Blueprint samples Radiohead & Thom Yorke

Colombus Alive have an interview online with Blueprint (rapper and producer of Greenhouse Effect), where he talks about a forthcoming release entitled 'Greenhouse Effect vs. Radiohead'.

We’ve got two records we’re going to release. That’s all I was doing the last six months was knocking out those records. The first is an EP called Greenhouse Effect vs. Radiohead. We’re going to put that out about the time we leave for the Weightless Invasion tour, probably second week in April. We know we’re probably going to get sued and a lot of distributors aren’t going to carry it, so we’re just going to do it word-of-mouth, some of the smaller shops. After that we have an album called Columbus or Bust, and that’s the full-length.

So, you guys are doing covers of Radiohead songs?

No, I’m just sampling Radiohead stuff. I tried not to take the real obvious ones, like I didn’t jack “Karma Police.” But I did get a lot of interludes and change-ups near the ends of songs. You’ll recognize them, but you’ll be like, “Wait a minute, where the hell is that from?” and hopefully have you going through your CDs. It’s not even all music samples. I’ve used bits from the documentary and just Thom Yorke talking about music and how his art is received.

Is this your way to get a chance to meet Thom Yorke?

Either him or his lawyer!

The ultimate Radiohead Top 20

I suppose it's time for an ultimate Radiohead poll. In association with Phoenix FM, ateaseweb.com presents the Radiohead Top 20.

You can vote for your 10 favourite Radiohead songs, which will result in a top 20. The full top 20 will be broadcast on Phoenix FM on Saturday 21 May, 8pm (UK time). During the show, hosted by Eddie Curry, Phoenix FM will also be mentioning listeners' favourite charts and other facts and figures.

Cast your vote!

Pitchfork reviews Arpeggi

And another review of Jonny Greenwood & Thom Yorke's Ether Festival performance. This one is specifically about new track 'Arpeggi', receiving 4 out of 5 stars from Pitchfork:

On this track Greenwood plays the Ondes-Martenot, an electronic keyboarded developed by Leon Theremin, who designed the instrument that bears his name. The Ondes-Martenot produces elegiac tones that sound like a cross between the warm buzz of a Rhodes piano and the resonant blare of a pipe organ. Such tones are perfect for Yorke's tremulous voice and his equally tremulous words-- "Your eyes, they turn me/ Why should I stay here?" The Orchestra joins the fray slowly, xylophones and trumpets giving way to gliding gilded strings bowed and plucked. The confluence of these swirling bits produces a bit of dissonance, with Yorke's voice rubbing awkwardly against the Orchestra near the end of the performance. Given that "Arpeggi" ends on a questioning tone-- Yorke repeating the word "escape" in a weak, wispy manner as a two-note pattern is repeatedly plucked-- that friction is no doubt intentional.

[Read it in full at Pitchfork - thanks Josh]

Thom working with Felix da Housecat

In the past Radiohead have played music by Felix da Housecat in one of their webcasts. And Felix da Housecat released a remix album featuring Radiohead. It turns out that those two names will have even more in common. Apparently the DJ, musician and producer is working with Thom Yorke on his forthcoming album.

Talking to The Star Online Malaysia he said: “I’ll try to stay productive, keep making music and focus on my next artiste album. I’ve probably got two albums left in me. I’ve been talking to Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and been doing something with him. I’m thinking of putting him on my new album (working title Son of Analogue), (which looks to be more of a sequel to Elektrikboy.” [thanks Sarah]

Jonny Greenwood with the BBC CO

For those who have enjoyed Jonny Greenwood's work at the Ether Festival will have a new opportunity to see and hear the classical side of the Radiohead guitarist. Jonny is to star in a new role this April with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Greenwood is the Orchestra's new Composer in Residence and this concert will be the first chapter in their three-year partnership. This special performance features the premiere of Jonny's new work commissioned by BBC Radio 3, with music performed live by the BBC Concert Orchestra on April 23rd at 7.30pm at LSO St Luke's, 161 Old Street (corner of Old St/Helmet Row), London. Ticket prices are £12.50 & £15

Here's the programme:

MESSIAEN Ascension (4th mvt); PART Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten; HERRMANN Psycho; GORECKI Harpsichord Concerto; JONNY GREENWOOD Superhet Popcorn Receiver (World Premiere); JOHN ADAMS Shaker Loops (excerpt); CARL RUGGLES Portals; LIGETI Continuum and Hungarian Rock; BARTOK Rumanian Dances;

Jane Chapman harpsichord
Pete Wyman sax
Robert Ziegler conductor

British newspapers review Ether Festival

The Telegraph has a review online of the Ether Festival with Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke:

[...] All these things were fascinating, but they didn't support or illuminate each other, so the evening never really gelled. Only at the very end, when everyone joined together to perform two Radiohead songs, did the audience start to thaw.

Then Salame joined Yorke for Where Bluebirds Fly - and what a contrast they made, she all voluptuous hip-swaying ease, he all thin, wiry energy, hair sticking up at odd angles. It was a funny and touching moment, which made the wished-for musical encounter seem suddenly real.

The Times reviewed the Ether Festival as well, and rated it with 3 stars out of 5:

The wonder of hearing all seven Ondes, with Greenwood added, failed to arrive: during the new arrangements of Radiohead songs, the concert’s climax, the tender creatures became submerged in the sound mix. Still, if you came for fusion, here it was. Arpeggi and Where Bluebirds Fly pulsed and oscillated impressively, with the Sinfonietta supplemented by the Arabic colourings of the Nazareth Orchestra and the sunburnt vocals of Lubna Salame.

