DJ Tiesto's Street Spirit remix now available

The earlier reported remix of Radiohead's Street Spirit [fade out] is now available on 12" vinyl. The track is backed with a remix of Madonna's 'Die Another Day' and can be purchased through Rare Records. [thanks HF]

5 entries for Radiohead in StuBru 100

Belgian radio station Studio Brussel broadcast their all time top 100. Radiohead has 5 songs in the list, more than any other artist. Creep was placed at nr. 4. Here are the others:

87 Fake Plastic Trees
46 Karma Police
30 Paranoid Android
25 Street Spirit [fade out]

[Thanks Sam]

Merry Christmas

For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas to you all. And for those who don't... have a great weekend! Here's my soundtrack for the weekend.

Support Medecins sans Frontieres

S.K. wrote in with a nice Radiohead auction with proceeds going to Medecins sans Frontieres.

When Radiohead released their 6th studio album, Hail to The Thief (Parlophone/EMI) in June 2003, the artwork featured on the album's cover (originally created by Stanley Donwood) was re-created on a large panel (9.70m x 11m, oil and acrylics on canvas, by local visual artist Katerina Vagia) and suspended at the sight of the EMI offices in Athens, Greece.

Once taken down the canvas was cut into 25 smaller panels, varying in size, which were sent to the members of the group to be autographed.

The auction will begin on December 18th and will run until January 18th 2005 at
12:00 GTM. (14:00 in Greece)

XFM broadcasts South Park gig

Xfm will broadcast an exclusive Radiohead gig, live at South Park, during the Live Hour on Saturday 1 January. For more information on Xfm shows, please visit: xfm.co.uk

OK Computer nr.2 in MTV2's all time list

MTV2 in the UK had their All time Greatest Albums rundown, voted for by the public on MTV2 Planet. Radiohead's OK Computer was listed at number 2. Several other Radiohead albums including 'Kid A, 'Amnesiac' and 'The Bends' also featured at different positions. [thanks Dan]

Band Aid 20 Set For Christmas Number 1

Not that it’s any surprise at all, but according to new sales figures it looks like Band Aid 20’s re-recording of ‘Do They Know It's Christmas?’ will be the Christmas Number 1 single. According to HMV the track is currently outselling its nearest rivals (Kylie Minogue's ‘I Believe In You’ and Ronan Keating and Cat Stevens ‘Father And Son’) by five to one, and sold more than 55,000 copies on Sunday and Monday (Devember 13).

This takes the overall sales figures to a little over 600,000 copies since the release on November 29, and means the song has now overtaken Eamon's 'I Don't Want You Back' as the UK's biggest-selling single of the year. If it continues to sell at this pace, it may well become the UK’s first million-selling single since Will Young's debut single ‘Evergreen’ from back in 2002. [from XFM]

Radiohead at Hurricane Festival on Viva TV

German music television station VIVA will broadcast exclusive Radiohead material in their show Fast Forward. The show will be broadcast on Wednesday December 29th at 00:15-01:15 (that's Thursday actually). The show is a repeat of the interview with Thom Yorke from last year's Hurricane festival in Scheessel (Germany) plus the live performances of "2+2=5" and "There There" and a number of Radiohead videos.

Auction winners receive items for free

One of the winners of the Chieftan Mews eBay auction has been in contact to say that they received the item, without paying! The item was accompanied by this letter from a private investigator:

Monday 6th December 2004
Dear Sir / Madam,
This package addressed to you was found in room 180 of The Grand Hotel, Lucerne. The rooms occupant, Mr. Chieftan S. Mews, left the hotel without settling a substantial bill ($8400). After establishing that the contents of the package are of no use to our investigation we are forwarding it to you with our compliments. We would advise, however, that you have no further dealings with Mr. Mews. Yours truly, GERALD HUNTER. Hunter by name. Hunter by nature."

A recent report indicated that Chieftan may have been spotted in Tunisia....

