Music Features

FIRST RESPONSE: The King of Limbs

By No Ripcord Staff

They’re cheeky scamps, those Radiohead lads, aren’t they, eh? Thom and the boys thought they could catch us out with their cryptic Japanese tweets and bringing the album release date forward. But, here at No Ripcord, we’re at the forefront and we know what’s going on.

From now until Sunday, the writers of No Ripcord will be publishing their first responses to The King of Limbs, and this page will be regularly updated as the reviews and opinions come in.

Andrew Baer weighs in with his two cents.

The King of Limbs is perhaps Radiohead's most "difficult" release. With its skittering beats, lack of any conventional song structure and often ambient tone, no tracks jump out upon the first listen. The album as a whole, however, is slowly revealing itself to be greater than the sum of its parts. While it may have no standout single-oriented songs, they all work together in a way that makes it one of the band's more interesting records. What I began to notice under all the dense layers was how funky it all was. That's right: funky. Even the darker, brooding tracks have a strange, jittery dance quality to them. It's like nothing they've done before, which in a roundabout way makes it sounds just like them. They've done the expected in creating an unexpected album, but how is that a bad thing? 

It offers less immediacy than In Rainbows, but at the same time it offers far more to pick apart. It's their most low-key, relaxing release yet, and given its length I wouldn't be surprised if more is on the way in the relatively near future. It's better to create an album that leaves the listener wanting more than disappointed with even a single moment, and they've definitely done just that. I want more, and I want it soon. 
 

Mark Davison was the first contributor to chip in with his thoughts on The King Of Limbs on Friday lunchtime. He's now had more time to give the record a more considered listen.

After playing the album a through a decent pair of headphones rather than my computer speakers I feel like I've given it a proper 'first listen' (Radiohead's experiments with digital distribution may be exciting, but I'm not sure that they're actually doing the listening experience many favours). The thing that struck me immediately during this play-through is how dense the record sounds – it may be short, but I think that it's going to be a while before I've got to grips with the whole thing as there are so many layers to unpick. In particular Feral benefits immensely from the upgrade in speaker quality as before so many of the abstract cut 'n' pasted layers were practically inaudible, and with no clear vocal line or hook it was difficult to pick out anything much to keep me interested. Now it's become the track that I'm replaying the most, just to see what else I can find.

I don't think the lyrical depths are going to require as much work to uncover as I'm not convinced that they're actually about very much at all. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing – in my opinion Yorke's efforts to be more direct can have rather mixed results, in particular I found Harry Patch quite embarrassing – but then considering that at one of the few points where he's not mumbling he's raving at a magpie (and also taking into account his increasingly disheveled look) I'm starting to think that if you took away the music and the delicate voice, there wouldn't be much separating him from the average tramp in your local park.
 
Having read through the opinions of the other No Ripcord contributors, I agree with Alan that Phil's either been replaced by a machine, or been made to play like he is one. It does sound terrific, but I do feel a bit sorry for the man. And although I suspect that Juan was being flippant with the EP remark I think he may have a point as well – I wouldn't be at all surprised if another announcement soon follows about another record, like Kid A and Amnesiac were to an extent 'sister' albums, there may well be an equivalent for The King of Limbs waiting to be released (it would certainly explain why the album's so short).
 

Joe Rivers downloaded the album Saturday afternoon. Here are his thoughts after one listen.

Radiohead records aren’t exactly renowned for their immediacy, and it would appear The King Of Limbs is similarly impenetrable on first hearing. Having played the album the whole way through, no one song stands out, but the most obvious talking point is the overall sound - they’ve done it again. The King Of Limbs takes elements from several other Radiohead albums (most notably Kid A and In Rainbows) but still ends up sounding like nothing they’ve ever made before. It’s probably their most dance-influenced record, but also possibly their least commercial. There’s nothing here with a standard verse-chorus-verse structure, and it seems it’s going to take careful consideration to really break through the layers. There’s some great drumming, and the jittery, pulsing rhythms are wondrous but I’ve currently no idea where it ranks against their other releases. Presently, it’s more intriguing than outright enjoyable, but I’m looking forward to living with The King Of Limbs and writing a full review of it soon. 

Joel Stanier first heard The King of Limbs on Friday evening, and tweeted his thoughts track-by-track as he listened.