These Radiohead numbers were Greenwood’s finest minutes. And we needed more of them, especially after the 12 eaten up earlier by his new concert piece Piano for Children. The motivating idea here was intriguing, with an out-of-tune piano soloist (the unflappable John Constable) clumsily proceeding like a child, cradled by strings. Nothing intriguing, though, about the gauche music. Better results followed from his recent Smear, with smeary sounds dangling in the air from an ensemble and two Ondes (a favourite instrument, obviously).

The Guardian was a bit more generous with 4 stars out of 5:

Pop-idolish applause greeted Greenwood's Piano for Children, a deceptive piece that began as drawing-room music, then veered off into woozy piano discords and disintegrating time signatures. Later, the same composer's "smear" brought together the noise you make when rubbing the top of a wine glass with orchestral passages of pastoral lushness.

The finale brought a further helping of ecstasy for Radiohead fans: arrangements of Arpeggi and Where Bluebirds Fly with Thom Yorke on vocals. Yorke, hair standing on end as if he'd been blasted out of a wind tunnel, was joined on the latter piece by vocalist Lubna Salame and her comrades from the Nazareth Orchestra, whose performance of the Arabic epic Enta Omri had been an earlier highlight. Plenty of brain food for one evening

... and here's a review from Planet Halder on the Ether Festival

Ether Festival II

As expected the second night at the Ether Festival didn't have any surprises. Jonny Greenwood's 'Smear' and 'Piano for Children' were played again as well as 'Arpeggi' and 'Where Bluebirds Fly'. Last night, Colin Greenwood was spotted in the audience. Audio, video and some more pictures can be found at the message board.

Arpeggi & Where Bluebirds Fly already online

Last night's performance of new song 'Arpeggi' has already surfaced on the web. A recording of the track - performed by Jonny, Thom and the Nazareth Orchestra at the Ether Festival - can be found on the At Ease message board as well as an amazing perfomance of 'Where Bluebirds Fly', a short(!) video of 'Arpeggi' and an mp3 of 'Smear'

[be gentle and patient with the board - a lot of people are trying to get access right now - and if you want... here's the lo-fi at ease mb]

Ed: four weeks in the studio

Ed O'Brien, attending Jonny & Thom's performance at the Ether Festival, revealed that Radiohead have already spent about four weeks in the studio recording a new album. According to Ed, another small tour, like the band did in Portugal and Spain in 2002 (to try out Hail to the Thief material), could be possible if the recording process takes a long time. Jonny has hinted earlier this week that he would like to do a fanclub tour. *Fingers crossed* [thanks Laura & Helene]

Jonny & Thom at Ether Festival

Jonny Greenwood just finished his first night at London's Royal Festival Hall. At the Ether Festival (Today and tomorrow) The London Sinfionetta performed Jonny's 'Smear' and 'Piano For Children’. 'Smear' was previously played in Leeds and Bruges last year. 'Piano For Children' premiered at the Ether Festival. During the interval a selection from 'The most Gigantic Lying Mouth of all Time' was played.
Thom Yorke joined Jonny (playing the Ondes Martenot) and the Nazareth Orchestra performing two songs. One new song premiered, entitled 'Arpeggi'. Thom sang from some lyrics sheets and some of the lines "in the deepest ocean", "the bottom of the sea" and "sunk without a trace" were previously up on Radiohead.com.
They also played Radiohead b-side 'Where Bluebirds Fly', where Thom was joined by female vocalist, Lubna Salame. Until today, 'Where Bluebirds Fly' was never played live before. The track was used as an intro on Radiohead's shows from 2002.
On the first day at the Royal Festival Hall, Ed O'Brien, Nigel Godrich and Beck were spotted in audience. Jonny and Thom will be performing again tomorrow. [thanks Helene]

Jonny on the board

Jonny Greenwood was on the official message board typing on his Apple ("you must know we're all macpod bores") today. Jonny was asked a lot of questions on the upcoming Easter weekend, where he will be playing the Royal Festival Hall.

Someone asked if Jonny is going to be conducting and another if he's still playing the ondes. Jonny: "Not conducting.. don't have the steeley glare. *frown* see ? But looking forward to it yes very much. I think I'm playing it (Ondes Martenot) at the concerts this weekend."

And if he minds that so many Radiohead fans are going to the shows. Jonny: "Not at all...why would we ? There'll be a couple of radiohead songs after all. As long us they're up for other things too..."

Some on Radiohead's current rehearsing:
Jonny: "we're all kind of *hungry* for new new new at the moment. Good songs..

...And if we can expect anything new soon: "Well, we'll have to do *something* with all the new songs.."

And then touring...

Jonny: "A fanclub tour'd be a blast... I'd need to persuade everyone though. (...) I want to go back to Hong Kong very much. And we must go to s america, iceland, and e. europe too.." On the Iceland show Jonny said: "oooh came so close last year.....but want to and still talking about the place all the time. shite answer i know.."

And then some triangle advice. Jonny: "forget it.too stressful....288 bars rest, one hit. What if you're early ? What if you're LATE ?"

Finally.... someone asked if he's celebrating Easter: 'no, i'll be in a concert with a sweat on. but happpy easter to you! He died for our sins, you know. Have an egg on me. better go soon... still more music to print out. Hope it sounds ok, so hard to guess till the rehearsals. (...) Well, the music for the weekend's all printed now...too late to change now....aaaagh!

