Green Plastic Radiohead

Here’s another installment of YouTube Friday here at GP.
Our first Radiohead video is a clip of the band performing “Anyone Can Play Guitar” at Reading in 1994.

At one of the recent gigs at Wolverhampton, the band started “Pyramid Song” with Jonny playing his guitar with a bow. Watch and be amazed…

Remember when Radiohead did those cool webcasts where the band would do DJ sets and be silly? Here’s a clip of Ed sampling music…

Here’s another webcast clip of Ed telling the story of the Polar Express:

Pitchfork has a preview of the upcoming Thom Yorke album which you should check out. We’re excited, you’re excited, we’re all excited!
Matthew Solarski reports:
Major break-ups, deaths, and Thom Yorke records– pretty much the only stories Pitchfork News wakes up on a weekend to break. A couple of Saturdays back, we caught wind that Yorke was planning his first-ever foray into, um, solitary territory (“i don’t wanna hear that word solo,” the man wrote in a W.A.S.T.E. e-mail), on a forthcoming album to be titled The Eraser. And now, we’ve had the distinct pleasure of hearing the album in its entirety. The Eraser is a sumptuous, Nigel Godrich-produced layer cake of plaintive piano, haunting synth squalls, and chugging guitars built atop skittish programmed beats and devoured by Thom Yorke’s anguished ruminations on the pressures and paranoias attendant to fame and expectation. And no, it’s not a techno record.
Here’s a track-by-track first glimpse at The Eraser:
1. “the eraser”: The title track opens with a muffled, repeated piano chord. After a few bars and a chord change, programmed beats settle in, and Thom interrupts, “Please excuse me but I got to ask,” scraping the upper register. Soon, a gaggle of disembodied, moaning Thoms joins in for the chorus, which seemingly takes a cue from Morrissey: “The more you try to erase me/ The more that I appear”.
2. “analyse”: Vocal and rolling piano lines launch this meditation on futility. “The fences that you cannot climb/ The sentences that do not rhyme,” Thom laments, sad and clever all at once. And later: “It gets you down/ You’re just playing a part,” one of many presumed jabs at self-identity. The chord progression somewhat recalls an accelerated “Knives Out”, with a hesitant snare plodding along in the background, before Godrich drops in the first of The Eraser’s many cinematic synth flourishes.
3. “the clock”: A cyclical guitar line lends this track an almost motorik vibe, albeit one evoking a leisurely Sunday drive. Click-clack beats add to the pace before the inevitable opening line: “Time is running out/ For us.” By the end, Thom is humming a simple, bluesy melody over the steady but relentless rhythm.
4. “black swan”: Opens with an almost hip-hop beat, before a blues-inspired riff more than a little reminiscent of “I Might Be Wrong” drops in and sets the structure. “This is fucked up, fucked up,” Yorke declares. Later, more identity crises are averted: “I don’t care what the future holds/ ‘Cause I’m right here and I’m today/ With your fingers you can touch me.”
5. “skip divided”: Samples of Thom drawing breaths help form the percussive foundation of this dark stalker-ly declaration. Yorke’s at his most conversational here, almost pub-drunk, revealing, “When you walk in a room I follow you ’round/ Like a dog/ I’m a dog, I’m a dog, I’m a dog/ I’m a lapdog/ I’m your lapdog.” Creepy.
6. “atoms for peace”: Thom returns, all homesick alien, beseeching you: “No more going to the dark side with your flying saucer eyes/ No more falling down a wormhole that I have to pull you out,” and striving for some higher octaves during the chorus: “I wanna geeet ouuut/ And make it woooork.” Celestial tones underscore a warm, bumbling bassline– a relatively minimal arrangement compared to the rest of The Eraser. “So many lies/ So feel the love come off of them/ And take me in your arms,” he sings. Thom’s own “You’re Beautiful”?
7. “and it rained all night”: And it’s back to the Dark Side for The Eraser’s chilliest number, a tune awash in eerie synth and driven by a Joy Division-esque bassline. Thom assumes the role of the poet-observer, surrealistically detailing visions of post-downpour New York, clipped vocal samples later piggybacking the bassline. It culminates in a strained, desperate: “I can see you/ But I can never reach you.”
8. “harrowdown hill”: Don’t get thrown off by the practically post-punk opening bass riff; more haunted synth and programmed beats soon drift in and turn things nocturnal once again. “I’m coming home to make it all right/ So dry your eyes,” sings Thom– one of the most conventional, pop-esque vocal melodies on the record. “I can’t take the pressure/ No one cares if you live or die/ They just want me gone/ They want me gone.” The moment is suspended to make way for some riffing, which closes out the song.
9. “cymbal rush”: We’re greeted here by what sounds like the Pac-Man death sound effect kicked down an octave; then more funereal, ambient synth, along with pitter-patter programmed percussion not unlike that on “Kid A”. “Try to build a wall that is high enough,” sings Thom. “It’s all boiling over.” Finally, the climax: percussion picks up, guitar enters over melancholic piano chords, and more disembodied Thoms float about, moaning– until all drops out for one final blip-bloop parade, which sputters out to an abrupt finish.
Regarding The Eraser, Yorke also wrote “inevitably it is more beats & electronics. but its [sic] songs,” and that pretty much sums it up. The record is song-oriented to a perhaps surprising degree– no instrumentals, all tracks pretty much in the four-minute range, mostly standard time signatures– and emphasizes the trademark textural richness of Radiohead and Godrich.
The Eraser lands in stores July 11 in the U.S. (lucky Brits get it a day earlier) via XL Recordings, but for now, those of you who enjoy being puzzled, hop on over to www.theeraser.net for more (totally cryptic) album details.
(thanks to Stephan)

Tickets for the two Los Angeles shows at the Greek Theatre sold out within one minute of going on sale this morning at 10 AM. We get a tons of email from fans across the US who are understandably upset with how fast the shows have sold out. We’re upset too, though until TicketMaster starts really coming down hard on the scalping industry, there’s not much that can be done. All we can suggest to do is keep your eye on the w.a.s.t.e. ticket site as they periodically release groups of tickets.

