Radiohead compare themselves
to Rolling Stones [31-01-03]
Radiohead's"self-assured" new
album is a culmination of the best aspects
of their last four records.
The record, the group's sixth, is due for mid-June,
with working titles '2+2=5' and 'Are You Listening'.
Recording is now complete, although sessions
on the record are expected to continue until
at least mid-February. O'Brien revealed that
the atmosphere in the band is "fucking
brilliant" compared to the frosty recording
sessions for their last two albums 'Kid A' and
'Amnesiac, and that the new songs contain "space
and sunshine and energy".
He commented: "You know that time when
bands begin to swagger, like when the Stones
got in a grove from '68 to '73? In the last
two years, I think we've done that. To me, this
record feels like the culmination of the best
bits of 'The Bends', 'OK Computer', 'Kid A'
and 'Amnesiac'. Speaking to Q, drummer Phil
Selway added: "I don't think we've ever
felt so self assured in the studio. This time
no shit hit the fan. And Thom's voice has been
incredible. That's the stand out element for
me. He's reminded us that he's in a league of
his own."
Radiohead are strongly rumoured to be playing
at this year's Glastonbury festival, while internet
sources claim a slot at the Coachella festival
in the US this Spring is also a possibility.
[from
nme.com, thanks matt & sergio]
New Autechre album gonna
sound like 'The Bends'? [31-01-03]
British technodemics Autechre are set to release
their seventh album, entitled Draft 7.30, on
April 7th via Warp Records. From reports, we
think the hype is supposed to run like this:
Draft 7.30 is the proper follow-up to 2001's
lesson in abstraction Confield, with last August's
more accessible Gantz Graf EP serving as a bridge
to what rumor has as Autechre's most accessible
album yet. Oh yeah, and we also hear it's gonna
sound like "The Bends". [from pitchfork,
thanks Erik]
Benicassim performance
TV broadcast [28-01-03]
Radiohead's performance at the Benicassim Festival
of last summer will be broadcast on Canal 33
at the "Sputnik" show on Monday night:
00:45 [thanks fran]
Conductor-composer Esa-Pekka
Salonen & Radiohead [28-01-03]
Conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen talks
about his love for rock music and Radiohead
in particular: The breakthrough came a few years
ago, with Radiohead's alienated, sometimes drifty
1997 LP. "When I heard 'OK Computer,' after
five minutes I said, 'I actually get this. I
understand what these people are trying to do.'
And what they were trying was not so drastically
different from what I was trying to do."
Salonen met the band's Colin and Johnny Greenwood
for dinner one night when he was in London.
"Out of this old habit I started speaking
to them about classical music the way you do
with an aunt of 85 years old, assuming they
know nothing. But, of course, in two minutes
I realized these guys know perfectly well. They
were sort of amused when I said, 'Have you heard
about this French composer Olivier Messiaen?'
And Johnny Greenwood said, 'Yes, I own a couple
of his old Ondes-Martenots" -- rare early
electronic keyboards.
But Salonen says he's attracted to the band
not just for musical and intellectual reasons,
but also because they move him emotionally.
He hopes to collaborate with the group in some
form. "They're not predictable, and the
form is not boring. There's a sense of humor
and self-irony in the music, which is very rare
in the world of rock and pop because those people
take themselves very seriously. It's really
refreshing to hear a little bit of distance."
[from
la times, thanks dan]
Radiohead mixing LP
6? [28-01-03]
Radiohead were spotted last week wandering in
and out of Battery Studios, London, the UK headquarters
of Zomba Records. Apparantly Battery
Studios has got one of the best mixing desks
on the planet, which might indicate the band
are already mixing the new record. [thanks dan]
Jonny on Bodysong
[28-01-03]
It's common knowledge
that despite many requests Radiohead have resisted
creating music for films. What drew you to the
project Bodysong? Jonny: "Most
film score writing demands discipline. You have
to use click-tracks, and provide music that
makes it's point in, say, 20 seconds - and even
leaves spaces for dialogue. This wasn't true
with Bodysong, which meant I could let musicians
play at tempos that felt right. So I had the
luxury of just concentrating on trying to put
some kind of mood across."
What was the biggest challenge of writing
a film soundtrack of this size and scope? Jonny:
" One advantage of a regular soundtrack
is that you can structure the music around recurring
themes or characters - neither of which occurs
in Bodysong. Also I was very conscious of the
exhaustion you get hearing 85 minutes of music
that is either too similar or too disparate
in style. I was trying to get the balance between
them..."
What came first the images or the music?
Jonny: " Both, in a way. Rough drafts of
the film came in sections (that grew and shrank
in length as the editing progressed) and stuff
written for each section that was recorded,
then edited to size, towards the end of the
whole process."
How did your very different experiences
as part of Radiohead and your classical musical
knowledge contribute to the mix of music you've
created for Bodysong? Jonny: "It
just meant I could use a string quartet, and
write out stuff for the jazz players to improvise
around. It was a revelation to realise that
you can rely on good players to make quite simple
ideas sound very 'musical'. The Emperor String
quartet were fantastic - adaptable, patient
and played beautifully."
