Radiohead-The King of Limbs

So there’s a Senior Manager at the division where I work who turned out to be musically inclined. He listens to The Beatles, Dream Theater and Mastodon to name a few and every week, he plays keyboard for his church liturgy and to cut the story short, he asked me to write something about Radiohead, the british avant-garde powerhouse after he played a song from “The Bends” and sniffed that I’m a type of person who listens to the band. It’s tricky, d’oh since there is almost nothing left to say about Radiohead but fear not, my boss-brother, for the internet never fails to present one or two “amazing” opinions from ‘disoriented’ cultural cabal. 

And to challenge such poor souls' opinions is fun, eh? (You didn't see it coming, did you?, heheh)

Radiohead Is The New Emo And Plaid Is The New Batik!

Regardless of the sulky writer’s good intention to provide something akin to an 'epiphany' for the ‘crowd’ in order to seek for further alternatives instead of bowing down to the established beacon of pop culture, his usage of the word “emo” is somehow condescending. Since emo is originated from “emotional hardcore” whose influence vented by respectable acts like Fugazi, Minor Threat, Black Flag and Husker Du, the stark usage of the hackneyed  term was somewhat sardonic and showed his hollow pride in juxtaposing “emo” on a par with “popular acts (read: pop punk) which should be taken with a pinch of salt”. The impact of the lacerating opinion lasted for approximately 2 years and several months later, when a pesky-soon to be cultural maven revisited the hollow pride with less level of despondency as of late (this is what happens when sarcasm went over one’s head, my friend).

 

But i'll just leave the emo discussion (and the anon fuckhead) for another day.

According to my limited observation, Radiohead used to be an entrance for the cool hunters. It’s a prerequisite cachet to earn “discerning” stamp on every serious music fans’ forehead where its records were the accoutrement to legalize those fans’ identity. 

Some people have said it and I’ll say it again. If you happen to fall into pop culture appreciation for long enough, you will know how bands with spanning musical career were evolving from budding-identity seeking collective who deliver their music in conventional sense into cohesive musical unit that found little reason to stay within the convention (i.e The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen to name a few). Radiohead is a semblance of those classics in terms of work ethic.

To digress a little, I read an article about Yegor Letov. For conclusion: It seems like Yegor Letov wanted us to keep questioning ourselves through re-evaluation of our own ideals, a constant-perpetual change of value. The creed is “I will always be against”. 

And such romance manifested in the way Radiohead rolls in their spanning musical career.

  

Pre-internet, it was tough to strip Radiohead into their bare-bones elements hence the appeal of Radiohead: Enigma, questions, further questions, intentions etc. But over time, thanks to the internet, we’re able to get glimpses of what were in the band members’ intention although most questions stay unresolved. Early 90s saw Radiohead who began with Pablo Honey, a parallel of Nirvana, then the band transformed  into a cryptic socio-politically aware but sometimes personal “The Bends” and reaching further territory with the three consecutive game changers: “Ok Computer”, “Kid A” and “Amnesiac”. “Ok Computer” is a sound against globalization or whatever industrial life had to offer which was created in the midst of lowered album sales expectation by Capitol but on the contrary, resulting as an album that maintained to find much sought-after balance between artistic integrity and commercial success. But they are not that one-trick band who depend on their own cud, therefore Radiohead dwelt into another fight with themselves by releasing “Kid A” with same sociopolitical cause while “Amnesiac” was another salvo in the new musical direction but the band managed to explore another lyrical territory in the midst of ancient mythology and thousand yard stare.

In 2003, Radiohead shifted into a more musically balance compound between organic rock and electronic sounds “Hail to the Thief” (the shift which seemed like as if it's the only battle they fought) yet succumbed into another socio-politically aware depiction like everything else the band had done including blitzkrieg to the unscrupulous White House of the era. Then again, another kind of “against” was assiduously documented in “In Rainbows”. Leaving EMI, the band started the unprecedented “pay what you want” marketing move, a fair trade, the hype of which is counterbalanced by the album’s sound: a good dose of personal contemplation, somewhat transcendental, with no political agenda whatsoever that for a bonus, the band seemed liberated from their own standard. 

