Aussie CD vendor Siren Disc is listing a special Australian tour single of Punch-Up At A Wedding in their “coming soon” section. There are no details other than a release date of April 19th. We’ve yet to see this listed anywhere else, so we’ll have to consider it a rumour for now.
In addition, Siren Disc is offering the Japanese Com Lag EP as a preorder, as is Amazon Japan (you’ll need to translate the page if you’re not up on your Japanese).
(Thanks to Brian.)
Still no details on the upcoming Radiohead: TV DVD disc, but several sources have informed us that a U.S. release is slated for April 20th, one day after its U.K. release. This is still unconfirmed, but we though we’d pass it on anyway. We’ll keep you posted.
(Thanks to Jonathan, Meg, and Katya.)
Of all the places you’d expect to hear a cover of Paranoid Android performed, the University of Massachusetts’ Alumni Day festivities is probably not high on your list. But not only does it turn out the UMass Marching Band Percussion Pit performed said song at said event, it turns out they did a pretty good job of it.
Go over and have a listen here (4.6 MB download).
(Thanks to Brian and Alex.)
Out of the four Grammy awards they were nominated for, the only win came in the form of Best Engineered (Non-Classical) Album, which went to Nigel Godrich and Darrell Thorp. Nigel lost out to the Neptunes for Producer of the Year, HTTT lost out to The White Stripes’ Elephant for Best Alternative Album, and There There lost out to Warren Zevon and Bruce Springsteen’s “Disorder in the House” for Best Rock Performance By A Duo (or Group) With Vocal.
And, I kid you not, Coldplay’s “Clocks” beat “Hey Ya!” as Song of the Year. Seriously.
The Times has a very interesting article about a Reverend who uses the lyrics and music of Radiohead during his sermons.
An excerpt-
Teenagers and young adults sat on chairs around tables, sipping mineral water and eating jellied sweets, while the church?s worship band played Radiohead hits. There was no liturgy as such but I still felt the urge to confess to never knowingly having listened to a Radiohead song before. The first impression was of a nihilistic, tribal band with subtle undertones of Celtic mysticism. Having been warned by well-meaning friends to expect an Alpha-style assault on my innate Anglo-Catholicism, I was initially surprised to find that there was not much Christianity to be discerned in Radiohead. The second was to hear the evangelical vicar in his sermon ulogising them as biblical prophets for today. ?In the neon sign scrolling up and down I am born again,? we heard. ?In an interstellar burst I am back to save the Universe.?
The Rev Stephen Hance, who arrived at Ascension in 1999 when it was already a gently growing evangelical community, was so impressed with his first Radiohead single that he gave it away to a charity shop. His predecessor was Canon Andrew White, an equally impressive clergyman who is now at Coventry Cathedral and is active in the ministry of reconciliation in the Middle East.
Mr Hance introduced the Radiohead service after he found himself wondering why songs that ?are more likely to have listeners reaching for the Prozac rather than dancing round their handbags? have captured the contemporary mood so effectively. That week the band had received the most nominations for the forthcoming NME awards.
The text of the sermon was: ?Why do we love misery and pain?? The band, being covered here so effectively by the church?s own musicians, led by guitarist Sam Hargreaves, were prophets for today, he argued. Prophets receive messages from God, communicate them to the people. They are ?seers?; they see the future. They are often apocalyptic, envisioning doom. They are social critics, advocating reform. ?Great bands are artists , not politicians,? he said. ?They write songs, not manifestos.?
In keeping with the prophetic tradition, Radiohead wrote impressionistic songs of alienation and powerlessness. ?So are they prophets? It is pretty obvious that they do not see themselves as messengers for God but there are echoes of some of the Old Testament prophets in their work. There is criticism of the rich and powerful, lamentation about injustices in society and pleading for social change.?
You can view the rest at The Times Online (registration required).
(Thanks to Nick.)
The Beta Band (whom you really ought to be listening to) will release their third proper album, Heroes to Zeroes, on May 4th. The self-produced LP was mixed by long-time Radiohead producer/mixer Nigel Godrich.