How well do you know Radiohead?

It's been a while, but here's another Radiohead test... You've heard OK Computer, and you remember that weird animated video where the guy gets his legs cut off (wasn't there something about mermaids, too?) You've seen Clueless, and perhaps wondered exactly what Alicia Silverstone meant when she talked about 'complaint rock'. You can still sing along to the chorus from Creep, and get nostalgic about 8th grade. But how well do you really know Thom and the boys? Enter and find out.... click

TMGLMOAT out on general release

Radiohead's DVD 'The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of all Time' was previously only available through W.A.S.T.E. or The Ideal Copy Now, the DVD with Radiohead.tv episodes will be out on general release. For instance, CDWOW will ship the DVD worldwide for £11.99 (free shipping) on March 7th. Please note that this one is region free, but a PAL version. [thanks David]

Radiohead.com down (which is the new up, btw)

Down is the new up... But, Radiohead.com is more up than down right now. For those who cannot reach the official site. Here's what's going on:

Apologies - The internet is slightly broken at the moment - a large-scale attack has brought down a load of internet servers, some of which are unfortunately ours. So this website might not work very well, if at all. It should all be back to normal soon when these people get bored of attacking servers, so why not go and do something else for a while?

Tracklisting of Chris O'Riley's 2nd

Christopher O'Riley will release his second Radiohead tribute on April 12th. Harmonia Mundi is the new label for the 'True Love Waits' follow-up. 'Hold me to this' contains 14 new piano interpretations of Radiohead songs. Here's the tracklisting:

There There
(nice dream)
No Surprises
Polyethylene Part II
How I Made My Millions
Like Spinning Plates
Sail To The Moon
The Tourist
Cuttooth
2+2=5
Talk Show Host
Gagging Order
Paranoid Android
Street Spirit (fade out)

Donwood/Yorke artwork up for auction

Free Tibet Campaign is thrilled to offer the first original artwork ever to be made available for sale by long term Radiohead collaborators Dr T. Tchock and Stanley Donwood. As fans of the award winning band will know, Donwood is a major contributor to Radiohead, having produced the artwork for the band's albums since their My Iron Lung EP in collaboration with "Dr. Tchock" aka Radiohead frontman, Thom Yorke.

Radiohead have championed many worthwhile causes, and are long term supporters of Free Tibet Campaign and the Tibetan cause. We are delighted Stanley Donwood and Dr Tchock have created this fabulously detailed, signed and sealed, original piece for the Panchen Lama, and expect this piece of art and music history to make a real impact in the auction.

Please call 020 7324 4610 or email artauction@freetibet.org to reserve your seats.

You can view all the art firsthand during the week preceeding the auction. All pieces are being displayed in a free public exhibtion at Foyles Gallery between 10 March and 17 March (Monday to Saturday 9.30am - 9.00pm, Sunday 11.00am - 5.00pm).

Phantom Planet's 'Paranoid Android' released

Phantom Planet have recorded Radiohead's OK Computer classic 'Paranoid Android. You can purchase a copy of the track at the Sony Connect music store. Beware: If you have an Apple computer you won't get access to the store and you are forced to get it the illegal way. [thanks Joseph]

Thom: Rob da bank anyone?

Thom made a brief appearance on the official Radiohead msg board last night:

anyboady beeen listening to rob da bank etc all the one music lot ... i just listened to good show frm last week.. including autechre..

just curious to know, i am enjoying them and feeling slightly less i am living in a vacumn

thm

Order your ateaseweb.com/Donwood shirt

The new ateaseweb.com t-shirts are here. The shirts have an exclusive Stanley Donwood design.

The magnificent Stanley Donwood, responsible for most of Radiohead's artwork was so kind to design an exclusive t-shirt for ateaseweb.com.

The red shirts are printed with the logo [signed with 'Stanley'] on the front in black and white. The back has a small 'Radiohead', 'At Ease' & three dots on it.

The shirts were printed by Sandbag Ltd, a sister company to w.a.s.t.e. W.a.s.t.e. are responsible for all of Radiohead's merchandise. The shirts are custom made and sweatshop free.

Ordering can be done at ateaseweb.com/shirts.

By ordering a shirt, you're supporting At Ease with the site's server costs. And.... First orders will receive a Radiohead button as well, kindly supplied by w.a.s.t.e.

Ether Festival update

As you all know, the Ether Festival is nearing. Still not a lot of news regarding what's going to happen, but to get things straight...the South Bank Festival Hall magazine has a little bit more information on Jonny and Thom's upcoming performance at the festival.

