Novo álbum dos strokes para audição

O álbum Angles, o quarto disco dos Strokes, está disponível para escuta integral, porstreaming, no site oficial da banda.
Podem escutar o disco aqui.

Scritti Politti, Absolute - The Best of

Scritti Politti

“Absolute – The Best Of Scritti Politti”

Virgin / EMI Music

4 / 5

Uma das mais interessantes bandas pop dos oitentas, com vida (com bom rumo) reencontrada recentemente, os Scritti Politti apresentam finalmente aquela que é a sua primeira antologia de singles. Com efeito, Early (compilação editada em 2004) representava, como o título sugeria, um olhar pelo período inicial da vida do grupo, escutando os ecos directos da euforia pós-punk que, entre finais de setenta e inícios de 80 animavam o colectivo que nasceram em Leeds em 1978, estreando-se em disco poucas semanas depois com o single Skank Bloc Bologna... Esse é o único instante dessa etapa recordado agora em Absolute – The Best Of Scritti Politti, retrato que centra as atenções na produção do grupo nos anos 80, abrindo uma janela adicional para recuperar quatro temas de Anomie & Bonhomie (álbum de 1999 que correspondeu a um primeiro “regresso” à actividade), ignorando contudo o mais bem vitaminado (e elogiado) White Bread Black Beer, de 2006... A história dos Scritti Politti conheceu “saltos” (ler mudanças de rumo) que muito devem a duas breves sabáticas. A primeira em inícios dos oitentas, com Green Gartside (natural da Cornualha) a regressar a “casa” para um retiro que abriu caminho à luminosidade pop mais arrumada que depois levaria ao histórico álbum de estreia Songs To Remember (disco de 1983 que incluía o belíssimo The Sweetest Girl e uma canção dedicada a Jacques Derrida). A segunda, pouco depois, levando desta vez o vocalista aos EUA, alargando os horizontes da música do grupo às genéticas da soul, do funk, do reggae (que se materializaria nos álbuns Cupid & Psyche ’85 e Provision, respectivamente de 1985 e 1988), mais tarde a música do grupo conhecendo flirts com o raggamuffin (aqui visitado na memória do single She’s a Woman, parceria com Shabba Ranks) e o hip hop (no já citado álbum de 1999). Em traços largos esta é uma história de visão e elegância ao serviço da pop, a fragilidade da voz angelical de Green Gartside (na verdade a alma do projecto) colocada ao serviço de canções que não só revelam um conhecimento dos métodos da escrita pop como, ao longo do tempo, souberam saborear a aventura do desafio de outras latitudes e inspirações, cativando mesmo, a dada altura, a atenção de Miles Davis, que tocou com a banda num concerto em 1985 e, mais tarde, colaborou, ao trompete, na gravação de Oh Patti. Absolute é uma visão transversal que peca apenas pela sobrevalorização do álbum menor de 1999, deixando de lado algumas outras pérolas dos discos de 1983 e 85 que são, ainda hoje, os momentos-chave da obra dos Scritti Politti. E novo junta dois inéditos, um deles, A Late Day and a Dollar Short (nascido de um reencontro com um velho parceiro de aventuras nos oitentas) revelando que a alma pop de Green Gartside não esmoreceu (nem a sua sempre viva e presente alma política).

Publicada por Nuno Galopim emhttp://sound--vision.blogspot.com/

Baby Dee - Regifted Light

Falling somewhere between Antony & the Johnsons and Thomas Tallis, Regifted Lightretreats from the genre-hopping, Baroque pop of 2008’s Safe Inside the Day, employing a pastoral, almost hymnal demeanor that trades out the bawdy, brothel jams for more classically minded fare. Titles such as “Coughing Up Cat Hair,” “Brother Slug and Sister Snail,” and “Cowboys with Cowboy Hat Hair” may suggest otherwise, but Baby Dee sounds more settled here than she has in the past, perhaps due in part to the gorgeous Steinway D delivered to her home by producer/collaborator Andrew W.K., who lent the Cleveland crooner the Concert Grand after deciding that she was “one of the only people I met who could really appreciate it as an instrument and use it for all it's worth." Utilizing a pit band that includes percussion, melodica, pump organ, bassoon, cello, glockenspiel, tuba, and sousaphone, Regifted Light is largely instrumental, allowing listeners the pleasure of hearing Dee's artfully constructed melodies and arrangements, as well as her truly impressive ivory work, without the arguable distraction of her divisive, thespian-bred voice. When she does include vocals, like on the stellar “Yapapip” and the sentimental “On the Day I Died,” it sounds like the last night of a lost weekend in Tudor England, conjuring up images of weary but content courtesans, off-work servants, and assorted gentry watching the sunrise from the basement window of a D.I.Y., early music house show.

