Radiohead, The King of Limbs: How Not to Review an Album

Radiohead surprised the public this week with both an announcement of a new album and subsequent release of this album.

The internet was a hive of activity yesterday as rumours swirled around about their new release. When the album was in fact released, the predictable race to write a review began. I myself kept an eye on this development, watching people's snap judgements and early opinions emerge, allowing them to influence my own decision as to whether I should pick up the album or not. After watching these reviews and after getting my hands on the album, I found myself wondering what on earth had just happened.

In effect, I was swept away whilst browsing the net in a manic search for opinion on this album. This was a first for me as I have usually been content to wait a few weeks before making a decision on an album. I think the manner of release of this particular album has underlined the 'fast-food' tendencies of the contemporary music industry. The space of time between the announcement and release of this album was one week. With digital distribution, the space of time between the release of this album and the attainment of it for the consumer is, depending on your internet connection, about 10 minutes. We are getting very close to instantaneous consumption. In fact, this album was released a day earlier than initially advertised. It was practically pre-instantaneous. With such speed of consumption, the rush to form and find opinions was not far behind. If we can get music so quickly then of course we will hunt for opinions on that music quickly. It is no longer products that we wish to ravenously consume, it is also thought.

I have heard the album twice since yesterday. The first time I was reading while listening, the second I was travelling. Music is the kind of thing that you live with and that becomes part of the environment. As such, I still have not made any kind of value judgement on the collection. I will allow it to grow or wither on its own merits, within the atmosphere of my own musical life.

Perhaps then I will bother to write a review, when I have fully understood my relationship with The King of Limbs.

-The English Student

Nine Inch Nails: The Slip

Nine Inch Nails released their newest album, The Slip this week and once again we are given a chance to engage with Trent Reznor's wonderfully twisted mind.

This album was not released in a traditional manner. On May fifth, Reznor posted a blog entry on the Nine Inch Nails website with the message that the new album is finished and that "this one's on" him. Following a quick registration, fans are capable of downloading the entire album in various format including the high quality .OGG and .FLAC file types along with the more mainstream (but still high quality) .MP3 format. This marks a change for the band whose work has increasingly appeared online for download, but never for free.

Of course, one can naturally make the argument "you get what you pay for" and assume that this album is not being sold simply because it is not of commercial quality. However, this delusion quickly falls away upon first listening to The Slip. Reznor retains the original hard rock industrial sound that has been found on all Nine Inch Nails work and once again creates a wonderful album. From the charging dark beginning of "1,000,000" to the thrilling evil of "Head Down", Reznor gives us an album full of bleak macabre art.

Of course, this album is far from perfect. There is a drop off in quality between the two highlights of the album, "Lights in the Sky" and "Demon Seed", wherein we are given an extended instrumental track. This is not so much a bad song as a wasted opportunity. However, the main criticism that could be leveled at this, the seventh Nine Inch Nails album, is in relation to originality. Reznor has not moved far from his comfortable genre in this new work. Yet when one looks at the actual quality of this production, coupled with the maturing songwriting and vocal skills of Reznor, we quickly find that while this album is not entirely original, it is almost certainly the best example of what Nine Inch Nails are renowned for.

Overall, The Slip relies on the heavily used canvas of former Nine Inch Nails material. However, the brilliance of this particular iteration highlights the true nature of Trent Reznor - an artistic genius.

-The English Student