Tickets for Ether Festival on sale

The earlier reported appearance of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood's music at the London Ether Festival has been set for March 27th and 28th. The music will played by the The official London Sinfonietta at the London Royal Festival Hall. According to NME, Organisers say the events will feature "two evenings of experimentation, collaboration and cross-genre juxtaposition". New music from Greenwood and Yorke will form part of the show, along with more classical composers and traditional Arabic song. Radiohead TV will also be shown on the night, featuring video, animations and unreleased tracks. Tickets are on sale now via the Royal Festival Hall website here. [thanks Adam]

'Pyramid Song' on Flaming Lips compilation

The Flaming Lips will release Radiohead's Pyramid Song on a UK only comilation. The disc in the 'Late Night Tales' series contains various Flaming Lips favourites including the Radiohead track. The cd will be released through Azuli Records on March 7th 2005. [thanks Adam & Cris]

Radiohead.tv dvd review

Earvolution has reviewed the new Radiohead dvd 'The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time'. Here's a small bit from the review:

The overall experience of the DVD is overwhelming, scary and downright trippy. Diehard Radiohead fans will love it, while casual listeners will probably lose their patience. Stick with it though because like Radiohead's music it is a cohesive, well-constructed package and something you'll understand more with each experience. The short films are inspired and the Radiohead footage alone justifies purchase, even if it is hard to get your hands on. You can only buy the DVD through Radiohead's archaic website, which means those of you outside the UK will pay a hefty fee for shipping and those of you in the US will get killed on the exchange rate. The damage for shipment to the US is around $30. You can watch the trailer and order the DVD here. [read it in full]

2+2=5 on Long Way Round soundtrack

Radiohead's '2+2=5' is included on the soundtrack to the Ewen McGregor & Charley Boorman TV series "Long Way Round". '2+2=5' is the opening track on the cd and includes other bands like Blur, Coldplay, Stereophonics and Massive Attack. [thanks John]

G4's 'Creep' might get a single release

G4 are one of the 'The X Factor' finalists, who will be doing their earlier reported version of Radiohead's 'Creep' for this Saturday's final. If G4 wins the final, it will also be their first single.

G4: We did put a call into Radiohead to give them the news and, although we haven't heard back from Thom Yorke, their manager laughed so hard he dropped the phone. [from BBC]

New Radiohead.com frontpage

Radiohead.com has a new front page. The previous one had some changes in the past week. Only the titles changed with Chieftan Mews references and 'because you're WORTH it'. Today a new image is posted as well as the title: 'Category Management'.

Strung Out on Kid A

Vitamin Records have released another String Quartet Tribute to Radiohead. After 'OK Computer', Radiohead's 'Kid A' got the full string quartet fix, entitled: "Strung Out on Kid A: The String Quartet Tribute to Radiohead"

Here's the Press Release:

Rock? Electronica? Who cares! To those with ears to hear, Radiohead’s Kid A is just good music. After creating one of modern rock’s greatest albums with OK Computer, the band altered their sound dramatically for their next release, masterfully incorporating minimalist and apparently nonsense lyrics, a cacophonous din of electronic sounds, occasional eight-piece horn sections (!) and very little guitar to conjure a frighteningly inhuman world of the not-too-distant present. The results are breathtaking, and they stand up as a powerful work from a band at the top of their game, no matter how much the rules of that game had changed.

But if you are reading this, you probably know all of that. On this record, one of the most interesting and talented string quartets around, The Tallywood Strings, pays tribute to the impressive substance of Radiohead’s compositions and puts every string in its right place. Violins shriek and wail, the viola moans, and the cello shudders out a twisted bassline. When it ends, the world may be as inhuman as before, but the talents of Mssrs. Greenwood, Greenwood, Selway, O’Brien, and Yorke will have been proven once again. The String Quartet Tribute to Kid A is the stuff of brilliance.

You can listen to some tracks (and order the disc) here.

Band Aid 20 goes in at number one

Band Aid 20’s ’Do they know it's Christmas?’ has gone straight to the top of the UK singles chart. The song, which has even been purchased by Tony Blair is officially one of the biggest selling singles of the year, selling in the region of 300,000 copies within a week. The track, which features a host of superstars including members of Radiohead, is now tipped to remain at Number One until Christmas. [from NME]

Christmas cards for Ed

It's Xmas 2004, EdQuarters have launched their annual appeal to send a lovely present to Ed. Last year, they donated lot and lots of rizlas. Practical.