"Right at the core of Ether are the collaborations between the London Sinfonietta, the UK's prime contemporary chamber orchestra, and electronic musicians from the underbelly of pop. This time Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood is the main collaborator. Jonny has recently demonstrated his compositional chops by penning a soundtrack for the film Bodysong, which steers a path between romantic minimalism, free jazz and electronic soundscapes. Here he will present Smear, a piece originally composed for the Sinfonietta as part of last year's Fuse festival in Leeds, along with new arrangements of Radiohead songs.

Middle Eastern music has had an enormous impact on Jonny, as is clear from the twisting harmonic structures of Radiohead; intriguingly he has also invited the Nazareth Orchestra, which is formed from Arab and Israeli musicians, to participate in the event. They will perform compositions associated with the singer Oum Kolthoum, who was known as the almost mythical voice of the Arab world of the 1930s and '40s.

A key idea behind these collaborations with the Sinfonietta is the insertion into the programme of relevant classics from the 20th century classical repertoire. Past events have included works by Cage, Nancarrow, Stockhausen, Antheil and Ligeti, and the juxtaposition of genres has worked brilliantly, forging new alliances and drawing out the connections between the two worlds. The audience response to these innovations has been ecstatic, and this year's collaboration has had to anticipate demand by occupying two nights. It will feature works by Messiaen, Ligeti and Penderecki, extending a line of thought right back to the heart of the last century. The Messiaen work will be a performance of a movement from his Quartet for the End Of Time, in an arrangement for six ondes martenots." [thanks Simon]

PS Apologies for the lack of updates in the past few days. Been a bit busy/lazy ;)

Radiohead gives Low hope

Dutch radio station VPRO's 3voor12 had an interview with Low. Low have supported Radiohead on seven European shows, which turned out as an enlightening experience.

"Seeing them [Radiohead] each night, you'll realize that it is possible to make challenging music and do your music. And it's still possible to go out there and doing it on a large scale, without feeling like you're selling something.

It's possible for lots of people to get together and actually hear an artist say something that's valid. And some of them take it very seriously and understand it and it's great. And the rest of the people are just here to have a good time and that's nice that they do that"

Low doesn't expect to be big and succesful themselves. "But there's always that question: Would I turn into a complete jerk if we became succesful? Is succes evil? To see them play and see them succesful and still doing something positive. I think, there's hope. Let's follow our hearts and it will all be fine"

Listen to the Low interview.

More on The Weird Sisters from 'Goblet of Fire'

David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter movies recently spoke with the Melbourne Sun about Jarvis Cocker, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway and their parts as The Weird Sisters in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and had this to say: "In the film you’ll see The Weird Sisters play regular instruments that are a little bit strange, like bagpipes with really long pipes and guitars with three necks.” Mr. Heyman also comments that he was “quietly confident” that Daniel, Emma and Rupert “would be back again and maybe beyond.”

Cocker and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway will be seen as part of a wizard rock band called The Weird Sisters, which plays at a Yule Ball held in the Hogwarts Great Hall, which is transformed into a shimmering silver wonderland with a stage made of ice.

The band looked really cool and it was great that they got real rock n roll people, Rupert Grint, who plays Harry s friend, Ron Weasley, said on the set at Leavesden Studios. [from hpana.com]

Vote for Radiohead

Esquire Magazine wants to know which band is the best in the world. It's quite easy, but there are still people who got lost in the matchup rounds... which resulted in a current lead for Pearl Jam. So, have a look and fix this... esquire.com/bestband [thanks Greg]

TMGLMOAT DVD also available in USA

Radiohead's latest DVD release 'The Most Gigantic Liying Mouth Of All Time' is now also available in the USA. The DVD with 4 episodes from Radiohead.tv was only available at w.a.s.t.e., but The Ideal Copy has a number of NSTC versions (Region '0' = Region Free) of the DVD in stock. You can order the DVD here.

Field Day Festival is off

The Field Day Music Festival for 2005 is off. The festival, which rumoured to have Radiohead as headliners, had scrapped plans for a July concert at Greig Farm. Instead, promoters will focus their efforts on summer 2006.

The festival was scheduled for July 16-17. It was expected to draw about 30,000 people a day, with three nights of camping. Promoter Andrew Dreskin had hoped the show would be the first of many Field Day festivals at the farm.

The Red Hook town board had given approval for a mass gathering permit last year on the condition all other state and county requirements were satisfied.

In a press release, show promoter Andrew Dreskin said difficulty scheduling talent, along with the challenges of meeting the requirements of state mass-gathering permits, led to the decision to cancel this year's show.

This isn't the first time the Field Day show has run into difficulty. In 2003 when Radiohead were on the bill as well, the venue had to be shifted from Riverhead, Suffolk County, to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., because town officials backed out at the last minute. [from Poughkeepsie Journal]

Third Way interview online

Finally, a transcript of the interview with Thom Yorke in Third Way has appeared online. Third Way, a British Christian magazine, published the interview in December and was conducted Brian Draper at Cafe Rouge in Oxford on October 11, 2004.

