More from Thom in the studio

storm coming

satellite not working

rain rattling down the chimney. windows buffering.

not got th e words to PAY DAY yet.

but today i got the words to BURN THE (WHITE?) WITCH.. thats a good un. jonny has losts of orchestration tasks now including this..('oh good' says he exiting stage left)

blackboard filling up with ideas. lots of things happening all over the studio at once.. which i always like.. although i keep having to remind myself to sit down occasionally.

night night

Thom

Thom working on new song 'Pay Day'.

Thom just posted on Dead Air Space again:

good evening

right now colin is reading that strange devarahi synth book.

stanley is hammering and making greetings cards which may or may not be for christmas.

im working on something that i think is called PAY DAY. im gonna lay the lyrics line by line on the floor and shuffle them. and im having to play gentle fingerpicking over furious beat.

ed is sick as a dog at the moment poor guy. he is feeling very sorry for himself and keeps sending us sad little texts.

in the distance there is a cloud but as im in an ok mood i can keep it away
........friends of the earth have asked me whether i would meet Tony Blair at downing street to discuss what our government is not doing about climate change..i dont know if this will ever happen for certain.... it is rattling around in the back of my mind and concerns me a lot.
i have no intention of being used by spider spin doctors to make it look like we make progress when it is just words.
id love to know what you think but i cant ask.
youd say oh ther e he goes again interfering and meddling in politics why doesnt he get on with the music and shut up.
perhaps because i feel like a hypocrit if dont do anything, and equally feel like a hypocrit if i try getting involved.
nobody wants to know. none of u s do, me included id love to forget about it like your average Times reader. wed all like it to go away. turn to to the rising sea and say come back later im busy right now.
Blair has been uttering nonsense lately about kyoto and such, real la la stuff... looks like th eamerican right have finally eaten his mind... blah blah why on earth would i meet this man? o r perhaps that is exactly why i should. but i dont have powers of persuasion, i just have temper and an acid tongue.

trust me i find this as dull as you do... politics is poison..
what do yout think i should do?

speak to you later

Thom

Thom Yorke: Splat 'em

Wanna get rid of some online anger? A flash game called "Splat Em" involves basically throwing random objects at celebrities to cover them in apples, a cake, or even feces. And yes, Thom is included alongside George Bush, Bill Clinton, Mike Tyson, and Pamela Anderson. Speaking of celebrities... Thom is also added to a database of famous figures. Thom's status of fame? "Somewhat" [thanks David & Chris]

Matthew Herbert and Mara Carlyle cover 'Nice Dream'

Matthew Herbert and Mara Carlyle recorded a cover version of Radiohead's 'Nice Dream'. You can listen and download at their AUDIO:VISUAL page. [thanks Emiel]

Colin's back on the blog

Colin posted on Dead Air Space as well after his brother announced that the band are back in the studio again:

Andre 3000 did an interview last week, very good, oh yes, especially bit about getting out more....
observer.guardian.co.uk

Colin

And another post from Colin:

great web site http://www.preoccupations.org/2005/09/911.html

post 9/11 article with lowell quote from 66

this site is an amazing blog done by a friend who teaches english in Oxford.

In the meantime, Phil did his drumming workshop at Dorchester Abbey.

Jonny: Radiohead back in the studio

Jonny Greenwood posted on Radiohead.com's Dead Air Space again today. Radiohead have returned to the studio:

Clocking on again.

We're back in the studio, and all is fun and well. Stanley's here too, or at least in the shed out back, painting again. The rats have got in and eaten all his blue paint, and there's blue rat shit everywhere: but at least he's got a good dub cd to listen to while he's working. At least, I think it's good. Let me explain.

There is loads of great music out there that you'll never have time to find out about. I'm always saying this - boring the arse off someone about this. Partly to make me sound like I know loads of great music that they don't, and partly to justify why I've never heard a note of, say, the Stooges (though I really must, I know, I know...how can I claim to be a an Iggy Pop fan if I've never even heard 'I wanna be your dog'? etc. etc.)

I often glibly add - 'you could spend 6 months listening to just dub reggae, and it would all be worth hearing.' I realize that sounds patronising, but I choose reggae because I know so many people who collect this kind of music and no other - which fascinates me - and because it's mostly unknown to me. Not any more....I've just done it. Six solid months of nothing but Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Ken Boothe, Junior Byles, Marcia Aitkin and hundreds of others. It's to make a compilation which may or may not ever be completed - I hope I'm not just proving a point to myself - but either way, there's been nothing else on my ipod since April.

