Open Up Your Fists

Daisy, give yourself away

Look up at the rain

The beautiful display

Of power and surrender

Giving us today

When she gives herself away

Rain, another rainy day

It comes up from the ocean

To give herself away

She comes down easy

On rich and debt the same

When she gives herself away

Let it go

Daisy let it go

Open up your fists

This fallen world

Doesn't hold your interest

Doesn't hold your soul

Daisy let it go

Pain, give yourself a name

Call yourself contrition

Avarice or blame

Giving isn't easy

And neither is the rain

When she gives herself away

Daisy, why another day

Why another sunrise

Who will take the blame

For all redemptive motion

And every rainy day

When he gives himself away

Let it go...

Here we are again: My 'Best of 2009' Lists

The Best Music, Movies, TV, & Books of 2009 in my little world.

MUSIC:

1. Fun. - Aim & Ignite
2. Brandi Carlile - Give Up the Ghost - {"I laid this suitcase on my chest so I could feel somebody's weight."}
   
3. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Jars of Clay - The Long Fall Back to Earth
6. Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
7. Derek Webb - Stockholm Syndrome - {"...we affix all their scars to our walls so there’s heartbreak for everyone"}
8. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
9. Sufjan Stevens - The BQE
10. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
11. Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane - {"If it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love."}
12. Thad Cockrell - To Be Loved
13. The Mountain Goats - Life of the World to Come
14. Monsters of Folk - s/t
15. Wilco - s/t
16. St. Vincent - Actor
17. Gregory Alan Isakov - This Empty Northern Hemisphere
18. Sara Groves - Fireflies & Songs
19. Regina Spektor - Far
20. M. Ward - Hold Time

Yet to Hear from 2009: Mew, Passion Pit, Dirty Projectors, Girls


MOVIES:

1. Inglorious Basterds - dir. Quentin Tarantino
2. A Serious Man - Joel & Ethan Coen - {"Just look at that parking lot."}
   
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson
4. Antichrist - Lars von Trier
5. Where the Wild Things Are - Spike Jonze
6. Anvil - Sacha Gervasi
7. Nine - Rob Marshall - {"You're just an appetite..."}
8. Humpday - Lynn Shelton
9. District 9 - Neill Blomkamp
10. Avatar - James Cameron
11. Observe & Report - Jody Hill
12. Up in the Air - Jason Reitman
13. The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow
14. Watchmen - Zack Snyder
15. Coraline - Henry Selick
16. Up - P. Docter & B. Peterson
17. Baader Meinhoff Complex - Uli Edel
18. Sin Nombre - Cary Fukunaga
19. Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince - David Yates
20. (500) Days of Summer - Marc Webb

Yet to See: A Single Man, Moon, Invictus, Precious, Sugar, The Limits of Control, In the Loop, Che & Summer Hours

DOCUMENTARIES:

1. Anvil - dir. Sasha Gervasi
2. The National Parks: America’s Best Idea - Ken Burns - {"Man can only mar it."}
   
3. The Cove - Louie Psihoyos
4. Food Inc. - Robert Kenner
5. This is It - Kenny Ortega
   

Yet to See: The Yes Men Fix the World, & My Neighbor My Killer


On the TEEVEEs:

1. Glee - {"We're not naming our baby Drizzle."}
   
2. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
3. Daily Show / Colbert Report
4. South Park
5. 30 Rock

Yet to (really) See: Mad Men (come on Hulu!)


BOOKS:

1. Strength in What Remains - Tracy Kidder - {"...don't wait for people to feel like their lives are not worth living. Once they feel that way, how are they going to feel about another person's life?"}
   
2. Animal Dialogues - Craig Childs - {"...people tell me at times they wish to get in touch with the animal spirit. I will tell you this about the animal spirit: it will tear you in two as quickly as it will bring you wholeness. It is not a thing of value or judgment. It is a thing of purity, and it will not take issue with either death or ecstasy."}
   
3. Sacredness of Questioning Everything - David Dark
4. Production Diary from the Heart of Darkness - Werner Herzog
5. Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller

Yet to Read: The Big Questions: Tackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics, and Physics, Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism), & How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read (though, clearly, I should just say I've read it)

Winter

"Before it Breaks" - Brandi Carlile

Around here it's the hardest time of year.
And waking up, the days are even gone.
Will the collar on my coat,
Lord help me kill off the cold?
Will the raindrops sting my eyes or keep them closed?

but I'm feeling no pain
only the lonely
and my quietest friend
Have I the moonlight?
Have I let you in?
Say it ain't so,
say I'm happy again.