This year? They're buying him goats. Yes. Goats. Find out how you can donate, or simply leave a Christmassy message to be delivered with the goats at: edobrien.co.uk

Phil joins Jonny's Wyrd Sisters

Jarvis Cocker was the subject of a small interview about the music of the new Harry Potter movie on Channel 4 teletext this morning (planet sound).
He mentions: "I'm in a scene where I sing for a group called the Wyrd Sisters. There's six of us: Me, Three blokes from Relaxed Muscle and Jonny and Phil from Radiohead" [thanks Seraph]

Michael Stipe on Radiohead fans

There is an interview with Michael Stipe in the Dec/Jan issue of Interview Magazine. Michael mentions Radiohead.

Michael: …at a Radiohead show in New York at the Beacon Theatre. It was a televised thing, and they had sold tickets for $2. The entire place was filled with fanatic Radiohead fans. Typically at a Radiohead show, everyone sings along to every song; they know every lyric. Sometimes you can’t even hear Thom Yorke’s voice over the din of the audience. But this night, when they walked onstage and started playing the first song, the audience was quiet, reverential. No one was singing along to any of the songs. It wasn’t until they played the song “No Surprises” that says “the government, they don’t speak for us.” And on that line, every single person in that room shouted out “the government, they don’t speak for us!” and on the next line of the lyric, they were dead quiet again. I was there with a group of people, including Q-Tip, and I looked over and Tip, and his mouth was hanging open. And I was like, “Did that just happen?” and he just nodded his head yes. Afterwards, we were sitting around at the bar with Thom and the band, and Tip and I said, “Do you realize what happened tonight?” and Thom said, “I almost fell over. I almost couldn’t sing the next line of the song.” [thanks Matt]

MTV2 broadcasts Shepherds Bush gig

MTV2 (Europe) is showing Radiohead gig at London's Shepherds Bush Empire again on Saturday December 4th. The broadcast will also include backstage interviews. Check MTV2 from 2:30 till 4pm GMT. [thanks ShinyMetalAss]

Vote Radiohead into Virgin's Top 500

Virgin Radio is searching for the top 500 songs of all time, and wants you to vote for them. Obviously, we need some Radiohead in that poll. Virgin will be playing out every song in the top 500, starting on Monday 27 December 2004. Tune in between 10.00am and 7.00pm Monday to Thursday, and then on Friday 31 December for the finale, between 1.00pm and 6.00pm. Vote for your three favourite Radiohead tracks [thanks Let Down]

Chieftan Mews Auction Nets Over $700!

The desperate attempt to raise some cash by auctioning his personal items on eBay has netted Chieftan Mews over $700!

The closing bids were:

Empty wallet - $89.88
Signed photo - $102.50
Clump of hair + glass eye - $119.76
Bath water - $123.01
Torn diary page - $319.00

There is much debate whether Chieftan, who is currently in Lucerne, will actually send out these items to the winning bidders or not.

We'll keep you posted....

Meanwhile... the DVD that's caused so much friction between Chieftan and Radiohead is officially released today.

Xfm Rock School contest

The Xfm Rock School contest has had several entries with covers of Radiohead songs. You can hear 'Paranoid Android', 'Just' and 'Creep' performed by talented (and not so talented) teens. At Xfm.co.uk you can hear all the entries out of whom you can chose five finalists, who'll fight it out at a concert at the Marquee Club in Leicester Square, to see who'll win the place on the Xfm Winter Wonderland line-up and the cash for their school.

Band Aid 20 update

Band Aid 20 has sold almost 100,000 copies on its first day of sales, putting it on an easy course to reach number one. Mercury Records, who have released the single on behalf of the Band Aid Trust, reckon that Monday’s sales totalled 95,000 copies. The new version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, which features Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, is expected to top the chart on Sunday and stay at number one until Christmas.

Apple's iTunes store have added the track as well. Apple had been unwilling to raise the cost of the single in line with other download services, said Band Aid. But the single is now on sale for 79p - the usual cost of a song from iTunes - with Apple donating a further 70p to the charity for each song downloaded.

A documentary about the making of the single, Band Aid 20, is on BBC One at 2235 GMT on Monday.