OK Computer tops Kinky 101

Dutch alternative radio station Kink FM broadcasts their Kinky 101 tomorrow (Friday March 25th). The list is their annual version of the Best Album All Time chart. Just like last year, Radiohead's 'OK Computer' ended up at number 0 (alternative radio indeed). The 1997 classic was voted to the top by thousands of listeners. 'The Bends' is ranked at nr. 11 (nr. 27 in 2004). 'Kid A' moved six places and is now at number 45. The Kinky 101 will be broadcast from 10:00 till 20:00 hrs and a non-stop version on Monday (March 27th) from 10:00 - 20:00hrs.

Retro Blips

The Vapour Brothers have added more old blips to their site. Plus the old anti video index is back online. Here's a link for your Retro Radiohead Viewing Pleasure. [please note that the link has changed - the current link will be active within the next 24hrs]

Avoid Ultraviolence

Gotta say... the official Radiohead site has been updated quite regularly the past time. New photos and lines on the front page as well as more artwork and pictures in the scrapbook. Now have a look at this... Ever thought what all those buttons in the scrapbook were used for? We don't sell the information that we get from you - instead, stupidly, we use it to make graphs.Here are the stats. And for those who want to know what's happening with the official site, check the FIELD OF HYPERTEXT thread.

Pop pioneer in love with the classics

Another interview with Jonny Greenwood was published in today's Daily Telegraph:

As the guitarist with Radiohead, one of the most successful and adventurous rock bands in the world, Jonny Greenwood is used to strutting his stuff for people he doesn't know in places he's only heard of. But none of that prepared him for his first encounter, late last year, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, when they tried out the first piece he has written for them as their composer-in-residence. Weeks later, nursing a pint in a pub in Oxford (he lives in a village nearby), Greenwood still seems slightly dazed by the experience.
 
The awed excitement he owns up to feeling as the musicians arrived at the BBC's Maida Vale studio is almost groupie-ish. "I'm very romantic about Maida Vale and all the great orchestral recordings that have been made there," says the floppy fringed, studenty-looking character who shelved his music degree three weeks into his first term at Oxford Brookes University after Radiohead signed to Parlophone in 1991.

Fearless experimenter: Jonny Greenwood with the BBC Concert Orchestra

As the Concert Orchestra grappled with Greenwood's first proper score - a 20-minute sequence inspired partly by radio static and partly by the long, discordant chords in the Polish composer Penderecki's Threnody For the Victims of Hiroshima - it all got too much.

"As long as I looked down and just listened it was OK," he decides. "But, if I concentrated on watching all those people spending time on my stuff…" He remembers being almost hypnotised by the presence of a white-haired woman cellist. "That really blew me away. That was when I knew I had to shut my eyes."

Most unnerving of all was not knowing how a fairly abstract concept, which he had some difficulty scoring, would sound once an orchestra got hold of it. For one thing, Greenwood had never worked with a conductor before.

Although he insists that Robert Ziegler was "great", it wasn't like working with his regular band "where you have one-to-one contact with everybody. Here everything had to be done through the conductor."

And not everything came out right. "The orchestra were great at explaining what they could do and why certain things couldn't be done. But there was one section where they just burst out laughing because it sounded so wrong, one irritating repetitive chord rather than a burst of hissing white noise. And I had to grin and bear it, and move on to the next part. Which worked, thank goodness."

It was Greenwood's fearlessly experimental attitude that first brought him to the attention of Radio 3 controller Roger Wright. Wright heard a piece called Smear, which Greenwood wrote for the 2003 Fuse festival in Leeds. It featured the onde martinot - one of the earliest electronic instruments - and a small string section from the London Sinfonietta.

"It was more of a sketch than a finished piece," Wright says, "But it had a strong sense of colour and a personal voice. I could tell that he was trying to create a new sound world."

Wright's decision to offer Greenwood a gig with the BBC Concert Orchestra was made "because they are the most flexible of our groups" and also because Anne Dudley's three-year tenure was coming to an end. Greenwood didn't hesitate. "My first thought was, 'I'm going to get my hands on an orchestra and all the sounds in the BBC archive." He hopes in a future commission to re-model some classic TV and radio theme tunes with the Concert Orchestra.

The announcement of his appointment coincided with a public outcry from a group styling themselves the "friends of Radio 3", who denounced what they saw as the network's betrayal of its heritage.

If Greenwood was their intended target - and Wright doesn't believe it - the "friends" picked the wrong enemy. Classical music was Greenwood's original passion. He learned the viola at home in Oxford years before he picked up the guitar at 16. His first band was the Thames Vale Youth Orchestra, and he still remembers how "the first time I heard a proper orchestra, the sound just blew me away."

Unlike the army of pop-crazed youth who have allegedly given up on orchestral music, Greenwood insists that "it's not finished at all. The traditional orchestra is still a magical group of instruments. Despite the promise of samples, there's a lot that only an orchestra can do."

His favourite orchestrator currently is Penderecki, but his first big hero was Messaien. "It was like a pop thing. Being at school and realising he was still alive, I equated him with the bands I liked at the time, the Fall and Sonic Youth."

The indie-classical connection was, he concedes, partly "a reaction against the more prissy kids who were studying music with me whose idea of pop music was Enya and the Beatles, and who couldn't understand what was great about Joy Division."

