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Radiohead Tunes in TourEOnline.comby Sarah Hall Mar 21, 2006, 4:25 PM PTRadiohead is ready to take the show back on the road. The band has confirmed a series of small-scale concert dates beginning in May in Europe and the U.K., followed by tour dates in the U.S. and Canada in June, including a headlining appearance at the 2006 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The British alt-rockers are then slated to return to Europe to play several more shows, including Britain's V Festival in Chelmsford and Staffordshire on Aug. 19-20. According to a statement from Radiohead, the upcoming tour will feature "new songs that are work in progress" in an effort to keep things "fun and spontaneous." "We're excited to be touring again, especially to play new songs to an audience," the band said. "For the first time, we have no contract or release deadline to fulfill--it's both liberating and terrifying." Tickets for the bulk of the concerts go on sale March 25. Radiohead has been working on a followup album to 2003's politically charged Hail to the Thief for months now, though no official timetable has been set for its release. However, the band said that it planned to release "music to download when we are excited about it, rather than wait 12 months for a full-blown album release." In a post on the band's official Website, frontman Thom Yorke elaborated further on what the band has in store for its fans. "By the way, listening back to things we are doing and looking through the lyrics today and stuff, it feels like we are finally getting somewhere," Yorke wrote. "There are lots of songs. Too many to get together straight away. So we will be furiously rehearsing and writing as we go." Yorke, who will appear with Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood at the Friends of the Earth's Big Ask Campaign benefit concert at London's Koko Club on May 1, also chastised those profiting off of tickets to the event by selling them on eBay at inflated prices. "Might i suggest that those selling their Koko tickets on eBay for stupid money gives a contribution, say 30 percent of their proceeds, back to Friends of the Earth, for whose benefit we are all doing this show," Yorke wrote. "Seems only fair, unless you're a shallow ____, dont you think?" The musician serves as an official ambassador for the charity, which is calling for international cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Despite his support for the cause, he recently turned down the chance to discuss climate change with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on its behalf, on the grounds that Blair has "no environmental credentials." "It was just obvious there was no point in meeting him anyway, and I didn't want to," he said in an interview in British magazine New Music Express. Yorke said the experience soured him on political activism in general. "I came out of that whole period just thinking, I don't want to get involved directly, it's poison," he said. "I'll just shout my mouth off from the sidelines."

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EOnline.comDIALED IN: Radiohead announcing a string of U.S. summer tour dates, kicking off in Philadelphia June 1 and wrapping in Los Angeles June 30. The band has no plans to release a new album in 2006, but will showcase new material at the shows. Good enough.

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Radiohead's Yorke Flies SoloEOnline.comby Josh Grossberg May 15, 2006, 2:30 PM PTEverything's in its right place for Thom Yorke. Radiohead's wiry frontman has announced that his first solo album, The Eraser, is set to hit stores on July 11. But don't go getting all paranoid android thinking the Grammy-winning British art rockers are going to disappear completely. In a message to Radiohead fansite W.A.S.T.E., Yorke emphatically denied that bandmembers have any intention of going their separate ways with his new musical foray. Instead, he reports that Radiohead has been feverishly working in its U.K. studios on new tunes for the band's highly anticipated seventh album, which Radiohead has been road testing with a short tour that began earlier this month in Europe. The tour makes its way to North America in June via intimate theater venues, as well as a June 17 headlining gig at the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee, before wrapping up in August. "Yes it's a record! No, it's not a Radiohead record," the singer wrote in a post dated Friday. "As you know, the band are now touring and writing new stuff and getting to a good space, so I want no crap about me being a traitor or whatever splitting up blah, blah...this was all done with their blessing." And while The Eraser is his own baby, Yorke tells fans he doesn't like referring to the disc as a solo project, claiming "it doesn't sound right." Solo or not, the new disc is going to be distributed by Indie label XL Recordings and feature nine tracks produced and arranged by Nigel Godrich, the famed Radiohead collaborator who shepherded the group to prominence via his work on The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A and Hail to the Thief. "The elements have been kicking round now for a few years and needed to be finished, and I have been itching to do something like this for ages," Yorke said in his post. "Inevitably, it is more beats and electronics." Billboard reports that one song, "Black Swan," will be featured over the closing credits of Warner Independent Features' upcoming thriller A Scanner Darkly, which Richard Linklater is adapting from the classic Philip K. Dick sci-fi novel. The film's score was rumored to be written entirely by Radiohead, but the band will instead contribute a limited amount of music along with Yorke's new tune. As for their long-awaited creep back to the stage, Yorke & Co. kicked things off with the May 1 tour opener in London, which saw the unveiling of new songs "Arpeggi" and "Bodysnatchers." Radiohead was forced to cancel a May 10 concert in Amsterdam after the unexpected death of drummer Phil Selway's mother. The band has rescheduled the show for Aug. 28. Here's a complete track listing for Yorke's The Eraser: "The Eraser" "Analyze" "The Clock" "Black Swan" "Skip Divided" "Atoms for Peace" "And It Rained All Night" "Harrowdown Hill" "Cymbal Rush"

