Radiohead | A Moon Shaped Pool

[Dev]

Do you live in the real world, Dev?

Some day, probably when you’re about 40, the gravity of life will hit you. The fact that you will die one day will become a little bit more real. You’ll realize this life isn’t just a laughing matter, and start to think about what’s really important. And your art will start to get lame. And life will start to be about something different. You’ll see.

[zeb]

Guess I can understand why people don't care for todays Radiohead though.

Not me. This record is basically a summary of everything from OKC through to TKOL.

[zeb]

Do you live in the real world, Dev?

Some day, probably when you’re about 40, the gravity of life will hit you. The fact that you will die one day will become a little bit more real. You’ll realize this life isn’t just a laughing matter, and start to think about what’s really important. And your art will start to get lame. And life will start to be about something different. You’ll see.

Dev, I turned 40 last year. I have a wife and two children, a job and a mortgage. It doesn't get much realer than that.

[Dev]

Do you live in the real world, Dev?

Some day, probably when you’re about 40, the gravity of life will hit you. The fact that you will die one day will become a little bit more real. You’ll realize this life isn’t just a laughing matter, and start to think about what’s really important. And your art will start to get lame. And life will start to be about something different. You’ll see.

Dev, I turned 40 last year. I have a wife and two children. It doesn't get much realer than that.

And have you noticed that your eye for photography is waning, or anything like that? Your sex drive getting a bit weaker, amirite?

[chewm]

I'm not done listening to this and I'm not a Radiohead expert but this is really fantastic so far.

[Dev]

I'm not done listening to this and I'm not a Radiohead expert but this is really fantastic so far.

good to hear.

[zeb]

And have you noticed that your eye for photography is waning, or anything like that? Your sex drive getting a bit weaker, amirite?

noquitetheopposite

[William Bloke]

Really enjoying this album, top to bottom. Just onto listen #2.

I really like the first 2 tracks in particular, though perhaps that's a bit of familiarity bias as I'd spun them a few times over the past few days.

[Meddle]

Present Tense sounds like it would've fit in nicely on In Rainbows.

[VinylGuy]

man, True Love Waits is disarming.

[gardenparty]

Identikit seems to be the odd duck on the Mortigi forum but it might be the best song on this album.

I'm going to post an immediate ranking tomorrow and then update it in a week. If nothing else it will be interesting to me.

Zeb, do you have a favorite at this point or is it still too new?

[zeb]

Apart from the two lead singles I'd say either Decks Dark or The Numbers.

[zeb]

But that's right now. Ful Stop and Present Tense are also beautiful.

[evenslow]

Wow Daydreaming is utterly heartbreaking. The video really adds to that sense of bereft wandering. They're on some adult shit right there.

[gardenparty]

But that's right now. Ful Stop and Present Tense are also beautiful.

Yeah, too soon to make a call. That middle half of Ful Stop is really nice. I got a bit of Jigsaw out of the groove

Another things that caught my ear is the melody of the verse on Daydreaming has a lot in common with Motion picture soundtrack.

[zeb]

Paranoid Android
The National Anthem
Pyramid Song
Let Down
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Everything In Its Right Place
Idioteque
The Daily Mail
Like Spinning Plates
There There

Replace Jigsaw with Daydreaming.

[William Bloke]

Wow Daydreaming is utterly heartbreaking. The video really adds to that sense of bereft wandering. They're on some adult shit right there.

Yeah, given that little insight that Zeb posted earlier as well, even moreso.

I love when music manages to make you absolutely feel. Magic.

[Mojopin]

Terrific album. Stunning moments. Several that just drop your jaw. I'm not sure of too many albums by anyone nowadays where I would be expecting greatness for the umpteenth time, and then they proceed to exceed that expectation. But Radiohead did just that. Again...

[swan]

On first listen, I'm pretty disappointed. KoL started the same way, and now I love it, so it could change. But the things that initially bothered me about KoL are not the same ones that bother me here.

For starters, the low end seems super muddy. I'm eager to listen in some different environments, but I had a tough time discerning different sounds from each other on my headphones. Seems like they spent a lot of time on studio trickery only to bury a good portion of it in the mix.

Like KoL, they seem more concerned here with creating a certain ambience, rather than the dramatic crescendos found on their earlier works. That's something I really appreciate about KoL, because I've been rewarded for repeated listenings by finding all these little nuggets of sound. But I don't think that's going to happen here. The sounds mostly seem to range between muddy, to open and airy.

I'm still not sold on Burn the Witch. It's fine, but it's not amazing, and it's the first time since The Bends that a Radiohead album opener hasn't blown me away.

I've come around on Daydreaming. It's heartwrenching stuff.

Decks Dark was a total non-event, at least on first listen.

Desert Island Disk is a highlight, and I think it's because it's one of the few songs where I can actually discern everything that's going on.

Ful Stop never lives up to its promise. It begins to pick up steam, and then kind of just fizzles out.

Glass Eyes is nice, but it seems like a retread of Daydreaming.

Identikit is cool enough. It reminds me of about 15 different Can songs.

I liked The Numbers a lot better when the live acoustic version came out several months back. This one just sounds like that Zero 7 song that was everywhere for a while.

Present Tense was pretty boring on first listen.

Tinker Tailor... starts out great, but it sort of spirals off into nothingness.

True Love Waits is a good closer. But I loved the acoustic version, and I'm not sure the different instrumentation here is warranted.

I'm not saying it sucks; it doesn't, and I have to assume that this band who has proven themselves masters of their chosen medium have intended for me to hear it exactly as I'm hearing it. But it mostly strikes me as an ambient/cinematic soundscape-type record, with touches of psychedelic folk, and it's not blowing my mind in either capacity. But I'll keep spinning it, because KoL took a few months to grab me.

Wow, you're tough to please

[RussellManiac12]

The Numbers, Present Tense, and Decks Dark are my favorites so far.