It also encouraged an unusually partisan approach to the classical canon. "I had that schoolboy thing of being either passionately into things or against them." Bach he found epic and grand; Mozart, by contrast, was merely "impressive, not moving". Greenwood strikingly compares this to the way he "loved the Pixies but never got into AC/DC".

Over the past year, juggling his extensive interests in rock and contemporary classical music has become his life's work. Days after his first workshop with the Concert Orchestra, he was being filmed in a band led by Jarvis Cocker for the next Harry Potter film.

Once he's sorted out his first BBC commission, or maybe even before, he'll be back in the studio to record another Radiohead album. He and the band's vocalist Thom Yorke are then scheduled to appear together at the Warp label's Ether festival on the South Bank on March 28.

Greenwood has organised an evening of startling variety, which promises, among many other things, arrangements of Radiohead songs performed by the London Sinfonietta, a fresh take on Smear, and a new piano piece Greenwood has just begun writing for the Sinfonietta's pianist John Constable.

He describes this mighty splurge as "an overreaction" to Radiohead's decision to take six months off after their last tour. Greenwood doesn't do time off. During a previous break in band activities in 2002, he devised a soundtrack for an art movie, Body Song. This led to his getting the Smear commission from the curator of Fuse, Django Bates.

Despite all this extra-curricular activity, Greenwood is still "100 per cent committed to Radiohead" and says that the solitary work of composition is "nowhere near as much fun as being in a band". And he is particularly anxious to get Thom Yorke's feedback to his first BBC piece.

"I'm planning to play it to him as soon as I see him." And if Yorke says he doesn't like it? "I'll believe him! He won't though. He'll find what's good about it and highlight that." [thanks James & Rachel]

Radiohead are rehearsing again

Jonny Greenwood was interviewed in today's Guardian on the upcoming Ether Festival:

Jonny Greenwood is contrite when I first meet him in the studio near Oxford where Radiohead first cut their teeth. "Sorry about my hand," he says. "It's not sweat, it's burn ointment." Radiohead are rehearsing again, working on new material, and Greenwood, their guitarist, is hard at work. Have the fingers on his right hand been burnt by trying to play too hard and too fast? "I only wish I could play faster," he says.

Greenwood, the youngest member of Radiohead, is a musical obsessive. This month, as well as working with the band, he has had time to develop the classical side of his musical enthusiasms. Over the past couple of years, Greenwood has been turning himself into a classical composer. He has already written one work, Smear, for the London Sinfonietta, Britain's most important ensemble for contemporary classical music, and last year he was appointed the BBC Concert Orchestra's composer in residence. And now he has curated a concert as part of the South Bank's Ether festival with the London Sinfonietta. His programme features a revised version of Smear, as well as a new Greenwood work, Piano for Children, and his favourite pieces by classical modernists Gyorgy Ligeti, Penderecki, Henri Dutilleux and Olivier Messiaen.

"I feel embarrassed talking about it," he says. "I'm so patchy. I'll be obsessed with a few composers, and know nothing about the rest." It's hard to agree with his modest assessment. After all, he was an accomplished viola player before the lure of the guitar seduced him. However, his classical obsessions have already found their way into Radiohead albums. "I get these enthusiasms which can drive the band crazy," he explains, "but I just say: listen, French horns are amazing, we've got to find a way of using them. Or I'll say, it would be great if this song sounded like Penderecki, or Alice Coltrane. And it's childish because none of us can play jazz like Alice Coltrane, and none of us can write the kind of music that Penderecki does. We've only got guitars and a basic knowledge of music, but we reach for these things and miss. That's what's cool about it."

With the Ether project, Greenwood is setting himself up in an ostentatiously classical context. However, he has experience behind him: he first worked with the Sinfonietta last year, when he wrote Smear. "They're a great orchestra," he says, "because they're up for radically changing things at the last minute. I cut six minutes out of Smear during rehearsals. I'm really looking forward to hearing the new version; it's a bit shorter and a bit fuller in its orchestration." The new piece, Piano for Children, is scored for strings and John Constable, the Sinfonietta's star pianist. "He has played the part through with me," Greenwood says, "and made some great suggestions. There's something about classical musicians - they tend to be totally without ego, and so enthusiastic, but also just so talented."

Smear reveals another of Greenwood's obsessions: as well as strings and wind players, it's written for two ondes martenot, the weird electronic instrument so beloved of French composer Olivier Messiaen. "I first heard the ondes martenot when a teacher at school played us Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony, and I heard it swooping along with the strings. But I had no idea what it looked like, and then finally, about four or five years ago, when we were doing Kid A, I found one in Paris." Greenwood is now a one-man PR campaign for the ondes martenot. He taught himself how to play it, mastering its keyboard and electronic ribbon, which produces the dizzying whoops and whistles. And he met the instrument's most famous virtuoso, Jeanne Loriod, who was Messiaen's sister-in-law. "Just before she died, I interviewed her, and I was telling her how rubbish I thought synthesizers and keyboards were compared to the ondes martenot, but she was saying, no, synthesizers are great as well: she was in her 70s and she was more broad-minded than me. But I think the ondes martenot is wonderful. It puts you in total control of the pitch and expression, and it's as close to singing as I can get. It's a living thing."

