Radiohead
Kid A
»
Radiohead
Kid A
Capitol, 2000
RiYL: Aphex Twin, Autechre, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, My Bloody Valentine |
In the three years between OK and the release of Kid A, the members of Radiohead felt the mounting pressure of such praise and struggled to produce a record that could follow their masterpiece without drawing unfavorable comparisons or straying too close to any of their past work. With the melancholy, post-apocalyptic Kid A, Radiohead have done as good a job as anyone could expect, creatively visiting new territory, but not sacrificing emotional depth or stylistic proficiency. The future of rock, however, this may not be. It's hardly "rock" at all.
Kid A's music is more of an electric-emo hybrid. A couple songs are structured after rock patterns, but they're more Moby than Moby Grape. Radiohead haven't yet morphed into a full-scale electronic band, but if OK Computer was, as one critic mused, "a techno album made with rock instruments," Kid A takes that one step further by removing the rock instruments. The album's songs, for the most part, are more concerned with rhythm than melody, and only three of the album's 10 tracks feature recognizable guitar.
But full of surprises as Kid A is, it is unmistakably a Radiohead album. And as musically far away as it is from OK Computer, the record is actually a logical progression. Much was made last time around of Radiohead's obsession with technology and its potentially dangerous effects on the well-being of the human race.
Kid A is similarly marked, with desolate soundscapes pulsing to life in songs like the title track, where jittery drum rhythms dance across a lonely organ melody. Thom Yorke's filtered vocals groan through a Stephen Hawking-style voice box, like a narrator suffocating under a pillow. There's been some talk that "Kid A" represents the first cloned human being, and that the album loosely describes his/her adventures in the post-modern world. While nothing on the disc leaps out to confirm this, its intense atmospheres certainly conjure images of lonely characters navigating a torn, empty world.
The title of album opener "Everything In Its Right Place" proves immediate food for thought. Indeed, as Yorke's sliced mutterings gather steam in the mix over a warm, vintage keyboard melody, it's clear that nothing is in its right place. To this Yorke marries lyrics that bely the ghastly accompaniment below: "yesterday I woke up sucking on lemon" and "There are two colors in my head."
Elsewhere, on the nervously brilliant "Idioteque," scenes from the apocalypse become clearer as Yorke's vocals become more distinct. Over a sterile, polyrhythmic track, Yorke chants clipped phrases: "Who's in the bunker, who's in the bunker? / Women and children first," "I've seen too much / I haven't seen it all / you haven't seen it," "Ice age comin', Ice age comin' / Let me hear both sides." Aphex Twin comes to mind as the unsettling beats are augmented by a multitude of strange, choppy noises.
"The National Anthem" is the most rock-inspired track on the album, at least boasting one of the most rock-sounding rhythm tracks: an uptempo Phil Selway beat backs a raunchy, insistent bass groove. For the first two and a half minutes, swashes of distortion and spacey noise provide texture, but the song is soon invaded by a manic horn section which propels it to a chaotic end.
"How To Disappear Completely" floats in on the album's lone acoustic guitar progression, as sharp strings slice through the echo-heavy atmosphere. Yorke gives a classic performance of comfortable alienation, with one of his most haunting melodies ever. "I'm not here / this isn't happening," he croons, and you almost believe him.
Perhaps that song's companion, the spooky "In Limbo" features similarly isolated lyrics: "Trapdoors lay open / I spiral down ... I'm lost at sea / don't bother me / you're livin' in a fantasy." A hypnotic guitar riff sets off rippling echoes that encircle the song, eventually sending it into a self-destructive loop at the three-minute mark.
There's little comfort in the actual music of Kid A, but it's reassuring that one of this era's most inventive bands can work so well under pressure. Kid A may not even go down as Radiohead's best album (we're all hoping the best is yet to come, with the band planning to return to the studio in December and release more music next year), but it is certainly one of the freshest sounds of 2000, and yet another bold step forward in this band's amazing career.
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.