A Few Surprises

By Andrew Pease | Monday, October 2, 2000

In 1997, Radiohead released their third album, OK Computer, to unprecedented critical acclaim. They certainly deserved such a response: every track on the album reflected an extremely high degree of creativity and musicianship, both of which can rarely be found in popular music today, and even more rarely in combination. And to top it all off, their tunes were catchy. OK Computer sold a whole lot of copies and became a huge success.

Such success did not sit well with the members of Radiohead, a band known for loathing 'Creep,' their 1993 single that made them famous in the U.S. They went through the motions of success after OK Computer, touring the world and releasing singles and videos from the album, but as time wore on it became clear that Radiohead was tired of appealing to people's tastes. Witness their video for 'No Surprises.' It consists entirely of an unedited close-up of lead singer Thom Yorke's face in a tank that slowly fills with water and empties just before he runs out of breath. Clearly the band did not intend to win over audiences with their stunning visuals. It's likely they weren't interested in winning over anyone at all.

Radiohead's latest effort, Kid A, takes this anti-commercial attitude to the next level. Instead of the radio-friendly pop/rock tracks of OK Computer, one finds ambience and atmosphere interspersed with the occasional lyric on Kid A.

Someone who has never heard Radiohead before might easily mistake pieces of this album for the work of a rave DJ. The album as a whole is in many ways a departure from Radiohead's former style. The two essential qualities of creativity and musicianship remain, however, in this highly experimental work.

Kid A begins with 'Everything in its Right Place,' which sets the tone for the tracks that follow. No live instruments are heard on this track. Instead a straight-ahead, very smooth electronic texture provides the background. Thom Yorke's voice is the only non-electronically generated sound to be heard on the track, and even that at times is sampled to produce a low, garbled drone that adds to the ever-present texture.

At its finest moments Yorke's voice soars unadorned above the electronic orchestra, repeating such seemingly meaningless phrases as 'yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon' and, of course, 'everything in its right place.' While the lyrics do leave one scratching his head (as perhaps was their intent) they do not detract from the superb music. 'Everything in its Right Place' uses both harmony and rhythm in ways that set it apart from most popular music. The track is divided into 10-beat phrases which run together and overlap to create an effortlessly flowing yet completely unnatural rhythmic feel. The harmonies meanwhile rise and fall within the rhythmic framework, cresting at each utterance of 'everything.' Everything truly is in its right place in this track, and the result is beautiful music in Radiohead's new idiom.

Other tracks on Kid A are built on principles similar to those in 'Everything in its Right Place,' including especially 'Morning Bell' and 'In Limbo.' These occupy the middle ground on the album, standing between those tracks whose purpose is outright ambience, and those that could almost make it as pop songs. On the extreme end of the former group comes 'Treefingers,' which is nothing more than four minutes of droning electronic ambience. 'The National Anthem,' whose title seems to bear no resemblance to its content, is ambient by sheer repetition. The same four-bar bass and drum line repeats throughout the track, while various other material is overlaid. The overlay varies from Yorke's distorted voice alone to a jazz trombone solo accompanied by leaping electronic whistles. 'Idioteque' is built on roughly this same principle of repetition and overlay.

Closer in character to 'Treefingers' is the album's title track, 'Kid A.' A child's music box begins the song and plays throughout. An electronic beatbox soon enters alongside the music box, providing a dance beat for the entire track. This is punctuated at times by short appearances from a live drumset and bass guitar which reinforce the beat, and also by occasional sustained chords from a string orchestra that lend further ambience to the track. Yorke does sing actual lyrics in 'Kid A.' They are so mired in distortion and other effects, however, as to be completely unintelligible. But, again, this does little to detract from the overall effectiveness of the music. It must be noted that this, the album's title track, definitely approaches Radiohead's new upper limit for musical strangeness.

There remain on Kid A a handful of tracks that could almost be marketed as singles if Radiohead had any desire to do so. On these one hears bits of the old familiar combination of guitar, bass, drums, and voice. But as on OK Computer, these are infused with electronic and ambient elements, and often to a higher degree than before. The first guitar on Kid A occurs in track 4, 'How to Disappear Completely.' This is an acoustic ballad set against a soft electronic whine which turns into a soaring electric accompaniment and a lusciously dissonant string orchestra. Yorke sings beautifully, completing the haunting atmosphere of the song. It builds slowly, beginning with only the guitar. Gradually the bass, voice, drums, strings, and effects enter, with each new element adding further charge to the already powerful music. It climaxes at the end when Yorke joins the electronic high sighs, the strings resolve their dissonances in powerful open chords, and the electronic effects rise in a chaotic chorus. 'How to Disappear Completely' is very powerful, and is perhaps the most successful track on Kid A.

The most radio-friendly track on the album is 'Optimistic.' This is the closest that Kid A comes to rock, with constantly strumming guitars and a drumset keeping the beat. After a brief introduction, the song proceeds in a form close to the standard pop formula (verse, chorus, repeat). But Radiohead cannot leave even their best pop tune untouched by their love for electronica. Indeed, 'Optimistic' features a couple subtle electronic touch-ups to fill out its texture. And just to keep things interesting, Radiohead remixes the basic beat into a muzak beat at the track's end, as if to remind whoever may be listening about the non-commercial nature of the song, and indeed the whole album.

Then again, those who saw MTV2's American premiere of Kid A on September 18 and 19 will not need to be reminded of Radiohead's anti-commercial leanings. In a visual presentation that rivaled even their previous work on 'No Surprises,' fans who sat down expecting 'surprise visuals' with their Kid A preview received a surprise indeed. The album was played in its entirety over a black and white film of a record playing in a studio. The film was played forwards and then backwards continuously for the entire duration of the album. This is not exactly something that would attract the general channel-surfing public. Still, if Radiohead can get fans to watch records spin while listening to their music, they must be doing something right.

A Few Surprises

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