Head over to Cloud Cuckoo Land to read it.

Rodeohead update

You can all remember last summer's underground hit 'Rodeohead'. The track is a country/bluegrass medley of Radiohead tracks, which was performed by comedians Chris Hardwick & Mike Phirman aka Hard 'n Phirm.

Now, the track is currently not available on their site. This has something to with their upcoming album release, which includes a remastered Rodeohead. The album, 'Horses and Grasses', will be out on February 23rd. Besides 'Rodeohead' it will also include another Radiohead related track, entitled 'Fitter Clappier'. You'll probably have an idea where that one's going.

Anyway, for those who have missed it and/or want a preview of the track... The remastered version of 'Rodeohead' is now exclusively available on ateaseweb.com. It's not as hi-fi as the album version, but surely worth listening to (over and over again). Check the player.

On top of that, we'll make sure to debut 'Fitter Clappier' right here as well in a few weeks. Stay tuned. Copy that?

More TMGLMOAT reviews

For those who are interested, here are three more reviews of Radiohead's latest DVD 'The most gigantic lying mouth of all time'.

DVD Monthly
LA Times
Time Out

Radiohead.com update

Radiohead's official site, www.radiohead.com has been updated again. The front page turned black and new images have been added. Check the scrapbook as well for a new layout. [thanks will]

Pitchfork: 'Kid A best album of this decade'

After Pitchfork's best singles of 2000-2004, Hail To The Thief was named the 39th best album of the decade so far, Amnesiac 21st, and Kid A the 1st!

039: Radiohead Hail to the Thief [Capitol; 2003]

Old habits die hard-- having left the grand spotlight-sweeping gestures of "Creep" and The Bends far behind, Radiohead still can't help but sloganeer disenfranchisement. "The raindrops." "This is the gloaming." "Little babies' eyes." "We want young blood." "Just because you feel it doesn't mean it's there." This isn't subtle stuff, even if Thom Yorke spends a good amount of time singing (mewling, wailing) in a near-whisper. These fragments repeat endlessly, transforming into funereal rallying cries, the perfect chants to accompany these resolute dirges. So damned serious and earnest, these guys. And, of course, there's title of the album, utilizing a horrifically awkward pun to announce itself and its intentions. Yet where the words and their purported import might be cumbersome, the music is sublime--electrostatic shocks mingle with three-penny operatics and Sophoclean choral uprisings as if they're long-lost friends kicking back a few cocktails. Even the Horsemen of the Apocalypse need some down time, y'know? Yes, this is An Important Album, all of it, every scratch and breath, every tic and squeal. But don't let that nonsense stop you from enjoying it. --David Raposa

021: Radiohead Amnesiac [Capitol; 2001]

On what may be Radiohead's classiest and most restrained collection of songs, Thom Yorke ran endurance tests on his repertoire, having cast himself in a guitarless role that might be billed as a fight between his piano man, his personal jesus, and his
paranoid android. Oddly pretty, the album's cynical showtunes slithered through pop history, flinched with futurism, drank dyspepsia, chewed troublegum, shriveled Big Brother, and inflated Chicken Little. Amnesiac crouched in its own deprivation chamber so elegantly that its initial misdiagnosis of being "10 songs in search of an album" would be forgotten if not for the reprise of Kid A's "Morning Bell". But even that echo was recast from a warm distant place, like a clone baby singing itself to sleep in a makeshift womb, its lullabies dreading much more than prequel-envy. --William Bowers

001: Radiohead Kid A [Capitol; 2000]

Exactly how and why Radiohead's Kid A has come to stand as the definitive artistic statement for rock consumers born after 1975 is almost ridiculously difficult to discern. People believed (and continue to believe) in the metaphysical heft of Kid A: in its
aesthetic worth, its innovation, its meaning. In 2000, Kid A felt true and inscrutable; five years later, it somehow still does: From its chilling opening organ figure to its closing silence, Kid A is enormous-- a huge, sweeping testament to Radiohead's ever-swelling worldview.

Kid A was an obvious departure from its predecessor, the guitar-swollen OK Computer, and it alternately challenged and confounded Radiohead's core audience. Regardless, the record's supposed difficulty also lent it a certain sense of gravity: Kid A is confrontational and insistent, mysteriously capable of convincing some of the most stridently anti-electro guitarheads that inorganic flourishes can feel bloody and real. Consequently, in the months following its release, Kid A transformed into an intellectual symbol of sorts, a surprisingly ubiquitous signifier of self. Owning it became "getting it"; getting it became
"annointing it." The record's significance as a litmus test was stupid and instant and undeniable: In certain circles, you were only as credible as your relationship to this album. And that kind of intense, unilateral, with-us-or-against-us fandom felt oddly, uncomfortably apropos in the face of all that sound.