Eddie Vedder a solo

Eddie Vedder lança disco a solo: ouça aqui primeiro single 

Vocalista dos Pearl Jam prepara-se para editar, em junho, o disco Uke Songs . Saiba mais. 

Com os Pearl Jam em pausa - ou pelo menos afastados dos palcos, já que continuam a re-editar material antigo e lançaram, este ano, um álbum ao vivo - Eddie Vedder lança em junho um disco a solo.

O álbum vai chamar-se Uke Songs e tem em "Longing To Belong" o primeiro single, diz o site Antiquiet. Ouça-o aqui:

Uke Songs (tocado no ukulele, talvez?) sai em junho. Esta é a capa do single. 

Esta não é a primeira vez que Eddie Vedder trabalha a solo, tendo lançado, em 2007, a banda sonora do filme Into The Wild , também com canções acústicas:

Beady Eye - the review

Caspar Llewellyn Smith

The Observer, Sunday 13 March 2011 

Article history

Liam Gallagher: the last of a dying breed. Photograph: EMPICS Entertainment

Expectations surrounding the arrival of Beady Eye were low in one respect but mega in two others: forget their record, because any incarnation of latter-day Oasis minus their chief songwriter was scarcely likely to ring the sonic changes; rather, first, what about the interviews?

Noel Gallagher was the sharper wit, but there was always something irresistible about his younger brother's outbursts: by turns caustic and surreal, Liam succeeded in emulating his idol John Lennon when it came to giving journalists memorable quotes just as much as in any other respect. So given the opportunity to set up the release of his new band's record in the wake of Oasis's ugly split in August 2009, Liam, you felt, would come out of his corner snarling.

Instead, he's sounded just a bit defensive, and while scarcely conciliatory towards "our kid", neither has the Pretty Green fashionista minted anything quite so damning as his famous description of Noel's "old man vibe... big woolly jumpers and cardigans... Terry Wogan, Val Doonican shit". Nor has he been mouthing off about contemporary bands who might be seen as real rivals to Beady Eye, whereas Oasis could dish it out without recourse – even if few could resist the pop he did have recently at Radiohead: "Them writing a song about a fucking tree? Give me a fucking break! A thousand-year-old tree? Go fuck yourself!"

None the less, any concerns that the fight has gone out of Liam are quickly assuaged when you see Beady Eye live, the second treat that the idea of the band promised – partly because any audience chanting Liam's name was always going to be prone to feistiness itself. So it proves at the Troxy in east London on the last night of the group's first short UK tour, with the lads rucking down the front and, up on the balcony, blood spurting from someone's lip one minute, before he puts his arm round the mate who's punched him the next. The appeal of Oasis from the off was in no little part located in the licence they gave a generation to, well, rock'n'roll, following the indie wallflower years, and it wasn't pretty, it wasn't clever, but since they've been gone, no one – not Kasabian, not the Enemy, certainly not yet the Vaccines – has filled their boots. So why not Beady Eye, who, if you squint, look oh-so-very-much like Oasis?

One answer might be that the generation weaned on "Supersonic" and "Some Might Say" should surely have grown up by now, and mellowed. On "Lippy Kids" on Elbow's new album, Guy Garvey sings of the charms of reckless youth; it's a gentle, wistful song, in which he notes that he, for one, "never perfected the simian stroll". But Liam is actually a year older at 38 than Guy, and he still walks that walk, exuding menace, leaning up and into his mic like he might butt it.

Nothing's changed, except, and it's in no way a reliable memory, when Oasis played Knebworth in 1996 and Liam wore a ridiculous chunky jumper very much in the style of T Wogan, I don't remember seeing him from half a mile back sweat any then; too cool. But tonight, he refuses to take off his macintosh even as damp patches begin to spread across it. But that's less a sign of his ageing than an indication that, once again, he really means it, maaan.