In his Ether concert, he has programmed Messiaen's La Fête des Belles Eaux, a piece for no fewer than six ondes martenots. "It was first done outdoors in Paris in the 1930s," Greenwood says, "and there were speakers hanging on buildings, fountains were illuminated with coloured lights, and there were women dressed in enormous ballgowns dancing to this strange music." Sadly, we're not going to be treated to the spectacle of Greenwood gyrating in a ballgown in the Festival Hall, but there will be visuals accompanying the music. "We built this laser device when we took the ondes martenot on the Kid A tour, which translates the sound of the instrument into a circle that would start to move according to the pitch that's playing."

After the Sinfonietta collaboration, Greenwood has his position as composer in residence with the BBC Concert Orchestra to look forward to. "It's insane," he says, "because I've got a whole orchestra to myself. I still can't believe it. It's that thing of standing in a quiet room, and experiencing the way the air moves when the orchestra start to play. It's so seductive." In the first piece Greenwood wrote for the orchestra, he tried to get the string players to sound like snare drums and high-hats. "Parts of it were really good, and in another part somebody in the orchestra started laughing it was so bad. I know I'm going to drive them crazy with all these ideas."

So are these the first steps towards Greenwood carving out a classical career alongside, or even instead of, his work with Radiohead? "Radiohead is always going to be the centre of what I do," he says. "Everything starts with songs, and with Thom, and with the excitement you can get in the band when you hear new music, and you know you've got the chance to watch it mutate and change. There's nothing like that, nothing as exciting. We're rehearsing at the moment, and again it's fun. We all want to push forward, and when you have five people who are all like that, you couldn't ask for a better thing."

But the influence of Greenwood's experience with classical musicians will inform Radiohead in the future. "I'll be able to bang on with more confidence about whatever instrument happens to be obsessing me at the moment. Yesterday I was trying to explain how we have to get hold of a clavichord." The idea of Radiohead using a delicate, miniaturised baroque keyboard in their next album may seem far-fetched, but it's all part of Greenwood's boundless musical enthusiasm. He may describe his curiosity as childish, but it's what gives his compositions their energy, and what makes him a musician who effortlessly crosses the artificial divisions between pop and classical cultures.

· Jonny Greenwood appears with the London Sinfonietta on Sunday and Monday at the Royal Festival Hall, London SE1. Box office: 0870 401 8181. [thanks Matthew. Lucy, Gavin & Mark]

Thom Yorke in Rosanna Arquette documentary

Actress and direcor Rosanna Arquette has interviewed Thom Yorke for a documentary. In an interview with the Independent Arquette says that her new documentary, All We Are Saying, is a series of interviews with figures from the music world, including Joni Mitchell, Radiohead, Elvis Costello, her close friend Chrissie Hynde, Sting, Patti Smith, Mary J Blige and Outkast. "I just interviewed people that I dug," she says. "It's where they're going, what it means to be an artist today, the state of the art of music, and inspiration and muse. It's going to be at the Tribeca Film Festival in April." Apparently, the film had its world premiere at this years SXSW Festival (past weekend).

DJ Panzah Zandahz releases Radiohead remix 12"

DJ Panzah Zandahz has released a 12" with Radiohead remixes, entitled 'Radiohead; Breaks & Beats'. The DJ and producer, who has named Radiohead as one of his influences, talks to Rapnews.co.uk on the release:

"I wanted to put some of my favourite artists in to a more suitable arrangement for djs by preying upon the potentially break worthy aspects of their work. This is my first attempt and depending on the legal trouble it gets me in to I'd love to do more of these things. I can tell you that if all goes well Beck, Bjork, and RATM are on the horizon."

How big a Radiohead fan are you? Did you ever feel nervous or daunted by the task of recreating something by a band which has such a hardcore fanbase?

"I have to admit I'm not a hardcore fan. Hardcore Bjork fan, YES, but I am still a Radiohead fan. I owe it to my buddy White Lotus for getting me in to them. Growing up I never could figure out why people were so crazy about them, but finally with "Hail to the Thief" I came around. I was worried about people's perceptions of this record, thinking that it was more of an "original production" then anything else. It's not. But for those same people I was unsure about I decided to create a mix cd that features myself
reconstructing their work with the 12" and some remixes that didn't make the record. That will be out a little later this year."

What era of the bands discography does the 12" borrow from the most, or have you taken stuff from all over their work?

"I'm definitely all over the place with the source material. There is a lot from OK Computer on there. A little from Hail to the Thief.  There was a lot of stuff that I deemed too obvious or too complete to put on the 12". I figured that tracks like "National Anthem" and "Idioteque" can stand on there own if you just rock doubles of the originals."

What kind of use do you think those that purchase it will get from it? Simply something to listen to, to DJ with, to rhyme over?

"I am hoping that people will get creative with it. It's a versatile record with a lot of artistic potential. It works well for the tablists
looking for something different to skratch & drum. It works well for dj's backing up emcees at shows. And there are a few segments that I guess could stand on their own as listening experiences, but the mix cd I'm dropping should fill in that gap."

Make sure to check out DJ Panzah Zandahz' website where you can hear a preview of 'No Surprises' and order the limited edition 12".

Panzah Zandahz: "Originaly slated for an August 04 release, this fucker has been in the works for some time now. My goal was to create a more hip hop friendly approach to Radiohead. I know that there are some hip hop heads in love with Radiohead, and I know that there are some djs in love with Radiohead, so this seemed like the next logical step. I spent many a sleepless night pillaging stacks of Radiohead to bring you this 12" chock full of weird noises, bangin' drums, and strangely familiar beats. Its in your standard dirtstyle break record format, a few beats on each side and a couple of skratch sentences. Its perfect for use under an emcee, holding its own on a mix tape, or for skratching something different at a show."