Say it's over.
Say I'm dreaming.
Say I'm better than you left me.

Say you're sorry.

I can take it.

Say you'll wait.
Say you won't.
Say you love me.
Say you don't.
I can make my own mistakes.
Let it bend before it breaks.

I'm alright, don't I always seem to be?
aren't I swinging on the stars?
Don't I wear em' on my sleeves?
But when you're looking for a crossroads,
it happens every day.
And whichever way you turn,
I'm gonna turn the other way.

And say it's over.
Say I'm dreaming.
Say I'm better than you left me.
Say you're sorry.
I can take it.
Say you'll wait.
Say you won't.
Say you love me.
Say you don't.
I can make my own mistakes.
Learn to let it bend before it breaks.

photos from Oconomowoc, WI

2 Songs for November

I'm going to see some friends from out of state
The very trip that you were supposed to take a while ago
But it fell through
Like all of you
Like all of you

Thought I'd make the drive but a free plane ride is in
the air
And just like that my fear of it disappeared
Like all of you
Like all of you

And I look high and low for yesterday
High and low for you and I
High and low

Once I can see straight I might move somewhere cold
Seattle or the bay area, to see your ghost
What's left of you
What's left of you

And I look high and low for yesterday
High and low for you and I
High and low

Found a letter from a man I might have met, addressed
to you
And I'll steal the words he ended with:
I miss you
And I do
Miss you
And I do

High and low for yesterday
High and low for you and I
High and low

- Greg Laswell - "High and Low"

---------------------------------------------

Take your time coming home.
Hear the wheels as they roll.
Let your lungs fill up with smoke.
Forgive everyone.

She is here and now she is gone
We had plans, we can't help but make love.

It's a beautiful thing when we you love somebody,
And I love somebody.
Yeah I love somebody.

Take your time coming home.
Hear the wheels as they roll.
Let your lungs fill with smoke.
Forgive everyone.
I don't think I'd been misled,
it was a rocknroll band,
I'm still standing,
Take your time coming home.

See, of everyone who called,
Very few said "We believe in you."
The overwhelming choice said
I'm just a boy inside a voice
and if that's true, if that's true, if that's true,
then what the fuck have I been doing the last six years?
How did I end up here?
How did I find love and conquer all my fears?
See, I made it out.
Out from under the sun.
And the truth is that I feel better because I've forgiven everyone.

Now I'm not scared
of a song
or the states,
or the stages.
I'm not scared.
I've got friends,
took my call,
came courageous.
Now I feel like I am home.

One more thing, I keep having this dream
where I'm standing on a mountain
Looking out, on the street
I can hear kids in low-income housing singing
"We're through with causing a scene"
I don't know what it means
But I too, I'm through with causing a scene.

She is here and now I think she's ready to go.
For every love that's lost I heard a new one comes.

So come on with me, sing along with me,
Let the wind catch your feet.
If you love somebody,
you'd better let them know.

Take your time coming home.

- fun. - "Take Your Time Coming Home"

Oh it's healing bang, bang, bang

I like the sweet life
and the silence
But it's the storm that I believe in


A little late for Easter, but I had intended to post a reflection. So I picked two holy sonnets of sorts. The above from The Cardigans and below from John Donne.


"Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me."

- [ "Holy Sonnet XIV"]

The only performance worth watching last night....or this year.

Pop & Hiss
The L.A. Times music blog

Parting thoughts: Another Grammys, another year without any surprises. When it comes to album of the year, always pick old over innovative. With "Raising Sand," Robert Plant and Alison Krauss crafted an engrossing and timeless country-influenced album, one that certainly deserved to be rewarded for best contemporary folk album.