The wall of noise that the band produces is similarly both fierce and deeply comforting, constructed using some classic templates. Last year's first single "Bring the Light" actually sounds quite novel, because it mines the barrelhouse boogie of Little Richard, rather than the fab sounds of the 1960s; they come, too, inevitably, and "The Roller" could scarcely be more Lennonesque, although they do a clever thing on "Beatles and Stones" – "I just want to rock'n'roll/I'm going to stand the test of time/Like Beatles and Stones" – because that one actually sounds just like the Who.

Subjected to this noise, faced with Liam as a frontman, that part of the brain that tells you that this is desperate stuff, devoid of originality (and just look at how the rest of the band are dressed, like they're auditioning for a film of the Britpop years, a pastiche of a pastiche), shuts down, and "The Beat Goes On" actually does sound like the big Zippo lighter moment it so plainly wants to be. "Someday all the world will sing my song," Liam sings, and heard live, it doesn't sound a wholly absurd suggestion.

It's not "Champagne Supernova", never mind "Let It Be"; but there's also the rather touching – from Liam! – acknowledgment that "I'm the last of a dying breed." But then, back out on the streets afterwards, it turns out that it is still 2011 after all

.

36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup

Pouco antes de fazer uma digressão com o seu velho circo de província, o proprietário morre. Sem saber o que fazer, a companhia pede a Kate (Jane Birkin), a filha mais velha do falecido, para que regresse e tome as rédeas do negócio. Para satisfação de todos, ela decide aceitar o convite e, depois de 15 anos de ausência, regressar à vida circense. Com ela vem também Vittorio (Sergio Castellitto), um italiano apaixonado pelo Circo e pela vida na estrada. Com o passar do tempo vão-se criando laços e cumplicidades. Até ao dia em que a digressão chega ao seu fim e cada um deverá seguir o seu caminho. E agora? Último filme de Jacques Rivette ("A Bela Impertinente ", "Sabe-se Lá!", "História de Marie e Julien", "Não Toquem no Machado"), é inspirado na vida do escritor francês Raymond Roussel.

Do aclamado realizador de "A Bela Impertinente" e "Sabe-se Lá!"

"Em "36 Vistas do Monte Saint-Loup", o cineasta cristaliza as suas reflexões sobre a comédia "screwball" com uma maestria rara e com o sentido absoluto de que a teatralidade do gesto se recompõe a cada instante. O absurdo domina a cena e a serenidade de fim de vida constrói as formas do olhar."

REM - Colapse into now

R.E.M.

“Collapse Into Now”

Warner

2 / 5

Devemos ter em conta uma questão de fundo antes mesmo de começar a ouvir o disco. Que mais podemos pedir a uma banda com 30 anos de vida e que se prepara para nos dar o seu 15º álbum de originais? Não muito mais, de facto, ao longo da sua carreira contando-se mais que uma mão cheia de discos e um valente lote de canções que asseguram já o seu lugar na história, não apenas do rock “independente” norte-americano mas do próprio panorama global da música popular da recta final do século XX. São raras, muito raras mesmo, as discografias de bandas que levam além dos primeiros anos de trabalho a capacidade de marcar o seu tempo com o mesmo fulgor com que, habitualmente, se desenham as estreias e imediatamente posteriores episódios de afirmação de uma linguagem. Os R.E.M. fizeram já mais que a sua conta, tendo, depois de fundamentais álbuns editados nos oitentas, revelado a capacidade em trilhar outras visões em discos lançados nos noventas, da demanda pela canção capaz de cruzar públicos nos dias de Out Of Time ou Automatic For The People ao desafio de novas formas no muito recomendável Up, em 1998... De então para cá assinalaram seguro momento de manutenção em Reveal, deram um tiro ao lado em Around The Sun e reencontraram o viço da música eléctrica que os viu nascer em Accelerate...Collapse Into Now chega três anos depois desse último passo... Mas, como em muitos dos discos lançados depois de Up, apresenta-nos uma nova colecção de canções onde os R.E.M. não fazem muito mais que seguir as heranças de si mesmos, reencontrando talvez um sentido de versatilidade dentro do alinhamento de um mesmo disco como podemos recordar nos dias de Out Of Time. Não falta uma lista de ilustres convidados, de Patti Smith ou Eddie Vedder a Joel Gibb (dos Hidden Cameras) ou Peaches... O que falta mesmo são melhores canções, raros sendo os momentos onde, como acontece em Überlin, o mais-do-mesmo soa, pelo menos, a alguns minutos de R.E.M. “clássico” de melhor inspiração. Collapse Into Now é, no fundo, como uma montra de uma loja com a qual temos antiga e boa relação, mas onde uma nova colecção, apesar da familiaridade, não gera já o mesmo entusiasmo. O que não quer dizer que não continuemos a visitá-la...

