Just Listen, etcetera, etcetera

Thom Yorke, Binaural Recording ?

if you're a music fan, by now, you probably have a feeling that you can't get away from all of the radiohead news and up to the minute, literally in some cases, feelings and conjecture on 'in rainbows'. i don't know how people are anointing it the greatest album ever, or even the greatest radiohead album only after a few listens. i find that my favorite, or my greatest albums of all time come about after time. 6 months to a year, at least. also, after all of these reviews from every type of source, i've come to realize even more that record reviews are entirely subjective. there is no way to be objective. yes, you can say about an album that it is an original piece of music going beyond convention and all of the critics can agree and fawn over the originality and purpose, but music is so personal and for true music enthusiasts, who is it to say that their favorite album or piece of music is not a greatest album of all time ?

what do i think about 'in rainbows' ? i don't know yet. it's engaged me enough to want to experience it in different environments and on different systems. only time will tell if it is one of my favorites. i saw this documentary on the pixies and frank black was talking about how he once had this car with a tape deck that had the 'they might be giants 'flood' tape stuck in the deck and how he initially hated the album, but after awhile he realized how good it was and how much he loved it.

listen to 'in rainbows'. give it a chance and you make the call. that's part of the reason the release was done simultaneously to everyone. although it is a radiohead album, it is still a unique offering especially in the recording technique.

from the picture above, and from a listen through flat monitor headphones, some of the recordings are binaural which is a recording technique used to basically create a three dimensional sound as if you were experiencing the music in a live environment. when i first started listening to the album, i kept thinking that everything sounded so loud and chaotic. this was on my home stereo which is mainly configured for movies. i then listened on a normal pair of earphones which didn't sound that much better. there's definitely a full sound in my car, but still somewhat displaced. yesterday, i used my sennheiser hd-25 headphones which are basically flat monitor phones and i could hear such depth and nuances in the music and a spacial clarity. i don't know for sure which songs were recorded using this technique, but i suspect at least 'nude', 'house of cards' and 'videotape'. and i suspect that any good pair of headphones will bring out the sound even more than on a conventional stereo setup, but does this make the actual recording great. no it doesn't, but at least it makes it interesting for your ears, and for your mind.

say what you will about radiohead, but they continue to challenge the listener's imagination of what popular music should sound like today. they make timeless music by taking tools of the past and creating sounds of the future.


Here are some more artists that continue to push music in new directions:

Akufen - Severed Finger Samba (Techno) - a good workout for you car stereo. the king of the slice and dice. stop playing with the radio and pick a station.

Snax featuring Jamie Lidell - Honeymoon's Overdose - i think i got this on from modifyer. sounds like old school lidell beats with the his voice over it.

Aphex Twin - Avril 14th - a nice piano piece that was featured (stolen) for a snl digital short. richard d james, a genius. the original rick james, .....................