Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool: new album, out now
 

Radiohead's ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool, is now available on iTunes, Google Play and the band's website.

I just downloaded my copy from iTunes moments ago.

Let's talk about this.

Love it.

Yeah, I'm liking it quite a bit.
I've gotta say, it's very strange to have "True Love Waits" on this thing. I mean, it's been 15 years since that song first showed up on an official release, and it was already 6 years old at that point. I've come to think of the I Might be Wong: Live Recordings version as the version, and this vastly different take on the song might take some getting used to for me.

But I still think the version they've put to record here is very engaging.

I'm finding myself loving "Ful Stop," "the Numbers" and "Present tense" right off the bat. As well as the singles.

More to say — lots more — about the album as I continue to digest.

Haven't had a chance. Gonna get it tonight

I thought I wanted "Spectre" to pop up on this record. I figured that since it didn't make the film, maybe it could be repurposed here, perhaps with a slightly less Bond-like arrangement, or a different title. But I'm glad it's not. Bond songs are practically a genre of their own. As great as "Spectre" is, it clearly doesn't line up stylistically with what they're doing here.

Speaking of what they're doing here... I don't really know what to call it. This album definitely isn't a radical departure for them musically, but it's nothing like TKOL. Seems like its closes sonic relative might be Amnesiac, but it also feels fresh somehow.

I wonder how A Moon Shaped Pool will be talked about in the context of the band's musical mini-personalities. If TKOL was krautrock, In Rainbows was "psychedelic," HTTT was frenzied, sprawling creative stew and kid a was minimal electronic non-rock record, etc. then what kind of hat will this album wear? Is it even worth pondering or talking about?

have to give this one a listen for nostalgia's sake. faded out when I was like 15 after their last record which was intermittently their most interesting and then also their worst. would be a much better band if they cut thom yorke out of like 50% of their songs.

I actually agree. He's a great singer, but he is without a doubt the weakest link in the band. My favorite records are kid a and Hail to the Thief, partly because they mix things up with his vocals a bit. Kid a features minimal, distorted, effect-heavy vocals, while Hail to the Thief finds Yorke using his voice in a few more intersting and varied ways ("Punchup at a weeding," "Wolf at the Door," "Myxomatosis.")

I usually prefer spacey experimental rock that focuses primarily on the music, with vocal sections acting more like self-contained interludes within songs. I think Radiohead would benefit from doing more of this kind of thing, letting the songs breathe...

Also... You were 15 in 2011? Damn man. I had no idea you were such a pup. I'm glad that there are some Youngblood SY fans out there though. More than glad... I'm heartened by it. Cheers to you, sir (or, like, boy).

I went to download it on Amazon MP3 using a gift card they billed my debit before I could enter it.. fuck one click I even had that shit turned off!! Fuck them I called those soulless fucks in the Philippines got that shit refunded. I aint finna pay twice for no album even new Radiohead....

So now I got to wait a few days for my refund to process to get the new album because I went full George Costanza on em!

You guys are being ridiculous. Thom York IS radiohead. I mean, I get what you are saying, its why I basically don't listen to Led Zeppelin because I loath the sound of Robert Plant's effeminate wailing.. BUT on the same token if you like Zep you like Plant or you just don't like Zep which I don't like Zep. So if you like radiohead you either like Thom's voice or you really just don't like radiohead and haven't come to terms with it yet

I mean.. pyramid song is epic. but what is it minus Thom?? or Give Up the Ghost?? Or There, There??? or Optimistic???? or shit even The Gloaming ?????

But you have a gift card. You don't have to wait for shit. Just buy it with your gift card now. Why do you have to wait for your credit card to be reimbursed to use your gift card?

And if you had one-click turned off, then it's almost certainly your fault.

But Amazon absolutely sucks.

If you're buying music online, use iTunes. Or if you have some issue with big corporations blah blah, use bandcamp or buy through the band website. Amazon is a terrible company. They pour out sub par software and hardware constantly, but that's all just to distract you from the fact that they are almost exclusively in the business of brand building and dominating as many markets as they can. They don't give a shit about the user experience or the quality of their apps or devices. That's not where they make their money. They make bank from being Fucking EVERYWHERE. They're in the business of omnipresence, and that is all.

