Thom wrote on DAS this week about his part in the upcoming film, The Age of Stupid. He writes:
hi
there is a film that is getting a lot of attention call Aged of Stupid. i’ve seen it and it stays with you-
especially in light of the Copenhagen summit coming up in December where our glorious leaders must decide how we structure our plans to tackle climate change.
The global premier of it will happen on the 21st of september or 22nd depending on your time zone.
There are cinemas participating in over 50 countries – If you want to be part of it, you can buy a ticket for the one nearest to you by going to the age of stupid website
After the screening, there will be live discussion thing via global satellite link up and after that I will be playing Reckoner live from an undisclosed location. (!)
Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien will give a keynote address at the digital music business conference MidemNet in Cannes on Jan. 23.
O’Brien, who is a director on the board of the Featured Artists Coalition (Billboard, April 4), will describe the initiatives Radiohead has taken on the Web and discuss the opportunities for the artist to fan relationship in the digital era.
Michael Gudinski, founder and chairman of the Australian Mushroom Group of Companies, has also signed up to the main MIDEM international music conference and trade fair. He will deliver a keynote within the International Indie Summit on Jan. 26 – the official national day of Australia.
Gudinski is a promoter, publisher, producer and label boss, and one of the best-known executives in the Australian music industry. He entered the business in 1972 with the creation of Mushroom Records, the largest independent in Australia. He signed artists including pop act Kylie Minogue, one of Australia’s biggest music stars and a successful pop export.
Gudinski built Mushroom into a music group and created the Frontier Touring Company in 1979, which has become the leading tour promoter in Australasia, working with acts including Justin Timberlake, Garbage and Aerosmith.
He has been the recipient of many awards and won the prestigious JC Williamson Award, the Australian live entertainment sector’s most coveted trophy, this summer.
The 44th edition of MIDEM will be held from Jan. 24 to 27.
The following is a review of the recent European tour by Vincent Cornelli, a photographer in New York City, who attended every one of the shows. He graciously offered to write up a review of the whole tour, as well as take photos for us. Make sure to see all the photos after the jump.
In my opinion, there’s no better way to see the world than to hit up destination festivals and tours. It fosters the best of encounters, friendships, and ultimately, sonic experiences…especially when it comes to a band like Radiohead. I recently returned from a trip to Europe following Radiohead’s five show mini-tour.
On August 19th, I set out on my mission. First stop, Austria’s Frequency Festival.
For many of us, Radiohead is a band that continues to remain relevant in our lives. For me, it started when The Bends surfaced. Upon it’s release, I was not the biggest fan of Pablo Honey…not to fault the album, but at that point in my life I was counter to anything mainstream. So, from the days of The Bends to present, Radiohead continues to create amazing music by pulling from older influences of styles, percussions, etc, and fusing it with their iconic sound and direction. Their lyrics, ideologies, and actions tend to strike a chord that allows us to look past the current pretenses we’re spoon fed, and they continue to suggest that we look forward.
But, the greatest part of it all is that I am not alone here.
Radiohead’s live experience means something. One thing in common at all of the Radiohead shows I’ve attended is that incredible people permeate, and share this same view. In the nine countries I’ve ever traveled to see this band, I am always surprised to come back to the same conclusion – I am not alone. This tour has again proved exactly that – I have met individuals who traveled from six of our seven continents to bare witness to this five show stint. Call me a hippie, but this tour is proof positive that the dream is alive.
For many reasons, I would have to say that Poznan, Poland proved to be their best show of 2009.
Thom wrote on DAS today confirming the rumor that two new tracks will be available to download soon. The rumor had been that September 22 was the release date, but it appears that the 21st is the correct one. Also, Thom makes no mention of either track being associated with the Twilight sequel New Moon. Take it away, Thom:
Dear Sir or Madam
This is to inform you of the release of two more bits of work shortly.
They are loosely under the Thom Yorke name this time, although these days its all getting kind of blurry. FeelingPulledApartbyHorses is written & played by Jonny and I and is a radical rework of an old tune thats been kicking around without a home since 2001? i think. The Hollow Earth is a bass menace that was born out of the Eraser period but needed a little more time.
Both were produced by Nigel Godrich as ever. And mastered by Bob Ludwig.
They are being put out on 12″ with sliced sleeve by Stanley and Tchock.
My sources tell me this will be available from the 21st of September if you’re interested.. On sale in the w.a.s.t.e part of our website (with a gratis download.)
Or you can go buy it in a good record shop if you are lucky enough to have one near you.
Then later on there will be like a normal download thing i think around the 6th of Oct through the usual channels.
