Kid A - Radiohead

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The song Kid A (track 2) conjures up wierd images of a baby computer taking its first steps- its proud computer mother looking on with a keyboard shaped as a smile. Totally frightening as this in the current climate seems not so ridiculous as once it would have . And then Wow- track number three "The National Anthem" with one of the most thunderous bass riffs of all time playing over and over again as though it were a metaphor ...
...I just dont see how Kid A is any different.
Actually yes i do and it is a sentiment that has created a schism between all music loving people.

The war between electronic beat, and guitar

One would have to agree that most musically orientated people feel strongly about one of these sides and viciously slates the other. It is therefore this overlap that frightened people into spitting at this album. All those ... more

What an astonishinly dark and depressing album this is. If ever there needed to be a post-modern apocalyptic sound track to "Dante's inferno" this would be it. It's wierdly beautiful beginning "Everything in its right place" dripping with black irony which has the consistancy of tarmac. Then comes the line "I woke up sucking on a lemon" -

yes Thom- you certainly did.

The song Kid A (track 2) conjures up wierd images of a baby computer taking its first steps- its proud computer mother looking on with a keyboard shaped as a smile. Totally frightening as this in the current climate seems not so ridiculous as once it would have . And then Wow- track number three "The National Anthem" with one of the most thunderous bass riffs of all time playing over and over again as though it were a metaphor for the downward spiral that is in Yorke's eyes, humanity. Behind this riff is chaos- trumpets randomly blowing- people/ instruments squealing(Jonny "the prehistoric bird" Greenwood no doubt having Radiohead's equivalent of "a laugh" with his armoury of instruments) By the end of the song the main riff is like a handle bar of a very fast ride in hell- Burning your hands but saving you from falling into the flames.

Then a "calming" break- "How to dissapear completely" features the first thing that resembles a guitar. A beautiful acoustic piece that Yorke cries to- it is (if you choose it to be) a self depricating and perpective changing "out of body" experience forcing you to picture yourself from someone elses point of view- "That there/thats not me". It is enshrowded once again by effects- indeed the whole song is "bent" at the end- everything is put out of tune as though it were being slowed down in black sludge- then suddenly this beautiful and hopeful note of Yorke's voice just rings out and fills you with an awe inspiring feeling of warmth as it breaks free from the chaos! Take your pick for metaphysical and metaphorical interpretation. But this is a good example of Radiohead's use of juxtapostion of horrible with beautiful- one feels so battered at the musical offenses being commited against one's ears and then suddenly a heartbreakingly beautiful section comes along which seems all the more wonderful because you have had to suffer for it.

"Treefingers" is a musical interlude that, for me, would be played in a "Brave new worldian" dystopia full of mentally conditioned people walking around with disturbing false smiles on ther faces. There is only one break to the tranquility- a single minor note which mortifies. A renegade Alpha plus male perhaps trying desperately to rebel hacks into the computer generating this noise- switches the button "Creepy minor chord" and is immediately shot for doing so.

Then AT LAST! A GUITAR RIFF! "Optimistic" is what all the rock fans have been waiting for! Hope, reverence, symetry and at last theology. It still has apocalyptic undertones "This ones optimistic/ this one went to market" but all one can do is overlook these! At last something to cling on to- "You can try the best you can/ You can try the best you can/ the best you can is good enough" What?! Thom Yorke being straightford and encouraging?- you mean life isnt pointless? THANK YOU THOM THANK YOU SO MUCH!.

"In Limbo" is also a favourite of mine- it is to be listened to when you are about to do something for the first time. Perhaps at the beginning of a voyage- amongst the hustle and bustle of preparation- the camera trains itself on a lone figue who is incongruously still amidst the energy- a figure who is clearly having second thoughts about the way he is leading his life. At the end of the song he would "give up" and join in- accepting that fortuna has become his sail.

"Idioteque" is the central masterpiece of the Album and the artwork on the front of the CD goes hand in hand with it. It depicts a vision of the end of the world- an Ice age- blackness, coarseness, jarring and jagged. "ICE AGE COMING" Yorke Wails as the backwards electronic beat pounds its way through the whole piece. "I Laughed until my head comes off" reflecting Thom's view that no one is really taking any notice of what is happening in this world. Spookily- the head fell off a year after the album was released on 9/11.

Coming back down from the global- Yorke becomes very personal in the following song- "Morning Bell". "Cut the Kids in half" is clearly aboutly divorce. It has a tribal drum beat which shakes you up and down. Visions of a lonely and twisted man walking with a purpose towards the edge of a cliff face are cunjured here "I wanted to tell you but you wouldnt listen/ keep on walking walking walking"

Then the album comes to an end with a massively depressing Yorkian rant- It is beautiful and called "Motion picture soundtrack" Yorke is basically saying here that this album is what he thinks of the world and this last song is how very depressed we should all be about it!

Many people got really angry with Thom Yorke when this album came out- people who bought "Ok Computer" and "the Bends" almost seemed horrified that a "rock band" could blasphemously retreat into a world of electronic sounds and wierd effects. However- what on earth did they expect? Radiohead have never produced two albums that sound alike- how could the first three be called anything but a development- from raw, energetic rock to the refined, detailed sound of OK. The retreat into this dark apocalyptic world that is "Kid A" seems now with hindsight to be the only logical step.
If anything- this sudden progression is a tribute to what this astonishing set of musicians stands for- namely the constant pushing of boundaries in order to discover new and exciting ways of conveying thier philosophy to the rest of the world.
It would be slightly silly to condem this album for being alienating and difficult because this is what Radiohead is and have always stood for- I am surprised that fans of the earlier albums should so violently damn this one- Ok computer has to be worked at in order to be savoured- it is an exercise in faith and persistance and in the opening up of the mind. I just dont see how Kid A is any different.
Actually yes i do and it is a sentiment that has created a schism between all music loving people.

The war between electronic beat, and guitar

One would have to agree that most musically orientated people feel strongly about one of these sides and viciously slates the other. It is therefore this overlap that frightened people into spitting at this album. All those guitar Riff fans considered the use of computer generated sounds "too much like Garage" and therefore as belonging to the "dark side"- the side of Ali G and the "confederacy of dunces". What was more intimidating for them however is that they knew this band was intelligent and so therefore instead of keeping an open mind, gave it the second worst Radiohead cliche next to "depressing" of "EXPERIMENTAL"!

Totally illogical

So obviously when listening- do try to get over restricting predudices. Only then, when one has jumped this healthy hurdle can one fully appreciate the awesome vision of despair and hell and purgatory and devils that this band has come up with. It is to be appreciated like literature and art is!

If there is anything one should be annoyed about it is the huge cheesy grin on the Jug-eared genius- indeed one can almost picture Thom Yorke in his Oxford garden looking at the panseys with one eye and smirking at passing people with other- thinking "Ive made you all talk about me AGAIN!"

 

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