I worked for them for a sec. It was really disappointing. They don't give a shit about literature, music, programming, software, customers or anything other than doing MORE of everything. They're goddamn awful.

Not saying eliminate him, but they're not a pop band. They're no reason to have vocals in every part of every song (for the most part). I just think he should do les singing. Not none, just less.

Face it, their music is the backbone. Their vocals are great, but they would do well to push them into the background a bit.

oh I mean I don't necessarily 'like' radiohead, I just have a lot of respect for them as a top-tier pop band predominantly because I had such a strong attachment to them when I was in my early teens and they I suppose in some way sent me way down the rabbit hole. thom yorke sometimes is an excellent vocalist but one of the things that distanced me from the band was that he's so often a bit of an obnoxious element when he has too much of a presence. from memory, though I haven't listened to a record of theirs in like 5 years, he improved markedly on the last record or two, seemed much more democratic and his vocals were employed as an atmospheric accompaniment.

ahahaha yeah I'm 21, although a fuckload of young people are into sy. think it might be a cultural thing in aus as underground punk is still so so big and fertile whereas it's stagnated a bit in other western countries from my experience, and sy mean a lot to the people coming through in these scenes obviously.

Ugh. Predictably, you have missed the point entirely.

And Thom Yorke is not Radiohead. If anyone is Radiohead, it's Phil Selway.

Thom Yorke is a great vocalist, but he is not the best part of Radiohead. Far from it. What he hell's the matter with you? You think the band is a critical favorite and universally respected because of Thom? He has less to do with the compositions than anyone else. What he adds is amazing, and he's FAR more involved in Radiohead than Robert Plant was in Les Zeppelin. But he is not the band. Without Radiohead, Thom is The Eraser and Tomorrow's Modern Boxes. Both fine records, but they've got nothing on Radiohead.

Wake up son.

Cuz my refund is still pending and they normally don't do refunds for MP3s and only did it for me because I hadn't tried to download the files yet... I ain't gonna buy it now and then have bought it twice. I can wait. If I am going to be anal enough to call them ninjaz for the refund I can be anal enough to wait for the record.
Its only half my fault. I had one-clicked turned off. They have some snake ass formatting where you have to turn it off individually for every browser you use. I hadn't turned it off on my home computer so I didn't realize. The error was in that I didn't click on right way to purchase BUT if One Click was turned off like i thought it was then it would never have processed the order which is precisely why i turned one click off!! Those fuckers are snakes. They always hide their phone number and hide the log out so you have to stay logged in so they can track you. fuck that.


Yes but i like their digital service and I loath iTunes even worse so there is that.


Nope. Ain't gonna switch from one corrupted dictatorship and go all in on Fascist empire. Fuck iTunes.



Yes this is exactly what I meant by deceptive formatting on their website and browser.


yes a soulless corporate entity. but like all soulless corporate entities there are certain financial perks to using their services. I use it to to order stuff for people that I otherwise would have to go to postoffice to ship.. and I use Amazon mp3 because the price is right and I don't have to give them a credit card like iTunes and I DESPISE iTunes and everything about it. At least Amazon just sends me MP3 files generally no questions asked no drama. This time it was combination of user error and a fucked up technicality

Moral of story. I won't download the new radiohead until my refund clears, I'm waaaaaay to broke right now even to spend ten bucks if i don't have to. I had a giftcard. That ten bucks can buy some brews or grub for a whole day. If it comes down to brews and grub or buying an album right now the necessities come first even before radiohead

Thom IS radiohead like Kurt was Nirvana. Sure the other guys totally count. But Thom brings all the driving creative energy. He brings the songs. They BUILD on what he brings, but you know damn well Thom is the heart and soul of that band. No shame in it. I been writing instrumental music for 15 years but since i can't write a lyric to save my life all my projects are incomplete. If I had a force of nature like Thom I would have finished a dozen albums by now.. Is what it is.


Actually Thom is a terrible vocalist but like with Sonic Youth or Velvet Underground it is kind of the point!


