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YOLO Mention: Radiohead – King of Limbs

YOLO Mentions bring attention to special
songs featured in that week’s YOLO List. Get the latest list here!

I know this is from a couple lists ago, but I’ve been dying to lay down my two cents on this mysteriously-eccentric supergroup’s eighth studio album. With a majority of their former albums hitting platinum album sales throughout the planet, and some even 3x platinum, Radiohead had some Shaquille O’neal sized shoes to fill with King of Limbs. Getting platinum album sales entails getting over a million sales in that country, a feat most artists can only dream of achieving. Although, none of that has ever kept Radiohead from consistently producing equally amazing and unique albums.

First off, the announcement of this album came out of butt-fuck nowhere, but couldn’t have been released at a more significant time. Arcade Fire had just won album of the year, and it was almost eerily coordinated that Radiohead would shower themselves with the indie spotlight. The album enters a new realm of sound that none of their former albums had dared to travel. They take a dream like approach and fill it with a bunch of electronic samples, while Thom Yorke’s voice catches us off guard a minute into the album on “Bloom.” An acid jazzy intro that seems perfect for a rainy car ride through the city. The album gets a more structured feel with “Morning Mr. Magpie” and “Lotus Flower,” both of which could have been singles in my opinion. The album weaves every track together much like a sine graph (uh oh math reference) and ends peacefully on “Separator.”

King of Limbs is a beautiful compilation of talent that captures Radiohead’s evolution of sound in a way that none of their previous albums ever could. The first run-through is intriguing, but the kind of intriguing that questions your initial opinion. It’s bound to grow on you with every listen. A sound you won’t hear anywhere else that only Radiohead could manage to pull off.

-Skinny Genes