And so it goes. all the best
Thom
In addition to this, Thom will performing at the Age of Stupid event on September 21. From Paste Magazine:
The U.S. premiere of director Franny Armstrong’s eco docudrama, The Age of Stupid, will be bolstered by a unique worldwide, in-theater event on Sept. 21, including live satellite coverage of field scientists across the globe, spanning from New York, to the Himalayas and all the way to a remote, Indonesian rain forest.
The Age of Stupid LIVE from New York is hitting 444 movie theaters nationwide and begins with a viewing of the film, a dramatization that forecasts the state of life on Earth decades into the future, where warnings of climate change were ignored over the years. The story is told through a global archivist in 2055, played by Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite (Usual Suspects).
A panel discussion will follow the showing, and will feature an interesting mix of world-renown scientists, political figures and celebrities, including former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and The X-Files’ Gillian Anderson. The event will wrap up with a performance by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, who will be playing an acoustic version of the film’s title track.
The evening’s most resourceful festivity will be a live, green-carpet procession in New York’s Winter Garden, where guests will breeze in via bicycle, solar car, rickshaw, sailboats (!?) and other green means of transportation.
The Age of Stupid LIVE from New York is presented by NCM Fathom and Spanner Films in high definition. It debuts Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. Tickets are available at participating theaters and online at FathomEvents.com.
Because of the same date, it’s easier for us to think that “Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses” and “The Hollowed Earth” have nothing to do with New Moon, and everything to do with Age of Stupid. What do you think?
First Radiohead provided fans with two brand new songs, and now it appears frontman Thom Yorke is on the verge of doing the same: According to Canadian entertainment site Exclaim, Yorke will release a new 12?’ single carrying two new tracks, “The Hollow Earth” and “Apart By Horses” on September 22nd. As Rock Daily previously reported, Yorke recorded a song for the upcoming Twilight sequel New Moon, and judging by the timing of the single’s release, it’s fair to assume that one or possibly both of the songs are Yorke’s contribution to the film. The soundtrack’s first single, Death Cab for Cutie’s “Meet Me on the Equinox,” will debut September 13th, and the film itself hits theaters October 20th.
Sources at pressing plant Sonic Unyon, who are reportedly preparing the single, told Exclaim that the single has “really awesome packaging and artwork,” and that only a limited number of vinyl — probably less than 10,000 copies — will be made. The label handling the release is TBD Records, the company Radiohead created in a partnership with ATO for the physical release of In Rainbows. As Rock Daily previously reported, after a period of new material dormancy since the 2007 release of In Rainbows, the past month has seen Radiohead suddenly and secretly release a pair of new tracks, “Harry Patch (In Memory Of)” and “These Are My Twisted Words.”
While there’s not much information regarding “The Hollow Earth” — though the title conjures up some of the lyrical imagery in Yorke’s other recent new solo song reportedly titled “The Present Tense” — “Apart By Horses” does have some Radiohead history. Back before In Rainbows “Reckoner” was In Rainbows‘ “Reckoner,” a song bearing that name with the parenthetical title “Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses” was performed a few times at Radiohead concerts. As opposed to the melodic centerpiece that surprised fans when it appeared on In Rainbows, that original “Reckoner” was one of the more harder-edged, guitar-driven songs in Radiohead’s recent output.
Radiohead have often resurrected fan favorite live songs for eventual release—In Rainbows‘ “Nude” and IR bonus track “Last Flowers” date back to the OK Computer days—so it’s possible Yorke might be bringing back the original “Reckoner,” which he last performed solo at a Trade Justice Movement rally in 2005. (Rock Daily covered the tale of the two “Reckoner” in the preview and live blog of In Rainbows.)
Photo by Maggiebear. For more, head to our message board.
Radiohead performed their first show last night of the new tour, and their first ever show in Austria. The setlist contained a good selection of songs from all albums except Pablo Honey, including a rare “(Nice Dream)” performance. As expected, the band played “These Are My Twisted Words” live for the first time and it was described as “amazing.”
Here’s the setlist:
1. 15 Step
2. There There
3. Airbag
4. All I Need
5. Kid A
6. The National Anthem
7. Nude
8. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
9. The Gloaming
10. Myxomatosis
11. Climbing Up The Walls
12. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
13. Videotape
14. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
15. Karma Police
16. Bodysnatchers
17. Idioteque
Encore:
18. These Are My Twisted Words
19. Pyramid Song
20. Reckoner
21. (Nice Dream)
22. Paranoid Android
Encore 2:
23. Everything In Its Right Place
If you went to the show, make sure to leave a review in our gigography!
Radiohead continue the tour tomorrow night in Prague.
From 
