As any self-respecting indie rock fan worth the price of their designer jeans already knows, the latest musical masterpiece from Radiohead has been released, through a visionary self-distribution experiment in which you're able to download the record directly, paying only what you think is fair. While the band has stated that there would be no advance leaks or promo releases for the press, I already managed to get my hands on these highly anticipated musical 1's and 0's through my shadowy network of illegal downloading operatives. Now that I've heard the first disc of the double album (suck on THAT, Pitchfork!) and fully comprehend it's life-changing brilliance, here's my first impression of the tracks:
1. 15 STEP - A lot of squiggly computer noises (or maybe a theramin), then a big explosion of some sort, a loop of a kitten dying, and the song fades out. Moving, beautiful, important.
2. BODYSNATCHERS - Some noodling around on a guitar, someone appears to be crying, with ghosts moaning in the background. I'm really starting to get into this record.
3. NUDE - The whole song is Lee Greenwood's's "God Bless the U.S.A.", played in reverse, on a kazoo. Exquisite and haunting.
4. WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI - Dan Rather is reading about war on the evening news, but his voice slowly morphs into some kind of satanic robot, and the whole song ends with a little girl humming the Hallelujah Chorus.
5. ALL I NEED - After opening with the sound of a Jack-In-the-Box, the song explodes into unholy brain-demolishing death metal while Thom Yorke screams and screeches in Space Alien language gibberish. Stunning, their finest achievement since OK Computer.
6. FAUST ARP - I'd say this sounds like sort of a hardcore hip-hoppy version of the opening theme music from The Price Is Right. Definitely gonna be a bangin' club track.
7. RECKONER - This just appears to be REO Speedwagon's song "Can't Fight This Feelin", in its orginal form, untampered with. Strange, but amazing and genius (just like we've come to expect from the boys in Radiohead)!
8. HOUSE OF CARDS - An infomercial about people who suffer from Lupus, scored by a full philharmonic orchestra? A thing of heart-wrenching beauty.
9. JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE - This is literally an industrial-grade jigsaw cutting through concrete for a minute and a half, then shutting off. A perfect change of pace.
10. VIDEOTAPE - This is just 37 seconds of silence, followed by a gunshot. Really catchy, the perfect conclusion to what will undoubtedly be the most accomplished, challenging work of musical genius we can expect to hear this year!
(This post is courtesy of BestWeekEver.tv, where it first appeared.)
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