 |
Radiohead
Kid A
label: capitol
released: 10.03.00
our score: 4.5 out of 5.0
buy it: here
|
Everything
In Its Right Place
by:
bill aicher
Three years.
Three agonizing years. Three. That's how long the world waited
- no not waited... hungered... to see just what Radiohead
could do after Ok Computer.
Was it possible to top what many believed to be the perfect rock
album?
It didn't
matter. Radiohead moved on as they would... without regard to
what they had done before. Kid A isn't about outdoing Ok
Computer. Instead making Kid A was is about making
fantastic music. Try to outdo the perfect rock album? Why would
they even bother? Kid A marks the creation of an entire
new genre. It had been building, the genre, for years. Listening
to Ok Computer could give one a glimpse of this distant
star. Kid A was where the spaceship landed.
Electronics
and loops and samples rule this, the fourth studio album from
(former) Brit-pop band Radiohead. If you were expecting Ok
Computer II, you best take a seat.
The guitars
take a back seat until the third track - instead the listener
is greeted with the oddly intriguing, strung out Yorke-voice-sampled
opening track of "Everything in It's Right Place." Unlike
anything ever done before, you soon forget about what came before
Kid A and are drawn in to the electronic tones and thoughts
of "sucking on a lemon." A hard, driving bassline and
a cacophony of horns bring about the rapturous "The National
Anthem" while layers of "ooh-ooh-oohs" visions
of dinosaurs and the clang of (can it be?) guitars harbor the
radio-friendly(?) "Optimistic." The few misfires, most
notably a boring instrumental segue entitled "Treefingers"
are quickly forgiven with their counterparts such as the techno-dance-styled
"Idioteque." (Leave it to Radiohead to create a danceable
track that can f*ck with your head as much as this).
Kid A
was never meant to be a "commercial" album, it was more
of an experiment of self-indulgence that just happens to be musically
ingenious at the same time. The band had always planned on releasing
a follow-up album later - in the spring of 2001 (now due in June
and titled Amnesiac)
to be more accessible to audiences. No singles or videos were
made for Kid A, yet it managed to debut at #1 and was up
for British album of the year and a Grammy for Alternative Rock
Performance of the year.
It just goes
to show that there is still hope for the music world when an album
that requires listening and thought to appreciate can free minds.
And for those
of you who didn't like it because it wasn't Ok Computer II
- take another listen. This time forget about everything you heard
before and come in with no expectations. Chances are it will exceed
any expectations you could have ever imagined - barring any preconceptions.
If you
liked Kid A...
|