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Radiohead album among year's best

 

2007 was a year of duality for music. While the industry continued to tank, it was quietly a very good year for rock 'n' roll and indie music. The Boss returned with his old band, the Police actually got along and even Led Zeppelin reunited. The most exciting music was busy breaking down barriers. Arcade Fire played in intimate churches; Web site TakeAwayShows.com and the film "Once" returned music to the streets; and a certain British band eliminated a very big middle man.

 

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1. "In Rainbows," Radiohead: The much-ballyhooed online release of "In Rainbows" in some ways obscured what an excellent album it is. The opener, "15 Step," begins with a cold electronic beat that sounds like recently typical Radiohead or Thom Yorke's 2006 solo album. But 41 seconds in, Johnny Greenwood enters with a beautiful, languorous guitar line. From then on, the band gradually lets the melody take over, particularly on songs like the midnight ballad "Nude" and the soulful show-stopper "Reckoner." With Radiohead, you're always on guard for the crash, the shattering of brightness — but on "In Rainbows," they let the light linger.

 

2. "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," Modest Mouse: There is so much to gather from this sprawling, schizophrenic album. You have former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr suddenly in the band. You have a group completely ignoring the thrust of fame that came from its 2004 hit, "Float On." And you have Modest Mouse's persistent, ever-growling excellence. On this, the band's best disc since 1997's "Lonesome Crowded West," the rollicking id that is Isaac Brock surfs through nautical themes, carbon stealing and little motels — and it all adds up to a fascinating mess.

 

3. "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," Spoon: Fans of this Austin, Texas-based band have been waiting for Britt Daniel and company to make the album they always had in them. Well, this is it. After several exceptional but imperfect discs, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" is a tightly honed collection of ten tracks, including both their trademark sparse arrangements ("The Ghost of You Lingers") and robust, hi-fi rockers ("The Underdog"). On the melancholic "Finer Feelings," Daniel looks for love in the pages of Memphis newspaper The Commercial Appeal — surely a more metaphorically-named paper than USA Today.

 

4. "Person Pitch," Panda Bear: This album sounds like the future. Working alone on his computer, Noah Lennox (whose stage name is Panda Bear) builds loops and layers of psychedelia around his ethereal, sun-drenched melodies. Anything you might call "fractured Beach Boys" isn't for everyone, but Lennox's nearly indescribable music — particularly the transcendent "Bros" — feels like a landmark achievement. (His home band, Animal Collective, also released a great album in 2007: "Strawberry Jam.")

 

5. "The Reminder," Feist: Ubiquitous iPod commercials were the only thing that detracted from this gorgeous, lilting album. The intimate production makes you feel like Feist is playing just for you; she fittingly sings: "Teenage hopes are alive at your door." For Feist, that means joy and optimism, not spray paint and flaming bags of feces.

