Categories: Feschuk on the famous

Dear Radiohead: Funny prank, guys, but where’s the REAL new album?

Scott Feschuk on why the new record makes him sad

by Scott Feschuk on Sunday, February 20, 2011 10:07am - 52 Comments

I love Radiohead. LOVE THEM. I will buy and listen to anything the band deigns to put out, even if it’s 37 minutes of Thom Yorke half-heartedly mumble-singing over a drum machine while watching a movie and eating corn chips, which I’m pretty sure is how The King of Limbs was made.

But still: the new record makes me sad. This is a band that has proved itself capable of kicking as many as 17 kinds of ass. (By way of comparison, the Beatles at their peak kicked only 22 kinds of ass – coincidentally, the exact same number of ass-kinds that Nickelback has sucked.) OK Computer alone contains more top-notch songwriting than every record that James Mercer has recorded, or imagined, or ever listened to – and I like the Shins. Nine out of 10 hipsters agree: Radiohead makes Bright Eyes seem like Regular Eyes.

But The King of Limbs…

/ listens to record again to make sure it doesn’t end with giggles and the band asking if my refrigerator is running.

… ugh.

What can I say – I’m a sucker for eccentric little things like melodies, maybe the occasional chorus and, you know, some goodness.

Yes, yes. New territory, pushing the boundaries, defying expectations, etc., etc. And sure, the machines need something to mellow out to after a hard day of rising up and killing us all.

But with The King of Limbs, the band that produced the greatest album of the 1990s was either unwilling – or unable – to write songs we’d want to listen to. Boundaries, consider yourselves pushed too far.

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  • http://twitter.com/handsomey @handsomey

    I bought the new Radiohead album on Friday and after listening to it wondered if my purchase included melodies.

  • nk99

    Don't worry, I felt the same on first hearing – the melodies are there once you've played it a few more times.

  • AndyB

    Haha, spot on! I love Radiohead too but this is not just pants but pants with socks on. Apart from Codex, I like that.

  • chet

    I say it's time for another rousing round of openly mocking an older woman's appearance, using an unflattering cherry picked photo!!!

    Remember the ground rules though.

    If the target isn't conservative, it isn't funny, but tasteless, so be sure to stick to the "correct" victim.

    Now,

    let's have some fun!

    • Scott Feschuk

      Nah, that fad is over. Let's openly mock tedious commenters instead.

      • chet

        Yeah, that was some partisan party we had there. Maybe had a little too much of that Kool Aid…everyone getting all into it and egging each other on, going from a single notation on a memo to declaring the fall of our democracy as we know it, then being all jazzed up going straight for the gutter appearance mockery. Probably a good thing to slink away from that whole thing as quickly as possible. Yup, its "over" as you say.

        'cept that hangover's gonna sting for awhile:
        http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110220/con…

        Latest poll
        CPC at 40
        Libs at 26

        • Scott Feschuk

          On second thought, why don't you send in a photo of yourself, chet.

        • Kevin

          Except that poll was taken before the whole Bev Oda thing. And CTV won't publish my comment saying they should point that out in their story. hmmm.

    • Mike T.

      Conservatives are rarely so pathetic as when they feign concern for groups their policies tend to harm.

      • Jan

        chet has been sent on in response to the Nickelback crack. They are now under the Con protection services wing.

    • John D

      What?

    • Kathryn_C

      Thanks Chet – for your considered and cogent arguments for (or it may be against) Radiohead's new album.

    • cbombast

      I am going to attempt to tie your comment to the article: article expresses disappointment with "avant garde" offering from Radiohead > Bev Oda looks like Yoko Ono > Yoko Ono is avant garde artiste > article is mocking anything avant garde > article is mocking Yoko Ono > article is mocking Bev Oda.

      Phew, well done, if I do say so myself!

      Dear Lord, Chet, your Dear Leader Harper has a nice comfy lead, are you going to insist on reminding us who his core constituency is if he get a majority?

  • Eliza

    You criticize it for not "kicking ass?" You call yourself a writer? The album expresses universal human sentiments. Perhaps someday you'll join us.

    • Scott Feschuk

      Wow. Universal human sentiments! From what I've heard, those are the best kind of human sentiments.

      Eliza, perhaps you misread the post. I don't criticize the record for not "kicking ass." I criticize it for not being good (in my opinion). I say the band has kicked ass over the years, as in being awesome, which they were and still are. Even the best bands make a bad record now and then. (Exception: R.E.M., which after many years of awesomeness decided to make a bad record each and every time.)

      • Doug

        Hey Scott,

        Have you heard "Horse to Water", "Hollow Man" and "Supernatural Superserious" from 2008's "Accelerate ? All are among the best they've ever done.

  • Eliza

    Good one.

  • iwm

    The album's great. I'd say their most original since "Kid A."

  • Eliza

    Awesome clarification Scott.

    • cbombast

      Don't pout because a superior person owned you. Learn from it and move on.

      Edit: Did I detect sarcasm that wasn't there? If so, I withdraw my statement. (sort of)

  • Shasplim

    Wow, there are a lot of complicated concepts flying at me here, so let me see if I can get this straight.

    Radiohead used to be good.

    Now they're bad.

    Is there anything else you'd care to expand upon, or was that your entire purpose in posting?

    • Scott Feschuk

      Actually, the whole thing was an elaborate scheme designed to make that one Nickelback reference.

      • Halo_Override

        Nick Denton has declared the post-blog era to be underway. I'm sure that's what Shasplim meant.

        • Scott Feschuk

          I wish I could declare things.

          • craigola

            Leave the country, then come back. Canada Customs'll help you out from there.

  • Mike T.

    It was all downhill after pablo honey.

  • dale

    There is a lot of things going on in your review. Do you think you can be a bit clearer? Perhaps a little more well thought out word choice?