  • Bloom went over my head a bit, but [Morning] Mr Magpie is catchy. Love the afropop guitars and glitchy beats.
  • Little By Little sounds kind of like a mashup of Hail To The Thief tracks with a new beat. S'nice though.
  • Love the deep bass and wonky vocals in Feral.
  • First listened to Lotus Flower on the toilet at work. Wonder if anyone else had their pants down on first listen?
  • Nice chorus in Lotus Flower, but not sure the rest of the vocals do enough to complement the actual music.
  • Codex is an anti-climax after reading comments today, but the outro is lovely. Suspect this one's a grower.
  • Give Up The Ghost is pretty, but I reckon some kind of twist towards the end would have made it much better.
  • Seperator also went over my head on first listen. Relistening to Bloom now tho, and it sounds much better now!
  • Album is good, but maybe needed a few more twists and turns. Suspect repeat listens will reveal a lot more tho.

23:00 GMT: Alan Shulman on The King of Limbs:

There aren’t any obvious “hits” on this record, but really, did you expect there to be?  It plays like a cross between In Rainbows and Eraser, if a frame of reference is required – heavy on the trip beats and languid moods.  Yet, as always, Radiohead does not disappoint in the intrigue department.  Like In Rainbows and most of their best work, this record casts a spell that is hard to resist.  Being so short I would not be surprised if they recorded more material and left it aside to present a unified mood, which is resolutely downcast.  I know, I know, that could describe any Radiohead record but it’s especially true here, where, with it’s similarity to Eraser, Yorke seems to dominate.  Phil, where he is present, is made to sound more robotic and less expressive (see Separator), whereas Jonny makes his instrumental presence felt in subtle, rather than overt, ways.  They’ve given us a lot to chew on in a relatively small space.  The feast has just begun.

It's 1530 GMT, and some other No Ripcord writers have been tweeting their thoughts over the past few hours...

Jody White

Well Bloom is fucking LOVELY. I'm really digging the new vibe!

Kind of like slipping into a beautiful daydream.

Juan Edgardo Rodriguez

Doesn't Bloom sound like a page ripped off the Flying Lotus book?

Is this an EP? Tomorrow comes the real surprise, right?

David Coleman

#thekingoflimbs sounds pretty average through my PC's internal speaker. Will listen with headphones after my home visit...

A little underwhelmed so far?

Now that's more like it! Lotus Flower reminds me why I got excited about #thekingoflimbs in the first place...

First on the scene was Mark Davison, who tweeted his reactions to his first listen to the album on a track-by-track basis.

11:21: I'm not even a Radiohead fan and yet I'm still excited to be listening to #thekingoflimbs, they really do know how to launch an album.

11:41: 1 song down 7 to go - I quite liked Bloom, mainly for the drums, but I can see some being a bit disappointed. #thekingoflimbs

11:46: I think Thom was a bit drunk when singing Morning Mr Magpie, but I expect more people will like it than the first track. #thekingoflimbs

11:52: Sounds like Thom carried on drinking thru track 3 as well. It's all sounding quite dark, introverted & paranoid. But then it is Radiohead, so I shouldn't really have expected anything else. #thekingoflimbs

11:53: Feral was a bit short and not that noticeable - not terrible though. 4 down, 4 to go #thekingoflimbs

11:58: Lotus Flower's probably the most like a 'proper' Radiohead (post Kid-A) song. Can see why they used that as the first video #thekingoflimbs

12:02: Thought that Codex was pretty, but a bit ordinary, then the rather lovely horn section came in. 2 songs to go #thekingoflimbs

12:06: Found the vocal sample on Give Up The Ghost irritating, bluesy acoustic guitar was interesting tho. Not sure about that one.#thekingoflimbs

12:12: Separator definitely added up to something quite special when the various layers of guitar came together. Not really a big dramatic end to the album though. #thekingoflimbs

12:13: So that's it. I think I enjoyed the excitement of the release more than the album. But then I'm not a huge Radiohead-head.#thekingoflimbs

12:14: It does sound quite sketchy & low key, but then I find that the band can get a bit overbearing at times, so I don't have a problem with that #thekingoflimbs

12:21: Correction, the things I enjoyed most about the album were the excitement of the release and the terrible Ian Curtis/Marcel Marceau dancing in this video.

We'd love to know what you think about The King of Limbs, so get in touch using the comment box below, or send us a message via our Twitter page.

18 February, 2011 - 12:28 — No Ripcord Staff