Christopher O'Riley interview

Here's another interview with Christopher O'Riley on his upcoming release 'Hold me to this':

Fans of Radiohead take their love of the band very seriously. Classical pianist Christopher O'Riley, however, has taken his admiration further.

O'Riley has recorded two full albums of Radiohead transcriptions for solo piano. His latest CD, "Hold Me to This," will be released by Harmonia Mundi's World Village imprint April 12. The new album, which follows 2003's "True Love Waits" (released on Sony Classical Odyssey), features many of the band's B-sides and rarities.

"I'm not arranging these songs just to have arranged them," says O'Riley, who also hosts the Public Radio International syndicated show "From the Top," which showcases young classical musicians from across the United States. "I'm doing the best I can to approximate the energy of a full rock band. And that's really always been part of the conceit and the seduction of piano reductions or arrangements of any kind of music. That possible range of color, and vitality, is the same thing that drives, say, Liszt's transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies."

"Hold Me to This" isn't O'Riley's only new Radiohead project; the pianist is also publishing all the arrangements he has recorded on both of his transcription albums in a striking LP-size book (available through his Web site, christopheroriley.com).

"It's an incredibly beautiful book," O'Riley raves. "It's really a collaboration with Steve Byram, who designed the package for both of my Radiohead discs; for this book, he created incredible art for every page. I think it will be attractive as a work of art on its own."

O'Riley's tastes are famously diverse, and his repertoire ranges from Beethoven to new music by Aaron Jay Kernis to collaborations with tango pianist Pablo Ziegler. "I've continually been writing arrangements," O'Riley says. "I'm not just doing Radiohead, but also other artists. Right now, I'm hard at work at a lot of Elliott Smith (news)'s songs. The common thread is what sends chills down my spine.

"There are two qualities in particular that really get me excited: harmony and texture," O'Riley notes. "In the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues I'm currently playing, for example, it's the fugal texture that gets under my skin. In Radiohead, each band member contributes one integral part of the puzzle in every song, which is a very contrapuntal way of making music. That, in turn, is part of what makes Radiohead so attractive for piano arrangements," he adds. "The varied texture means that you have different threads to pull together."

In fact, O'Riley has been pairing the Shostakovich with Radiohead in his live performances. He says that with this kind of genre fluidity, playing each style undoubtedly influences the other in his work.

"Given that classical music involves a very wide repertoire and a very broad vocabulary of compositional material," he muses, "that background informs everything I play in a very good way. In turn, the Radiohead stuff encourages the spontaneity and kineticism of my performances. It's definitely a two-way street."

from: Reuters/Billboard

Flaming Lips on Radiohead

Ateaseweb.com has an exclusive excerpt from an interview with Stephen Drozd of the Flaming Lips on his latest compilation, Late Night Tales. The article is to be published in South Australia’s Rip It Up magazine in the coming month.

Late Night Tales includes Radiohead’s Pyramid Song - yet another Amnesiac track after you covered Knives Out for your Fight Test EP.
“Actually I have to say I wanted to include the Knives Out cover. I never liked Radiohead until Amnesiac came out - I never did. I don’t know why, but I never really liked OK Computer. I thought Kid A was okay, but I never really cared about them until Amnesiac came out. I was at a bar one night and I heard Knives Out and I thought ‘Man! This is fucking great!’ It was weird in a subtler way, you know? It sounded like The Smiths with that Johnny Marr kind of guitar, but just beautiful though. Pyramid Song I heard a little bit later, and from a muso’s standpoint it’s such a great song because of the weird time signature - the way the piano chords go around is just so odd. It’s such a weird, dark song and I have no idea what Thom’s singing about, but I love the piano on it. I love the production and it’s such an intense, weird song. It seemed the perfect choice to put on the compilation, although for a while it was between Knives Out and Pyramid Song. Since we’d already done the cover of Knives Out I thought it would be cooler to go with Pyramid Song.

Wayne raised the possibility of a Flaming Lips/Radiohead collaboration a few years ago - has that idea moved any further along?
“No. I don’t think it’s been naysayed or anything but I just think they’re doing their thing and they’re busy and we’re doing our thing and we’re busy. I think it’s certainly a possibility and they might be interested. We’re certainly interested in it so who knows what possibilities there might be? There hasn’t been any talk recently - I’m not going to sit here and talk with you and say, ‘Oh, it looks like we’re doing some stuff together’ because it might not be true! [laughs] I’ve read they are fans and I know Thom has talked to Wayne. Wayne didn’t offend him, so it’s still a possibility we could do something! [laughs]”

Rip It Up Magazine, Scott McLennan 2005

Trade Justice Movement Rally

Stars from stage, screen and the music world will be among thousands of people rallying in central London, on Friday 15 April to call for Trade Justice not free trade.

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke said, "It's an overnight 'happening' – and it’s happening at the same time as many events all around the world. I'm going with a sleeping bag and a paint brush and maybe even a guitar if I can get it in the suitcase."

The all night vigil, organised by the Trade Justice Movement as part of a Global Week of Action for Trade Justice, will start with a special gathering at Westminster Abbey which will include songs and readings presented by some of Britain’s most well known actors and others.

At midnight a mass moment will see thousands of protestors gather outside Downing Street, historic home and office of the British Prime Minister, to call on the UK Government to stop pushing poor countries to open up their economies and respect their right to decide on trade policies which will help them end poverty and protect their environment. The vigil will continue all night, culminating in a dawn procession and delegations meeting representatives from the main UK political parties.