But album of the year? Not against Radiohead's "In Rainbows," an album that took more chances, pairing Radiohead's electronic and studio experimentations with some of the group's warmest songs to date.

A year after awarding Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" album of the year over Kanye West's "Graduation," the Grammys had the opportunity to show a little more relevancy. But they missed it. Instead of awarding record of the year to M.I.A.'s arresting "Paper Planes," the trophy again went to Plant & Krauss for "Please Read the Letter." But give them a point for giving best new artist to Adele over the Jonas Brothers.

Best of 2008

I'm not doing a music list this year for two reasons: 1. I didn't digest enough & 2. I didn't find enough compelling. In other words if I did a Top 20 like usual, it wouldn't be the "top" but rather the only 20 records of which I actually really listened. Sorry.

Here's some other people's lists though:
1. NPR Listeners Pick The Year's Best Music
2. PASTE Magazine: Signs of Life 2008: Best Music

Movies on the other hand didn't disappoint, or maybe I was just a visual learner this year. It was a good year for film with the best movies telling stories of complex and unique characters not wholly good or bad, new worlds and mood strong landscapes (even an animated film unafraid of silence). Though there was a desert season mid-year, with Oscar season near Christmas was full of a gluttony of gifts. This was the year of the director auteur. "And. here. we. go..."

Best Overall Films of 2008:
1. The Dark Knight - dir. Nolan
2. The Reader - Daldry
3. Revolutionary Road - Mendes
4. Doubt - Shanley
5. Milk - Van Sant
6. Wall-E - Stanton
7. In Bruges - McDonagh
8. Synecdoche, New York - Kaufman
9. Slumdog Millionaire - Boyle
10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Fincher

Honorable Mentions:
Frost/Nixon - Howard
Gran Torino - Eastwood
Paranoid Park - Van Sant
Burn After Reading - Coen Bros.
Australia - Luhrmann

Best Documentaries:
Man on Wire - Marsh
Encounters at the End of the World - Herzog
American Teen - Burstein
Flow - Salina
Standard Operating Procedure - Morris

Best Foreign Films:
Waltz with Bashir - Folman (Israel)
TimeCrimes - Vigalondo (Spain)
Let the Right One In - Alfredson (Sweden)
Son of Rambow - Jennings (UK)
A Christmas Tale (France)

Best Action Movies:
The Dark Knight - Nolan
Iron Man - Favreau
Quantum of Solace - Forster
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - del Toro

Best Comedies:
Be Kind Rewind - Gondry
Burn After Reading - Cohen Bros.
Son of Rambow - Jennings
Hamlet 2 - Fleming
Pineapple Express - Apatow

Most Disappointing that should/could have been good:
W - Stone
Changeling - Eastwood
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Spielberg

Movies I wanted to see but didn't (yet):
Rachel Getting Married - Demme
Firaaq - Das (India)
Ballast - Hammer
The Wrestler - Aronofsky

Hail to the Thief? or Divine Inspiration

Third Day - Revelation (2008)

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief (2003)

Salvation Mountain, Niland CA (1985)

if work permits

So the wind that blows across your room
Carried cheap perfume onto your dresser
It rained for jewelry and for credit cards
Two tickets to a film I don't remember
One day you'll kiss your rabbits nose, pick up the phone
To find I've been turned over
And you'll grab that piece of gold
Only to find that the smell has taken over
Now all the things you had, they aren't the same...
As what you hold

I'm standing in a room,
It's filled with older folks pleading "baby listen"
And I scream as loud as anyone,
But when asked to make a point I tend to whisper
Now highways turn to tidal waves
They're asking me to export all of your insecurities
But that wind that blows across your room
It's gonna set the sails, and send me back to you

Sometimes, when sailors are sailing
They think twice, about where they're anchoring
And I think, I could make better use of my time on land
I'll drink less
'cause lord knows I could use a warm kiss
Instead of a cold goodbye
I'm writing the folks back home to tell them
"Hey I'm doing alright"

It's a shame what your father did to your brothers head
He smashed it with a telephone
And your mother got scared and locked the door
You were only four, but lord you remember it
So now you're scared of love
I'm here to tell you love just ain't some blood on the receiver
Love is speaking in code
It's an inside joke
Love is coming home

And if she seems as lonely as me.....
Let her sink.
Let her sink.
Let her

[the format]

E'en so Lord quickly come...

