Flea

I am not all that big on the Red Hot Chili Peppers (maybe a song or two here and there), but i have always recognized that Flea is one hell of an accomplished musician, be it the bass or the trumpet.  And he's finally giving us a solo jazz outing with the release of "Honora" tomorrow.  Check out the Thom Yorke assisted "Traffic Lights" below and order the LP here from Nonesuch Records.

Daily Jam - Bitter-Sweet

Back in the '90s for the "Velvet Goldmine" soundtrack, the filmmakers put together a supergroup called The Venus in Furs consisting of Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, Suede's Bernard Butler, Grant Lee Buffalo's Paul Kimble, and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay.  Here they are covering Roxy Music's "Bitter-Sweet."  Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke

Fresh off their collaborative single "Back in the Game" last month, Australian electronic artist Mark Pritchard and Radiohead front man Thom Yorke are back with the announcement of new full-length album "Tall Tales" due in May.  Pre-order it here from Warp and listen to new single "This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice" below.

Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard

Thom Yorke just released a new track with regular collaborator Mark Pritchard with the icy, creeping synth-laden "Back in the Game."  It kind of reminds me of "Decades" by Joy Division, but maybe that's just me.  Anyway, check out the video for the song below.

The Smile

The Smile surprise released a couple of new songs the other day that are, for the moment, only available on a 12" at select record stores.  Word on the street is though, that we'll be able to order the record online here in a couple of days.  Check out the vinyl rip of the A-side, "Don't Get Me Started," below in the meantime.

Thom Yorke

Radiohead's Thom Yorke is back at the film score game (guess he caught the bug from bandmate Jonny Greenwood), this time around with soundtrack to Italian filmmaker Daniele Luchetti's upcoming "Confidenza."  Assisted The Smile bandmate Tom Skinner and jazz musician Robert Stillman, the first taste of the score is an ominous, jazzy affair, but still something that sticks to the ribs.  Check out "Prize Giving" below and pre-order the LP here from XL Recordings.

Daily Jam - Paranoid Android

I’m nineteen years old. I’m at a now defunct music venue in Houston, Texas that I can never remember the name of, singing and screaming with thousands of other people, watching my favorite band perform as I float above the crowd. I’m not sure how long I have been laying across the hands and shoulders of other fans, pushing and passing me around like a rag doll, but I do know that the spacey and floating bridge to “Paranoid Android” has just begun, and in my levitated physical state, my mind soon catches up, and I feel complete and utter bliss.

Almost seventeen years later*, that Radiohead performance is still the best concert I have ever attended. We can chalk it up to how much I loved the band at that time (and still do), or how awesome it was to see them in a smallish, almost intimate venue before they become mega-stars, or how by some weird coincidence and some mutual friends, I met my wife the night before (though neither one of us would actually remember it until a couple of years later when we met again), but really, it was that bridge. Crowd surfing while Thom Yorke sings, “Come on rain down on me from a great height,” may just be the coolest experience I’ve ever had at a rock concert.

When OK Computer came out in 1997, it almost felt like an abrupt shift in sound and tone from a band coming off of their just-left-of-Britpop 1995 effort, The Bends. The songs felt wider in scope…spacier…like the group were tapping into some kind of sci-fi existentialist forethought to warn us about our technology-filled future. Drawing inspiration from The Beatles, Miles Davis, and Ennio Morricone, the band ultimately created a grand opus, an art-rock album for the ages, and one that I listened to incessantly for years. My constant standout has always been that first single (though “Airbag” comes really, really close).

“Paranoid Android” gets its name from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and was reportedly originally meant to be three separate songs, hence the tune’s three distinct sections. Playing on themes of tech-paranoia, control, and disgust for modern complacency, Radiohead use an array of cosmic guitar and synthesizer tones and textures to craft six minutes of proggy space rock that perfectly capture that fear and disdain, all the while adding an undercurrent of sadness. It’s beautiful.

If there’s a better song to transcendently crowd surf to, I haven’t found it. Listen below, our Daily Jam.