 

6. "Sky Blue Sky," Wilco: The latest from Jeff Tweedy's Chicago outfit is an unusually normal album — a kind of conservative rebellion against the band's earlier experimentalism, most notably found on their classic "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." Instead, these are wistful, straightforward songs, enlivened by Nels Cline's expert guitar work. Not every album has to change the world.

 

7. "Under the Blacklight," Rilo Kiley: When Jenny Lewis released a solo album in 2006, many wondered if her band Rilo Kiley was done, no longer necessary for Lewis's considerable songwriting talents. It takes less than a minute of "Blacklight" — when Blake Sennett lays down the most ticklish guitar lick of the year — to remember the importance of the band. They play straight man to Lewis while she flirtatiously coos songs of tawdry sex and broken relationships. Fleetwood Mac fans, there is another.

 

8. "Back to Black," Amy Winehouse: If you've been distracted by Amy Winehouse's perpetual tabloid troubles, go back and listen to the last track on "Back to Black," "You Know I'm No Good," to remember why everyone knows she's plenty good.

 

9. "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" Of Montreal: You, too, might be hesitant to embrace makeup-heavy glam bands or album titles that address plantlife skeptically. Kevin Barnes' Athens, Ga.-based band used to be more of a giddy, melodic psychedelic group, but on "Hissing Fauna" Barnes' breakup is fuel for a wild, unpredictable ride and a search for a lover with "soul power." The band that began as part of the Elephant 6 collective has never made a better record. And it's funky, too — especially the closer: "We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafling." Yes, that's right. Leafling.

 

10. "Friend and Foe," Menomena: On their third disc, the Portland, Ore. indie band Menomena has created one of the year's most percussive albums. They seem to sense that now is their time: the album opens with Brent Knopf singing that he's got to "pick up my hustle." Menomena verges from hand-clapping, piano sing-alongs to songs built on electronic loops, but inventive, varied rhythms are always the foundation. Menomena might also be the best baritone sax rock group since Morphine, which is kind of a cool club

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Yorke Blasts Record Company 'Lie'

Radiohead rocker Thom Yorke has slammed the band's former label EMI for publicly claiming the group left the firm when record bosses refused to grant their request for a huge advance.

 

An EMI spokesperson last week told Britain's The Times that Radiohead decided not to resign with the label when their demands for money, prior to the recording of recent album "In Rainbows," were not met.

 

But singer Yorke insists Radiohead never made the request and left EMI because the company refused to let them have "control over our work and how it was used in the future."

 

He says, "We did not ask for a load of cash from ... EMI to resign. That is a lie."

 

The 39-year-old is annoyed EMI boss Guy Hands went public with details of the Radiohead split.

 

Yorke adds, "To be digging up such [bleep], or more politely airing (your) dirty laundry in public, seems a very strange way for the head of an international record label to be proceeding."

 

The British band made history last year when they allowed fans to pay whatever they liked to download "In Rainbows" online. The album had a physical release on CD and vinyl earlier this week.

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Radiohead Selling Real Copies Of "In Rainbows" For Real Money

January 9, 2008

 

 

 

Radiohead has the number one spot on the Billboard charts today after selling 122,000 copies of "In Rainbows" in the U.S. Billboard notes that this is a lot less than the band's 2003 album "Hail To The Thief," which sold 300,000 copies in its first week.

 

Of course, the trade mag allows, the comparison is "somewhat unfair," because of Radiohead's well-publicized Web distribution stunt. What a marvelous understatement: It is astonishing that Radiohead has sold more a few thousand copies of the new album, since it gave the gave the thing away last year. We'd expect a handful of Radiohead "completists" to buy the disc, and a few more audiophiles to pony up as well -- the MP3s the band sold/gave away last fall were at a relatively low quality bitrate.

