Rabbit In Your Headlights performed by UNKLE (DJ Shadow) with Thom Yorke
I've Seen It All performed
by Bjork with Thom Yorke
Note: Actually, the best explanation for the electronic and experimental stylings of Kid A and Amnesiac is the fact that Radiohead have always been interested in exploring styles other than straight-forward rock. Listen to their demos from as early as 1991 and you'll hear synthesizers, drum machines, and hypnotic mantras. It is also widely known that before Radiohead, Thom was in a "techno band", and all five members of Radiohead have been listening to experimental artists long before they started making music together.
Why "Planet
Telex"?
The strong role for the keyboard
was groundbreaking for the band. Kid A is, of course, keyboard centered.
Why "Nice
Dream"?
Simply the tide of distorted noise
that washes out the end of the song. This unique concept of transition
is employed on most tracks on the new album.
Why "Bulletproof"?
The guitar atmospherics played
by Jonny and maybe Ed were a precursor to the innovative tricks done with
standard instruments that made later songs like "Lucky" and "Airbag" and
of course Kid A wrought with interesting embelishments. Songs on
Kid
A like "Idioteque" and "Morning Bell" feature distortion pedal usage
as embellishments. Indeed, the "Aphex Twin sounding" instrumental "Treefingers"
is entirely guitars, sampled and chopped up (Kevin Shields style).
Also, compare the very delayed and thereby very much anticipated appearences
of the acoustic guitar between this song and "How To Disappear Completely"
(the album version, not the early live version). The distorted atmospherics
are used tensively to make tease the introduction of the organic acoustic
guitar riff.
Why "India
Rubber"?
This was the first really experimental
Radiohead song. Basically this was Thom's science project. All sorts of
weird techniques were used to make this song, techniques that would forever
change the concept of what Radiohead is supposed to sound like.
It also introduced Thom as "that guy with the really weird electronica
ideas."
Why "Talk
Show Host"?
This is a keyboard song without
really any conventional guitars. Think "Idioteque," "Everything In Its
Right Place," "Kid A," etc.
Why "Airbag"?
"Airbag" is full of super layered
instrumentation inspired by the deep sonic collages invented by DJ Shadow,
who opened for Radiohead on their 1996 European tour. This type of layering
is probably the biggest influence on Kid A. Although the song is
a far cry from "techno" (as is DJ Shadow himself), the song was the most
challenging Radiohead track at that time, and as the opener to OK Computer
it forced the listener to again change his or her opinion as to what Radiohead
is like.
Why "Exit
Music"?
Again, the atmospherics done in
the last few bars - where Thom is telling us he hopes that we choke - are
a signature trademark of songs like "The National Anthem" (before Thom
starts singing, for instance). For information about the distortion equipment
Jonny uses to make this sound, click
here.
Why "Fitter
Happier"?
This song is not a gimick, but
it is obviously meant to be a very unique and outstanding piece. It's not
really a song, as there is no singing, but the digital voice - an Apple
default voice reading Thom's ranting - is both technical and philosophical
foreshadowing to Kid A. In the technical sense, the actual usage
of a computer as the premise for a song was radical for them, and this
idea turns up throughout the new album. The sessions were all done directly
to digital medium and most of Kid A was either created on a machine
or edited with one. As for philosophy, it is a precursor to the themes
of Kid A, that is, the lack of humanity in today's society. Having
a computer speak instead of a human is perfect. Having Thom's voice sound
like a machine on the first couple tracks of Kid A is very effective
in conveying their view on the state of humanity. Also, musically, "Fitter
Happier" was programmed by outsiders. The new album was programmed by the
band themselves. But again, the idea of Radiohead's music being made on
the machine was really quite revolutionary.
Why "Climbing
Up The Walls"?
The intro. These weird sampled
and distorted sounds serve as ancestors to the intros and outros to songs
like "The National Anthem" and the new version of "How To Disappear Completely."
Why "Meeting
In The Aisle"?
This was programmed by the same
people who programmed "Fitter Happier." Again, machine music. The song
is really interesting, kind of electronic cabaret without vocals. On that
note, the idea of a Radiohead song without any words was also an influence
on Kid A, as "Treefingers" is an instrumental and some of the other
songs utilize Thom's voice as an instrument rather than a method of expressing
words.
Why "Melatonin"?
The strong presense of keyboards
and a lack of guitars is a precursor. Also note Phil's trippy, hollow drumming
sounds like a drum machine loop.
Why "Palo
Alto"?
The bizarre usage of the radio
transmitter opened doors for what Radiohead can use in the studio and especially
on stage. Thom's experiment in adding the sputtering radio noises worked
so extremely well that Kid A is chock full of weird instruments,
whether they be synthesizers, drum machines, or just weird little radios
and electronic devices.
Why "Rabbit
In Your Headlights"?
The collaboration with DJ Shadow
allowed Thom to even further depart from Radiohead's typical style. DJ
Shadow added lots of weird, cool samples to the song. Samples are of course
very heavy in Kid A, like the harp in "Motion Picture Soundtrack"
and the "organ" sound (a Paul Lansky sample) predominent in "Idioteque."
Again, no guitars. Thom does play bass; his debut, if I recall correctly.
Thom plays bass on some songs on Kid A and the as-yet-unreleased
fifth album.
Why "I've
Seen It All"?
Though it was recorded right after
Kid
A, it probably reassured Thom that the more divergent tracks were the
right ones to put out. Bjork asked LFO's Mark Bell to not use drums or
a drum machine on this song - so he samples a train and uses this as a
looped drum beat. Brilliant. I'm sure Thom was impressed.
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