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Tag Archives: Radiohead

Monday Morning RoundUp

Now that we’re all over the shock of Arcade Fire’s Album of the Year win at last night’s Grammys its time to dive into another week of music bits and pieces.

Radiohead will be releasing their latest, King Of Limbs, this Saturday Feb. 19 with all the pre-order info available HERE.  Besides a digital release the album will be available as perhaps the first ever “Newspaper Album”, that according to their site will include the following: 2 clear 10″ vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve; a CD; many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together; a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players; and one lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12″ vinyl.

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Roots-reggae band Akasha will headline a solid bill at Lincoln Hall on Wednesday Feb. 23 featuring The Drastics, Hood Smoke and Impala Soundsystem DJs. Here’s the video for Akasha’s single “Ooh U Got Me” off their “How Your Move”EP – sigh, I’m missing summer something fierce after watching this.

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Jim DeRogatis writes about the travesty that is the Park District’s takeover of the city’s music fests and the likelihood of Live Nation booking Northerly Island again this summer.

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My pal Anthony Macias will be featured on Fearless House this Wednesday Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m.. Log on to www.fearlessradio.com to listen.

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And finally, The Smoking Popes will be releasing their sixth studio album, This Is Only A Test, on March 15 and will be on tour this spring with a final homecoming show at the Double Door on April 3 (let’s plan to see each other there). This Is Only A Test is a concept album which according to the press release explores “themes of identity, musical aspirations, love and teen suicide” told through a fictional high schooler. If you can’t wait until April to see the Popes, they’ll be at Montrose Room in Rosemont on Feb. 19 and at Mojoes in Joliet on Feb. 25.

Ear Worm: Ceremony

Ear worms: Songs that get stuck in my head and refuse to escape. THIS article is responsible for today’s worm.  Radiohead vs. Joy Division. Tough call but upon hearing both the original and Radiohead’s take on “Ceremony” I ‘m going to stick with the original . Radiohead’s version is a very faithful and beautiful tribute but I will always side with Joy Division. Also, this is a great chance for me to give a quick plug to a local band, Mr. Gray, who incorporate a lot of Joy Division and New Order in their sets and who will be featured here in the coming weeks. So now you have a couple things to check out this afternoon!

Five Songs That Devastate ME

KCRW DJ Anne Litt posted “5 Songs That Devastate Me” and I figured I would do the same. I’m a list maker and organizer in my day-to-day life (yes, I’m that OCD about my business) but this list was off the top of my head and in no particular order. Let’s go:

* Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah. This is a no-brainer. I was given Grace as a birthday gift not long after Buckley’s death.  I got as far as his cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. This song floored me. Stopped me dead in my tracks.  I played it on repeat not even bothering with the rest of the CD until I had heard it at least a dozen times.  He had a voice that can only be described as haunting and the sparse instrumentation really adds an ethereal element to it.  This song has been covered by just about everyone you can think of but no one has in my opinion, been able to top this although K.D. Lang’s is also inspired.

*Nine Simone – Just In Time. This has always been one of my favorite Nina Simone interpretations and it was featured in what is quite possibly the most romantic ending to a movie ever.  The song alone is enough to alter my mood but in the context of the movie it is simply sweet.  I remember watching this opening weekend sitting next to the man that would eventually become my husband and I’ll never forget the gasp of the two girls sitting a couple seats over from us when the screen faded to black.  The clip of the scene is below.

Mozart: Lacrimosa. As a kid I eagerly studied music theory and nothing captured my imagination more than the stories/myths surrounding Mozart’s final work: Requiem. In particular Lacrimosa which has long been the subject of much debate as to who actually wrote the piece. I don’t have a specific memory attached  to Lacrimosa, it is just a stunning piece of music.

Radiohead – No Surprises.  OK Computer was released in 1997 but I didn’t come across it until a couple years later during my senior year of high school.  I obsessed over this CD. I have since bought several replacement CDs because they get played so much they become unusable. This record was the reason I decided to pursue a life/career in music after high school, the reason I went to school to learn all about recording and record production. This record is nothing short of perfection. Each song perfectly captures the theme of the record: paranoia and modern alienation but No Surprises always stood out for me. (I’ve attached a live version since EMI was kind enough to disable embedding of the official video.)

Damien Rice – The Blower’s Daughter.  This song starts out so quiet and graceful and slowly builds to a crescendo and then just as quickly as it builds comes back down with the line “can’t take my eyes off of you” that SLAYS me every single time I hear it. If you can get past the clips of that movie with Natalie Portman and her stupid hair you’ll be rewarded with shots of Rice in all his brooding sepia-toned glory.

So here they are and in writing this I’ve come up with at least another 5 songs that destroy me each time I hear them but that’ll have to wait for another day.

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