*This was originally published in 2015.

The Smile

When they dropped new single "Bending Hectic" a few months back, it seemed evident that a new album from The Smile would find its way to us sooner than later, and now we've got a date.  "Wall of Eyes" hits in January.  Pre-order it here from XL Recordings and listen to the eerie and melancholy title track below.

Daily Jam - Climbing Up the Walls

Radiohead's "OK Computer" is one of those albums whose tracks are in a constant rotation for what is my favorite at any given time.  This morning it's "Climbing Up the Walls."  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Cymbal Rush

Gonna go swim in a river for a little bit.  Here's Thom Yorke with "Cymbal Rush," our Daily Jam.

The Smile

Hey, we got a new track from The Smile today.  And it's pretty damn good too.  Check out "Bending Hectic" below and download it here from XL Recordings.

The Smile

We all knew it was coming, it was just a question of when.  And now that question is answered with the announcement of the debut full-length album from Radiohead and Sons of Kemet side project The Smile.  We've heard a few singles so far, and the latest is the pretty and melancholy "Free in the Knowledge."  Check the video for that out below and pre-order the upcoming "A Light for Attracting Attention" LP here from XL Recordings.  The digital album comes out in three weeks with the vinyl following in June.

The Smile

And we got another single from Radiohead side project The Smile with "Skrting on the Surface."  That's three excellent singles now fellas, so how about an album drop?  Anyway, check out the video for the new track below and get it here from XL.

Thom Yorke - 5.17

Well, aside from his current work with Radiohead side Project The Smile, it appears that Thom Yorke has also been at work on some solo stuff.  "5.17" is out now via XL with another song, "That's How Horses Are," to follow in April.  It's possible that these tracks were recorded for the series "Peaky Blinders," as both Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have been rumored to be making music for the show.  At any rate, "5.17" has that ghostly, melancholy vibe we've all come to know and love from Yorke.  Check it out below.

The Smile

We got a new track from The Smile yesterday, the group comprised of Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemet's Tom Skinner.  There's a jazzy groove working on "The Smoke," and i am here for it.  Check it out below and download it here via XL Recordings.  Full-length drops when?

Daily Jam - El Presidente

In the late '90s in the wake of "Ok Computer," Thom Yorke popped up all over the place as a guest vocalist.  One of those places was on London pop band Drugstore's single "El Presidente."  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Burial + Thom Yorke + Four Tet

Burial, Thom Yorke, and Four Tet are together again for a couple of new and subdued jams, their first collaboration since 2011.  The two new tunes, "Her Revolution" and "His Rope," dropped as an instore purchase only 12" vinyl in 3 record stores in the UK.  Doesn't really seem like such a good idea during a pandemic to me, but what do i know?  Anyway, the songs are good, and hopefully we'll see an online option in the near future.  Check 'em both out below.

Daily Jam (October Edition) - Volk

I know there's a lot of hemming and hawing about remakes and all that, but we all have to admit that sometimes they're good, if not great.  Hell, some ("The Thing," "The Fly") improve upon the original.  Anyway, i loved, loved, loved last year's "Suspiria" remake, and part of what made it great (not better) was Thom Yorke's eerie score.  Check out "Volk" below, our Daily Jam.

Thom Yorke & Flea

Ed Norton directs and stars in the upcoming "Motherless Brooklyn," a film set in 1950s New York with a jazzy score from Wynton Marsalis.  Also included on the soundtrack is a new song from Thom Yorke called "Daily Battles."  The track is a somber, jazz-ish tune featuring Yorke on vocals and piano with a horn arrangement from Flea.  Check it out below and pre-order the 7" here.

Daily Jam - How I Made My Millions

One of my favorite Radiohead B-sides, "How I Made My Millions" was recorded as a demo at home by Thom Yorke (you can faintly hear his former partner Rachel clearing dishes in the background), and was then left alone by the band, thinking it perfect as is.  It's a hushed and somber track, and there really is something about the rawness of it that can rend a heart.  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.