Publicada por Nuno Galopim em http://sound--vision.blogspot.com/

Hesher

Parece perfilar-se como um dos objectos de culto gerados pelo Festival de Sundance deste ano, e tanto mais quanto tem como uma das protagonistas a (agora) oscarizada Natalie Portman: Hesher anuncia-se como um retrato desencantado de uma famíliarealmente disfuncional. Para já, podemos escutar uma apresentação do realizador,Spencer Susser. E admirar o insólito e desafiador cartaz.

De Virginia Woolf a Michael Cunningham

Virginia Woolf, aliás, Nicole Kidman

As Horas (2002), de Stephen Daldry 

Ainda o encontro com Michael Cunningham — na FNAC do Chiado. Por um lado, há nele um impulso em direcção a outros escritores — e à escrita de outros escritores — que o leva a inscrevê-los como personagens nos seus livros: Virginia Woolf em As Horas, Walt Whitman em Specimen Days. Por outro lado, tal impulso é apenas um caso particular de um princípio que ele deixou bem claro quando lhe foi perguntado por onde começa os seus romances: as personagens ou a história? As personagens!

Para além das peripécias práticas, ou mesmo logísticas, da escrita de cada livro, há uma consequência conceptual — que é, acima de tudo, uma moral da escrita — que emerge desta postura. A saber: não faz sentido "inventar" personagens apenas para superar problemas decorrentes do desenvolvimento & arquitectura da história que se está a contar. Ou ainda: a personagem tem de ser escolhida — num certo sentido, eleita — pela sua irredutibilidade humana, não pela sua funcionalidade narrativa. Podemos, talvez, a propósito, socorrer-nos de algumas enfáticas palavras de Virginia Woolf:

>>> If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.

Publicada por João Lopes emhttp://sound--vision.blogspot.com/

Suze Rotolo (1943-2011)

Suze Rotolo, activista política e ex-namorada de Bob Dylan, faleceu na semana passada vítima de doença prolongada.

Rotolo é tida como uma das grandes musas do histórico cantautor norte-americano, tendo inspirado a composição de temas como 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right' e 'Boots of Spanish Leather'. A activista política ficou imortalizada na capa do disco de 1963 de Dylan, "Freewheellin' Bob Dylan" (na imagem).

A morte de Rotolo foi confirmada pelo crítico do Village Voice, Jim Hoberman: «Suze faleceu no seu apartamento em Nova Iorque nos braços do seu marido de 40 anos, Enzo Bartoccioli».

Suze Rotolo e Bob Dylan conheceram-se quando o músico tinha 17 anos. A sua relação amorosa durou três anos. «Ela tinha um sorriso que podia iluminar uma rua cheia de gente... uma estátua de Rodin que ganhou vida», disse Dylan sobre este encontro.

Depois de deixar a actividade política, Rotolo tornou-se artista e professora. O clássico 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right', foi uma canção escrita em 1962 durante o Verão em que Rotolo deixou Dylan sozinho e amargurado no seu apartamento em Nova Iorque: «amei uma vez uma mulher. Uma criança disseram-me. Dei-lhe o meu coração, mas ela queria a minha alma», diz Dylan a certa altura do tema.

Memórias soltas do "western"

Vivemos numa cultura televisiva do esquecimento em que, nalguns casos, até mesmo as grandes referências populares são secundarizadas: o western, por exemplo — este texto foi publicado noDiário de Notícias (27 de Fevereiro), com o título 'Também esquecemos o "western"'.