Glen Tarman, Trade Justice Movement coordinator, said: “It’s going to be an amazing night. If you care about those living in poverty across the world - come and join us if you can. If you cannot stay up all night please come to Downing Street just before midnight on Friday 15 April. Help us wake up UK politicians to the fact that the British public have had enough of the way global trade is run in our name to benefit rich countries and hurt poor ones.”

The all night programme (10pm – 8am) has a huge range of activities throughout the night to appeal to everyone from clubbers to faith groups including:

Club night in Leicester Square featuring Nitin Sawhney, Radio 1 DJ Bobby Friction and other artists, Trade Justice cinemas, Overnight fair trade café with breakfast served in the morning, A late night ecumenical church service at St Martins in the Field on the corner of Trafalgar Square. A fleet of rickshaws to give the public free rides to all the different venues and along the amazing spectacle of Whitehall lit up by thousands of candles and lanterns

Around the world, the Global Week of Action for Trade Justice will see hundreds of events in over 70 countries.

Radiohead on TV and Radio this week

There are at least 3 Radiohead-realted shows on the Ovation cable network (USA) in March including a documentary on the band, a performance from Jools Holland's 'Later...' and from a 2003 Montreaux Festival appearence. 6Music will broadcast a Radiohead gig as well.

Music Express - Radiohead
In this program, the band talks with Dave Fanning about their continuing success. Friday, March 18, 2005L 10 PM EST/7 PM PST & 2 AM EST/11 PM PST
Saturday, March 19, 2005: 6:00 PM EST/3:00 PM PST

Later...with Jools Holland - Cool Britannia
Sunday, March 20, 2005: 2 PM EST/11 AM PST
Friday, March 25, 2005: 8 AM EST/5 AM PST

Best of Montreux Jazz Festival
Thursday, March 31, 2005: 4 PM EST/1 PM PST

BBC 6MUSIC Dreamticket
BBC 6Music will air a Radiohead gig on Tuesday, March 22, 2005: 8 PM - 1 AM GMT

[Thanks Doug & Nick]

A warning shot from Danny Masterson

In the current issue of Spin magazine (April 2005) That '70s Show star and part-time DJ at LA radio station 103.1FM Danny Masterson summed up his musical tastes by saying: "A person who doesn't listen to Radiohead shot be shot dead." [thanks Doug]

Also, on UK television series Hollyoaks, Radiohead's 'Go To Sleep' b-side 'Gagging Order' was played yesterday, which was not the first time Radiohead featured on Hollyoaks. [thanks Dave]

Don't judge a book by its cover

Joseph Tate has just revealed the cover of the forthcoming book release 'The Music and Art of Radiohead'. The release of the book has had some delay, but it looks like it won't be long now. Currently, the release date is set for March 30th through Ashgate Publishers and you can pre-order it at Amazon.com.

It's 10 years ago today!

Yes, today we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of Radiohead's second album 'The Bends'. The album was released on March 13th 1995. In the past decade, the album has turned up in many All-Time-Album charts along with other Radiohead classics as OK Computer and Kid A.

For those won't to go back to memory lane, have another listen to that masterpiece. Here are some dusty reviews as well.

New Message Board

The At Ease message board has moved to a new server. This should increase the speed of browsing through the forums. Together with the server change, the board has been upgraded as well, which brings us lots of new features; several thread layouts (including a lo-fi version), ignore function, you can also see who's off- or online and the active user list has been improved. Quoting is now easier and has more functions. There's lots more, but check it out for yourself. For now the board is located here. This will probably move back to the usual address.

Because of the server change, the board is backed-up on March 1st. All posts (and personal messages) after that date are not included on the new version. Check the old mb to retrieve your msg's and posts.

Please note that the new version still has some errors, which will be fixed soon.

Hello Phil!

Yes, even Radiohead makes it to Hello magazine these days. Radiohead's drummer Phil Selway, who has been a long time volunteer for the Samaritans, was spotted at the Samaritans Charity Ball.

Hello writes: "London's Dorchester hotel was the venue for a glittering ball to mark the Samaritans' 50th anniversary. Following a champagne reception, 200 revellers enjoyed a four-course dinner before Lord Dalmeny, chairmain of Sotheby's, presided over a charity auction with hot bidding for lots including an evening dress donated by Vivienne Westwood.
Later in the evening, jazz artist Jamie Cullum's electrifying performance was a fitting finale to the ball which raised £100,000 for the charity to help provide emotional support to people in distress." [thanks Blas]

Phil K's Myxomatosis remix remains unreleased

Australian drum and bass DJ (the internationally acclaimed) Phil K was interviewed last week, in which he spoke about a bootleg version of Remyxomatosis he tried to get included on his new Y4K remix compilation.

“Andy Page and I did an edit of Radiohead’s Remyxomatosis [Christian Vogel Mix] off a Japanese remixes collection that I bought [Com Lag],” Phil admitted. “We were trying to be a bit naughty when we were getting it cleared and not mention that it was an edit and had mad drumbeats and stuff. In the end it was going to be really, really, really expensive, so it didn’t end up happening. It was a bit of a shame, but you know - the weirdish electro German house tech stuff I wanted came through!”

It appears that this edit is called Remyxomatosis [Hi-Fi Bugs Edit] and apparently has made appearances in Phil K’s DJ sets. The article featuring Phil K will feature from Thursday on www.onion.com.au. [thanks Scott]

Thom: Radiohead back to work

Thom was on the official site's message board last night, saying they're back to work.

