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In Rainbows

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Template:Future album

Untitled

Radiohead's seventh studio album has been recorded and is expected to be released sometime in 2008[1]. The band has been working on it for over two years, starting in early 2005.

Contract issues

Radiohead are currently unsigned, having fulfilled their six-album contract with EMI. In interviews in 2006, the band said that "for the first time, we have no contract or release deadline to fulfill – it's both liberating and terrifying".[2] The band have stated that they will not make a decision on how to release their new material until it is finished.[3] Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has also hinted at the possibility of releasing EPs rather than an album, but ruled out the possibility of Internet-only distribution.[4] It is unknown whether the band has plans to negotiate a new contract with a label for release of current and future recordings.

Yorke, commenting on the band's relationship with EMI, said, "We have no record contract as such. Any offers?..What we would like is the old EMI back again, the nice genteel arms manufacturers who treated music [as] a nice side project who weren't too bothered about the shareholders. Ah well, not much chance of that."[5]

Musical influences

Radiohead's new music has been characterized by the band as "almost embarrassingly minimal," "sparse with lots of bass," and, more recently, "lush", according to Stanley Donwood, who is working closely with them on the artwork of the new album. Yorke described the lyrical concept of the album as, "It's about that anonymous fear thing, sitting in traffic, thinking, 'I'm sure I'm supposed to be doing something else'... it's similar to OK Computer in a way. It's much more terrifying. But OK Computer was terrifying too – some of the lyrics were."[6]

On recent postings on Dead Air Space, the band's blog, Yorke has posted extracts of J.G. Ballard's anti-consumerist book Kingdom Come and links to sites against the use of nuclear power and for the promotion of knowledge about global warming[7] providing a possible glimpse at the lyrical content of the album.

Recording history

After a break in 2004, Radiohead began work in early 2005. Yorke and Jonny Greenwood debuted a new song, "Arpeggi", at London's Ether Festival in March 2005; Greenwood also debuted two of his own classical pieces, one written for the Ondes Martenot. Later that summer, Yorke performed an acoustic set for the Trade Justice Rally, playing the never-recorded "Nude" and "Reckoner", debuting the new song "House of Cards", and introducing "Last Flowers [Till Hospital]", a previously unheard remnant from the OK Computer period. In September 2005, the band recorded a new piano-based song, "I Want None of This", for the War Child charity album Help: A Day in the Life. This album was sold online, with Radiohead's contribution being the most downloaded track, although it was not released as a single.

Regular recording sessions began late summer 2005, with the band posting intermittently on their progress in their new blog, Dead Air Space. Recording continued into early 2006. In the spring 2006 sessions, they chose to work with Mark "Spike" Stent instead of their longtime co-producer Nigel Godrich. As revealed by Ed O'Brien in December 2005, the switch was made amiably because the band felt too comfortable with Godrich and wanted to challenge themselves.[citation needed] The band finished work with Stent in April 2006.

In May and June 2006, Radiohead toured major cities in Europe and North America, returning to Europe for several concerts in August. The tour, their first in several years, drew sold out crowds to smaller venues such as clubs and theatres, including a benefit performance in London for Friends of the Earth's campaign to stop climate change. They also played some big music festivals such as the massive Bonnaroo and V Festival; they headlined both lineups of V and played a 28-song set at Bonnaroo, their longest live concert in years. In addition to playing old songs and re-arranged band versions of "Arpeggi", "Nude", "I Want None of This", and "House of Cards", Radiohead premiered 10 new songs. This tour coincided with the release of Yorke's solo album, The Eraser, from which the track "Cymbal Rush" was performed at the environmental benefit, but otherwise the band did not play Yorke's solo songs as a group.

