It's always high time for a Radiohead/Thom Yorke release, and this time it comes under the name of Thom Yorke's new supergroup (if you will), Atoms for Peace. The name comes from a few different references, one being a song off his debut solo album, Eraser (2006); the next from a 1953 speech given by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Also interesting is that on their website is the Cornish (a Celtic language of the house of Cornwall that thrived up until its gradual decline starting in the late 18th century) text "Nerth Nuclerek? Na Vynnav", which is a translation of the Smiling Sun logo, "Nuclear Power? No Thanks". Cornish is having a modern day revival and is slowly growing in interest and use again, and is recognized as a minority language in the United Kingdom. The Smiling Sun is the symbol of the global anti-nuclear movement, and was created in 1975 by Danish activist Anne Lund.
Atoms for Peace was a work in progress for a while, meaning the group existed and was working on material, even playing Thom Yorke's music as his solo act, but it wasn't until 2010 that they decided to actually name themselves Atoms for Peace. The group includes: Thom Yorke, magnanimous head man to Radiohead; Flea, bassists for the Red Hot Chilly Peppers; producer extraordinaire, Nigel Goodrich, who also produced and composed and performed with his own side project Ultraísta recently; Mauro Refosco, a Brazilian percussionist who plays with Red Hot Chilly Peppers on tour and with a neo-traditional Brazilian band called Forro in the Dark; and Joey Waronker who plays drums with Ultraísta and does a lot of studio work for films. Apparently, the members share a love of Afrobeat and came together originally to "get wasted and listen to Fela Kuti". Meanwhile, the creation process is fairly organic, after the Eraser tour Yorke and friends spent time jamming and recording music Yorke wrote electronically. He would show it to the group and they would try and recreate it using live instruments. He further writes: "The music I do on my laptop is so angular. When you get people to play like that, it's so peculiar. Most of it, technically speaking, they can play. But there were times when we used the electronic sounds, because it was more brittle, more exciting ... One of the things we were most excited about was ending up with a record where you weren't quite sure where the human starts and the machine ends."
Taking a close look at Amok, you'll hear a lot of electronic beats, Thom Yorke's typically floating falsetto voice, and some really neat percussion backing up the process. There will also be those sludgy electronic synths the seem to be akin to the early/mid experimental years of Radiohead, Kid A, Amnesiac. I love how Radiohead uses layers and each layer is created to be cohesive with the others, yet they wouldn't quite make sense by themselves, or at least would reconstituted the sound of the song if/when they were alone (i.e. "Kid A", "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box", "Pyramid Song" being good examples). "Default", one of the singles from Amok is a perfect example of a song that could have possibly come out of the Amnesiac era. Even so, it's so hard to pinpoint Radiohead's style to a particular album or year, however, as they have always been Radiohead no matter what they create and their style is so reflective and reflexive at the same time. I guess I just went on a tangent about Radiohead, and as much as Thom Yorke is a part of Radiohead, this album is not something that Radiohead would have put out. Rather, Eraser seems more an extension of Radiohead. Still the comparisons are unavoidable and warranted.
Some of the highlights of Amok are:
Track #1: "Before Your Very Eyes..." has a catchy Guitar ostinato providing the changes in the harmony, before the electronics take over with that sludgy sound I don't think can be used too much.
Track #2: "Default" is probably the best track on the entire album, it is just mixed meter syncopated excellence and yet has this brooding synth in the background that flows so effortlessly. Then the main synth chords come in and the song builds beautifully with dissonances really accentuating the tensions in the melody.
Track #4: "Dropped" is interesting, with very metallic sounds incorporated, like clinking spoons on crystal or something, and has a nice contrasting section while maintaining the almost hyper upbeat nature of the song.
Track #6: "Stick Together Pieces" has a sort of In Rainbows feel to the melody and use of "ooh" in the background in harmony. I wonder if it was a track that didn't quite make the album (except that there was a CD2 release of In Rainbows already).
Track #7: "Reverse Running" also has that crystal glass clink, but it's main interest to me is the intricate beat pattern. This probably doesn't make it sound complex, but this is one of the many tracks that contain a hip ho type beat or feel in a way. Other examples are "Ingenue" and "Judge, Jury and Executioner". It's not as drastic a nod as say fun. though, don't get the wrong idea.
I also gotta put a plug in for the b-side of their single, "Default", "What the Eyeballs Did". It has a killer bass part and anthemic parts where the synths suddenly announce themselves, it's really cool and would have been a nice addition to the album. But, I'm just an American and we don't really do singles and stuff here like they do in true House/DJ/Electronica/European culture.
Well, that's all for now, it's too late to check out a free stream on NPR's First Listen, here, my apologies for not getting this out sooner. Check out their website, here. Scroll over to the one of the clock towers and mouse over the clock tower, it's hands will start to move and you can click it to receive a free download of "What the Eyeballs Did". Interesting blurb, here, at SPIN about Atoms for Peace and Nigel Goodrich putting up some unknown songs for people to listen to and then removing them. You can also listen to "Judge, Jury and Executioner" at XL Recordings, here. They may have at one time had a stream, here, too, but it isn't loading for me. Because it was a free download, I've linked "What the Eyeballs Did" over under the 'Monthly Sample Tracks'. Enjoy!
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