 

Years elapsed along the first decade of 21^st century and I saw the tidal wave of alternative bands flocking the music scene, be them new or newly discovered, the condition of which decertified Radiohead and stapled the band as among the first that had entered the mausoleum of “no longer in vogue” cachet for the cool hunters (I predict that Joy Division and Sonic Youth will coalesce into the concoction). This is nothing new for me who embrace a band until things are (ALWAYS) going into different direction. A band that used to be relevant is going into the ominous state where it’s berated for being overrated despite all of the artistic merit they had delivered. Be it for ubiquitous discussion about the band here and there by pariah fans or the aforementioned tidal wave that the discerning special snowflakes felt the urge to set themselves apart. Or presumably, it is the chicken-egg situation that aforementioned emblematic aftermath upon which Radiohead was deemed as losing their antique with the result that everything about them became paltry and anachronistic. No matter how pure the intentions were, this kind of catch 22 happened all the time and no one can escape it. Such were the things that made us forget that Radiohead was a band that able to make a major label grant a leeway to scour something different from formulaic pattern whose selling ability was proven, a condition which resuscitated a new paradigm that you don’t have to lose integrity when you're swimming in major label’s money. Furthermore, just because Radiohead don't work in the way that is suitable to your liking, it doesn't mean that the bunch are not functioning.

When the first decade of 21^st century drew to a close, at almost the same period of “Kid A”, Radiohead unleashed the less celebrated, less convincing “The King of Limbs” (TKOL). One can easily reckon that TKOL is filled with songs that didn’t make it into “In Rainbows” but fear not, fellows, the “against” is hard-coded in Radiohead’s DNA for which their authenticity are somewhat still discernible.

Radiohead had dealt with their (Thom Yorke’s) personal demon, deeper dwelling personal demon, personal contemplation, socio-political anxiety, stance of scientology and myth, hence the question: Do we really need another Radiohead’s album?

The answer partially came in “Bloom”, a tricky piano loop goes electro-soundscape and sound collage, the beat of which is reminiscent of “15 step” with line such as: “So I lose and start over / Don't blow your mind with why”, statement which shows that they’ve done their homework with enough humility (They could have used a more grandeur-laden “rise” but opted for “bloom’ instead).

Another reason, as suggested by popular view, naturalism was what’s left to be leaned upon. Mr Magpie is a nod to UK’s tradition that encountering a magpie is a sign of bad luck that you should say hello while Lotus Flower is a metaphoric state of transient musical ecstasy symbolized by windswept Lotus which slips into the groove, slinking with musical composition came naturally from earth.

Other compostions offer a lot of morose contemplation with introspective theme such as “Give Up The Ghost” and “Codex”. “Give Up The Ghost” is an obscure suicidal notes while “Codex”, an emotional weight carrying track wrapped in laid-back composition and haunting piano rhythm that increase the song’s compelling nature, is probably an explanation about why Thom Yorke, seeing the way he runs his life (or just seeing his face), may “survive” for so long.

 

The album is capped by “Separator” that (presumably) hints their next move. It is a sage self-conscious wisdom retrospecting Radiohead’s position in pop culture, after several properly rated albums, that makes Thom Yorke emptily begging  anyone to “Wake him up” but he doesn’t indeed need the firsthand awakening because, rest assured “If you think this is over/ Then you're wrong/ Like I'm fallen out of bed/ From a long and vivid dream”.

Yet the trenchant pseudo-sociopolitical theme never runs its course in any Radiohead’s record. “Little By Little” is a saunter to the past. It’s just hard to not imagine “Fitter Happier” when the lyrics are flown with “Obligation/ Complication/ Routines and schedules/ Drug and kill you/ Kill you”. Furthermore, “Feral” is when such theme rings truer. Treaded upon the jamming stance, the wildcat repetition of Thom Yorke soliloquizing “Jew (Go on and shoot 'em)” sculpting an image of bashing the chosen few. 

The real motive of TKOL is still in question but again, questions were what made me fall for Radiohead in the first place.

And never forget their fortitude to painstakingly embody the creed: “Radiohead will always be against”.

PS: To the impending resentment from “Alay yang elitis” who say: “Yah, selera lo baru sampe Radiohead, bro..”, I swear I’m gonna………do nothing about it.