The NME, released this week, boasts three pages of features on Radiohead. Most of the information within has been circulating for some time, but the article includes the following sound-bites from Colin and Jonny:
Colin – “These shows have been great. I’ve noticed lots of new fans in the audience, and it’s good to see. I think the whole band are keen to get more new songs out there. Of the UK shows, for me the second night in Blackpool was the best, that one in particular was amazing.”
Jonny – “It’s been really good playing some of the songs off ‘The Bends’, but i feel i’ve played those enough now. I wouldn’t mind if i didn’t play ‘Paranoid Android’ for a while now – maybe save that for the V Festival.”
Colin – “We’re talking about doing some covers too.”
There is also a more extensive interview with Jonny, painfully transcribed below:
NME: “How are the shows going?”
Jonny: “I’m really enjoying it. Playing live again is something I’ve been thinking about for a year and three quarters. I love it.”
NME: “Which shows have been the highlight?”
Jonny: “The second night in Blackpool has been the best and the second Copenhagen show. I’ve no idea why. Quite often we leave the stage and one of the band thinks it’s the best we’ve played, and another hated it.”
NME: “Which songs are going down best?”
Jonny: “The rehearsed ones! Like ‘Bodysnatchers’ and ‘Nude’. The others, we’re still changing arrangements and moving them around.”
NME: “How do you have the time to work on the songs?”
Jonny: “We have very long soundchecks which we use as rehearsals and we try different arrangements. It’s great ‘cos it keeps us excited.”
NME: “Are there any more new songs that you’ve yet to play?”
Jonny: “We’ve done about half of the new songs, so there’s lots more to come. We’re going to tour in America and that’s when we’re going to try out more of the new songs. At the minute we feel like we’re warming up and remembering how to play again.”
NME: “Have you been nervous about being back on the road?”
Jonny: “It’s only taken a short time, already i’m moaning about the fact we’re not doing enough new songs. We’re all feeling like that, so we’re about ready to start ratcheting up and changing the ratio between old and new songs.”
NME: “How do you pick the new songs?”
Jonny: “There’s a point when the new songs begin to sound a bit tired, like they’ve reached their best, so we give them a break. But then there’s really old songs that we bring back and they sound fresh again.”
NME: “Will you do a greatest hits set at V?”
Jonny: “We’ll do the setlist a couple of hours before we play! Not everyone will be singing every word like they are on this tour, so we’ll see which old songs are sounding good on the US tour, and which ones are tired. But we’ve no idea which ones.”
NME: “What’s the plan for going back into the studio?”
Jonny: “We’re going to go back as soon as we get time. Our big headache is always that there’s these amazing songs that Thom’s written that we have to do well enough. Our morale is always at its highest when we feel we’re putting those songs across really well.”
NME: “‘Nude’ has taken 10 years. How did you finally get it right?”
Jonny: “We realised how much of our early songs were quite sparse and we were happy just to let it be bass and drums. So we went back to the beginning of the song. It took us a while, but that’s the pressure we’re under. But it’s a nice kind of pressure.”
NME: “The new songs see a return to guitar-driven rock. Is that a conscious decision?”
Jonny: “I’ve been playing guitars an awful lot. It’s the easiest thing to play when at home. You don’t have the plug it in and it’s always there. I’m actually playing more guitar than i ever have.”
(thanks to Patrick)

Here’s another installment of YouTube Friday here at Green Plastic. This week we have selected some wonderful Radiohead video clips for you to enjoy.
The first one is actually from one of the recent shows in Wolverhampton. Did you know that Jonny can play the keyboard with the head of his guitar? Sure, he’s been doing this for years but for some of you, this may be new….

The next video is from a 1998 Radiohead concert in San Francisco. Witness “The Trickster” live!

Yikes. I cringe every time I see the next one…

Okay, so the next one technically isn’t Radiohead, but it is kind of funny. Thom Yorke (played by Andy Dick) goes on a date to the Fun Center!

And finally, we have a clip of an interview Thom and Jonny did with MTV. Check out Thom’s laugh!

More next week!

Damon Albarn has seemingly got a bee in his bonnet about other artists claiming to be things they are not – and Radiohead are his main target.
The Blur and Gorillaz man has taken a swipe at Thom Yorke and co blasting them for their live shows and their lack of “humanity”.
According to the Sun Albarn said: “Radiohead – I’m not gonna get into anyone, but bands who care about certain things and then go on one-and-a-half-year stadium tours are just total hypocrites.”
“In on sense you’ve got this developing humanist thing that’s coming out of you, which is great. Then you’re creating these massive impersonal events where you set up as the subject of thousands of people’s adoration. Where is the humanity in that? That’s just idolatory.”
Meow!
Albarn then went on to re-voice his already well known distaste for last year’s Live 8 event, particularly the roles of Bob Geldof and Bono.
He raged: “You can’t question Geldof’s passion. But him and Bono – if you’re so interested and care about Africa, think about the people, see them as a neighbour. Be interested in what they are interested in and don’t impose your own ideas. It’s imperious, it really is.”
Meow Meow!
(from Gigwise.