I can see clearly now.

Why is this all I see?

what?!

awww...

I mean, CMON@##!@$!!!

Winehouse Beautifully Humanizes Grammy's

Amy, Kanye refresh music's roots

The Grammys provide some random moments for all ages.

By Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 11, 2008
Link to story

FROM the long march of dead and living forebears, to the Aretha-led gospel invocation, to Tom Hanks shouting about the Beatles as if they were running for president -- and on up to the surprise winner for best album, Herbie Hancock's beatification of the Joni Mitchell songbook -- this year's Grammy Awards ceremony Sunday night at Staples Center was all about casting around for belief. Uncertainty permeated this night of nights for major-label pop, as its makers sought a way forward in what can only be described as a fog.

In the end, two beacons stood out, demanding a choice: Should music lovers get behind the earnest showbiz convictions of its young alpha queen, Alicia Keys, who now completely owns the pop glamour role once held by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey? Or dare they invest in the tattered dramatic realism of Amy Winehouse, whose poignant midrehab performance followed in the unpredictable tradition of rock 'n' roll?

Kanye West offered a third path, highlighting his genre-defiant collaboration with the French electronic duo Daft Punk in a live performance that was typically stylish and surreal. But he didn't own this night, even though he won four Grammys and gave one great speech, managing to shush the get-offstage music to pay proper tribute to his recently deceased mother. West's confidence is almost singular among today's major artists; he knows where he's going, no matter what happens around him. Others are less certain about whether to passionately pursue showbiz or to invest in something riskier and more raw.

The show's producers put their trust in both women. Keys opened the evening, sitting at the piano and dueting awkwardly with a hologram of Frank Sinatra (one would have hoped Celine Dion's weird dance with the shadow Elvis during last season's "Idol Gives Back" gala would have killed off this idea) and later delivering her massive hit "No One" with the bellowing fervor her many fans so admire.

Her real gift, however, is for craft and polish, for selling feeling in a package so graceful and well-measured that it utterly convinces. She represents the best outcome for pop as defined by "American Idol," country music and theatrical reworkings such as the soundtrack winner, Cirque du Soleil's Beatles tribute "Love." With her biracial mix of hip-hop and rock influences, she's a model for the mainstream in a globally minded America.

Winehouse is obviously an iffier proposition. Beamed in by satellite from a London soundstage decorated speak-easy style, she pushed her way through two songs from "Back to Black," the album that won her five statues (her creative partner Mark Ronson also won for producer of the year). Off-key at times, her drawled syllables sometimes veering uncomfortably close to blackface, she nonetheless was the most exciting performer of the evening. Her desperation to do well was palpably human, and her delivery was a gamble -- a harder push, and a more electric one, than you usually see during a staged event like the Grammys. Cheering like a punk rocker when she won record of the year, Winehouse stood for all the rough-and-ready strivers who made popular music a rebel's sport -- and who still make it interesting in the margins, where the Grammys mostly only go off-camera.

She had companions this evening -- in fellow best-new-artist nominee Feist, whose handcrafted chamber pop also provided warmth amid the evening's glitz; in Grammy pioneer Keely Smith, who showed her wacky humor despite being saddled with collaborators Kid Rock and Dave Koz; and in Tina Turner, whose rasp is for the ages, and who, at 68, dared to wear skin-tight silver lamé.

The academy, however, is mostly on Keys' side. From Carrie Underwood classily mimicking Nancy Sinatra to Beyoncé slicking up Tina's style while onstage with her, the night's superstars threw in their lot with pop's razzle-dazzle masquerade. Even those old punks the Foo Fighters continued their upmarket trick of playing with a mini-orchestra.

