Let me explain. There are people on the interwebs who claim that Ok Computer and In Rainbows are, in fact, complimentary albums meant to be listened to side by side, with a connection deduced via Binary Code.
The reason it’s called Oink is the combination of OK and IN. Now, after a little research of my own (looking at my vinyl edition of OK computer for a bit), there is indeed a Pig on the inside album artwork and beneath it lies check boxes with A B and C, which leads me to believe that there could perhaps be a third album involved in all this (kid A?).
Before you scoff, at least hear the theories out. This summary, via Puddlegum.net:
Ten years after OK Computer shocked the world, Radiohead released In Rainbows on October 10 (10/10). Though no one was expecting the album to be released until 2008, Radiohead announced In Rainbows just ten days in advance. In Rainbows, which consists of ten letters, has ten tracks, and would be downloadable from a rumored ten servers.
Radiohead preceded the release of In Rainbows with nine cryptic messages. They repeatedly emphasized X, the Roman Numeral for ten, in phrases such as “March Wa X”, and “Xendless Xurbia”. The tenth message was posted on October 10 with a photo of the band drinking tea.
There has been a lot of speculation over Radiohead’s emphasis of ten surrounding the release of In Rainbows. One theory suggests that Radiohead was typifying a binary code of ones and zeros, 1010101010. This has come to be known as the Binary Theory, also called the TENspiracy by some.
As some of you may or may not know, Radiohead is doing some new tunes for the Twilight soundtrack. I hate the movies, I hate the books even more, but I’ll certainly take any excuse for more Radiohead!
Now, this tune may or may not be in the soundtrack. That hasn’t been confirmed. The only thing we DO know is that this is a fairly high quality new Radiohead. Thom Yorke’s voice is just as haunting as ever, and for one of the first times, the band employs a dropped C tuning! Not that it’s heavy at all; it’s not. In fact, the tune, “These Are My Twisted Words,” is an ambient sojourn. The band flows fluidly from melodic minor to phrygian modes, creating a dark, middle eastern texture that’s complimented by Thom’s smooth, reverb-y vocals. Like taking a drag from a hookah in the corner of a dark room, we inhale, hold in, and release the silky smoke.
Here’s a stream from youtube:
and here’s the actual song:
Radiohead – These Are My Twisted Words
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Album, bon iver, island is, unmap, volcano Choir, Wavves
Yes, this is my first post on the enigmatic band WAVVES who fell off the face of the earth prior to their drug-induced meltdown in Spain that was touted as the end of the band. After some interviews for Stereogum and other blogs, the mystery surrounding their break seemed to be cleared up, and to be at least a reason for the band to work through their trouble and move forward. This is always good news for a band! Now, I must say, I really don’t like this Lo-Fi/No-Fi surf-y trend that’s catching on in the brooklyn hipster scene. I really think it sounds like garbage. That said, this new tune from WAVVES, for some reason, caught my ear. There’s something in the waves of fuzz that blast any speakers out of the water that just barely manages to tread the fine line between electronic and post-noise rock. In the end, the hooks are catchy, the beat is irresistable, and as the filtered vocals wend their way through the haze, harmonies and snappy chord changes compliment each other and build upon each other to create a dazed, surprisingly melodic tune.
On to something a little more mellow. The Bon Iver side project titled Volcano Choir has released its first single in advance of its upcoming LP, Unmap, coming out 9/22. As promised, the single features the melodic voice of Justin Vernon augmented by an electronic ensemble that creates soundscapes and corners of the musical world previously left unexplored by Vernon and Bon Iver. The new context in which his voice is featured certainly gives us a new glimpse at his marvelous vocal abilities as well as potential for what is to come on the album. Many have trepedations about Vernon venturing into the electronic world, but this new track should assuage any fears. His voice melds perfectly into the mix.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Album, Destroyer, Muse, The New Pornographers
So, as some of you may know, Muse is coming out with a new album fairly soon titled The Resistance. One positive to take from their new single that the released is that they’ve been listening to a lot of new music lately. The negative is that, well, it doesn’t exactly produce stuff that sounds original. The only thing really original in this tune is Belamy’s operatic voice that still retains its high-pitched drawl. Then again, that, too, manages to feel trite in this new tune. Imagine a poor combination of Queen, Blondie, and the Battles song Atlas. Toss into the mix a pinch of typical Muse chord progression and song development, and you’ve got yourself one giant redundancy. Of course, as soon as I go to post this the video that I was going to embed got snagged off of Youtube. Alas, you will just have to take my word for it. The tune is called “Uprising;” check all the usual media outlets for it and if you get a tip, please let me know.
Destroyer, arguably the best part of The New Pornographers, has put out a new, 12 minute ambient piece ahead of his Bay Of Pigs EP. This track, “Bay Of Pigs,” indeed fits the qualification of epic. It takes up all of side A on the EP, and begins with a synth-y soundscape that gently carries the music from a very grounded place to a space in between a trip and a late night/early morning drunken landscape. It almost feels, for a moment, as though the drunkard appears from within his fog, only to retreat within himself again. Lyrically, the song is very powerful as well as philosophical. From the ebb and flow of life to scoffing at love as merely political, Bejar creates an intriquitely spun web of stories and ideas. For me, perhaps the most powerful line of the song that speaks for itself is, “Magnolia’s a girl, her heart’s made of wood / as apocalypses go that’s pretty good — sha la la — wouldn’t you say?” The tune then drops into something like David Bowie or David Byrne crossed with Pink Floyd; a beautiful mix indeed. Check it out on Stereogum. Also, be sure to grab the EP on 8/18.
So there you have it. The Ying and the Yang; The Good and the Bad. Enjoy!
Audible Musings 