Já sabemos que, em termos gerais, as televisões empreenderam um contínuo processo de deseducação cinematográfica (e não só). As primeiras vítimas de tal processo não são os filmes que a estupidez reinante, a começar pela blogosfera, designa como “intelectuais” (veja-se a ignorância dominante sobre o cinema português). O que passou a ser objecto de apoteótico desconhecimento são os géneros mais populares da tradição cinematográfica. O western, por exemplo. Hoje em dia tratado quase sempre como coisa pitoresca, com uns brancos a cavalo e uns índios aos gritos, o western representa um património admirável de narrativas e mitologias, de imensa complexidade ideológica e política (quem disse que a cultura popular é simples?), enraizado na história americana da expansão para Oeste, mas cuja filosofia existencial encontrou eco em muitas outras culturas.

O mais recente filme dos irmãos Coen [foto], esse brilhantewestern que é True Grit/Indomável, mostra, pelo menos, que algum cinema sabe preservar a nobreza da sua história, revisitando-a e relançando-a para os espectadores do presente. É curioso, aliás, que haja todo um estilo jornalístico (?) que faz regularíssimas manchetes com os milhões de dólares acumulados por qualquer blockbuster com muitos “efeitos especiais”, mas recalca a vida financeira dos filmes que não encaixem na pequenez de tais definições. Assim, é notícia que The Green Hornetesteja a chegar à barreira dos 100 milhões, omitindo sempre o facto de ter custado 120... Ao mesmo tempo, não se encontram especiais considerações sobre o facto de True Grit estar à beira dos 170 milhões nas salas dos EUA, tendo custado... 38!

Claro que os custos e receitas de um filme (seja ele qual for) não são uma chave de leitura (seja para o que for). Mas numa conjuntura em que prevalecem os logros mais pueris sobre a vida económica do cinema (e das televisões), acaba por ser normal (isto é: faz parte da norma) promover a ignorância sobre as especificidades temáticas e estéticas do cinema.

Desde as epopeias de John Ford [foto] (1894-1973) até às revisões críticas de Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984), o westernfoi palco de muitas e fascinantes contradições, espelhando as ânsias redentoras de uma nação à conquista do seu espaço natural, ao mesmo tempo integrando de modo mais ou menos elaborado as contradições (humanas, morais, simbólicas) de tal odisseia. É uma pena que tenham caído quase no esquecimento westerns como os que Randolph Scott (1898-1987) protagonizou sob a direcção de Budd Boetticher (1916-2001). Penso, por exemplo, em Seven Men from Now/Sete Homens para Matar (1956), Buchannan Rides Alone/Têmpera de Herói [cartaz] (1958) ou Ride Lonesome/O Homem que Luta Só (1959). São filmes cuja subtil relação material com a terra e os seus heróis lhes conferiu também um apelo intemporal, da mais fascinante abstracção.

Publicada por João Lopes aqui

Radiohead - King of Limbs

IN

by Mike Mineo

The King of Limbs contains some of Radiohead’s most fascinating material to date, even if it lacks the infectious aspects of rock and electronic that their past releases flaunted. Their eighth LP sits more in the realm of Kid A andAmnesiac, consuming atmospheric releases that toyed with piano-laden ballads and choppy electronic experiments. Despite taking unexpected stylistic turns, depth was never question for either album. Amnesiac was the softer and more direct of the two, while the more boisterous Kid A achieved masterpiece status with its unique hybrid of Radiohead’s catchy alt-rock tendencies and variety of electronic fixtures, including slight elements of jazz and ambient music. Its genius can be found in its breathtaking range; densely layered epics like “Everything in Its Right Place” aligned cohesively with initially minimalist efforts like “Motion Picture Soundtrack”, both of which transformed from a hushed swirl of organ-keys and/or accordions into pulsating alt-rock and ardent orchestral flourishes, respectively. Along with OK Computer, it was the best example of Radiohead’s unmatched skills as tactful songwriters and masters of emotional representation. It flowed freely and beautifully without constraint.

Radiohead’s vast base of musical wits seems to expand with each passing release. They have impressed so much and so consistently throughout the years that few listeners are actively seeking another grand stylistic achievement. Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows are not necessarily classified as landmark stylistic achievements, but they are excellent albums that showed off the band’s already-illustrious discography and songwriting talents. It straddled middle-ground between their rhythmic-heavy electro experiments and vast alt-rock anthems, resulting in sometimes dreamy, occasionally chaotic sounds ranging from piano balladry and subdued acoustic folk to frenzied rock and murky dubstep. Though it did not initially seem like it, Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows are not too stylistically distant from one another. Their songs sounded like they could have been recorded at any point since OK Computer, making for a very retrospective feel that resulted in well-deserved acclaim. They were mature, sophisticated releases from a band that clearly learned from success. Neither overly ambitious nor too dumbed-down, they were about as excellent as one would expect.

