see many people who don’t already have the album picking these singles up, so the only thing they’re buying them for is the packaging, which is this case is a fancy art print. A similar release was made for Sorrow’s Army, the first single from The Spinning Top, which I duly purchased. Unfortunately the copy I received in the post from Transgressive was ripped, with the envelope they used being nowhere near adequate to properly protect the print. Sheesh.

But anyway, if you fancy picking up these two singles, you can get them from the Transgressive Records website (Dead Bees here and Brave the Storm here) or from “selected independent record shops”, whatever that means. Here is a glimpse at the picture you get for the Dead Bees single:

Fancy, no?

Elsewhere, following Radiohead’s highly awesome Reading headlining spot, Thom Yorke has announced a new double A sided single of his own. The first track is called FeelingPulledApartByHorses, which is actually written and performed with fellow Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood, and is “a radical rework of an old tune thats been kicking around without a home since 2001? i think.” The “old tune” was originally called Reckoner, which then itself got a drastic reworking to become the Reckoner from In Rainbows, the most recent Radiohead album, so this would appear to be a different reworking of that original song. Should be interesting. The other song is The Hollow Earth, which is “a bass menace that was born out of the Eraser [Yorke's solo album] period but needed a little more time.” Again, sounds interesting.

The single is available from the w.a.s.t.e. store from 21 September, where you can get a 12 inch vinyl and free download, and then there’s a boring old conventional download available around 6 October. I have already pre-ordered the former, it’s limited edition I believe so it’ll be a nice thing to have.

Hendrix stands out as the greatest guitarist to ever grace this planet, but like many other virtuosos he was a one man show, with a band built around him to show off his talents. His songs were emphatic and his solos even more so, the guy was on another level and an early death to drugs secured his immortality.

Mesmerising solos are all good and well but they are always best served on a platter of equally exuberant musical talent.

Radiohead are one of the bands, of the last twenty years, their consistently magical records, unique sound and emphatic live shows, have earned them a spot with rock’s immortality in a different way to Hendrix.

Paranoid Android is their magnum opus, their Bohomian Rhapshody, where wild key changes and weird time signatures take us on a dark journey far beyond the realms of any other pop group’s musical capacity.

The apocalyptic vision of 97’s OK Computer is embodied in this epic, which took the band a year and a half to master for the live front. The build and crash style of the song sets the perfect backdrop for Jonny Greenwood’s otherworldly guitar hammering.

When he lets rip on his Telecaster sparks fly, the song crashes and burns around him and the whole world goes up in flames. Thom York then brings it back from the dead with his haunting vocals and acoustic picking on a mesmerising sing-a-long coda before Greenwood hammers the final nail into the coffin through one more monumentous electrical outburst.

This is what really makes an epic guitar solo, when the song that it is built around is equally as breathtaking.

This Dithering series, on the sound quality of recorded music, will be a feast, but it will include vegetables. To understand what’s at stake, we’ll need to get technical. We need to pin down how and why the standards for recorded music dropped in a way that they didn’t for, say, full-length movies in theaters. We need to measure the amount of information lost between a master recording and an MP3. These data are your vegetables. This information will be wicked cool and relatively easy to understand, but not as sexy as Amy Winehouse singing “You’re Wondering Now” with The Specials or Noel quitting Oasis. So, to get you hooked, we’ll start with a few thoughts from Jonny Greenwood. You may know his film scores.

SASHA FRERE-JONES: Is the MP3 a satisfactory medium for your music?

JONNY GREENWOOD: They sound fine to me. They can even put a helpful crunchiness onto some recordings. We listened to a lot of nineties hip-hop during our last album, all as MP3s, all via AirTunes. They sounded great, even with all that technology in the way. MP3s might not compare that well to a CD recording of, say, string quartets, but then, that’s not really their point.

SFJ: Do you ever hear from your fans about audio fidelity?