: Have a cookie.

THAT

would be a bad idea

hey weve started work.(speaking of cookies)

no really.

Last week At Ease reported on 'Kid A' at Apple's iTunes store, Thom commented on that as well. Just like the 'The Bends', the album disappeared from the store after only a short period of time.

vee shall make zem PAY for zer mistake. ha ha ha. they vill never get avay viz ziss. vee are verrry verrry precious about are little KID A yu know and also zee others and you mr job jobs are no exception ya?

unbundle zis KID A record anda vee vill unbundle yor face.

H HA HA ha HA ha HA ha ha

(cough)

Radiohead lecture at Oregon State University

Joseph Tate, author of the forthcoming book 'Music and Art of Radiohead', will be lecturing on Radiohead at Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR on April 6 as part of the Craft of Writing Series. The lecture will be held in the Memorial Union's Joyce Powell Leadership Center from 5-6:30PM and is free and open to the public. An abstract: "Into Radiohead, or How to Disappear Completely in Music, Art and Politics"

This multimedia lecture is part of an on-going investigation of the music and art of Radiohead, a five-member English music group. The presentation outlines the project's beginning and explores how one thread was followed through the labyrinth of influences and allusions in the band's songs, cover art, videos and web sites. Together, these influences and allusions are read as an elaborate response to and critique of the twenty-first century's commercial and political pressures. During the lecture, we will lose ourselves several places in the maze Radiohead has constructed—high places, low places including but not limited to: New Orleans funeral-march jazz, Cy Twombly's art, Shakespeare's Pericles, Jenny Holzer's sloganeering, early and late twentieth-century electronic music (from the ondes martenot to Brian Eno), Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dante's hell, urban myths, Greek mythology, George Orwell's 1984, current American politics, The Smiths, Anselm Kiefer's charred landscapes, Giovanni Battista Piranesi's etchings, and the BBC Shipping Forecast.

New Donwood book

Stanley Donwood has another book out and on Friday, March 4th you can hear Ric Jerrom reading 'Slowly Downward (Some miserable stories by Stanley Donwood)' at the Bath Literature Festival.

Mysterious ‘sound engineers’ will be making a live recording of celebrated actor Ric Jerrom intoning these fearfully morose stories, in a dark subterranean chamber in immediate proximity to one of Bath’s famous Plague Pits.

Secession Books
2 Trim Street, Bath.
7.30 for 8pm.

Entry by one of 33 tickets only, priced at £3.33
No exceptions can be made.

There will also be a recording of the sound of silence at this event, the tapes to be examined afterwards for evidence of paranormal activity

Chris Potter Band plays Morning Bell

At the Aberdeen Jazz Festival, one of America's leading saxophonists, Chris Potter, played Radiohead's 'Morning Bell'. The song was an encore at the show at the Aberdeen Arts Centre. A review of the show can be found here.

Sarah Slean covers 'Climbing up the walls'

Canadian singer Sarah Slean played her cover of Radiohead's 'Climbing Up The Walls' on Friday. The song had been requested at the previous night's show, were she responded "that's not my song". She recorded her version of 'Climbing Up The Walls' on her first independent album 'Universe'. Since then she has released numerous albums and 'Climbing Up The Walls' has just remained a hidden track on that early release. [thanks Cameron]

PS Apologies for the lack of updates for the past few days. I'm currently in beautiful (honest!) Norwich and the local Starbucks seems to be the only wifi hotspot in town. Back soon ;)

Kid A on iTunes

As reported in November, Radiohead are slowly finding their way to Apple's iTunes store with adding 'The Bends' for you all to download. Now, Radiohead's 'Kid A' has been added to the iTunes store. The full album can be downloaded for £7,90 / € 9,90 or £ 0,79 / € 9,90 per track. However, 'The Bends' has now disappeared completely and nowhere to be found... And for those in North America, 'Kid A' is only available at European iTunes stores. [thanks Richard]

Shynola on 'Pyramid Song' video

Shynola are interviewed in The Australian. Shynola is a collective of animators that has made its mark with music videos. Since their first professional assignment six years ago, they have worked with everyone from Blur to Beck, and with Radiohead, for whom they made one the band's best known videos, 2001's Pyramid Song.

"When we met Thom Yorke he said we were more like a rock group than Radiohead were," says Richard "Kenny" Kenworthy. Adds Jason Groves: "If we'd been proficient musicians, we probably would have preferred to be in a rock group, but it turned out we could draw better than we could play guitar."

In general, the collective's videos are strong on ideas, never cluttered or cliched, which makes them a refreshing change from the slick and overproduced schlock on MTV.

Nowhere is this more striking than in the video for Pyramid Song. The song, which is dominated by a series of solemn and sometimes arrhythmic piano chords, is about a man who is united with his past and his future after jumping into a river. "When we met ... Yorke to talk about the song, he said it was based on an apocalyptic dream about the end of the world," Baws says. "But we didn't want to just animate his dream. We wanted to distil his vision and make our own story."

The result is an eerie underwater journey that enhances the ethereal qualities of the song without being excessively literal. "There is definitely a way to make the images and the music marry, and that's what we strive to do," Chris Harding says. "People misunderstand music videos and think you're just there to make an advert for the faces or the sound of the band."

For those who are interested in Shynola's work, they have been working on the feature-film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, for which they have provided a series of animated sequences. The movie will be released this year.