Arpeggi

Seriously, what was life like before YouTube? I can’t even remember.
Pitchfork has a review of “Arpeggi” from as performed in Copenhagen which you should check out. Check out the video above too…
If you’re waiting for these guys to finally fuck-up something royal, keep waiting. They’re unbacklashable, especially when radiating loving nightmares like this for the salivating masses selling toes for tickets on eBay. Originally debuted last year by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and the Nazareth Orchestra (and ‘forked here), this new full-band version of what is sure to be a highlight from their upcoming seventh album demonstrates how these five fellows can completely recast a song while preserving its crucial core. With the orchestra, “Arpeggi” was a hushed, daedal ordeal; Greenwood plinking a cyclical electric keyboard line while the precise strings sifted through myriad peaks and plummets, never overtaking an astounding Yorke vocal. Now, things are less “Motion Picture Soundtrack” and more “There There”, with swift drums sweeping past Yorke’s willowing lead and Greenwood’s refrain, resurrected as a wet guitar fog.
The new version is pure Radiohead forward-jangle, from the dire, watery themes– which recall “Pyramid Song” and “In Limbo”, among others– to Ed O’Brien’s back-up vocals, which once again prove to be the band’s most consistent secret weapon. A far crackle from the electro-shock riffage of yore, “Arpeggi” relies on a rumbling subtlety to build. Just as the song seems to be heading full-tilt toward a triumphant skinny-spastic Greenwood solo, it disperses into an extended outro with Yorke longing for “escape.” Thankfully, there is none. [Ryan Dombal]
(thanks to Stephan)