Idolator
Sorry Internet, we woke up late this morning, but here's Idolator's official insta-review of In Rainbows: Track one sounds like FutureMope/ZoloftSounds. Track two sounds like Neu! with Revolver-era Geo. Harrison sitar-guitar overtop. Track nine sounds like "Hotel California." Thom's singing is surprisingly light and (gulp!) soulful in places. There are fat beats ("Weird Fishes/Arpeggi") and pretty strings ("Faust Arp") and weird sound effects (everywhere). You know, it's a Radiohead record. It's pretty good Radiohead record! Won't convince the out-and-out haters, but those who've been napping because of the hype might want to nab it for free now. (I'm sure it's been floating around on the blogs as a Rapidshare file since about 3 a.m. ET.) And now that we've covered the musical angle in less than 200 words, we can get back to talking about what it all "means."
'leak' of the day
Comments
Wait, there's a new Radiohead record out today? Better get myself to Wal-Mart ASAP!!!
it's a nice listen and all, but i doubt i'll have any desire to hear it again once a few days pass. GOOD THING I GOT IT FOR FREE.
it seems that the Rapidshare, et al. links are being pulled down rather fast though
Why would you ever get it from Rapidshare? I just don't understand people. Just get it from the band themselves. At least they can know how many people did it. I desperately want this experiment to work. I feel like what they are doing--making their music available to everybody with a computer--is so empowering. The average band can give their stuff away for free, but nobody would care. To have a big band do it: well, that's something. And I take no small amount of delight in the subversion of the traditional promo CD philosophy, and not just for the astounding environmental implications.
I'll tell you what it means.
PREH-SHURE!
@Lucas Jensen:
I got mine off rapidshare because the actual download from Radiohead was stuck. Damn their fans!
If the process of getting the album on the first day was anything, it was technically flawed because of what an immense undertaking it was to get deliver that many copies from 10 servers (10 years, released on 10th with 10 days notice on 10 servers etc.).
I listened to it all night long and didnt get to bed until 4am.
@zackbowman: As I stated in my earlier comment, my download took a whopping thirty seconds.
I was amazed.
It's very good. Like it a lot.
I really enjoyed it from start to finish.
@Lucas Jensen: You and me both.
And yes, it's really good.
It's already up on eBay:
[cgi.ebay.com]
Where did this "10 servers" business come from? I can't find any references to it anywhere other than the lone blog post you quoted from today.
Does just making something up totally out of thin air now qualify it to be "rumored as?"
(that comment was re: Loudersoft, btw)
As their server(s) are a smoking ruin, I'll get this from a (dis)reputable source (when I'm not using a work computer) and then pop along in a few days to 'make a direct donation' to the band when they get back up and running.
Maybe I should chip in a bit more to 'pay' for the copy of 'Hail to the Thief' that I also downloaded (lousy stinkin' DRM)
Honestly as much as I love Radiohead (I did buy the diskbox for christ's sake) I don't see how this, or NIN giving their albums away on the net is going to change anything. You're still going to have record labels because crap bands like Nickelback, and Avril are still going to go by the old model because they want to be super rich, and they want that "safety" of a major label. This is a cool thing to do, and cheers to Radiohead for doing it, but this isn't going to change anything as long as we still have "musicians" who buy into the "we need a label to put out our music and tell us what to do" method of being a rock star.
@Catbirdseat: just another conspiracy theory. A well founded one though.
is anybody going to tell me WHY this is good? "track 3 has keyboards". "thom sounds - yes - funky!" "very good indeed". "radiohead". none of it makes me any less baffled.
@bruzie: A smoking ruin? I bought it again today no problem. Took me 5 minutes.
I really like the songs, and as an electronic music nerd it's fun to play 'spot the Ondines Martinot' and 'Spot the Max Patch.'
One thing I must say about it: I won't feel like I've really heard it until I get the box and listen to the vinyl and/or CD. 160kbps MP3 files kinda blow; I encode everything I listen to at 320kbps VBR, which sounds so close to the uncompressed original that I doubt anyone could pick out the MP3s in a blind test.
It sounds like listening to FM radio on cheap boombox. Doesn't obscure the good things about the songs, but it's fatiguing to try and hear everything that's going on behind the cloud of encoding grunge. I'm tempted to run it through a BBE Exciter and re-encode it.
@Lucas Jensen: Well, when I tried jumping on a couple of hours ago, the site didn't come up immediately so I thought there's no point in trying to make an internet purchase on an unreliable server.
I couldn't wait any longer and ended up downloading it from the bay in 10min. It's a good album. :)
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