I'm Julie. By day i'm a sensible full time mum, working with jewellery for a living. By night i'm a...
I'm Julie. By day i'm a sensible full time mum, working with jewellery for a living. By night i'm a wine drinking metal riff loving girl gamer. I also enjoy writing... which is why i'm here.
Member since:22.07.2008
Reviews:5
Members who trust:2
Track Listing: The Eraser, Analyse, The Clock, Black Swan, Skip Divided, Atoms For Peace, And It Rained All Night, Harrowdown Hill, Cymbal Rush.
Many people, myself included, were waiting with bated breath for the release of The Eraser. Having been a Radiohead fan for as long as i can remember being into music, i have enjoyed watching Radiohead change and grow from depressing and sad, to expressive and mad - with Thom Yorke's darker and more personal influences moulding a new type of sound for the band. Kid A saw the cross-roads emerge for Radiohead, and won them as many fans as they lost with the change in direction. It's those experimental melodies intertwined with dark forcing trip-hop beats, nicely sliced with jazz and Thom's trademark delicate voice, that paved the way for The Eraser.
The title track is first up, and it's a great song to give you a feel of the whole album. It tells tales of heartbreak and betrayal in the way only Thom Yorke could do. He sings "be careful how you respond, or you could end up in this song", and i fully believe him. He could be out there stalking you in the shadows gaining more material for the next album right now. The striking piano chords and bubbly drum effects don't mask this track's dark underbelly, and it leaves you aching for more vengeful moody goodness.
We aren't disappointed in wanting more of what are essentially very good 'break up' songs, as Black Swan and Skip Divided are both excellent examples of. Thom has seemingly written this album from his heart, and is naturally aimed at people he has emotional connections with, so it's very easy to feel a bond with what he's singing and disappear (completely) inside his head.
The lack of guitar within the songs isn't a minus point for this album. Granted it is a big part of Thom Yorke's musical history, but with this fresh step forward, he seems to be asking new things of us as listeners, stretching our minds and eardrums as one. Still, 'The Clock', 'Harrowdown Hill' and 'Black Swan' have some beautifully arranged guitar riffs which will keep any fellow guitar lover drooling for more.
The artwork for this album is, as always with Radiohead and Thom Yorke's influences, stunning. The artist, Stanley Donwood (who has been used by Radiohead before), didn't intentionally produce these outstanding pieces of work for the album, but when he heard that Yorke was working on The Eraser, he hoped that his work would get picked. The pieces fit in perfectly with the themes running through the album, and are a fitting and beautiful accompaniment.
Sitting in a living room, lights dimmed, with a glass of the good stuff in your hand is the place to listen to this album. As we're taken though a winding forest of anger, hate, revenge and loves long lost, the journey never once gets boring or predictable. Each song, though similar in theme and amazingly produced are completely different and worthy in their own right. I never fail to be taken into some kind of other worldly dreamland whilst listening to The Eraser, and this is part of it's huge attraction. These tracks have all the depth, meaning and emotion of Thom's earlier works, with some extra spice and wonderful nu-modern sounds to give it his stamp of individualism, and it has succeeded 100%
Check out the official website www.theeraser.net for more weird and wonderful surprises.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
"Dont call it solo," says Thom Yorke ofThe Eraser, "It doesnt sound right". Here, then, is ... more
the first hmm, lets say one-man record from the vocalist of Radiohead, an excursion in electronic beats and synthetic textures hailed by many critics as a retur...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
All hail the whiz-kid! Genius at work! This is a CD ofunparalleled beauty and a musical ... more
marvel! You can bet that thoseheadlines have already been written - before anyone actually tookthe time to play this album. Because this is a solo offering fromthe ...
"Dont call it solo," says Thom Yorke of The Eraser, "It doesnt sound right". Here, then, ... more
is the first hmm, lets say one-man record from the vocalist of Radiohead, an excursion in electronic beats and synthetic textures hailed by many critics as a retu...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Poignant vocals, emotive exposition, critically-applauded, intricate experimentalism. Disadvantages: I struggle to think of any - at a push, shortage of new tracks.
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