Day 0906 - Kid A

Radiohead "Kid A" (2000) – got it

 

An album where genius and arrogance meet.  The band completely changed their melodic alt-rock sound for a direction more influenced by electronic music (particularly the sounds of alt-electro artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre) and left it up to fans to follow them on the journey or get out of the way.

I’ve often wondered if this change in direction was a natural evolution decided on unanimously by the band.  Reading about it though, it sounds as though the push came primarily from singer Thom Yorke.  Yorke was convinced that guitar rock was a dying genre… at the risk of being a touch salty, he wasn’t the first slightly self-important rocker to come to this conclusion with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins having made similar declarations as he moved his band towards an electronic and acoustic sound for their 1998 album “Adore”.  

The other members of Radiohead had concerns about the change.  Concerns ranging from whether it was self-indulgent art rock for the sake of it, through to what (if anything) they’d personally be doing on each of the new songs.    Definitely this second point is a valid concern when you look at a song like “Idioteque” which is based around a drum machine part and a looped sample of an experimental 1960s piece of computer music with Yorke being the most prominent member featured.  Yet the album works.

The new sound is on display right from the off, with the warm bleepy synth and looped vocal opening of “Everything in its right place”, the synth and drum machine of the title track and the Krautrock vibe of “National Anthem”.  

Guitars start to make a reappearance around the middle of the album.  “How to Disappear Completely” (with its acoustic guitar, morose vocal and light live drums over a soupy drone) sounds like it could have easily been on “OK Computer”.   “Optimistic” and “In Limbo” also feature guitars but with the vocals seeming less like a narrative and more like a free-form chanted mantra.  The vocals across the album are treated with various effects and processing that often sees them buried in the mix rather than front and centre as you'd expect for a rock or pop album.

Even the promotion of the album mixes genius and arrogance.   Instead of doing music videos for 2 or 3 select tracks, the band did a series of short advert-length videos for each track on the album.  It was a smart move because it helped signpost the band’s change of direction and gave the public a passing familiarity with the whole album without getting them burnt out on any one song.  Of course though the band felt the need to couch it as a ‘comment’ on how music videos are commercials and blah blah blah, (to reference Frank Zappa) “SHUT UP ‘N PLAY YER GUITAR”.

Love this album.  With some bands that have made big stylistic changes, I've taken a bit of time to acclimatise to them, but I enjoyed this one from the start.