It is in this weird sense that Kid A was (and continues to be) the perfect record for its time: Ominous, surreal, and impossibly millennial, its revolutionary tangle of yelpy, apocalyptic vocals, glitchy synths, and beautiful drones is uncertain about both its past and present-- and, accordingly, timeless. --Amanda Petrusich

Here's Pitchfork's full list [thanks Doug]

I read the news today, oh boy

...and well, there isn't any. So here are some more Mash-up remixes of Radiohead tracks. Go Home Productions made three mash-ups and they never really made it to the At Ease News section. So here you go. The remixes are commented below by remixer/producer Mark Vidler.

'KARMA IN THE LIFE' Radiohead / The Beatles Karma Police / A Day In The Life Taken from the Beatleg Bootles set and made available in isolation after many requests. Was the last track that I played at Bastard in December to a crowd of dropped jaws. Nice feeling. November 2003.

'INDEPENDENT CREEP' Destiny's Child / Radiohead Independent Women / Creep Never know what to make of this. Funnily enough a lot of folks like it. The verses work pretty well and then you get to the chorus and there's no getting rid of Thom doing his thang. If there was an instrumental of 'Creep' available I might have pulled it off a bit better. It was around this stage that I was putting out 2 tracks a week and it shows. July 2002.

'SEXUAL HIGH' Marvin Gaye / Radiohead Sexual Healing / High And Dry A demo for this pairing was on my hardrive since 'Oasis are Gaye' but I ended up putting out that one. Played it to Tone who said it had no right to be hidden away and I should put it out. Decided to totally re-record the whole thing from scratch. Worked on a punchier break using the Radiohead kit and a sample. Layered in a string section and released it on valentines day. Gott a big reaction from a lot of people. Another turning point I suppose. Played on John Kennedy's Exposure a few times. The BBC were in touch too. February 2003.

John Frusciante covers 'You and whose army'

John Frusciante, Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist, has covered Radiohead's 'You and whose army' at the Los Angeles Weekly Music Awards. John played the song from Amnesiac on acoustic guitar. Although the video quality is not that good, you might want to check out this bootleg video of the performance. [thanks Nitan]

New Radiohead book out on Monday

A new Radiohead book will be out in the shops this Monday (February 7th) entitled: "Radiohead: The Complete Guide to Their Music".

Synopsis
The indispensable consumer's guide to the music of Radiohead. An album by album track by track, examination of every song released by Radiohead, from Pablo Honey in 1993 to Hail to the Thief in 2003.

Includes sections on compilations, live recordings, films and related work by all members of the group. An album by album, track by track analysis. Information on when and where the music was recorded A track index for easy reference Details of re-issues and the state of the current Radiohead catalogue 16 pages of pictures.

The book, written by Mark Paytress, can be ordered online at Amazon.

Thom & Mel on message board

Thom appeared on the the official msg board tonight:

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJe just to let you know the site 'scrapbook' section is being added to regularly now as well.. contrary to what the news sites are saying....

it randomizes contents and those contents will continue to expand, it is for us to look at as much as you, i hope you understand it is not supposed to be coherent..

its kind of funny the moaning about it i think.

well anyway, please dont flood because im jumping back out of the river now.....

luv thom

p.s. whats will all the anal retentive?

Melanie from w.a.s.t.e. announced the Japanese section of the W.a.s.t.e. shop:

Just a quickie to say a big thank you to Yasuko who has helped us translate the shop into Japanese recently - please see www.waste.uk.com.

In the same way I'd like to say a huge thanks to all the fansites around the world for helping us in this way too. Big Up to you all.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Mel x

Download Gillian Welch's 'Black Star'

As reported earlier Gillian Welch covered Radiohead's 'Black Star' on her recent tour. A live version, recorded in Minneapolis on September 24th 2004, is now exclusively available for download at Fast Atmosphere. You can listen to a preview and purchase the track for $1.29 at fastatmosphere.com.

'Where I end and You begin' remix

Another Radiohead white label remix has been released. This time it's 'Where I end and you begin', remixed by Leama And Moor. The track can be found in various newsgroups and is also available at a belgian online store, K-records. K-records has a preview online as well. [thanks Sam]

Vapour Bros. & Rh.com updates

Two new Quicktime movies are available at the Vapour Brothers site. Click on 'vapour extras' at VapourBrothers.com for these vids:

#1 pixeldj
#2 ready to learn?

Also, Radiohead.com has had various updates in the past week. Just the front page though.