JG: We had a few complaints that the MP3s of our last record wasn’t encoded at a high enough rate. Some even suggested we should have used FLACs, but if you even know what one of those is, and have strong opinions on them, you’re already lost to the world of high fidelity and have probably spent far too much money on your speaker-stands.

SFJ: Do you think any of the MP3 generation—ten- to twenty-five-year-olds—want a higher quality experience?

JG: No. That comes later. It’s those thirty-something men who lurk in hi-fi shops, discussing signal purity and oxygen-free cables and FLACs. I should know—I was very nearly one of them.

SFJ: What are your feelings about the various audio formats?

JG: Sonic quality is important. I’d feel frustrated if we couldn’t release CDs as a band, but then, it only costs us a slight shaving of sound quality to get to the convenience of the MP3. It’s like putting up with tape hiss on a cassette. I was happy using cassettes when I was fifteen, but I’m sure they were sneered at in their day by audiophiles. If I’m on a train, with headphones, MP3s are great. At home, I prefer CD or vinyl, partly because they sound a little better in a quiet room and partly because they’re finite in length and separate things, unlike the endless days and days of music stored on my laptop.

SFJ: Do you record any differently now, knowing that the end result will likely be an MP3?

JG: No, but it was interesting how some tracks fared the conversion to MP3 better than others. It was never bad.

SFJ: What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the MP3 age?

JG: The downside is that people are encouraged to own far more music than they can ever give their full attention to. People will have MP3s of every Miles Davis’ record but never think of hearing any of them twice in a row—there’s just too much to get through. You’re thinking, “I’ve got ‘Sketches of Spain and ‘Bitches Brew’—let’s zip through those while I’m finishing that e-mail.” That abundance can push any music into background music, furniture music.

SFJ: Freestyle here. Inject any relevant, burning thoughts.

JG: I find this sound quality stuff both fascinating and ridiculous. It’s like the pixel resolution of digital cameras: higher numbers are better, but that discussion always pushes the actual photography to one side, somehow.

Diambil dari thenewyorker. September 2, 2009. Posted by Sasha Frere-Jones In Sasha Frere-Jones | Dithering

O valor discutível da qualidade do sistema de alta fidelidade que temos na sala e o mp3 como ferramenta essencial para companhia quotidiana. Ou a crucificação deste formato digital, que apenas transforma as canções em música de mobília, e a valorização do CD ou do vinil que, atentemos, impõe limites à audição e a faz atenta. Está tudo no curto mas interessante conjunto de respostas de Jonny Greenwood à New Yorker.

Welcome. Radiohead @ Reading 2009 is extremely tricky to get hold of. but here is National Anthem & Bodysnatchers also here is Radiohead’ full performance from Reading Festival 1994. Retro!. Enjoy

Reading 1994:

Reading 2009:

knapp eine woche ist es jetzt her, dass ich dem radiohead-gig in prag beiwohnen durfte. seitdem überschwemme ich mein umfeld wieder einmal mit radiohead-links, radiohead-fotos, radiohead-videos und was sonst noch so anfällt. und da ich mich in den letzten tagen mit kaum etwas anderem beschäftigt habe, habe ich beschlossen, meine persönlichen radiohead-highlights hier noch einmal aufzulisten. im moment ist diese liste aber sicher noch am wachsen – links oder ähnliches erwünscht!!

welch großartiges styling

persönliche video/song-highlights

creep live @ the astoria / 1994 /pablo honey

fake plastic trees / the bends

exit music (for a film) live @ prag / 2009 / ok computer // mein persönliches highlight an diesem abend. stille im publikum. gänsehaut pur.

no surprises live @ berlin / 2008 / ok computer  //  erinnerungen.

everything in its right place live @ glastonbury / 2003 / kid A

morning bell live / ? / amnesiac

radiohead – a wolf at the door. (it girl. rag doll.)

