Author: Dylan

John Mayer has been performing a cover version of “Kid A” these days, and recently he sat down with MTV to discuss it.

‘Kid A’ is this little funny thing that happened while we were making [2001’s] Room for Squares,” Mayer explained of his Radiohead cover. “John Alagia, who was producing the record, had to go away for the weekend. So myself and Jeff Juliano, the engineer, just started messing around. I tooled up this version of ‘Kid A’ because I love the song, I really do. And within an hour and a half or two hours, it was all done.”

Where Radiohead’s version of the title track from their 2000 album is an amalgam of looped beats and electronic tones, Mayer rendered his take acoustically, demonstrating his versatility and dexterity as a guitar player. Another fundamental difference is that on Mayer’s track, the lyrics can actually be understood.

“The thing about doing covers, for me, is that I don’t really feel like I can cover just any song,” he said. “I can’t particularly sing somebody’s notes clearer or higher or stronger, which is why it was such a cool thing to cover this song. There’s a tune there, but it was almost purposefully obscured, like a robot was singing it. It was one of the few songs I could do something with ? if you’re gonna do a cover, leave the song somewhere different than where you picked it up.”
(Thanks to CUTW.)

Colin Greenwood is to judge a competition to find the best English poets of the next generation.
The band members met when they were all pupils at Abingdon School. Mr Greenwood who lives in Oxford went on to read English at Peterhouse College Cambridge.
He will join Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, poets Simon Armitage and Bernardine Evaristo, and broadcaster James Naughtie in a panel selecting the most exciting poets to have emerged in the past ten years. The New Generation poets will be announced on June 1 by the Poetry Book Society.
(Thanks to At Ease.)

The Victoria and Albert Museum, the UK’s National Museum of Art and Design, have a gallery of photos online with commentary from Colin Greenwood. Check it out here.
(Thanks to At Ease.)

Random Welsh musician David Wrench wanted to cover “Creep” on his new EP. He was told no. He did not take it very kindly, in fact, he posted the following (we’ll leave his grammar intact) on his website-

Due to Radiohead banning the cover of creep, the world war IV ep has been withdrawn. We approached Thom Yorke of the band in manchester to ask why permission was not allowed, but all he did was get angry and started shouting “do you know how hard I work?”, well probably quite hard Mr Yorke, but then again so does everyone else I know, and for a fraction of the pay and satisfaction you get out of work. We genuinely believed that Radiohead would have given permission for use of their song on an anti war ep, but they work far too hard apparently. FAKE PLASTIC POP STARS. If you would like to let Radiohead themselves know what you think, the email address for their management is bryce@cyard.com
If you’re interested, you can go find out more about David Wrench over at his homepage. You can also listen to some of his music. I’d recommend the Radiohead-esque track “Superhorny” (“I’m superhorny/with UK repression/got a stiff upper lip/and a permanent erection” to a CasioTone beat.), but unfortunately I can’t because it’s not very good.
CUTW delightfully adds that if you would like to let David himself know what you think, the email address for his management is info@storm-music.com.
(Thanks to Just Radiohead/CUTW.)

Moby’s planetarium laser-light extravaganza, SonicVision (which features a Radiohead song at the beginning), is beginning to expand outside of NYC, and Chicago’s Windy City Times has a short blurb about it.

Chicago is the first city outside of New York to host the ?groundbreaking digitally animated alternative music show? SonicVision and it is well worth attending. The fastest and most thrilling 38 minutes you may ever spend in a planetarium theater, SonicVision blends extraordinary computer-generated visuals with some of the best in contemporary music (mixed by Moby).

Beginning with music by Radiohead, the roof of the theater appears to open revealing a starry sky and galactic activity. Colorful things float and fly above the viewers? heads to the strains of Audioslave and U2. Giant glow-stick clutching robots dance like circuit party boys. Suddenly, we are transported to a coliseum whose columns dissolve into candles that emit colorful smoke. Giant hands with henna tattoos precede shifting drops of mercury that change shape to the strains of Goldfrapp. Carved stone windows let in light. Masks surround a giant face. Scenes from home movies accompany a David Bowie song and kaleidoscopic images illustrate a song by Coldplay. Laser-etched Spirograph designs are paired up with music by Fischerspooner and Prodigy is the soundtrack for a network of veiny wires. Other striking images include psychedelic concentric circles, giant jacks and a rotunda.

Moby himself provides the music for images of tooth-like stars, which is followed by the sounds of The Flaming Lips, and an ?eye-opening? tune by Zwan.

Think back, way way back, when MTV was cool. Remember seeing cool bands like The Butthole Surfers, Ween, and, ahem, Radiohead, that you’d never hear anywhere else? Remember when they’d run old Speed Racer cartoons at 1am? Remember when they actually played music videos, more than five of them at that? I do, and the downfall of MTV (and SPIN Magazine, which, I kid you not, was really really great like 12 years ago) signifies the absolute and utter destruction of my glorious youth.
Anyway, I’m not alone, because Altmusictv.com has an article detailing these salad days, with a particular focus on a lovely show called 120 Minutes. Former hosts Matt Pinfield and Dave Kendall sat down to talk about their experiences on the show, and Matt mentioned Radiohead’s performance on the show:
Matt Pinfield: “We would sometimes tape literally as early as 7 or 8 in the morning. And you know what was an amazing thing? Radiohead came to record some live songs from The Bends, and they showed up at 9AM, and did “High and Dry” and “Street Spirit.” It was impeccably beautiful. I can’t believe Thom Yorke sounded so amazing at 9 in the morning. It was incredible!”
Q: Speaking of Radiohead, what’s your favorite Radiohead album?
Matt: “The Bends was the greatest record. I remember Thom Yorke almost being in tears when he was presented with The Bends gold record here-we all got ’em. And he walked up to me and Andy (MTV) and Lewis, and said, “I know how much shit you guys got for staying behind us, and I just want to say how much it means to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” And literally, there were almost tears coming out of Thom Yorke’s eyes when he walked out. We looked at each other and said, “That was one of the most amazing fucking moments since we started working here.” Just to see Thom Yorke being so affected by the love that we gave them for The Bends. Then the critics caught on, and hailed OK Computer to be the greatest album of all time. They wrote the band off after “Creep” thinking they were a one-hit-wonder, so they ignored The Bends and lost out on a great record. I love OK Computer, but The Bends is the album.”
(Thanks to CUTW.)