Author: Jonathan

This week has been full of surprises to say the least. We woke up this morning to find that the new Radiohead album, The King of Limbs, was available to download a day early. If you pre-ordered, head on over to www.thekingoflimbs.com to get your copy now. If you haven’t purchased the album yet, get over there now! What are you waiting for?

Here’s the tracklist:

Bloom
Morning Mr Magpie
Little By Little
Feral
Lotus Flower
Codex
Give Up The Ghost
Separator

What does The King of Limbs mean, anyway? According to Wikipedia, the name of the album possibly refers to an oak tree in Wiltshire’s Savernake Forest, thought to be 1,000 years old. The tree is a pollarded oak, referring to an ancient technique for harvesting timber for fencing and firewood. Though it does not feature on maps, the tree is said to be 3 miles (4.8 km) from Tottenham Court House, where Radiohead recorded part of their previous album In Rainbows.

We were also thrilled to see that a video was posted for “Lotus Flower” this morning. It was produced and directed by Garth Jennings. Check it:

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts about the album in the comments. Enjoy!

Tags Lotus Flower, The King of Limbs, video

Radiohead The King of Limbs

Strange tweet from Radiohead – What does it mean?

Post author By Jonathan
Post date February 17, 2011
35 Comments on Strange tweet from Radiohead – What does it mean?

Let the craziness continue. A strange message written in Japanese was posted to Radiohead’s twitter earlier this morning. The screenshot above translates to ‘Hachiko Square Shibuya, Friday 18:59.’ Your guess is as good as ours about what this means.

What we do know is that Hachiko Square is in Tokyo and is named after a loyal dog said to have met his master faithfully every night at a certain hour even after his master died. It is also considered one of the busiest and most hectic pedestrian crossings in the world. If you saw Lost in Translation, you may remember the scene where Bill Murray and Scarlet Johanssen walked through it.

So, what does Radiohead plan to do? Is it a concert? Webcast? Are they planning on doing something with all the video screens in the square? Speculate away in the comments…

Tags Hachiko Square, Japan, The King of Limbs, Tokyo, Twitter

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Radiohead manager explains album release strategy

Post author By Jonathan
Post date February 15, 2011
6 Comments on Radiohead manager explains album release strategy

Radiohead co-manager Chris Hufford has outlined the reasons for Radiohead’s surprise move to release their forthcoming album online with only a few days notice, in an exclusive interview with Music Week.

Hufford, one of the founders of Courtyard Management, said that the move to make Radiohead’s eighth studio album The King Of Limbs available to download on Saturday February 19 via bespoke website thekingoflimbs.com, more than a month before a physical release via XL Recordings, is a “logical progression” from the release strategy behind previous album In Rainbows.

He explained that Courtyard and the band learned what aspects of the In Rainbows release worked and what aspects did not during the campaign. The decision was made not to take an ‘honesty box’ approach with The King Of Limbs, as they had with In Rainbows.

Following The King Of Limbs‘ release on CD, vinyl and download via XL on March 28, the album will be available in a multi-format deluxe set, described as a “newspaper album” via thekingoflimbs.com on May 9.

Hufford explains that the set, which includes two ten-inch records, a CD, artwork and a download, will be housed in a package designed as a newspaper.

From the £6 price tag of the MP3 release to the move to initially bypass traditional retail routes, Hufford said every decision made has been done with Radiohead’s fans in mind.

“Our allegiances are to the band. We manage Radiohead, we don’t manage retail or labels, we just manage the band and are just trying to do the best possible thing to allow another brilliant record to be embraced by the fanbase,” said Hufford.

For the full interview see Music Week magazine this Monday.

(from Music Week)

Tags Chris Hufford, In Rainbows, The King of Limbs

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Jonny Greenwood to score new movie

Post author By Jonathan
Post date February 15, 2011
12 Comments on Jonny Greenwood to score new movie

It may not be the week’s biggest bit of Radiohead news, but the band’s Jonny Greenwood has been announced as the composer for a new film starring Tilda Swinton. Greenwood will score We Need to Talk About Kevin, the third feature by Scottish director Lynne Ramsay.

This is not Greenwood’s first time writing music for the big screen. His debut soundtrack, for Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, won an Ivor Novello award. This was a minimalist work featuring tense, dissonant strings and tribal drumming. Greenwood also scored a Japanese adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, which is due for release in the UK on 11 March.

We Need to Talk About Kevin is based on a novel by Lionel Shriver. It follows the story of a mother, played by Swinton, and her troubled son, who goes on a murderous rampage at his school. Ramsay, who made the acclaimed films Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar, has assembled a cast including John C Reilly and newcomer Ezra Miller. The film is in postproduction, according to the Hollywood Reporter, with a release planned for 2 September.

Ramsay has already demonstrated her good taste in film music by having Rachel Portman score Ratcatcher, and featuring songs by Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin and Broadcast in Morvern Callar. This is her first collaboration with Greenwood.

Radiohead announced yesterday that their eighth LP, The King of Limbs, will be released on Saturday.

(from the Guardian)

Tags Jonny Greenwood, Norwegian Wood, score, soundtrack, There Will Be Blood, We Need to Talk About Kevin