After the tour, the band restarted recording sessions in September 2006, this time with Nigel Godrich. Yorke said on Dead Air Space that the band have "started the record properly now... starting to get somewhere I think. Finally."[8] By late December 2006, they finished their third month of recording with Godrich at several rural locations in England and had a three-week holiday break. In mid-January 2007 Radiohead resumed their recording sessions following their holiday break and also started posting photos, lyrics, videos and samples of new songs on DAS, which status is yet unconfirmed. In late March 2007, the band posted the words "Mixing it" on Dead Air Space,[9] followed by a picture of Stanley Donwood working on the artwork for the album.[10] In late April, Yorke stated that Radiohead have a CD of material ready for consideration.[11] In June, Ed O'Brien wrote that the album is very close to completion,[12] and Nigel Godrich posted outtakes of the mixed songs on Dead Air Space, among which were "Open Pick", "Down Is the New Up", "Bangers 'n' Mash", "All I Need" and "Arpeggi".[13]

Having completed recording the album in June, Radiohead began to master the album in mid-July 2007 in New York City,[14]. The band’s PR confirmed to British Teletext that they have finished recording the follow-up to 2003’s Hail To The Thief, but added: "It isn’t out until 2008." No news was given for the delay, but it’s believed the band want to get out a new record deal before its release, and to give time for their next record company to market the album. In September 2007, guitarist Jonny Greenwood also confirmed that the new album is completed. No release date has yet been set as they still "have to decide what we should do with it".[15]

Potential songs

13 unreleased tracks were played during a 2006 American and European tour.

  • "All I Need"
  • "Arpeggi"
  • "Bangers 'n' Mash"
  • "Bodysnatchers"
  • "Down Is the New Up"
  • "15 Step"
  • "4 Minute Warning"
  • "Go Slowly"
  • "House of Cards"
  • "Nude"
  • "Open Pick"
  • "Spooks"
  • "Videotape"

"I Want None of This" was recorded for Help: A Day in the Life but may feature on the new album

In mid-June 2007 Nigel Godrich posted tape samples of six songs from the upcoming album on Radiohead's website[16] in a QuickTime video. The songs sampled, in order of playing, were "Open Pick", "All I Need", "Down Is the New Up", "Arpeggi", and "Bangers 'n' Mash". An unidentified song (played after "Open Pick") is also featured; on one edit of the mix has title cards identifying the song and one possibility is that this is a fragment of the unreleased song "Burn the Witch". Another popular theory on some Radiohead message boards is that this song is "A Pig's Ear", due to a similarity in lyrics to the sample and to lyrics for "A Pig's Ear" that Yorke posted on "Dead Air Space" in 2006.

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/44901-apparently-no-new-radiohead-album-in-2007]
  2. ^ "Exclusive - Radiohead UK tour revealed. NME. March 21, 2006". Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  3. ^ Brandle, Lars (2005-08-18). "Label-less Radiohead Pressing On With New Album". Billboard. Billboard.com. Retrieved 2007-04-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "[[Rolling Stone]]. Radiohead's Thom Yorke on Going Solo. June 2006". Retrieved 2007-03-11. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  5. ^ "Radiohead zoning in on seventh album, reveal new track". Soundgenerator. soundgenerator.com. 2005-08-21. Retrieved 2007-07-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "NME, April 3, 2006". Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  7. ^ "mood music". Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  8. ^ Dead Air Space, October 15, 2006. [1]
  9. ^ "Mixing It". Dead Air Space. 2007-03-24. Retrieved 2007-06-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Mr D at his Desk". Dead Air Space. 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2007-06-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Radiohead's Thom Yorke Scared of New Album, Gets Political Again". Exclaim!. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2007-05-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Ed O'Brien (2007-06-13). "a word from the studio". Dead Air Space. Retrieved 2007-06-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Nigel Godrich (2007-06-15). "a bit of tape from the studio". Dead Air Space. Retrieved 2007-06-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Radiohead mastering seventh album in New York". NME. 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2007-07-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Radiohead's new album is finished, now what?". Paste (magazine). 2007-09-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ [2]
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