Thom Yorke performs VU song with Beck

Thom Yorke made a surprise appearance at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, where Beck, Eddie Vedder and Mike Ness were scheduled to play last night. Thom did a duet with Beck at a benefit for the recording artist's coalition. They played a version of Velvet Undergound's '"I'm set free". Thom wasn't very talktive but saying he was jetlagged. [thanks Carrie]

Radiohead back in the studio in May

Radiohead plan to go back into the studio in May to record a new album according to Radiohead's Ed O' Brien. The guitarist told worldpop.com: 'The band are planning a get-together in May in the studio. We're putting all gigs on hold at the moment to concentrate on writing new material.'

Speaking at the NME/Carling Awards where the band won the award for Best Video for Pyramid Song, O' Brien said the new album may be a return to a guitar based format, ditching the electronica the band experimented with on Kid A and Amnesiac. 'We're listening to a lot of guitar music at the moment,' said O' Brien. 'I like a lot of the new bands like Electric Soft Parade.'

'It's a bit embarassing to pick up an award for Best Video,' continued the guitarist, 'because it wasn't made by us.' O' Brien also refuted the band's critics who claim they make depressing records. 'We don't make unhappy records. We make uplifting ones,' he said. [thanks Marc]

Oh, and the Greenwood brothers didn't win at the Gibson Awards. Jonny was nominated in the Best Rock Guitarist Category and Colin was nominated in the Best Bassist category. Jonny lost to Jeff Beck and Colin to Sam Rivers (Limp Bizkit). [not going to comment on this one]

Here's a review of the 'Strung Out on Ok Computer' performance at Hollywood club Largo, The string quartet known as The Section performed their interpretation of Radiohead's "Ok Computer."

Radiohead awarded for Pyramid Song video

Radiohead picked up an award at the NME (Brat) Awards. According to NME Ed & Colin were 'vaguely embarrassed' to take Best Music Video for 'Pyramid Song'... Radiohead were also nominated for Best Band and Best Album, but The Strokes got away with those... Check NME.com
for full story and here's the video interludes for the Best video category from this year's NME Carling Awards...

Roger Waters on Radiohead

Roger Waters, former frontman and bassist for Pink Floyd, recently did an interview with Rolling Stone. Here's one of the questions: Have you heard Radiohead? "My son Harry gave me OK Computer. I really liked it. I thought it had two or three really great songs on it. Then a friend gave me a newish album with a red thing, I can't even remember what it was called". "Amnesiac"? "Yeah, Amnesiac. That was beyond me, I have to say. I listened to it once in the car and went, "Well, OK, guys. Good, but you've left me." You know, where's my Neil Young? Where's my John Lennon album? " Here's the interview in full. [thanks Mach]

Radiohead missed out on the Brit Awards despite two nominations.

Stanley Donwood updated his site today. Have a look here.

News in brief

After rumours of Radiohead playing Portugal, Spain and Brazil.. there are more tour dates expected for this summer. Radioactivo 98.5, a radio station in México City, said that Radiohead might play in Mexico City in may or june. [thanks maría José]

Check out this Ministry of Sound player to preview the tracks on the new ChillOut Session CD featuring Radiohead's Climbing up the walls.

Here's a South Park/Radiohead animation with the band messing up airbag:) [thanks Kirsten]

Jonny Greenwood & Bryan Ferry!

Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood has contributed to the first Bryan Ferry solo album in eight years. 'Frantic' is released on 15 April in the UK. Greenwood contributed to the track 'Hiroshima' [from NME]

Greenwood brothers nominated

Colin Greenwood was nominated in the best bass player award section of the Gibson Awards. Jonny Greenwood was also nominated for Best Rock Guitarist at the Gibsons. Other nominees are Peter Buck, the Edge, and Steve Vai. [thanks Godfrey]

Amnesiac in top 5 2002 Village Voice Poll

Bob Dylan's Love and Theft has topped the 2002 Village Voice Pazz and Jop critic's poll for album of the year. The top five finishers, voted on by 621 of the industry's top music critics, are Dylan, the Strokes' Is This It, Bjork's Vespertine, the White Stripes' White Blood Cells, and Radiohead's Amnesiac.

Phil Selway opens charity centre

Radiohead's Phil Selway is due to open a new centre for the Samaritans. Mr Selway, a volunteer with the charity, was unveiling the building in Oxford on Friday. The state-of-the-art centre in Magdalen Road features interview and meeting rooms. "It's a very impressive place," Mr Selway told BBC Oxford Online.

