Green Plastic Radiohead

Thom will be on the “Kevin and Bean” morning show tomorrow, June 6th. It airs on 106.7 KROQ in the Los Angeles / Orange County Area.
(thanks to Jordon)

There are some new items for you to consume over at w.a.s.t.e.

WE INVITE YOU…
RADIOHEAD
Album Artwork Exhibition
VIRGIN MEGASTORE OXFORD STREET LONDON
On Friday 6th June at 6pm
To celebrate the release of the eagerly awaited Radiohead album Hail to the Thief, Virgin Megastores are holding an exhibition of the original artwork from the album. ?Eight pieces of artwork each 1.5m2 ?will be exhibited from Friday 6th June at Virgin Megastores, Oxford Street. ?This will also be the first time that the new album will be played in its entirety.
Radiohead?s latest musical feat was largely conceived in 2001, around the birth of lead singer, Thom Yorke?s first child. ?Surrounded by both the idyllic beauty of his rural home and the daily radio reports of the global conflicts, Yorke began to express his thoughts by writing songs. This contemplative alternation between peace, anger and foreboding colours much of the album. ?
The artwork was designed by Stanley Donwood, Stanley took his inspiration from not only discovering what was inside the band heads at that time but also from where they were based when recording the album ? L.A.
Hail to the Thief is Radiohead?s sixth album and is released via Parlophone on June 9th.
For further information please contact
Alice Clary or Thea Gray @ Cake on 020 7471 6655

Here some information about Monday’s Lamacq Live on Radio 1 in the UK:
Next Monday’s Lamacq Live is a Radiohead Special.
Steve will be broadcasting from Radiohead’s very own album launch party. It’s an intimate gathering: for friends, family and Lamacq Live at the home of Radiohead’s bass player Colin Greenwood.
It’s a show totally dedicated to the band and we want you to be part of it. We need you to choose our Radioheadliner – that’s our Headlining Radiohead set.
Vote for your favourite below and we’ll play a selection of the most popular performances on next Monday’s show.
Which live Radiohead set should we play?
Bristol Sound City – 95
Milton Keynes Bowl with REM – 95
Glastonbury – 97
Bercy in Paris
Later Session – 2001
In Session – 92
In Session – 94
In Session – 97
Mark and Lard – Acoustic Session in Verona
(thanks to David)

CMJ has an interview with Phil Selway up for you to enjoy!

RollingStone has given Hail to the Thief four stars in their review:

Radiohead’s Hail To the Thief is a product of its moment: recorded in late 2002, during the American and British governments’ slow, inevitable march to Iraq, of which lead singer Thom Yorke was an outspoken opponent. Hail is filled with images of monstrous, Orwellian force from which there is no escape. On “Sit down. Stand up,” Yorke assumes the voice of Big Brother, giving rote, meaningless orders — “Sit down/Stand up” — over and over. With equal parts whine and sneer, he says, “We can wipe you out anytime.” Radiohead have always been paranoid and pessimistic, but thanks to recent history, people who used to seem paranoid now seem prudent.
Hail begins with “2+2=5,” a brooding indictment of an apathetic public; the title is pulled directly from George Orwell’s 1984. While the world was being ruined, Yorke says, you were at home, allowing yourself to believe the lies. Now it’s too late. In a precious falsetto a boy might use in church, he sings, “It’s the devil’s way now/There is no way out.” But a moment later he’s manic, screaming, “Because you have not been paying attention!” Yorke then meditates on the words paying attention, repeating them until he sounds like he’s shaking with rage as he sings.
Despite the anger and bitterness, Hail to the Thief is more musically inviting than Radiohead’s last two outings. The album’s fourteen tracks — particularly the percussive, mesmerizing “There There” — are more tuneful and song-focused than 2000’s Kid A or 2001’s Amnesiac. Electronic textures still abound amid the guitars and piano — there’s still synth-y sonic schmutz and squiggles that seem like data transmitted from another plane of sound. But there are so many delicious melodies here, so much that’s both soothing and twisted and catchy, so much to sing along with, even if our prognosis is grim.
Consider “Myxomatosis,” definitely the best song ever about a diseased mongrel cat. The feline protagonist has just returned from outside and has possibly had sex, but now he’s confused, and he stammers against a tense heartbeat drum, “I don’t know why I feel so tongue-tied.” Thanks to the funky fuzzed-out guitar, somehow the name of the disgusting five-syllable rabbit disease flows from Yorke’s lips like poetry.
“A Punch-up at a Wedding” is a soulful, melancholy groove anchored by a snarling bass line and Yorke’s efficiency with lyrics. The imagery is so clear that the song becomes a short story. You can hear the family, dysfunctional beyond repair, hurling leftover anger at one another after perhaps the worst moment of their collective life: “You had to piss on our parade/You had to shred our big day.” And yet the beautiful piano chords and Yorke yelling, “It’s a drunken punch-up at a wedding!” make it difficult not to sing along.
Hail’s final song, “A Wolf at the Door,” asserts the impossibility of escaping your demons. “I keep the wolf from the door,” Yorke sings, “But he calls me up/Calls me on the phone/Tells me all the ways that he’s gonna mess me up.” It’s sad, dark, witty and hilarious all at once. Yorke has no answer for the wolf but to try and coo himself to peace. And the rest of us have Radiohead to help us get through.
TOURE
(RS 925, June 26, 2003)