There's something exciting about coming to musicians when they're just names, when you've no idea who Derrick Harriott looks like, or what his reputation is - considered naff by real dub fans, maybe ? Derivative ? Or maybe ground-breaking ? I know the Stooges were ground-breaking - maybe that's what has been putting me off. The weight of knowing already how good it's meant to be. With this compilation, I've just ploughed through all these faceless names, liking things I probably shouldn't (covers of soul songs! Spanish guitar solos!) and maybe finding nothing I like by the supposed classics (some of the very empty dub stuff is kind of....tedious) - or nothing I really like on the records I already have. Although Lee 'Scratch' Perry seems to me to deserve all respect he gets. His records are just magical. Ditto Linval Thompson, Sly and Robbie, and Scientist.

(Interesting how making a compilation for someone makes you listen to your music completely differently. Endless moments of 'do I really like that track, now I'm actually listening to it for someone else?' It's a great way to get rid of records that you only think you like.)

So it's great music. If you don't know any, it's really worth getting into. There's more than one speed, one rhythm, one mood - more than one gender, even, than you might suspect. Marcia Griffiths was a revelation. If I ever finish this thing, I'll put the list up, and invite you to check it out. And disagree. "Ken Boothe ? Theat's not real reggae....Robbie Williams of his day.....might as well put 'I come from a land down-under' on... "

Jonny

Three Radiohead tracks in Blender's top 500

In the October 2005 issue of Blender Magazine, there is a top 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born list.

Radiohead shows up 3 times on the list as follows: # 367 Paranoid Android, # 109 Creep, # 58 Karma Police [thanks digitalgoodtime]

NME reviews 'Help In The Day Of Life': 10 out of 10

NME reviewed the charity album 'HELP In The Day Of Life'. The album, featuring Radiohead's 'I want none of this' received a 10 out of 10 rating.

"And what made 'Help' even better was that, unlike most charity records, the music was great. (...) And by putting 'Lucky' on the album, it hinted of huge things to come from Radiohead, who were contemplating the follow-up to 'The Bends'. This time around the stakes couldn't be much higher. So it's a good omen that 2005 is the only year this decade there's enough British bands to do the 'Help' legacy justice.

Help: A Day In The Life' features the best bands from the original (Radiohead, Damon Albarn as Gorillaz), plus the new wave who've made this year their own."

Read the review in full

Vote for Radiohead at Kink FM

Dutch alternative radio station KINK FM is celebrating their 10th anniversary with the broadcast of the Outlaw 666. The list, to be broadcast in October, will feature the best tracks from the past 10 years voted by the stations listeners.

On KinkFM.com you can find a shortlist of tracks you can choose from and vote for your 14 favourite tracks... easy questions... easy answers... there are 14 (!) Radiohead tracks shortlisted. Cast your vote

'I want none of this' now available on iTunes

Radiohead's brand new track 'I Want None Of This' is now available on iTunes as part of the digital release of 'HELP: A day in the life'. As reported before Radiohead tracks are scarce on Apple's music store.

Apparently, Radiohead have made an exception because of War Child. 'Help: A Day in the Life' is the fastest-selling download album ever. More than 100,000 tracks have been downloaded since its internet release on Friday. In the meantime, Damian Rice's track has been replaced by a remastered version. For those who want the real deal... A CD release is only 12 days away. The album will be out on September 26th.

Stanley Donwood interview at AntiMusic.com

Stanley Donwood was interviewed at antimusic.com. Stanley talks about working with Radiohead, his inspiration, the books and the prints that are currently available at slowlydownward.com. Enjoy!

'Creep' performed on ROCKSTAR:INXS

Radiohead's Creep was performed on ROCKSTAR:INXS by one of the final four contestants (Marty) on CBS last night. [thanks Joe]

Pitchfork reviews 'Help: A Day In The Life'

Pitchfork has reviewed the new release 'HELP: A day in the life'. Picthfork doesn't seem impressed and gave it 5.5 out of 10.

Picthfork: "The biggest draw on the disc is a new Radiohead track. That song, 'I Want None Of This', is no "Lucky" but it's one of the disc's highlights-- Thom on a piano in his maudlin, "You and Whose Army?" mold, mixing funeral dirge with finger-waggling." Read the full review

Panzah Zandahz releases Radiohead remix album

Panzah Zandahz has released a full album with Radiohead remixes. The album, "Me & This Army'" is the follow-up of the Radiohead breaks & beats 12". Panzah pays tribute to his favorite band & some of his favorite emcees with this 40 min collage of original remixes, mash ups, & covers.

When PZ's "Radiohead breaks & beats" 12" came out, there were a lot of requests for a CD version. But the wax wasn't really a listening experience, it was a dj tool, it wasn't entertaining enough to be thrown on a cd "as is". So here is the product of your demand for entertainment!