But the classic soul that Winehouse reinterprets points toward another way -- an investment in the immediacy and daring that turned pop into a movement during the era she mines.No matter what the numbers are, music always burns brightest when telling stories and capturing feelings we urgently need to share.

For all her over-discussed troubles, Winehouse is a force for that connectedness, and she deserved to be celebrated Sunday night. "Camden town is burning, burning down, burning down!" she shouted upon winning, referring to a real fire that ravaged her native London over the weekend. But she might have been talking about the fire she's delivered, one that we can only hope will spread.

love for jenny lewis

Well you praise him
Then you thank him
'Til you reach the by-and-by
Then you kiss his lips
He forgives you for it
He forgives you for all you've done
But not me
I'm still angry

What have I done?
Why am I always missing
The big guns?

First I'll build a sword
Get some words to explain
It's a plan, brother, at least
And I'll pretend that everybody here wants peace

Have mercy, have mercy
Have mercy on me
Cause we're tired and lonely
And we're bloody

What have we done?
Why are we still running from our own failing bodies?
The big guns...

Sing mercy, sing mercy
Sing mercy on me
Let's pretend that everybody here wants peace

What have we done?
Why are we still chasing our own tails?
The big guns...

[jenny lewis]

LISTS 2007! Let's Do This!

The Academy released their list today so it must be that time...

Time for LISTS!

The Best Films of 2007 (out of what my eyes saw):


1. Into the Wild - The road movie is the greatest genre ever made. Christopher McCandless was polarizing in life and death, so it was fitting that the film would garner the same kind of reviews. However the nerve it touches is testament to the power of this story. Told beautifully and personally, Into the Wild, brings us as close as we probably ever can come to the complexities of someone's heart and soul in a bio-film. Painful and hopeful, realistic and idealistic, seductive and devastating, this film is a gripping masterpiece of contradictions. And Eddie Vedder's gorgeous soundtrack is a close second.

2. There Will Be Blood
3. Margot at the Wedding
4. No Country for Old Men
5. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
6. Once
7. Atonement
8. Juno
9. No End in Sight
10. The Darjeeling Limited
11. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
12. Michael Clayton
13. Sweeney Todd
14. For the Bible Tells Me So
15. Eastern Promises
16. Zodiac
17. 3:10 to Yuma
18. Hot Fuzz
19. The Orphanage
20. Knocked Up
HM: The Devil Came on Horseback,
Superbad & The Host

Worst Movie: Smokin' Aces - The only good thing about this movie is that Ben Affleck dies in the first 20 minutes.

UPDATE: Now having seen Persepolis, a '07 entry that just made it to town, I have to sing its praise and call it a top 5 pick for sure. It's up for the Academy Award for best animated film and it sure as hell better win. Phenomenal.

The Best Albums of 2007 (out of what my ears heard):

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows - In Rainbows is a sort-of "acceptance" record; a letting go if you will; their own sort of gorgeous meditation on an Ecclesiastical view of relationships. The anxious-about-the-apocalypse band is comfortable in their own skin. Easily the most important band making music today.

2. Steven Delopoulos - Straightjacket
3. Bright Eyes - Cassadega
4. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
5. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
6. Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild
7. Derek Webb - The Ringing Bell
8. The National - Boxer
9. Patty Griffin - Children Running Through
10. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
11. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
12. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
13. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
14. Feist - The Reminder
15. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
16. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
17. Björk - Volta
18. Iron & Wine - The Shepard's Dog
19. Over the Rhine - The Trumpet Child
20. Menomena - Friend or Foe
HM: Sara Groves - Tell Me What You Know & Andrew Bird - Airmchair Apocrypha

Worst Record: 2007, take your pick. It would be easy to say Nickleback, but I'm gonna go with Daughtry.

So how is it?

Pitchfork seemed to react the same way I did about the album feeling an "acceptance" record; a letting go if you will; their own sort of gorgeous meditation on an Ecclesiastical view of relationships.

