So this is the new Radiohead release model. Strange, self-serving singles issued whenever the band feels like it. Is it cliched to say that this is perhaps the most punk rock thing I’ve heard in years? Not the track itself, mind you, just Radiohead’s casual “fuck off” attitude about the whole thing. Because let’s be honest here, if “These Are My Twisted Words” was just some track you came across on MySpace by some British nobody, you wouldn’t give two shits.
As hard as it is to believe, the rumblings from the Radiohead camp lately aren’t all that interesting other than the manner in which they’ve been released. “Harry Patch,” the previous single the band put out in this manner, was described by our own Jon Prusik as “a paper airplane that wafts aimlessly from the window of the band’s studio,” and that could more or less sum up “These Are My Twisted Words” as well.
Beginning with some ambiguous noise before Phil Selway offers up a jaunty little jazz rhythm as the guitars float around in the ether, the track never really expands from there. Mr. Yorke doesn’t even put in an appearance until the song (which is nearly six minutes, by the way) is about halfway over. For the life of me, I can’t even find the bass in this recording, the low end instead seemingly carried by a guitar run through an octave manipulator. The end result is a pretty-sounding, sleep-inducing bore of a track.
While it’s easy to appreciate the strides Radiohead are making in the way music is released and consumed, the truth is that these singles so far have just seemed like music meant to be enjoyed by the band first and foremost and the consumer last. That isn’t necessarily a horrible thing, and since these tracks have been free, quickly assembled products that seem to be meant as a way for the fans to join in on Radiohead’s creative process, they still haven’t, in and of themselves, proven that albums are a dead commodity. Even In Rainbows, which was released and marketed in a similar fashion, had the benefit of being a whole, completed work. But I suppose when the price is right, there really isn’t much sense in complaining, is there?
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