The album starts off with the scorpio-fused breakbeat work-out "Everything in Its Wrong Place" & progresses in to a warped version of Cut Chemist's Litmus Test remix of Gab's "Chemical alisthenics." A remix of a remix I guess. Continuing on the Chemist theme MF Doom's "Change the Beat" gets thrown in to a blender & comes out as a Jurassic 5 tinged re-working of Radiohead's semi-obscure "Wicked Child." The real heat is the "My Iron Lung" remix of Daytona 500. HEAT! PZ's favorite emcee of all time, Edan, finds himself sharing the same meter as Radiohead in a noisy & lo-fi "Rapperfection" mash up of the "National Anthem" off of Kid A. The CD gets down-right weird when PZ covers "Creep" (the most covered RH song, PERIOD) featuring a robotic like-ness of Fred (its kind of a stretch) from "Fitter Happier." Chord Organs, theremins, they are all there. A 45 minute sunday morning session in the studio led to a goofy & fun exclusive from Sev Statik (of PCM, Tunnel Rats, & Deep Space 5) going off over a re-working of his favorite RH break from Kid A. Sev even manages to share the same track with Kool Keith as "Optimistic" dissolves in to "Paperbag" & Keith lets loose with his usual banter about pecunious bugs & thugs that perpetrate. Two "Hail to Thief" Native Tongue remixes are next on the list & De La's "Itsoweezee" becomes a completely different animal. An instrumental of PZ's re-worked "No Suprises" ends off the originals set & the album finishes with three instrumentals that are best utilized by rhyming over in the shower.

PZ describes the album as "nothing to be taken too seriously, it was just a lot of fun to make & I hope that you have fun listening to it." CD length is 42 minutes and there's also a 7" vinyl available with remixes of My Iron Lung and Wicked Child. Order the discs (and listen to some previews of the album on tokenrecluse.com.

'I want none of this' most popular 'HELP' track

More than 4,000 copies of the new War Child charity album, featuring Radiohead's 'I Want None Of This'', have been downloaded in two-and-a-half days. Organisers say 'HELP: A day in the life' is the fastest-selling download album.

BBC reports; Stars recorded 22 songs on Thursday and Friday and by Monday lunchtime fans had spent £40,000 downloading the tracks. The album will be released on CD on 26 September. A decade ago, the original Help album raised £1.25m for War Child. Help: A Day in the Life, which costs £9.99 to download, is currently on the warchildmusic.com website and will be available on major download sites from Tuesday. Artists were asked to enter the studio at 1200 BST on Thursday, although some started work a few hours early. The completed album went online at about 1810 BST on Friday.

Ben Drury, managing director of War Child's retail partner 7 Digital, said no other complete album had been downloaded at such a rate. "We receive data from the Official UK Charts Company every week and no download bundle or album has sold anywhere near the amount that Help did in a single week let alone over just two days," he said.

The Official UK Charts Company said it was unable to confirm whether Help had set a record. The War Child site crashed under the demand and the album is on course to be the biggest selling download album, organisers say.

Some fans have downloaded single tracks for 99p each and Radiohead's new song I Want None of This is currently the most popular choice.

'Knives Out' on forthcoming Brad Mehldau album

Brad Mehldau has recorded another Radiohead track to be released on a new album. The album 'Day Is Done' will be released on September 27th and features Radiohead's 'Knives Out'.

Short previews of his album are available at label website, None Such. 'Knives Out' runs over 8 minutes and is the opening track of Brad Mehldau's new album. The track is also available on a None Such promo CD, available with the latest issue (Sep/Oct) of German jazz magazine JazzThing.

Mehldau has recorded and performed other Radiohead tracks in the past such as 'Everything in its right place', 'Paranoid Android' and 'Exit Music (for a film)'. [thanks Rob]

Hanson to release cover of Radiohead's 'Optimistic'

As reported earlier, Hanson have covered Radiohead's 'Optimistic' on their live shows. The track will be inlcuded on their forthcoming live album. 'Live and Electric', set to hit stores on October 11, 2005, is the second release from Hanson's independent label, 3CG Records

'I Want None Of This' finally available for download

Finally, after years of waiting... and some unexpected additional hours we have a new Radiohead song in our hands. The new song, 'I Want None Of This', was recorded yesterday in Radiohead's studio in Oxford.

The song is the leading track of the charity album 'HELP: A day in the life', which is available at War Child Music. All 22 tracks from the album are available in MP3, WMA and AAC formats so they will work with any computer or portable player. You can download a single track for 99p or the full album fo £9,99. All proceeds to War Child. Enjoy! For all you rants and raves, check the Radiohead message board.

Download 'Help: A day in the life' delayed

The download of the War Child charity album 'HELP: A day in the life' has been delayed with several hours.

Possible reason is that Coldplay and Babyshambles have each donated a track at the last minute. This means we still have to wait till late afternoon before we can hear Radiohead's new track 'I Want None Of This'.