    "Nine out of 10 hipsters agree: Radiohead makes Bright Eyes seem like Regular Eyes." really? regular eyes? hipsters? you're genius!

    • Halo_Override

      HUMORLESSLY HECKLE HIPSTER HUMOR

      (picture of Courage Wolf)

      TEAR THE SPACE-TIME FABRIC OF IRONY

    • cbombast

      Except he's clearly including himself among the hipsters. I going to close with you're not a genius, dale.

  • Chris

    Does make me laugh how you disparage this album for not having melodies when stuff like Lotus Flower and Give up The Ghost has some of the best they've ever written.

    This is such a pathetic review, it's OK if you don't like it but when the only words that stick out in my mind from it are "kick", "suck", and "ass", you can get your bottom dollar that it's not a literary masterpiece.

    I'm pretty sure some talentless hack wrote the exact same thing 11 years ago after the release of Kid A.

    • Scott Feschuk

      Agreed (about Lotus Flower being cool, not about me being a huge douche.)

      Video is also quite… unsettling:

      [youtube cfOa1a8hYP8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8 youtube]

      • lgarvin

        Interesting video, you can certainly see the Tom Waits influence but there is also a touch of the Chicken-Lady in there. Haven't heard the rest of the album but I really liked that song.

      • http://www.theshins.com/ Still Wincing

        Just watched the video. Would it have killed him to throw in a little jazz hands?

      • Andre

        I bet he wrote that album thinking nobody would be insane enough to ask him to makes videos of the songs.

      • craigola

        Dance, dance like there's ass in your pants!

      • Claudia Lemire

        You are right, it was all a prank here is the real one

        [youtube 9Eo7ttIKdfQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eo7ttIKdfQ youtube]

        Hahaha, don't hate, me someone posted on twitter, great mashup, those two are great together : )

  • Mo J.

    Uh, it's not exactly new territory, it's just Radiohead's own twisted version of dubstep or something like it. And it's not like we haven't had fair warning- Thom has been posting dubstep-heavy playlists of what he's been listening to on the band's website for a couple of years now. He's obsessed with the genre.

    I love the album. But then I also quite like dubstep when it's good. It's not for everyone. The difference with Radiohead's stuff is that Radiohead bury all these gorgeous Radiohead-esque melodies just beneath all the clattering. Listen for them, they'll be there.

  • Eliza

    I definitely think Chet should write the next review.

  • http://www.theshins.com/ Still Wincing

    Hey Scott,
    Just heard that a certain Dimitri S. contacted Radiohead and offered to complain to your bosses at MacLeans on their behalf.
    Watch your back buddy. Could become another throwdown/showdown!

  • http://www.theshins.com/ Still Wincing

    Hey Scott, Just heard a certain Dimitri S. contacted Radiohead and offered to complain to your bosses at MacLean's on their behalf. Watch your back buddy. Could become another throwdown/showdown.

  • Jeff

    Liked the Nickelback reference. But I have to disagree about boundaries being pushed too far. The King of Limbs is a daring record, but no more so than Kid A. I personally loved it. I very much liked Radiohead's other, immediate ass-kicking records, but after In Rainbows, I missed the utter shock of Radiohead's riskier albums (Kid A). It's always been the boundary-pushing, shocking albums that I've grown to love the most (though In Rainbows has a very special place in my heart, partially due to Nude, and the other nine near-perfect songs). Though it's a little too soon to tell for sure, as of right now, I rank The King of Limbs almost as highly as Kid A, and (possibly) higher than OK Computer.

  • Olivier

    Lotus Flower and Little by Little are great tracks (especially Little by Little).

    But yeah, overall this album feels like The Eraser part 2, and that's definitely not a good thing.

  • edeast

    Boulez Audience expression around the 20 sec mark, signifies boundaries being pushed.

  • maciej

    Now, I don't really like radiohead. I did not listen to the album. But i did read this review and felt i wasted my time. Reads like a sixteen year old's diary. Makes Maclean's seem like it's digging deep in the bag to reach some sort of new readers. A little embarrassing, no?

    • Jan

      Seems to have worked…

    • Iccyh

      What do you expect from a blog posting, really? This is less a serious review and more an offhand comment from a fan of the band.

    • John D

      Dimitri?

  • Emily

    I think the album is absolutely beautiful. I hope you weren’t paid to write that “article.” Macleans seems to have lowered its standards of late–or grown absolutely desperate for someone who can string a few mediocre words together.

    If you’re actually a radiohead fan, this album shouldn’t surprise you in the least. It’s subdued, subtle and intricate. Accordingly, it requires the full attention of the listener to be fully appreciated (think Kid A, this shouldn’t come as a shock). The songs are thoughtfully constructed and unfold with a sort of haunting grace. Granted, it has a prominent element of electronica, but it is used in a characteristically innovative and stimulating fashion. Moreover, I think this is is one of Tom’s strongest vocal performances yet. My only problem with the album was that it was too short.

    If you couldn’t hear a melody or a chorus on this album, you just don’t understand music. Separator has been stuck in my head for two days. My suggestion: lay off the Lady GaGa, man. Not all music comes out of a box. Maybe next time you should consider listening to the music before you publicly disparage it.

    • OriginalEmily1

      Sorry, looneytunes….but you're not Emily, so you can give up the pretense.

  • Olivier

    Definitely worst cover of a Radiohead album. God damn terrible that's what it is.

  • Jason G

    I just stopped by to call chet a fag.

  • horacio

    whenever i wanted to hear that kind of music i downloaded thom york solo
    many of the people who like the album is because they havent hear the ereaser
    it makes me angry that thom spread his s@#t all over radiohead on this one
    its all about his taste in this album

    though i still think its a bside..

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