radiohead – 2+2=5 (the lukewarm.) live @ prag / 2009 // auch eines meiner absoluten highlights vom letzten sonntag – ich glaube das video gibt die dynamik im publikum ganz gut wieder – wahnsinn!

die scotch mist – aufnahmen / in rainbows

johnny greenwood & thom yorke covern portishead – the rip

impressionen vom konzert in berlin am 8.7.08

man möchte es kaum glauben, aber es begann dann doch noch zu regnen
(thom yorke: “sorry about the rain, it’s a radiohead-gig”)

impressionen vom konzert in prag am 23.8.09

other

}}} radiohead scrapbook

}}} radiohead memory hole

}}} at ease

}}} more radiohead-related stuff on flickr

Aviz – muzica celor de la Radiohead este destinată unui public restrâns.

Originari din Marea Britanie ,Radiohead , se formează în 1986 din câtiva adolescenţi iubitori de muzică care pe parcurs ajung să devină una dintre cele mai apreciate formaţii pe plan mondial , totuşi pe o arie restrânsă de ascultatori , muzica lor fiind una foarte pretenţioasă , deranjantă , apăsătoare şi grea pentru urechile multora dintre noi. Spun asta , pentru că sunt un ascultator împătimit radiohead , de când am auzit acum vreo 5 ani piesa Karma Police şi trebuie să admit că la început am fost doar un fan de 2 piese şi am ajuns foarte foarte greu să le apreciez muzica pe deplin ; e nevoie de momentul şi mood-ul ideal pentru ca în acea clipă când asculţi piesa să o poţi aprecia şi să îţi doreşti să o pui pe repeat.

Evoluţia muzicală a celor de la Radiohead poate fi apreciată de la un album la altul , de la o piesă la alta , prin versuri neobişnuite , riffuri şi linii de chitară la primul auz nepotrivite , chiar psihedelice , o voce la care ai tendinţa sa îi aplici atributul de “mâţâit” , tobe care zboară in afara standardului de ritm , toate acestea aduc din partea Radiohead un “feeling” extraordinar , un efect afrodisiac al pieselor , care asupra mea cel puţin au acel efect de paranoia , high … Creep ( recunosc , asta sunt )

Dacă privim bine , sunetul experimental influenţat de jazz (în special pe ultimele albume ) , electro , muzică clasică … influenţa  care o au The Beatles asupra Radiohead , foarte greu percepută, aduc a extindere a creativităţii dincolo de limite , ieşită din banal , ambiguu … poate spus putin cam dur , îmbinându-se într-un gen greu de categorizat , poate un alternative după cum spune gura mass-mediei.

Ca să nu ies din sferă ( m-a luat valul , ascultand un concert de-al lor ) Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O’Brien , Colin Greenwood , Phil Selway îmbină minunăţia muzicală care o numim azi , Radiohead. Baietii au lansat de-a lungul carierei , începând din 1993 , 7 albume , care mai de care mai interesant în ceea ce priveşte stilul pieselor dar fiecare în parte având ceva special. În opinia mea albumele The Bends şi neaparat piesa The Bends ( guitar rape la 1:50 )  , OK Computer sunt cam cele mai captivante şi mai “neobositoare” la ascultat ore in şir dar şi celorlalte merită acordat timp şi urechi ciulite.

Dacă aveţi vreodată curiozatea (în caz că nu îi cunoaşteti) sau dacă aveţi chef de a asculta şi a aprecia muzica lor pe cât se poate , vă sfătuiesc să luaţi toate albumele , un pahar de coniac , o ţigară sau un joint dacă aveţi ,  să stingeţi lumina , puneţi căştile pe urechi şi daţi drumul la piese.
Pentru început vă recomand piesele Karma Police şi Creep ( aveti link mai sus si la piesa săptămânii ) , High & Dry , Paranoid Android , Fake Plastic Trees şi I might be wrong ( I hope not )

Enjoy şi Atenţie , Excesul de Radiohead poate provoca supradoză sau dependentă , ascultaţi cu masură.