Radiohead - The King of Limbs
BY BURAK ŞAHİN (IR/III)
burak_s@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
As I said before, this year will be productive and satisfactory for real music listeners. Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Strokes are some of the successful bands that are recording albums right now. The fans of these impressive bands are growing impatient to hear new tracks, but among these legendary bands, one of the "big guns" has just presented their new album, The King of Limbs by Radiohead.
Since their 7th album, , was released in 2007 and Thom Yorke released some solo works , Radiohead has released the first single from the new album, "Lotus Flower." They decided to let their fans download the album 5 days before the actual release date of it. We quickly paid £6 to hear their most recent music. To tell the truth, it was totally worth it.
Their career started as an alternative rock band in the early years, but day-by-day, Radiohead refreshed and tried new things. Over the years, they turned toward electronic music. With the OK Computer album, they showed their influences from electronic usic, especially DJ Shadow. Now, OK Computer is considered as one of best albums of last 25 years. Radiohead proved their ability with one of their masterpieces, , and their new album is a kind of continuity, but it is still fresh.
The first single, "Lotus Flower," explains the album's theme very clearly. You lose yourself in the senses and rhythm of the song. In its video clip, Thom Yorke shows the magic of the song and how he loses himself by dancing. The clip made a sensation due to Yorke's dance. It also unfortunately involved Turkish "apaçi," but it can be easily seen that the dance came spontaneously. He did whatever he wanted to do as always.
There are 8 songs on album, and they are all totally successful. You will want to listen and listen again to each of the tracks. The only criticism of the album is small number of the songs. Speculations about the album are already aroused. The King of Limbs is considered an LP by most magazines and websites. It is said that this is the first part of Radiohead's new project. This idea is indicated with the lyrics of the album's last song, "Separator." "I fell open/ I laid under/ At the tip out/ I was just a number/ I wanna slip it over/ And get back under/ And if you think is over then/ You're wrong." I believe that these lyrics are telling us that his song is a transition between The King of Limbs and their forthcoming album. I hope that this is true, and we will hear some more of their glorious work soon.
Key Songs: "Lotus Flower," "Little by Little," "Codex"