Pretentious minds think alike...

pitchforkmedia.com review:

Radiohead
In Rainbows

[self-released; 2007]
Rating: NO REALLY, IT'S 9.3

Buy it from Insound
Download it from Emusic
Digg this article
Add to del.icio.us

"Like many music lovers of a certain age, I have a lot of warm memories tied up with release days. I miss the simple ritual of making time to buy a record. I also miss listening to something special for the first time and imagining, against reason, the rest of the world holed up in their respective bedrooms, having the same experience. Before last Wednesday, I can't remember the last time I had that feeling. I also can't remember the last time I woke up voluntarily at 6 a.m. either, but like hundreds of thousands of other people around the world, there I was, sat at my computer, headphones on, groggy, but awake, and hitting play.

Such a return to communal exchange isn't something you'd expect to be orchestrated by a band who's wrung beauty from alienation for more than a decade. But if the past few weeks have taught us anything, it's that Radiohead revel, above all else, in playing against type. It's written in their discography; excluding the conjoined twins that were Kid A and Amnesiac, each of their albums constitutes a heroic effort to debunk those that came before it. Although 2003's Hail to the Thief was overlong and scattershot, it was important insofar as it represented the full band's full-circle digestion and synthesis of the sounds and methods they first toyed with on OK Computer. So, after a decade of progression, where do we go from here?

If the 2006 live renditions of their new material were anything to go by, not much further. With few exceptions, the roughly 15 songs introduced during last year's tour gave the impression that after five searching records, Radiohead had grown tired of trying to outrun themselves. Taken as a whole, the guitar-centric compositions offered a portrait of a band who, whether subconsciously or not, looked conciliatory for the first time in its career. Although a wonderful surprise, their early October album announcement only lent further credence to the theory. Where they'd previously had the confidence to precede albums like OK Computer and Kid A with marketing fanfare worthy of a classic-in-making, this sneak attack felt like a canny strategy to prepare fans for an inevitable downshift.

The brilliant In Rainbows represents no such thing. Nonetheless, it's a very different kind of Radiohead record. Liberated from their self-imposed pressure to innovate, they sound-- for the first time in ages-- user-friendly; the glacial distance that characterized their previous records melted away by dollops of reverb, strings, and melody. From the inclusion and faithful rendering of longtime fan favorite "Nude" to the classic pop string accents on "Faust Arp" to the uncharacteristically relaxed "House of Cards", Radiohead's sudden willingness to embrace their capacity for uncomplicated beauty might be In Rainbows' most distinguishing quality, and one of the primary reasons it's an improvement on Hail to the Thief.

Now that singer Thom Yorke has kickstarted a solo career-- providing a separate venue for the solo electronic material he used to shoehorn onto Radiohead albums-- Radiohead also sound like a full band again. Opener "15 Step"'s mulched-up drum intro represents the album's only dip into Kid A-style electronics; from the moment Jonny Greenwood's zestful guitar line takes over about 40 seconds in, In Rainbows becomes resolutely a five-man show. (For all of Yorke's lonely experimental pieces, it's easy to forget how remarkably the band play off each other; the rhythm section of Phil Selway and Colin Greenwood are especially incredible, supplying between them for a goldmine of one-off fills, accents, and runs over the course of the record.) A cut-up in the spirit of "Airbag"-- albeit with a jazzier, more fluid guitar line-- "15 Step" gives way to "Bodysnatchers", which, like much of In Rainbows, eschews verse/chorus/verse structure in favor of a gradual build. Structured around a sludgy riff, it skronks along noisily until about the two-minute mark, when the band veers left with a sudden acoustic interlude. By now, Radiohead are experts at tearing into the fabric of their own songs for added effect, and In Rainbows is awash in those moments.

The band's big-hearted resurrection of "Nude" follows. The subject of fervent speculation for more than a decade, its keening melodies and immutable prettiness had left it languishing behind Kid A's front door. Despite seeming ambivalent about the song even after resurrecting it for last year's tour, this album version finds Yorke wrenching as much sweetness out of it as he possibly can, in turn giving us our first indication that he's in generous spirits. Another fan favorite, "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" brandishes new drums behind its drain-circling arpeggios, but sounds every bit as massive in crescendoing as its live renditions suggested it might. "All I Need", meanwhile, concludes the album's first side by dressing up what begins as a skeletal rhythm section in cavernous swaths of glockenspiel, synths, pianos, and white noise.

