Thom Yorke awaits his audience
{ hip hop; a looping, swirling bassline underpinned by precision-tooled drum loops, it descends into squalling, white noise jazz, until Yorke screams 'Turn it OFF!'. Guitars, and untreated vocals, don’t appear until almost halfway in, on the monumental 'How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found’, a brooding, waltzing lament, it’s the bastard offspring of 'Paranoid Android’ and 'Street Spirit’, and about the closest thing to a single there is here. Meanwhile, the distorted breakbeat psychosis of ’ldioteque' nods towards the Aphex Twin’s juddering melodicism, and the sub-aquatic dissonance of ’Treefingers’ - four rhythmless minutes of undulating, shape-shifting anti-melodies — recalls both Brian Eno and sonic experimentalists Autechre.
There's a new sense of doom here, not explicitly stated but woven through the fibres of the album as a whole; Yorke’s disjointed, cut-up lyrics are scrambled snatches of some epic narrative dwelling on isolation and disorientation, on hopelessness and the abject acceptance of what comes next. ’Throw me in the fire/Throw me in the fire,’ he sings on ’ldioteque', ’This is really happening/Take the money and run/Mobiles chirping.’
How all this will translate to a stage show is difficult to imagine, not least in a 10,000 capacity custom-built tent. There’s little on the album that isn’t heavily processed and meticulously sequenced, and certainly in London’s Royal Festival Hall gig earlier this year, atmosphere won out over bombast. What audiences will make of Kid A’s nightmarish genius is open to question; there are no hooks here, no easy answers, no singalong choruses. And hiding behind the standard Radiohead motifs — the coruscating guitars, the plaintive, anxious vocals, the sudden howls of noise — there's a new-found warmth; in the crackling analogue melodies and the wayward, experimental structures is the sound of a band at ease with themselves. This, screams Kid A, is what we are. This is why we're here. Not to suck lemons (whatever Thom Yorke says) but to blow minds.
Kid A is released by Parlophone on Mon 2 Oct; Radiohead play Glasgow Green on Thu 28 & Fri 29 Sep.
{ Mon 16 Oct _
Robbie Williams SECC, Glasgow. The ego has landed as the ever cocky Bob sets knickers-a-
Courtney Pine Arches, Glasgow. This veteran jazz saxophonist continues to illustrate his diverse range of influences and skills.
Regular Fries Venue, Edinburgh. A gang
j dampening in his quest of marauding lackeys organise a hip in to become the Tom Jones hop/dub/rock soundclash. for the MTV generation. It's Jo And Danny and We 17 Oct _ The Zephyr; King Tut’s, glacegggom Exchange, Edinburgh. See 1 on t
Glas ow. The - ., 8 indie Robbie Williams 35cc, Glasgow. See Mon 16 Oct. The Vandals. The Ataris and Bigwig King \ Tut's, Glasgow. Triple bill of noisy punkish A capers. ~
Wed 18 Oct
tweeness it’s OK to like for
Mon 16 0c Weightier, but just as interesting Glasgow. Rare show from the ex-Yes and ,, pinspeci, one-time King Crimsondrummer.
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Robbie Williams secc, Glasgow. See 1' .Frl 20 Oct t. . BIII Bruford' Earthworks Renfrew Ferry,
7 David Gray and‘l'he Czars Barrowland,
HIGH DISK
The autumn album release schedule sees the really big boys playing it low key. U2 and Radiohead are using the internet as their main promotional avenue for All That! Can Leave Behind (Monday 30 October) and Kid A (Monday 2 October) respectively. Expect U2’s most honest, straight-ahead rock album since The Joshua Tree and much captivating weirdness from the 'Head.
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke makes a guest appearance on P] Harvey’s new platter Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (Monday 23 October), her first work since 1998's Is This Desire ?.
In the heady world of rock, the big boys have been toiling away at new projects. Nine Inch Nails release Things Falling Apart in mid-October, containing ten new tracks and remixes of tracks released on their album The Fragile, released earlier this year. Not wishing to be outdone, Trent Reznor’s one-time protege Marilyn Manson puts out the outlandishly titled Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death) (Tuesday 24 October). Still no chance of that Steps collaboration then.
At the throne of the pop world, the girls are going
head to head in a ruck for the queens of pop title. All Saints’ second album Saints And Sinners hits the streets on Monday 16 October, three weeks before the Spice Girls unleash Forever (an ironic title, surely, given the nature of their solo efforts), which is delivered on Monday 6 November. This is all in the wake of Madonna and Robbie Williams who will inevitably be vying for the top spot even then, despite their albums being out already.
The October rush continues when Placebo release Black Market Music, The Beautiful South release Painting It Red and Teenage Fanclub celebrate a return to notoriety as the nicest men in pop with the genially titled Howdy! (all Monday 16 October).
Further down the line, look out for treats from The Orb, Daft Punk and Arab Strap as well as another new Radiohead album in the spring. They're spoiling us surely? (Mark Robertson)
Glasgow. Celtic singer/songwriter who has shot to fame after years of obscurity. lain Mathews Renfrew Ferry, Glasgow.
Sat 21 Oct . Emmylou Harris Royal Concert Hall, '. Glasgow. Country’s queen of the moment I
Dream Theater Barrowland, Glasgow. Chuck Prophet King Tut’s, Glasgow.
Thu 19 Oct
Queen Adreena and Little Hell Venue, Edinburgh. Searing noise and abrasive guitar meets angelic vocals in this cerebral
mix from Queen Adreena. brings her honeyed tones to the Concert
Linton Kwesi Johnson Renfrew Ferry, Hall. _ _
Glasgow. Latin music carnival with Monica . . Phoenix King Tut’s, Glasgow. Vasancelos Renfrew Ferry, Glasgow. Part. ,
The Bluetones Barrowland, Glasgow. of Big Big World. Their ever chirpy pop tones continue to please.
A1 SECC, Glasgow. Boy band business. Lonestar Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow.
Mega popular easy-going US country stars.
and Raices Cabanas Renfrew Ferry,
Fila tempo beats and electronics from these T. eccentric eclectics. - 'Sona Farlq Cathouse, Glasgow. Electrified ‘ . p unk. a fruitful year With a Barrowland showy; ouhvax King Tut’s, Glasgow. Queen Adreena 13th Note Club, Glasgow. » See Thu 19 Oct. ‘
STRATEGY
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Latin music carnival with Omar Puente .7
Glasgow. Part of Big Big World. 7;? razlllia Cathouse, Glasgow. Downxi‘}?
ldlewild Barrowland, Glasgow. This 2' ‘3' quartet of thoughtful, punk pop types crowii _,
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