 

But more than 100,000 is impressive, and also lucrative for the band: Since it owns the album outright, it should pocket $5 or more for each disc sold. Under Radiohead's old deal with EMI, it would have received an advance for the album but would have been unlikely to see any royalties for individual discs sold.

 

But important to stress that the "give it away on the Web/sell it in stores" model won't be catching on anytime soon. Radiohead's manager has already indicated that it was a one time thing for the band, and lead singer Thom Yorke recently acknowledged to Wired that it'd be hard to see any other act pulling it off:

 

The only reason we could even get away with this, the only reason anyone even gives a shit, is the fact that we've gone through the whole mill of the business in the first place. It's not supposed to be a model for anything else. It was simply a response to a situation. We're out of contract. We have our own studio. We have this new server. What the hell else would we do? This was the obvious thing. But it only works for us because of where we are.

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Radiohead allows fans to remix new single

 

 

Radiohead is using the Internet for another initiative built around its chart-topping album, "In Rainbows."

 

The UK rock act has teamed with iTunes and GarageBand for an interactive project that allows fans to rework the album's second single, "Nude."

 

Wannabe remixers can buy five separate tracks from the recording -- bass, voice, guitar, strings/effects and drums -- from iTunes Plus. On purchasing all five elements, the customer will be sent an access code to complete the task via the GarageBand or Logic music production software.

 

Finished mixes can be uploaded to Radioheadremix.com, where fans have until May 1 to listen and vote for their favorite. Bedroom remixers can also create a widget for their personal Web profile that will tally votes toward the competition.

 

"In Rainbows" was initially released on the Internet last year, with the band allowing fans to download the album for whatever price they chose. The CD version hit stores earlier this year, debuting at No. 1 on the U.S. and UK charts.

 

Reuters/Billboard

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Thom Yorke: No More Free Radiohead Albums

 

 

When Radiohead let their fans download In Rainbows for free last year, many commentators declared that the band's decision could potentially reinvent the music industry. However, for future releases they will probably un-reinvent it, as Thom Yorke has admitted.

 

"I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation," Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter this week. "It was one of those things where everyone was asking us what we were going to do."

 

Is that all it takes for Yorke and his bandmates to turn the industry model on its head? That everyone simply ask them: "What are you going to do?"

 

While the band's decision was not the earth-shattering revolution that some pundits described it as, it has certainly left an impression on the industry. We have since seen similar experiments by Nine Inch Nails and the Charlatans, not to mention a raft of near-instant album releases by the Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley. And, of course, Coldplay's new song, Violet Hill, was released as a free download.

 

However, it now seems that Yorke would rather put the genie back in the bottle, releasing Radiohead's future albums in the boring, traditional way. "I don't think it would have the same significance now, if we choose to give something away again. It was a moment in time," he said. They certainly wouldn't win as many headlines. Perhaps Radiohead were more interested in having their name in the history books, despite Yorke's anti-celebrity stance?

 

Source: The Guardian

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Radiohead nearly split during 'In Rainbows'

 

British rockers Radiohead nearly parted ways during the recording of their hit 2007 album "In Rainbows" - because the lengthy studio sessions dragged on for several years.

 

The band began working on tracks for the groundbreaking record in 2005 before it was eventually released online using a 'pay-what-you-like' system in late 2007.

 

And guitarist Ed O'Brien admits the album process was so long and tedious, they weren't sure whether they would continue as a group.

 

He tells Midem.com, "The recording of the album took three years. Which is a long time by anybody's standards. It pretty much half killed us. Whether the band would continue was very much in the balance."

 

But the musician is convinced the decision to release the album using such an unconventional sales technique saved them from a split.

 

He adds, "It was empowering. You can't put it into a balance sheet, this feeling of empowerment. It completely rejuvenated us as a band. It got the creative juices flowing. You can't put a price on that. That's the stuff that keeps you going."

 

 

 

source: http://www.sfgate.com

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