With its fingerpicked acoustic guitars and syrupy strings, "Faust Arp" begs comparisons to some of the Beatles' sweetest two-minute interludes, while the stunning "Reckoner" takes care of any lingering doubt about Radiohead's softer frame of mind: Once a violent rocker worthy of its title, this version finds Yorke's slinky, elongated falsetto backed by frosty, clanging percussion and a meandering guitar line, onto which the band pile a chorus of backing harmonies, pianos, and-- again-- swooping strings. It may not be the most immediate track on the album, but over the course of several listens, it reveals itself to be among the most woozily beautiful things the band has ever recorded.

With its lethargic, chipped-at guitar chords, "House of Cards" is a slow, R.E.M.-shaped ballad pulled under by waves of reverbed feedback. While it's arguably the one weak link in the album's chain, it provides a perfect lead-in to the spry guitar workout of "Jigsaw Falling Into Place". Like "Bodysnatchers" and "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" before it, "Jigsaw" begins briskly and builds into a breakneck conclusion, this time with Yorke upshifting from low to high register to supply a breathless closing rant.

Finally, the closer. Another fan favorite, Yorke's solo versions of "Videotape" suggested another "Pyramid Song" in the making. Given the spirit of In Rainbows, you'd be forgiven for assuming its studio counterpart might comprise some sort of epic finale, but to the disappointment of fans, it wasn't to be. Instead, we get a circling piano coda and a bassline that seems to promise a climax that never comes. "This is one for the good days/ And I have it all here on red, blue, green," Yorke sings. It's an affecting sentiment that conjures up images of the lead singer, now a father of two, home filming his kids. A rickety drum beat and shuddering percussions work against the melody, trying clumsily to throw it off, but Yorke sings against it: "You are my center when I spin away/ Out of control on videotape."

As the real life drums give way to a barely distinguishable electronic counterpart, Yorke trails off, his piano gently uncoils, and the song ends with a whimper. The whole thing is an extended metaphor, of course, and, this being Radiohead, it's heavy-handed in its way, but it's also a fitting close to such a human album. In the end, that which we feared came true: In Rainbows represents the sound of Radiohead coming back to earth. Luckily, as it turns out, that's nothing to be afraid of at all."

-Mark Pytlik, October 15, 2007

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/46356-in-rainbows

NEW RADIOHEAD ALBUM AAAAAAAHHH!!!

- article from Pitchfork Magazine, Oct. 1, 2007

TODAY IS A GREAT DAY! First, the Phillies clinched the NL East for the first time in 14 years! YESSSS!!!
AND NOW THIS!!!

"Hello everyone.
Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days;
We've called it In Rainbows.
Love from us all."
Jonny

Yup, that's right. A new Radiohead album, out October 10! Nice surprise, huh? It's called In Rainbows, duh. And it appears that Radiohead have chosen to not sign with a record label and are releasing it themselves via their website, at least for now.

And that's probably the least crazy aspect of this whole thing.

You can pre-order it from their website right now as a download or a "discbox." What's a discbox? Why, it's pretty sweet:

"THIS CONSISTS OF THE NEW ALBUM, IN RAINBOWS, ON CD AND ON 2 X 12 INCH HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL RECORDS.
A SECOND, ENHANCED CD CONTAINS MORE NEW SONGS, ALONG WITH DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND ARTWORK.
THE DISCBOX ALSO INCLUDES ARTWORK AND LYRIC BOOKLETS.
ALL ARE ENCASED IN A HARDBACK BOOK AND SLIPCASE.
THE ALBUM DOWNLOAD AUTOMATICALLY COMES WITH THIS PACK."

Daamn, that's awesome! And even though the discbox doesn't ship until "on or before" December 3, you can get the download starting October 10.

But what's the catch? It costs £40.00 including postage-- no matter where you live in the world. Which for us Yanks means about $81.00. Of course, this is Radiohead we're talking about, so money is no object, right? Right.

