In their singles review section, Pitchfork Media reviewed the two new Radiohead songs played at the recent Trade Justice Rally, giving them three stars. Sort of.
When Yorke leaked a few weeks ago, Mark Richardson joked he didn’t see why anyone would actually want to hear the song for the first time– or any song– in such a compromised state: Live bootleg recording, sub-128kbps rip, mostly unintelligible and probably not how the artist would want the song to be experienced initially anyway. This is no-good voyeurism, mum caught kissing Clause for what– double-presents and heard-it-first cred?
We’re data whores simply because we can be– that’s one reason– a respectable downloader possessing at least three or four gigs of music on the FireWire he’s still probably not listened to (but he keeps queueing up more). Here comes the old horse: “Hear it first” trumps “hear it best” trumps “maybe sorta have a relationship with a song like you did when three CDs and a few cassingles were all you had.”
That’s too much, but seriously, why did I download these songs (from longtime Radiohead site ateaseweb.com) again? The crowd in attendance– talking throughout both songs, probably about how the person making this bootleg had headgear or looked like the Napster cat– surely must have access to some Truman Show-type booth where they watch us squirm for mindfucks. The songs are awesome, I think.