The film images are a mixture of analogue
images (some over 100 years old) and digital
images, all compiled, restored and edited into
a narrative digitally. Does the process you
used to create the soundtrack music reflect
that mix? Jonny:"
I suppose so... I was anxious not to just provide
pastiches of older styles of music to accompany
older sources of film: and yet, I quickly found
out that it was important for some of the music
to try and be beautiful - pretty, even - like
the footage. And not be embarrassed by that.
The dark, sinister moods were easier, but could
have swamped the film if music like the string
quartet material wasn't there too."
There's more info available at www.bodysong.com
37 new Radiohead song
titles [27-01-03]
About 60 new Radiohead songs
are registered at Warner Chappell. Warner Chappell
is the publisher of all Radiohead songs. The
list includes newly recorded songs which have
been previously performed in 2002 (European
shows, Bridge School Benefit & December
webcast), but also songs from Radiohead's early
demos that have seen the light on the internet
in August 2002. It seems that the band have
registered the songs now to prevent further
distribution as those songs all pre-dated the
band's record deal.
Thirty-seven of those 60 registered songs are
unreleased and not seen or heard anywhere else
before. It's unclear which of these are early
demo songs or songs that might appear on a future
Radiohead release.
Here are the song titles: A Cigarette, Alice,
All about rain, Backdrifts, Burning bush, Cardigan,
Climbing up a bloody great hill, Coming on music,
Dance Sucker, Do you believe, Down the roof,
Everybody Knows, Exuberance & Alcohol, Fat
Girl, For God's Sake, Fragile Friend, Gagging
Order, Girl (In Purple Dress), God Knows, Happy
Song, Holier Than Thou, I Don't Want To Hurt
You, I Know Better, In The Breeze, Lemming Trail,
Letter For Upstairs, Life With The Big F, Lock
The Door, Mountains (On The Move), Mr. B, Mr.
Celibate, My Maggot, New Generations, Police,
Responsibilities, Shindig, Sinking Ship, Somebody,
Stone, Sweet Justice, Talk about it, Tell me
bitch, The Gloaming, There'll be a storm, To
be a brilliant light, Upside down Unknown, When
you get rio.
[thanks to rich for the hint]
Bodysong site now live
[27-01-03]
The Bodysong website is now
live with more info on the director and of course
composer Jonny Greenwood. For those who'd like
to know who the musicians are who performed
Jonny's work: trumpet and flugelhorn - gerard
presenser, tenor and soprano saxophone - julian
arguelles, double bass - jeremy brown, drums
- gene calderazzo, violin - martin burgess,
violin - clare hayes, viola - fiona bonds, cello
- william schofield.
Thom in 22 Voices [27-01-03]
MTV2 has named Thom Yorke of
Radiohead one of their Top 22 Voices. The media
giant is calling out for New York area fans
that have answers to the questions below. Strong
responses will be filmed and broadcast on the
air. The Top 22 Voices countdown comes in honor
of MTV's 22 years on the air. Answers should
be submitted to mtv.production.casting@mtvstaff.com.
Filming for the episode featuring Yorke will
begin next week (Jan. 28 - Feb. 4). Other voices
include Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Bjork, Michael
Stipe of REM, and Tupac Shakur.
Top 22 Voices Questionnaire
1. Who is your pick for greatest voice &
why?
2. How has the artist personally touched/inspired/affected
you?
3. What kind of memorabilia do you have of that
artist (photo, autograph, e-mail, letters, tickets,
room full of posters, CD/record collection,
etc) visually showing that you are a huge fan?
(your opinion carries weight)
4. How many times have you seen this artist
live? What was the artist's defining moment?
5. Include your name, phone #, address, pictures
of memorabilia / souvenirs & of yourself.
Vote for your favorite voice at mtv.com.
[thanks kludgemagazine.com,
denise, doug]
Creep in Songs that changed
the world list [27-01-03]
Creep is listed at #99 in the top 100 songs
that changed the world by Q Magazine latest
special edition. [thanks Sergio]
Bodysong screenings [12-01-03]
Jonny Greenwood's project 'The
Body Song' will be shown in Rotterdam (Netherlands)
at the International Film Festival. The movie,
subtitled as A Century of Human Drama and Struggle
captured in Moving Images, tells the story of
an archetypal human life using images taken
from All around the World and The Last 100 Years
of Cinema.
The editing, music, and the mythic narrative
arc of the material is designed to take the
viewer on a roller coaster tour of the human
body and life cycle. Every possible depiction
of the human life from microscopic medical to
portraits and newsreels, from births to deaths,
are cut to a powerful music track by Jonny Greenwood
of Radiohead to create a powerful and highly
emotional film.
The film's power derives from the force of
numbers; each face, each person, each body,
each glimpse of anatomy, is both abstracted
and dignified by being part of a huge flow,
a torrent of humanity larger than any of us
can conceive.
Written and Directed by Simon Pummell, Music
written and produced by Jonny Greenwood, Produced
by Janine Marmot, A Film by Hot Property Films
for FilmFour and The Film Council.
Bodysong will be screened in Rotterdam on the
following dates: Monday 27th January 2003 10.15pm,
Tuesday 28th January 2003 12.00 noon, Thursday
30th January 2003 5.00pm, Saturday 1st February
2004 2.45pm.
For ticket info contact the International film
festival Rotterdam after January 16th. For tickets:
www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
or tel: 00 31 10 890 90 00. More info at: www.bodysong.com