Yorke & Harvey duet on 'Queer as Folk' soundtrack

The duet between Thom Yorke & PJ Harvey, 'This Mess We're In', is included on the soundtrack for the 'Queer as folk' television series.

The track was originally released in 2000 on PJ Harvey's album 'Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea'. The 'Queer as Folk' soundtrack is out on the Tommy Boy label.

Radiohead records 'I Want None of It' today

Radiohead head into the studio today to record new track 'I Want None Of It'. As reported earlier the track will be included on 'HELP: A day in the life' for the War Child charity, in a bid to record the fastest album ever released.

The band will start recording the new track from midday today which will be available for download from lunchtime tomorrow (September 9). The event marks the ten year anniversary of the first 'HELP' album, which featured Radiohead, Blur, Oasis and Suede and raised more than £1.25m for children caught up in the Bosnian war.

The bands that are participating on the anniversary release will be in studios across the world. After recording, the artists will send their songs to a studio in London to be available to download tomorrow at 99p per track. 'Help: A Day In The Life' will be released on CD through Independiente on September 26.

All of the money raised by the new record will be used by War Child to provide both material and psychological support and rehabilitation to children on the edge of conflict and post-conflict societies.

The 'Help: A Day In The Life' tracklisting will run:

Antony and the Johnsons - 'Happy Xmas (War is Over)'
Belle & Sebastian - 'The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House'
Bloc Party - 'The Present'
The Coral - 'It Was Nothing'
Damien Rice - 'Crosseyed Bear'
Elbow - 'Snowball'
Emmanuel Jal - 'Gua'
The Go! Team - 'Phantom Broadcast'
Gorillaz - 'Hong Kong'
Hard-Fi - 'Help Me Please'
Kaiser Chiefs - 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'
Keane and Faultline - 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'
The Magic Numbers - 'Gone Are the Days'
Manic Street Preachers - 'Leviathan'
Maximo Park - 'Wasteland'
Mylo - TBC
Radiohead - 'I Want None of It'
Razorlight - 'Kirby's House'
Tinariwen - TBC
The Zutons - 'Hello Conscience'

Radiohead essay in new magazine 'N+1'

Radiohead are featured in an essay, published in a new American magazine, N+1. New York Press reviewed the new magazine: "Each N+1 issue is loosely organized around a big theme. The newest one ranges broadly with an inquiry into the nature of pop music with -no surprise here - Radiohead as its centerpiece to short fiction, personal essays, and literary and cultural criticism.

The essay on Radiohead is lucid and intelligent, one of the best in the issue and well worth reading for what it says about the meaning and limitations of pop music." An introduction to the Radiohead essay can be read on the N+1 website.

While you make pretty speeches...

Adham Riazinia wrote in with a video - 'made from scratch' - which has footage from the Katrina Hurricane aftermath and Radiohead's 'Like Spinning Plates'. Download the video.

Phil Selway Drumming Workshop

On Sunday September 25th you can attend a drumming workshop led by Phil Selway! The workshop is part of the Dorchester Arts Festival at Dorchester Abbey in Oxfordshire. Workshop starts at 14:00 hrs and prices are £15. Get your tickets at OxfordPlayhouse.com. [thanks Mandy]

Radiohead night in Lima

The Peruvian Radiohead Community is organizing a Radiohead night. This time, the band Space Bee will be playing the whole of "Ok Computer", non-stop, from Airbag to The Tourist, in front of a live audience. They will also be playing other Radiohead classics to make this an unforgettable night. The concert will take place at "Don Jijuna" (Plaza Butters #291, Barranco - one block from Ovalo Balta) on Thursday, September 15th at 10pm. Tickets cost s/.10 (about $3), doors open at 9pm. So now you know, in case you'll be in Lima next week, don't miss this chance of getting a little bit of Radiohead live (somehow). In case you have any further questions, just e-mail contacto@radioheadperu.com.

In A Blue Yorke State Of Mind

Journalist Andrew Mueller put an interview with Radiohead online, back in the day when Radiohead were supporting R.E.M. on their 'Monster Tour' ten years ago. The interview, published in Melody Maker, is available on Andrew Mueller's website as well as an interview with band from 2003. [thanks Nevrandil]

Tori Amos covers Radiohead's 'Karma Police'

Tori Amos has covered Radiohead's 'Karma Police' at her show in Rochester Hills, MI (USA) on August 28th. Sean has sent a recording of the track. Download 'Karma Police'.

Hello? Is this thing on?

Yes, 5 days of total absence on the www. The ateaseweb.com server seems to be cursed. Things should be back to normal now. The site is back online and the message board will follow shortly (temp at ease mb). Apologies for the inconvenience.

Update: the message board is now back online.