On the sixth day of Xmas my AP gave to me ... One Hundred Blog Posts! That's right everyone, this is my hundredth ever post, and it's quite fitting that I get to spend it talking about one of my all time favorite bands ever. By all rights it's probably one of your all time favorite bands too, and that's because Radiohead is a group of stunning and experimental musicians that have never ceased to amaze this humble listener. Yep, gave it away before the jump (As if the title picture doesn't do that already), who cares it's Radiohead, Wooo 100!
The King of Limbs - Radiohead
Where to even start? Radiohead is a treasure, pure and simple, and they obviously fail my "you might not have heard of them" criteria, but time after time they fulfill that "surprise" criteria I've been blathering on about. Every Radiohead album has been a fresh look at this wonderful band. On first listen, my reaction to The King of Limbs was the same I had to In Rainbows, which is to say initially my thinking was "Eh, just another Radiohead album, yawn." But the more I listened the more I started to realize that every single piece of the arrangements were carefully put together, that there was layer after layer of aural pleasure to uncover in each song, and that Radiohead is one of the most competent and meticulous groups of musicians you can find. In Rainbows went on to be my favorite Radiohead album, but only after years of uncovering its secrets. I have no doubt that The King of Limbs will perform a similar feat, but I haven't had years to peel away all of its layers just yet.
Now if I was ranking albums solely on surprise factor, then The King of Limbs would, hands down, be the albomb of the year. Where most everything in the entertainment industry, be it movies, music, or games, are hyped all to hell for a good year before coming out, Radiohead just made a little announcement on Valentines Day, "Hey guys, we're releasing our next album on Saturday," only to actually release it a day early, which was so exciting. The morning it dropped I remember trying to listen to as much of it as possible before work, all while seeing Facebook alight with my friends geeking out over it as well. It was quite the experience, and one I wont soon forget. Apologies to girlfriends past and present, but this might be the best Valentines gift I've ever received ... er well besides for the obvious thing a Radiohead album can't do for me that night ... you know what I mean ... wink wink ... Help me with my taxes of course, what were you thinking? Get your mind out of the goddamned gutter, but yeah now that you mention it there's the whole sex thing too.
Anyway, that's enough of me getting off track for now (I'm allowed a little bit on Post 100 right?), I can't really stress how much I listened to The King of Limbs this year, it tended to act as my interlude album. See some other new album would come out and I'd listen to it nonstop until I'd need a break, and that break would pretty much always be The King of Limbs, weaving in and out of all the other music I listened to this year, like some kind of magnificent ninja leviathan weaving its way through a coral reef of awesome. Yes, that's the metaphor I'm going to go with, because The King of Limbs is just that good (And because it's my 100th post and I'm bringing out the big guns). If I actually had to pick a "best of the best" for this year (I'm not going to) this one might just be it for sheer listening time. Hell, I could go on all day, really I could, I better not though, to send it off have a listen to a few of my favorite tracks off Radiohead's latest: "Morning Mr. Magpie," "Little By Little," "Lotus Flower," and "Codex." Enjoy The King of Limbs and I'll see you for the next hundred.
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