Again take out Thom's voice from the songs I mentioned. Take out his voice from How To Disappear Completely what do you have?? Thom's emotive wailing and crooning IS radiohead. Simple as that. I LOVE ALL THOSE GUYS and everything they do. I LOVE that Phil is still there on drums even when they are largely an electronic band that could have ditched him. BUT I think all those guys know Thom's voice is HUGE and DEFINING feature of radiohead's music. His LYRICS are indeed why you said radiohead gets you so bummed out sometimes!!!

Bullshit he writes all the original guitar melodies and chord progressions. Then the band builds on it and layers it. Thom was the driving force behind their radical shift in OK Computer. I am not trying to diminish what the rest of band does, but minus Thom radiohead is simply the soundtrack to There Will Be Blood..


Have you not listened to Eraser live? It IS a radiohead record simple as that. The live material from The Eraser is entirely indistinguishable from the material from IN Rainbows and King of Limbs.

I am not disagreeing that Radiohead is a kick ass ambient band. I am saying that Thom's voice is a significant part of that ambience. Yes I know recently i was arguing that their sound is less depressing than their lyrics but I personally feel that Thom's voice is integrally part of that sound.

So.. thoughts on the new record..

Nah, as a musician myself I'm pretty sure he's the least talented member of the band. He's still integral, but I think it's insane to say that he "is" Radiohead. Radiohead functions as a unit. They're like a machine. An incredibly efficient band. Thom is no more than 1/5 of the reason for Radiohead's greatness.

And again, you keep talking as though I'm advocating removing him completely, which I'm not. You keep saying "imagine [song] without Thom" ... But that's not what's being discussed. Imagine if with a little less singing. That's all I'm getting at.

How the hell are you going to buy food with an Amazon gift card? They're working on your refund, and you can't spend that gift card anywhere else, so waiting for the refund makes absolutely no earthly sense, unless I'm missing something. It's not going to result in more money spent. It's just going to use up the Anazon gift card, which if what you want to do! There is exactly zero point in waiting. Do want you want... I don't care... but I'm unnerved by how little sense you seem to be making.

No dick they charged my debit when i wanted to use the gift card. Im waiting to get my cash back. Why would i be trying to refund the gift card when I'm trying to use the gift card? My broke ass is waiting for my refund before i use the gift card on radiohead and possibly not get refund and so have bought it twice.

go home you're drunker than pepper green tonight ;)

In my opinion Radiohead stopped being great after Kid A. I will listen to the new album, but to be honest, I expect it to be as flat as the previous ones.
And I agree that the vocals (delivery and vocal melodies) are a weak link nowdays. It feels bland beyond belief -- there are exceptions ofcourse, for example Life in a Glass House. Becoming more of an instrumental driven band could be a way forward. Just keep a tight vocal part, and explore the instrumental side more, since the musicianship is still there.

I know! I know what happened! But you ARE getting the refund, so I just thought, why not use the gift card? It's not like you can do anything else with it.

Anyway, never goddamn mind.

Refund don't exist until money is in my account. What else i can do is buy another album insteas of getting same album twice. Then i will get the new Radiohead immediately. I acknowledged the Costanza level so Only God can Judge Me yo ;)

I hear you man, I just can't imagine that you're *that* broke. Anyway, hopefully the refund becomes legit today, since it's Monday and banks are in business. Then you can use the gift card ASAP to buy the album so you can talk about it with us.

Speaking of the album, who wants to talk about the album?

Loving "Ful Stop" ... And "Burn the Witch" really works as the album opener. I like it more now. That video creeped me out. The song without the video is thrumming and propulsive.

This is why I don't watch videos. Why did I forget that?

I was working as a sub all year cuz i lost my job last year meanwhile paying cash for grad school. Oh yeah and i don't work over summer cuz finding part-time summer job has been literally impossible so i stopped trying. So yeah. I am indeed THAT broke.

I think this youtube comment will kick off the discussion you've been craving:

Its sooooo gay. lol!

JK. It rulez!


(Hope that helps.)

I'm sorry to hear that. I thought you were teaching full time. I know grad school is expensive as all hell. I don't know how you're covering it with just subbing, but if you've been able to do so thus far, that's impressive. Good for you.

