Something Very Bad Was About To Happen

There’s a pretty good thread on Barbelith right now about frightening recordings. I lifted the idea from a similar thread on People Talk Too Loud, and I’m happy that the Barbelith thread has developed into a more interesting (and detailed) discussion. Just when I was starting to lose interest in the Barbelith music forum, I get a nice surprise like this.

We Are Accidents Waiting To Happen

Though the new Radiohead songs are mostly quite good, I can imagine that the reviews for their next album will be largely negative. I’m sure that the more traditional arrangements will be seen as retrogressive by the artier fans who loved Kid A, and that the band’s continued refusal to be more accessable will still frustrate fans who are yearning for another OK Computer or The Bends. I’m sure that the band’s increasingly gloomy, slow, and droning sound will further irritate the people who dislike the band; especially since on several of the songs, Thom Yorke’s voice takes his penchant for droooooooniiiiiiiiing hiiiiiiiiiiiiis voiiiiiiice to a nearly self-parodying extreme. Unlike Kid A and Amnesiac, I doubt anyone will think will think of this album as being cool, and I think it will pare down the Radiohead audience to the faithful. All the same, I can imagine this record being some people’s favorite, and not at all in a contrarian way. Regardless of how I anticipate the reaction to these new songs, I think that this will probably end up being a fine album.

“There, There” – This is the song that the band has been opening all of its recent sets with, and is probably likely to be the first song on the next LP. I’m not sure why, but it sounds very late-80s to me. It’s got thudding, plodding percussion along with the regular drum kit – apparently, Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood play additional percussion and drums on the song, with Thom Yorke playing the lone guitar. I’m sure that at least half of the reviews for this record will refer to the rhythm as being ‘tribal’. Ed O’Brien sings a lot of backing vocals, and the melody is generally pleasant. I’m fond of the extended outro with Thom’s awkward solo.

“Scatterbrain” – This song reminds me a lot of Sunny Day Real Estate, particularly their LP2/Pink Album. It’s a slow, mellow song with some really pretty guitar playing, and could pass for an OK Computer outtake. This song is one of my favorites from this batch – it’s very delicate and floaty, and sort of romantic.

“Sail To The Moon” is another spacey, romantic ballad song. I’m guessing that the recorded version will have some extra synths and/or strings in the background to make it sound even more ethereal. It’s sort of like a cross between “The Tourist” and “Pyramid Song”, but lacking in the tension of either of those songs. Like “Scatterbrain”, it sounds very romantic, I get a lot of beautiful night time images in my mind from hearing this song. I can imagine this being a lot of people’s favorite Radiohead song.

“Myxomatosis” – This one is a pretty vicious rocker, with heavily distorted guitars which make me think of heavy axes chopping at the air, or a very turbulent sea. Thom abandons his regular drone and speak-sings in a creepy snarl. The lyrics of this song a lot more narrative than usual, though Thom still clings to strange and absurd imagery, and the regular angst. The refrain sounds a bit like the breakdown parts of “The Bends”, though this song is probably a lot closer to “The National Anthem” in tone. It’s kind of catchy, I think it would be a good single for this record as it’s the only one I can imagine hearing on American rock radio.

“A Punch Up At A Wedding” – This is one of the more interesting songs from this batch, for sure. It’s built on a slightly cheesy synth drum beat, with Thom’s simple piano riff, with some wordless “nanonanonanonao…” chanting starting off the song before the pretty, droning melody with lyrics comes in. The song keeps building, getting more intense, but never quite explodes. I wish I could understand Thom’s lyrics, I’m interested in seeing what he came up for this one. It sort of reminds me of “Liquid Diamonds” from Tori Amos’ From The Choirgirl Hotel record.

“Up On The Ladder” is not that far off from “Myxomatosis” – it has the same sort of menacing, choppy guitar playing, and relies heavily on contrasting the spaces where the guitar is, and the backbeat behind it. This seems like one of the more accessable songs on the record. It’s a bit like a more sinister “I Might Be Wrong”.

“We Suck Young Blood” is a verrrrrrrrrry sloooooooooooow song which is like “Pyramid Song” re-written for a horror movie. Thom’s voice is especially pretty on the chorus, as it drones in a particular high pitch. There’s a really nice harmony vocal on the chorus too – it’s nice to hear the band utilizing Ed O’Brien’s vocals. He has a nice, pretty singing voice which works well along with Thom’s voice. Are they trying to out-Mogwai Mogwai with this title, by the way?

“Sit Down, Stand Up” is a bit like “Exit Music” in structure – it starts off slow and spare, but builds up to a big release in the second half of the song, with some really excellent fast, busy drumming from Phil Selway and wordless chanting from Thom. I’m not too keen on the first half, but the latter part of the song sounds great, really intense. Of all of the new songs, this is the one that sounds the most anguished, which is saying quite a lot, actually.

“Where I End and You Begin” is like a more up tempo “Everything In Its Right Place”. I know that I’ve compared a lot of these songs to previous Radiohead songs, but I think that’s justified – in some ways, this is Radiohead settling into re-working their old tunes into new ones. This song is most notable for Phil’s propulsive drumming and a nice scratchy guitar part that comes in about halfway through. This is one of the more promising songs, and will probably be a lot more impressive when it is recorded. It sounds like it’d be a great song to watch them perform live, it comes off as a lot more physical than the rest of these songs.

“Wolf At The Door” is notable for Thom’s sing-songy whine on the verses. I like how it sounds, but I also find it to be slightly grating. It’s slow and dark, and fits in well with “We Suck Young Blood” in that it sounds like it was deliberately meant to invoke horror films. I’m not too sure of how I feel about this song. I’m curious to see how it turns out after they record it in the studio.

“Go To Sleep” is easily my least favorite of this bunch – it just screams “I am a b-side” from the rooftops. It’s sort of dull, and Somnolence is pretty right on in describing it as a lame re-write of “The Trickster”.