Such tactful precision leads us to the understandable hype for The King of Limbs, an album that still sounds like Radiohead but with a presentation unlike anything the five-piece have released before. The band is certainly clinging up to aspects of today’s electronica, many of which they helped influence with their late ‘90s/early ‘00s releases. Flying Lotus is the comparison-of-the-moment, and certainly artists like Four Tet, Burial, and even Daedelus are not too far off either. But The King of Limbs is a distinctively Radiohead release at its core, and most comparisons are to artists that practically idolize Radiohead themselves. One of the most noticeable shifts for the band here is the involvement of drummer Phil Selway, long considered underrated and under-utilized. Ironically, his role here is occasionally over-emphasized. His technical precision remains impeccable, but many times his involvement seems too forced. In “Morning Mr Magpie” and “Feral”, his over-active drumming suffocates any melodic range the songs aspire to. His furious tempo and intricacy certainly assets his virtuosity, but the melodic appeal seems to be overlooked. Despite their prevalent technicalities, their dullness and complacency resemble loop-based automation more than intended.

In defense of Selway, this weakness is inherently due to the lack of actual songwriting on “Magpie” and “Feral”, not his drumming ability. Neither song goes anywhere, living off dully inspired repetition and fetishized sonic shifts uncharacteristic of the band. Repetition is acceptable if something bears worth repeating, but Thom Yorke’s lack of range and emotion combined with bland synthesized murmurs and over-emphasized percussion give listeners little worth pursuing or even playing again. The production is polished as usual, but the depth of songwriting on both tracks is surprisingly minimal for a band this capable. Fans of these songs tend to point to the wide variety of subtle sounds on each, best heard through $500 headphones, like the emergence of the fuzzy bass on “Feral” or the budding amp frequencies in “Magpie”. But unless you are an extreme audiophile who values small insignificant intricacies over melody and composition, the appeal of these songs will be underwhelming.

The King of Limbs... out now

You must be thinking at this point that it is overly compulsive to linger on two weak tracks like this. In most cases that would be true, but here “Magpie” and “Feral” account for one-fourth of the album. This leads us to another popular complaint: 37 minutes is not an acceptable length for an album with the (in)consistency of The King of Limbs. When half the songs on the first side of a release are mediocre or languidly dull, that is certainly an issue. Speculation that the album’s second half is yet to come is little more than wishful thinking but certainly warranted, as it is hard to imagine most fans being satisfied with the amount of substance here. Granted, there are not enough quality tracks here for The King of Limbs to qualify as one of Radiohead’s best, but that is not to say the album lacks substance altogether. “Little by Little”, “Lotus Flower”, “Codex”, and “Separator” are as good as anything on In Rainbows or Hail to the Thief, and “Bloom” works as well as any Radiohead opener with its hectic key arpeggio, soaring horns, and lamenting strings. It combines the subdued orchestral tendencies of Amnesiacwith the free-jazz/electronic aspects of Kid A, and in doing that it kicks off The King of Limbs nicely.

Released just a few hours before the album, “Lotus Flower” may be the album’s best. Whereas I found Selway’s drumming on previous efforts to be overly enforced, his involvement here is perfect. The bass line moves with patience akin to the elegant “All I Need”, while the percussion presents a furious yet dynamic nature that adapts to Yorke’s excellent malleability. Around 03:20, when the ominous “Where I End and You Begin”-esque synth creeps in, he raises his pitch with illustrious luster. Yorke is more subdued here than on more anthemic efforts found onThe Bends and OK Computer, but his artful method in building up to the explosive drum fill at 03:45, one of my favorite moments on the album, is flawless. His delivery in the verses near spoken-word, and his voice perks up melodically with each successive bridge and chorus. The impact is devastatingly haunting as a result, truly reminding us for the first time on The King of Limbs of Radiohead’s extraordinary ability.