I subbed for a while this year (again) while I was looking for work, after spending the summer renovating a house. The pay was insulting. I made more as a TA in grad school (you know, before I screwed that up). Charter schools are popping up all over, and the public school system is just scraping by, while its teachers go years and years without raises. I'm very lucky to have found the job I now have. Kicks my ass but it pays the bills.

No disrespect intended.

Nope, but it was pretty funny.

Do you seriously have nothing to say about this album?

I didn't feel disrespected at all. I picked up a long term position for final quarter so at least getting some extra money but got to pay past bills before radiohead. Hoping to pick up full time position next September. I was previously worked on emergency cred so i went back to university getting my full cred in three weeks.

As to how i pulled off paying for this shit? Our good Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

With all the pretentious HYPE, I wasn't going to bother with it at all. Then I read a few things that made me somewhat intrigued, most notably:

Alan Sparhawk: "Really moved by the two new Radiohead songs. Admittedly jealous, but mostly inspired."

So I listened to the track, "Burn The Witch," and I was much better off just being intrigued......


Fond Memories Of The 1984 Version

I am liking the album. Only 2 legitimate full listens though where I could truly digest it.

And yes, True Love Waits is a little odd to hear as a "recorded" song now. Not sure how to take it either. Part of me wants to say, "no, this is not right" for some odd reason. Something is just a little...I don't know...offputting about it right now. But yet, it still kicks total ass at the same time.

I would be very interested in seeing some of this live for certain. Especially Ful Stop and Desert Island Disk so far.

"... and thom yorke bangs on a single piano key like a tortured genius" - adam cooley

all i have to say about this band which should have quit in 2002 and deleted half their back catalogue

This has tainted the band for me since OK Computer was released with nearly the fanfare of the second coming. I'm not sure how much to blame the band. They promote, but it's probably writers who take it to the next, absurd level. Anyway, they are a fine band, but the fact that I keep getting told so triggers resistance in me. Haven't listened to an entire album since Amnesiac, even though someday I will and I'm sure I'll find things to like. Just not now.

Kid A gave me intense chill bumps when it first came out. skip Amnesiac to Hail to the Thief which is a good album too.

yeah I like Radiohead sometimes. shit man, even King of Limps was a little intense.

so you know what that means: I'll check this new album when I goddamn please. no rush.

you have this great way of telling the truth with a dash of contradiction to let your opinions slide but count as void. you're perfectly aware of this I know cause you do it with almost every post. it's the most human acceptable thing we do everyday. it's ok. I do it too.

the album will def get less positive reviews by blogging hipsters than the last Bieber or Beyonce album.

they'll say things like: "...and thom yorke bangs on a single piano key like a tortured genius". now, no harm done. that saying was beyond it's time. a trendsetter remark or random comment if you will; back in the day of good ol 2009 but; times have surely changed. 2016!!! it's tight pants and popist cool.

I've been buying Radiohead albums as soon as they come out, and digesting them with equal parts uncertainty and awe since 1995. I can't really understand the general lack of appreciation for Hail to the Thief, but I know what it's like to be in that, "God fucking dammit, another album I'm supposed to think is brilliant for some reason" state of mind.

I think the press is to blame for the over-saturation of Ok Computer. It's almost as if the world failed to notice that REM made the same basic statement with New Adventures in HiFi before OKC was even a thing. I think very little of that album stands the test of time, but that's got a lot to do with everyone insisting that it's "perfect" (it isn't). Yet "Paranoid Android," "Airbag," and possibly most notably "Karma Police" all really do hold up.

Kid a was hyped to high heaven too, and its legacy has suffered because of that hype. Best album of the 2000's? No goddamn way. But it's the bits that don't get a lot of attention that make it special for me... the ambient bits, the jazzy drums on the title track, the horns and other strange arrangements. It's a good album.

Amnesiac was flawed.

Hail to he Thief should have been given the OKC treatment. How can you argue with "Myxomatosis?"

Anyway, I am still processing the new one but it's got a lot of pleasant and likeable stuff on it. Not sure if I prefer it to TKOL from the basement, but I'm only just starting to get the hang of it.

I'm pleased, I'll tell you that. I am happy with this release. New Radiohead and Pj Harvey in the same year is pretty awesome.