If Aphex Twin is to Electro what Woody Guthrie was to folk, then Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has just done a Bob Dylan, taking the music to the masses with his new electronic protest album, The Eraser (Just Music).
The first single, Harrowdown Hill, uses a swathe of electronic shuffling to soundtrack lyrics that deal with the death of British Defence Ministry expert David Kelly. “You’ll be dispensed with, when you become inconvenient,” croons Yorke, who later rams it home with, “did I fall or was I pushed”. The album is fuelled by fuzzy beats, throbbing baselines, rolling piano and layered vocal harmonies that create a dirty and eerily haunting soundscape for Yorke’s mumblings of oppression, cynicism and escape.
If ever there was a soundtrack to Orwell’s 1984, then this is it. Yorke really pushes his vocal performances, even beat boxing on The Clock. His soundtrack of alienation and dis-illusionment creeps along as he rants about lies, lapdogs, blind spots and hidden agendas.
The album draws to a close with Yorke’s layered vocal crescendo spiralling over a jazzy cymbal rush, which will leave you cold. The Eraser has hints of magnum opus Kid A, but Radiohead fans familiar with the b-sides of the last three albums, especially the Com Lag EP, will have a clear idea of what to expect. More than 40 years ago, Dylan warned that hard rain was going to fall, and now Yorke has taken it upon himself to report back that it has been raining all night.
ALSO ON THE SHELF
Black holes & revelations
Muse (Gallo Records)
What happened to Muse? Apparently a period of living, clubbing and spinning the decks in New York has lead to Muse’s funky new sound, but can it really be that simple? You can still hear the roots of the old, overdramatic sci-fi rockers, but now they have an electro sensibility and a majestic new album. First single Supermassive Black Hole sounds like Muse have been paying a lot of attention to the disco/rock hybrid of Scottish band Franz Ferdinand, but at the same time vocally draws from the white funk albums of Beck. Hard-rocking Muse is still evident on Assassin and Exo Politics, while their Jazz influences sneak through on Soldiers Poem and Hoodoo. Lead singer Matt Bellamy mixes songs of aliens and satellite-filled skies with a new anarchic element that calls for cities to be torched and leaders to be killed. What exactly his new vision for the world’s future entails is not clear, but as usual, it is way over the top. — Lloyd Gedye
Just like the fambly cat
Grandaddy (Just Music)
Some bands know when to call it quits and others just hang on for dear life way past their sell-by date. Grandaddy, on the other hand, has decided to call it a day, after delivering one of the finest albums of the decade. Just Like The Fambly Cat is littered with references to death and moving on, but lead singer Jason Lytle appears resigned to his band’s ultimate demise and comfortable in his decision. For the uninitiated, Grandaddy’s sound is part Flaming Lips, part Mercury Rev, with a dash of Pavement and a sprinkling of Air. Having sampled the delights that this album offers, it is only logical to sit back and wonder how a band this good could be allowed to disappear into the rock’n’roll wilderness, but, as Lytle says, “don’t want live life looking through a rear-view mirror”. Saying goodbye is always hard, but this little parting gift will make it a lot easier. — Lloyd Gedye