And lest you think Radiohead are ripping their fans off, check this out: If you order the download only, you can pay HOWEVER MUCH MONEY YOU WANT for it. Like, there's no set price. Like, I just paid eight bucks for the new Radiohead album. Maybe you can pay zero dollars?

Check out the tracklist:

CD one and vinyl:

01 15 STEP
02 BODYSNATCHERS
03 NUDE
04 WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI
05 ALL I NEED
06 FAUST ARP
07 RECKONER
08 HOUSE OF CARDS
09 JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
10 VIDEOTAPE

CD two and vinyl:

01 MK 1
02 DOWN IS THE NEW UP
03 GO SLOWLY
04 MK 2
05 LAST FLOWERS
06 UP ON THE LADDER
07 BANGERS AND MASH
08 4 MINUTE WARNING

So yeah, lots of stuff that we expected.

"Haha, the entire record industry is so fucked!"

So, let's sort this whole mess out, shall we? You will eventually have three ways to pick up the seventh Radiohead LP, the Nigel Godrich-produced In Rainbows. It all depends how much you want to pay, which goodies you'd like, and how soon you want the tunes. Observe:

1. As a DRM-free mp3 download, beginning October 10 (and available for preorder now), via www.inrainbows.com (interestingly enough, last week's RickRoll, www.radioheadlp7.com, now directs here as well). This version contains the 10 tracks that comprise In Rainbows, and you can pay whatever the hell you want for it. This is basically the band leaking the album and asking you for a donation to access it.

2. As part of a deluxe "discbox", available for preorder now and shipping in December. In addition to the 10-track In Rainbows on CD, you also get the release on LP and as a digital download, plus an enhanced bonus CD packed with eight more tracks, photos, and artwork (and an LP of the bonus tracks), plus art and lyrics booklets and some nifty looking packaging. This thing costs £40.00/$81.00.

3. As a traditional CD, available in early 2008. This will presumably cost as much as traditional CDs tend to cost.

What Radiohead's doing here is actually pretty cool. Rather than preface their new album's release with the usual three months of press ballyhoo, only to have it leak at some random time before it comes out, they've kept it completely under wraps, then essentially gone and leaked it themselves. What's more, they've turned this into a moral question of sorts, by giving us the freedom to pay actual money for what amounts to an album leak.

Only a band in Radiohead's position could pull a trick like this. Well played, gentlemen.

- article from Pitchfork Magazine, Oct. 1, 2007

Top Albums of 2006 -OR- Obsessions with Gravity

Top 20 Albums of 2006:

1-M. Ward - Post-War

2-Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

3-Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope

4-Margot & The Nuclear So & So's - The Dust of Retreat

5-Matthew Perryman Jones - Throwing Punches in the Dark

6-Grizzly Bear - Yellow House

7-Thom Yorke - The Eraser

8-The Format - Dog Problems

9-TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

10-David Mead - Tangerine

11-The Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity

12-Jars of Clay - Good Monsters

13-Guillemots - Through the Windowpane

14-Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat

15-Switchfoot - Oh! Gravity

16-The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

17-Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

18-Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche

19-Bob Dylan - Modern Times

20-Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream

H.M's: Andrew Osenga - The Morning

Josh Ritter - The Animal Years

Most Promising EP:

Colour Revolt - self titled

Top 10 Nashville Artist Releases:

1-Matthew Perryman Jones - Throwing Punches in the Dark

2-David Mead - Tangerine

3-Jars of Clay - Good Monsters

4-Andrew Osenga - The Morning

5-Sandra McCracken - Gravity/Love

6-Katie Herzig - Weightless

7-Justin Caldwell - Dog and Bird

8-The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers

9-Kate York - Sadlylove

10-Mat Kearney - Nothing Left to Lose

H.M: Leigh Nash - Blue on Blue

Best Posthumous Release:

Johnny Cash - American V

Top 5 "Top 40" Albums:

1-Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

2-Keane - Under the Iron Sea

3-Snow Patrol - Eyes Open

4-The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers

5-The Fray - How to Save a Life

H.M: Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way

Best Live Album:

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos