King of Limbs by Radiohead
It’s been like a week now and I hope everyone is done creaming their pants about this bad boy. Am I the only one that found “King of Limbs” to be less than mind blowing? As a whole the album seemed to be a less than melodic, hazey, vaguely depressing, electronic blur. I think the further that Radiohead gets from the traditional song writing of their earlier stuff, the less I tend to like Radiohead. I feel like a lot of people must just be scared to ‘not get’ Radiohead sometimes. Since that would be completely uncool. But let’s get real, a lot of this album is completely inaccessible for people that like…well, normal songs.
Alright, before I bash this record more than I actually intend to, let me say that there are some solid moments. “Lotus Flower” is a jam and a half. The drumming is tight and Thom Yorke’s falsetto really cuts through the other ambient instrumentation a lot more than it does on any of the other tracks. Also, can we just talk about the music video? Great stuff all around. Another standout for me was “little by little” it’s jangly guitars were a nice change of pace from the downtrodden beeps, clicks and electronic riffs on the rest of “king of limbs”.
Unfortunately though, the vast majority of “King of Limbs” was filled with a lot of aimless and almost spooky noise backing up Yorkes increasingly baby talkish vocals. Not something I’m wild about.
King of Limbs : 2 out of 5
Grouplove
“I told my bandmates that they’re my soul-mates”
This is good fun. It’s Like a sunkissed version of Modest Moue or something. Grouplove manages to find that perfect middle ground between angsty alternative rock and pop. The brief ep is infectious but still has depth. The lead track “Colours” is really a beast of a song and sets the table for the rest of the album perfectly. Starting with a tense guitar strum and almost tribal beat the song quickly builds and turns into a whirlwind of primal screaming, guitar shredding and drum stomping. It’s really one of the best songs of the year so far in my opinion. In the middle “Naked Kids” is an aptly named care free summer jam about friendship and nostalgia. The ep ends with “Oh Well”, a stunningly sweet song about that, with its heartfelt lyrics and clap along chorus does its darndest to make you happy to be alive. Grouplove is a band to watch out for.
Colours
Don’t say oh well
Grouplove: 5 out of 5
The Music Hoarder 
Gotta say I agree with you on both of these. King of Limbs was a pretty big letdown. Grouplove’s EP, on the other hand, is excellent.
Ya that ep is a blast. Thanks for reading!
I agree w/you completely on the Radiohead – I am sick of everyone calling everything they do “brilliant” and “challenging” when sometimes it’s just not very good. Read my satirical piece on my music site Rock Turtleneck here:
http://rockturtleneck.blogspot.com/2011/04/radiohead-brilliantly-experiment-with.html
It may not be the greatest work from RH but still it’s a good job. TH fans just get excited about their favourite band, please be indulgent with them 🙂
On the other hand GroupLove is really good also, but i feel it’s really pop. I really enjoyed it right now but dont know maybe in 6 months when i will listen to it again i may feel it’s boring.
Anyway both are really great artists, making music with love is the common point from all good artists, i may be wrong, but i feel love for the music i saw both artist on live.
Cheers,