unforced rhythms of grace: December 2006

there's really two kind of people in the world: those who wear Santa Clause hats to work, and the rest of us.

Look, the rest of this post is going to be about Thom Yorke so if you want something else to do, here. (I imagine my target audience to be Trav and Hamster and Pepe and Seaner. Stevie read on if you like, but when you get bored, here.)

So, I've been locked in on York's solo record for going on three weeks straight. And I mean obsessively. Ask my wife and unborn child.

First things first. If you haven't yet, should you buy it? A great question with a fairly easy answer. It all depends on when you jumped off the Radiohead wagon. Look, Kid A and Amnesiac were purposefully polarizing records (more on that later) and if you thought they sounded more like Asteroids than the Radiohead you had come to know and love, you're going to want to stay way from the Eraser. But for many of us, A Thom Yorke vocal could be dropped over the sound of flatulence and we'd still find ourselves hypnotized and rapt with the beauty of it all. Shame on us. There's one, count them one, track on the Eraser that even hints at a band being anywhere in the building. And by "band" I mean Thom on very simple guitar, bass and kit tracks for a total of one looped measure. Everything else sounds like it came from a Powerbook. A British one. A fucking brilliant British one.

Do what you will with that review, but I'm moving on. As I've said, I've been a bit obsessive over York of late, like Kevin with reptiles. I've been consuming TY interviews and performances a dozen at a time for days. Weeks actually. As I've read, two impressive things continually return to the surface about this guy that are worth noting.

One. Yorke takes what he does VERY seriously. Read his interviews and there's not a hint of pretentiousness. What there is LOADS of though, is a sense of responsibility Yorke seems to place on himself. Over and over and over, he says things like "... as a person who is allowed to think a lot". Yorke has about as deep an understanding of his opportunity and responsibility as an artist than anyone since Bob Dylan. This was news to me. He says his content comes from one of two places: one, nightmares and two, an evaluation of what he sees going on around him and how that effects his environment. I knew about the nightmares. But how GREAT is it to hear an artist say, "look, I'm lucky enough to get to give good hard thought to the things around me and respond to them for a living. My plumber doesn't get to do that as much, nor get paid for it. So I want to take it seriously and be good at it. " Beats doing it for the Nookie.

Two. A repetitive lyrical theme for Yorke is the tension that exists between the systematic and the relational; the exaltation of efficiency over individuality and the doom that will come with it. Personally, I would go so far as to say its this message that lies at the core of Radiohead. Yorke often talks about Douglas Copeland in interviews and Radiohead's music and artwork reflect his ideas seamlessly; something innocent, paired with something ominous and or hopeless:

Alright. Thoughts?

Seaner and Pepe, get the whole record. Kevo and Trav start with Black Swan, Analyze, Atoms for Peace and the title track. Stevie, I hear John Mayer is touring. However, if you were going to appreciate anything on this record it might be Black Swan for the neato bass riff. C'mon, its 99 cents.

P.S. - Pepe this is for you. Stick with it for the whole 8 minutes and think systematic religion.