"For an organisation that's based on volunteers it's incredibly professionally run. I think this comes across in the centre." Mr Selway became a Samaritan when he was a student in Liverpool in the 1980s. The prospect of helping people through difficult times appealed to him. "It's about giving people the space to explore their own feelings and not be jumping in with your own experiences and own snippets of advice," Mr Selway said. He initially worked as a volunteer on the charity's phone lines, but more recently he has been helping to raise its profile. "Because of the profile of the band I've been able to highlight the good work of the Samaritans," he added.

With Radiohead one of the world's most successful rock acts, drummer Mr Selway has to fit shifts around the band's schedule. "For me, Radiohead and the Samaritans are polar opposites," said Mr Selway. "They don't feed into each other but they do provide a good contrast." [from BBC]

Radiohead's 'Kinetic' in Warp Mix

Radiohead's Kinetic is included on the Warp records Ambient Mix. The tracks comes in at about 02:32. Click here for a real audio stream of the mix. [thanks Ryszka]

Also on the Warp site; Autreche (artist signed to the Warp label) answers fan's questions. Here are two of them:

1) Bet this is a bit of an annoying question but... 'How do you feel about Radiohead's Thom Yorke naming you as a major influence on their recent work and also calling LP5 one of the greatest albums ever made?' well he's wrong we've done loads better than that. but then it's only an opinion.

2) what's this i heard some time ago about you doing something with thom yorke? he got in touch a while ago. he wanted us to tour with them but it wasn't something we really wanted to do.

Sigur Ros on Radiohead

And here's a bit from a Sigur Ros interview: How do you like the new Radiohead stuff, kid a and amnesiac? orri: i thought kid a was a great album. georg: i like their new stuff. i used to listen to kid a and amnesiac a lot but somehow i just stopped listening to them. maybe they don't last very well, despite being great records. [thanks Arthur]

Download 'Rhinestone Cowboy'

A new file is now uploaded, only available for atease mailinglist subscribers: The Glenn Campbell cover "Rhinestone Cowboy", performed by Radiohead in Paris (Black Sessions 1993).

Climbing Up The Walls (Zero 7 Remix) released on Chillout Sessions

Radiohead have undergone a format change with some mechanical work from Zero 7 in the Ministry of Sound workshop. Radiohead's 'Climbing Up The Walls' is used on the 2CD set "The ChillOut Session", as well as mixes from Underworld, Badly Drawn Boy, Lemon Jelly, Massive Attack, The Stone Roses and MJ Cole. In the USA, Ministry of Sound has just been picked up by Universal but the dance label has enjoyed long success elsewhere through EMI. (from undercover)

Download 'Follow me around'

File number 4 is now uploaded, only available for atease mailinglist subscribers... The Toronto 2000 version of 'Follow Me Around' is the latest addition.

4 NME Carling Awards nominations

Radiohead are leading the nominations list for the 2002 NME Carling Awards with four nominations. Radiohead received recognition in the Best Band, Best Album (Amnesiac), Best Live Act, and Best Music Video ("Pyramid Song") categories. All winners are decided by fan voting at www.nmecarlingawards.com. The award ceremony will take place Feb. 25 at the Planit Arches in London.

Radiohead: "Live From the IntellectualDome"

The following is taken from somethingawful.com:

Radiohead: "Live From the IntellectualDome" (music video) - Pretentious pop / anti-pop / pseudo pop band Radiohead was filmed live at the Saint Louis IntellectualDome, where they were accompanied by a string quartet, an entire brass section, and twelve hillbillies that played homemade instruments ranging from the washboard to the jug. Thom Yorke and his band of hipster doofuses play a variety of their hit songs aimed at art major college students, including the upcoming singles "If You Don't Like This Song Then You Don't Get It and You Are Stupid" and "My Art is Deeper Than Your Art." The crowd expresses their approval by holding up their expresso coffee cups and flashing the lights on their SUVs. Yorke concludes his live performance with a stirring rendition of "This Song is 50 Thousand 16th Notes." [thanks Richard]

New competition

Radiohead's Planet Telex is included on the XFM remix album. AT EASE will be giving some XFM t-shirts and Remix cd's away to the winners of a new competition. Go to the at ease competitions page to enter.

Nude download

Another treat, only available for atease mailinglist subscribers... 'Nude' or 'Big Ideas [don't get any]' is back for download. This time, it's last years Vancouver version.

message from w.a.s.t.e.

We at W.A.S.T.E. have taken it upon ourselves to have a bit of a shake up and it is our duty as your style gurus to inform you of some fashion bargains available within these very four walls. It's that time of year when everything must go to make way for the new and the fresh. It's your last chance to buy some of our classic designs as once they are gone, they are gone for good. Everything on our SALE! SALE! SALE! page is reduced and on the verge of extinction! Ooh! you look a bit peeky. Why don't you go to w.a.s.t.e. for some retail therapy?