Radiohead’s grand return coming soon
In the music world, good news sure does come out of nowhere.
Last week as I was winding down from a long day at work and
preparing for the weekend ahead, I stumbled across two separate
pieces of news that made me giddy as ever.
Both Radiohead and Fleet Foxes announced Sept. 17 they have
finished recording some new songs. If that doesn’t get you excited
let me say it this way
– two of the best bands putting music out on the airwaves today
are preparing to release new material.
Radiohead’s grand return coming soon
In the music world, good news sure does come out of nowhere. Last week as I was winding down from a long day at work and preparing for the weekend ahead, I stumbled across two separate pieces of news that made me giddy as ever.
Both Radiohead and Fleet Foxes announced Sept. 17 they have finished recording some new songs. If that doesn’t get you excited let me say it this way – two of the best bands putting music out on the airwaves today are preparing to release new material.
And for me, there isn’t much better news.
Despite this year already being great for music in general, new Radiohead and Fleet Foxes albums would make this musical year one for the ages.
For Radiohead it has been a while since they’ve published new material – almost three years to the day. On Oct. 1, 2007, Radiohead announced they would be releasing new material within 10 days. The news was stunning and overwhelming.
Before that date, news on the Radiohead front was quiet and non-existent, but with that announcement the music world went into a tailspin. And I haven’t even talked about how they were going to release it – which of course was a pay-your-own-price scheme that allowed listeners to determine how much they thought the music was worth. I was a poor, college student so I paid $10 but, honestly, I would have paid a lot more.
Which brings me to Friday, when bassist Johnny Greenwood released a long letter to a United Kingdom organization called Index of Censorship that basically announced Radiohead was in the process of determining how to release its new material.
“Three years later, we have just finished another group of songs, and have begun to wonder about how to release them in a digital landscape that has changed again,” Greenwood writes. “It seems to have become harder to own music in the traditional way, on a physical object like a CD, and instead music appears the poor cousin of software, streamed or locked into a portable device like a phone or iPod.”
Greenwood’s long and eloquent open-letter to fans is a direct link to the bands mind and thought process through releasing new material. In it, he outlines the success of “In Rainbows” – saying it was the quality of music that brought the success not the way it was released. But mostly he worries out loud what is the best way to release new music in the changing musical landscape.
But I have to disagree with him a bit. Part of the success of “In Rainbows” needs to be linked to how it was released. I have friends who always looked past Radiohead before 2007. The music made them stay but it was the release that caught their attention.
And with new material – I’m not sure I understand why they can’t do the same thing again. Radiohead doesn’t have a label to tell them what to do, so nothing will prevent them from doing what they want. Radiohead is worrying about nothing. Success is not something new to Radiohead – they have platinum selling records, number one singles and every concert sells out. A new album will be gobbled up quickly and in all likelihood praised. Radiohead is a special band – a band that rarely puts out something that isn’t breathtaking or revolutionary.
For me, I don’t care how they release it. I just hope it happens soon because three years without a new Radiohead album is too long.
The Fleet Foxes are a different beast entirely. Signed to Seattle’s Sub Pop, we all know how the new material will be released – through the label of course. But as Robin Pecknold wrote on his Facebook page, new music will be heard soon.
And as leaves turn colors and the weather gets colder – the warming melodies and harmonies of Fleet Foxes are aching to be heard. Fleet Foxes’ music is meant to be heard in the fall and winter.
They are not a revolutionary band like Radiohead, but their music is something to be cherished, and after two years it’s time to hear more.
Regardless of how or when these albums get released, both bands just made 2010 that much better. I’ll be waiting intently for the day I get to hear both albums’ first notes.
Connor Ramey can be reached at cr****@sv**********.com. E-mail him with suggestions or ideas for albums to review, local musical performances or comments on his column.