While “Little by Little” is a fun and catchy effort that finds comparisons to both “Paranoid Android” and “Bones” with its heavy bass tones and mellow electric guitars, it is not particularly flashy or invigorating. It is a big breath of fresh air though, especially in between suffocated electronic-heavy efforts “Magpie” and “Feral”, and is a likely nominee to be a single. It is easy to see this one, with Jonny Greenwood’s signature guitar twang and Yorke’s squeaky-clean chorus, performing quite well on the charts. As far as emotional depth goes, it can be found almost exclusively on the second half of The King of Limbs. “Codex” is one of the most beautiful songs in the band’s catalog, cross-breeding the elegance of Amnesiac with the most lush efforts on OK Computer, like “No Surprises” and “Lucky”. Yorke harmonizing with the horns at 02:16 is pure beauty to the ears, serving as a moment that propels the song to great heights. It almost serves as a tease. If Radiohead would release an album full of lush, orchestral beauties like this, I doubt the result would be as polarizing. Particularly, the final bridge where strings and keys make for the most instrumentally powerful moment on the album creates a perfect ending for the tragically gorgeous track. Between this and the closing minute of “All I Need”, there should be no doubts as to Radiohead’s ability to produce beautiful orchestral compositions with a hint of post-classicism.

The last two tracks on The King of Limbs, “Give Up the Ghost” and “Separator”, are the least riskiest on the album. The former is a fairly basic acoustic effort that relies on Yorke’s crisply sonorous vocals more than the melody itself, which trickles slowly through acoustic strums as Yorke repeats “don’t haunt me” as a sort of rhythmic aid. An additional guitar arpeggio and horn can be heard in the background, but both are generally superfluous and overly reflective of the main melody. A jump in range just before the three-minute mark provides hope for variation, but unfortunately the track does not let the momentum carry it into anything resembling a hook. It sounds nice, but again – there is not much there. “Separator”, fortunately, closes the album on an extremely strong note. It would have fit seamlessly on In Rainbows, concluding with a distinctive psychedelic influence that – like “Codex” – teases us. It is hardly surprising that the best songs on The King of Limbs are the most organic. Hopefully it is something Radiohead will carry into the next release, which will hopefully avoid sounding anything like Atoms for Peace, which this album does on half the efforts. The King of Limbs is not a bad release by any means. But alongside the towering giants in Radiohead’s discography, it is among the weakest.

7.5/10.0

Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Radiohead – Separator

Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding

Common sense never counted for much within Oasis. Everything that should have come easily never did, with the band stumbling and squabbling through stardom, creating great individual moments but somehow just missing a masterpiece. Conventional wisdom painted the brothers Gallagher as ego and id incarnate, the former belonging to classical craftsmanNoel and the latter to shaggy animal Liam, but after the group’s 2009 split the journeymen that filled out the rest of Oasis stuck with the younger Gallagher, the quartet going on to perform as Beady Eye, releasing Different Gear, Still Speeding in early 2011. In a sense, this Steve Lillywhite-produced debut contains few surprises: it sounds like Oasis minusNoel, who always was the Gallagher on easier terms with modern music, meaning that Liamratchets up his love of the ‘60s, going so far as to swipe the chord progression from “All You Need Is Love” for “The Roller.” So why does Different Gear, Still Speeding feel fresher than any Oasis album since (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, even their excellent last two records, Don’t Believe the Truth and Dig Out Your Soul? Because this is an Oasis driven byLiam, the purest rock & roll star of his generation. He’s so sure of his swagger and taste that he truly believes that blatant hero worship is rebellion, and so his music actually retains a wild spirit even as it follows a classicist blueprint to the letter. This untrammeled rock & roll gusto makes the bulk of Different Gear pure fun in a way the carefully considered post-Morning Glory records never were, and it also means that Beady Eye aren’t quite as sure-footed on their ballads: they are a band of instinct, not introspection, and listening to them follow Liam’s id throughout Different Gear, Still Speeding is infectious.

Tracks

Disc 1

				Title	Composer	Time
		1		Four Letter Word	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	4:16
		2		Millionaire	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	3:20
		3		The Roller	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	3:35
		4		Beatles and Stones	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	2:57
		5		Wind Up Dream	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	3:29
		6		Bring the Light	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	3:39
		7		For Anyone	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	2:16
		8		Kill for a Dream	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	4:39
		9		Standing on the Edge of the Noise	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	2:53
		10		Wigwam	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	6:39
		11		Three Ring Circus	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	3:09
		12		The Beat Goes On	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	4:45
		13		The Morning Son	Archer, Bell, Gallagher	6:05

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