(pair of mirrors)

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

“Lotus Flower” (also check out “Little By Little” here)

The King of Limbs is my favourite Radiohead album - let me just preface with that. I’m not a massive Radiohead fan nor am I a longtime one, having honestly only come to, like, really like the band with the recent release. And maybe this is why I find the prevailing criticisms of the album - like that it tries to do too much in too little time or that it lacks some kind of internal clarity of the classic Radiohead albums - so hard to level with. This is the album that finally settled Radiohead in my brain. I’ve heard Kid A before, I’ve heard OK Computer many times - and they’re all good albums, don’t get me wrong, but none of them stayed with me in the same way as The King of Limbs did. 

I find The King of Limbs to be a clear and definitive statement of what Radiohead’s music is all about. Form the first notes - that runny piano that introduces “Bloom”, and resurfaces again in “Codex”, to the very long last chord of “Separate” which echos away into emptiness in a way reminiscent of the end of “A Day in the Life” - the album is full of the type of structure, depth, and unity which is unseen on even very many “good” albums. I love the way “Morning Mr Magpie” is so stealthily catchy. I love how understated, and well, Radiohead-y “Little by Little” sounds; it takes me all the way back to “Karma Police.” And I love love love “Lotus Flower,” with its arrhythmic clapping, its low bass, and the images of the euphoric/hypnotic Thom Yorke which the song inevitably conjures (re: this video, if you’re from Mars). 

Anyway, like I said, I might be biased because this is really only the beginning for me and Radiohead, and I’m still in a bit of a honeymoon phase. But at the same time, I truly do find that The King of Limbs, even if lukewarm by Radiohead standards (I don’t agree, but whatever), is still literally one of the best albums I’ve heard in a while. And that is not coming from someone who would go up on the cross for Radiohead. I pretty much gave this album a listen for purely educational purposes, and it just grabbed me. Finally, the fact that the album is only a half hour hardly figures negatively - I’d rather subject myself to a half hour of greatness than to a full hour of delicious 4-chord crap (see Sigh No More - ohhhhhhhhhh snap! M is going to have me shot for this). 

-L 

PS: on an unrelated note: IM BACK! Law school exams nearly killed me but I survived, and am currently writing about a lot of musical things, so stay tuned. Also, we will be launching a huge Bonnaroo feature, a-la last year, very soon. AND ITS OUR 1-YEAR BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK!!! Love all you pals and thanks for reading, you da best. -POM