Tags Of 2011 #7 – Radiohead
Back in February of this year, without any build up, Radiohead announced the release of their eighth studio album ‘King Of Limbs’. Only a day or two prior to this the blogosphere had been set alight with the emergence of the music video for debut track ‘Lotus Flower’.
Directed by Gareth Jennings and choreographed by Wayne McGregor, the video features singer Thom Yorke (complete with bowler hat) performing a strange kind of interpretive-jazz dance (for anyone that has witnessed Yorke’s live performances it could be said that a showcase such as this was long overdue). Filmed in black and white, Yorke’s erratic movements are manipulated in and out of time with the music, the simple use of imagery helping to make one of the most memorable videos of the year.
‘Lotus Flower’ itself is a carefully constructed collage of organic and electronic sound. Jittering programmed percussion flitters around dub bass and Yorke’s immaculate falsetto vocals weave their way seamlessly throughout the track. ‘The King Of Limbs’ certainly marks a distinct shift in the bands direction, with more of an emphasis around the electronic sound Yorke has been honing in his solo work and less so around the traditional rock formula of previous records.
The song received three nominations for Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Short Form Music Video at this years Grammy’s. A remix album of ‘The King Of Limbs’ entitled ‘TKOL RMX 1234567′ was released in October and features some of the bands favourite contemporary producers including; Modeselektor, Jamie xx, Four Tet, Nathan Fake and Caribou.
