It is apparently a requirement for all bloggers to write about Radiohead this month. I’ve only just downloaded the new album, so haven’t much to say about it yet. I have found it more interested in texture than I would like (I mean, I like a pretty accompaniment, but that’s not the only thing you can do in music).
It is likely to grow on me a little. It certainly sounds more interesting than the other two post Kid A albums.
Anyway, the main point of this post is to point out that Radiohead are real masters at stealing from other people. Of course they are, because they’re great artists, and that’s what artists do.
In particular I hear a lot of influences from modern(ish) classical music in their recent work. The piano accompaniment from Pyramid song, with its odd rhythmic grouping, sounds like a simplified version of the sort of piano part in Messiaen’s famous Quartet for the end of Time. There’s also quite a lot of minimalism in their layering up of nice majory arpeggios.
I’m not saying this is what influenced them, I have no idea what they listen to. My point is, great artists steal ideas, and there are lots of ideas to steal from genres of music you might not be too familiar with.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqP0WNpojFM]
Pyramid Song
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-r59Iyx6-0]
Quartet for the End of Time
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