Last Flowers

Ed O'Brien - Guitar, Unicorn


Radiohead are in a tremendously enviable position right now. Since about 1995, they’ve been the most consistently impressive musical force to have braved the mainstream since probably The Beatles. While they may not have the ubiquitous cultural clout of the Fab Four, they are undoubtedly the most influential group of artists making music right now.

Think about it. Maybe they don’t sell like your Aguilera’s and J.Lo’s in their prime, maybe they do, I don’t really keep up on record sales. Still, the anticipation that surrounds a Radiohead release is incomparable in this day and age. From hardcore fans to musicians in pretty much every genre (see all the different tribute albums ranging from electronica to reggae to classical), from record company execs and concert promoters to the one guy in the next dorm room who knows how to play just the first half of “Creep” on his Yamaha guitar, people get super excited about a Radiohead release.

This is why, to me at least, they’re as good as the Beatles. Okay, this isn’t the Sixties. Rock ‘n’ Roll is dead, and all the rest. Multimedia reigns supreme and music just doesn’t seem to mean as much to people as it once did. Regardless of all that, any time a band is able to write the kind of songs that can inspire a enormous, not to mention completely rabid, fan base (many people I know, myself included, didn’t bat an eye at the $85 price tag for the disc box), sell loads and loads of records, have the press frothing at their collective mouth, AND create a common ground over which people can communicate about music in spite of often times drastically clashing tastes, you know there’s something really special going on. So, while Radiohead lunch boxes and collectible figurines don’t exist yet, the five lads from Oxford really are a massive band on par with the greats of rock history.

All the same, this position of prominence comes with a huge deal of pressure to perform. After all, the most important band in the world ought to consistently release incredible music, right?

It’s true that the band has set an incredibly high standard for itself, and as a result of this there’s bound to be some disappointment when they don’t meet it. This is especially true today in the age of message boards, file sharing programs, and blogs. Such channels have allowed fans of the band to listen to a lot of the band’s material in its earliest incarnations. Much of the band’s seventh album, In Rainbows, was debuted to audiences in the US and Europe a year before it was released last October, and one song, the angelic “Nude” (formerly called “Big Ideas”) was a song the band first debuted while touring behind their 1997 masterpiece OK Computer.

The concept of bands “road testing” new material is obviously not a new thing, but ever since the Internet popped up, people have had unprecedented access to bootlegs and other scraps of previously unavailable material (manifest in the form of website art and webcasts in Radiohead’s case), which can, in some cases, make them become very attached to original live performances and their arrangements, as opposed to the final versions recorded on official releases.

Having listened to “Disc 2” of Radiohead’s In Rainbows several times now, I think that it’s safe to assume that the band has intended it as a kind of companion EP in the vein of some past releases like the Airbag/How Am I Driving?, I Might Be Wrong, and Com Lag EPs. It’s my belief that “Radiohead Nation,” if you will, was dying for a double album, something in the ilk of The White Album, maybe. With In Rainbows Disc 2, we didn’t really get it. In other words, there’s a reason the double vinyl included in the disc box only bears the ten cuts from the version of the album that became available for download on the band’s website a couple of months ago (it’s no longer available, but latecomers have only to wait ‘til the record “drops” via TBD records New Year’s Day).

So basically, what we’ve got with In Rainbows Disc 2 are a few incredibly awesome B-Sides (“Down is the New Up,” “Bangers & Mash,” “Four Minute Warning”) and a few just plain great ones. Is that such a bad thing? I don’t think so.

Anyway, after all that, I’d like to share an early version of one of my favorite tracks from Disc 2, “Last Flowers Til The Hospital,” a plaintive ballad whose lyrics echo the techno-paranoia of the OK Computer era (“Appliances have gone berserk”). As you might have inferred, I find no fault with the access the Internet grants fans to get a glimpse of their favorite artists’ more obscure moments. Certainly albums should be bought and copyrights must be observed, but I believe the bootleg as it exists in the music world ought to belong to the fans. After all, a rare live recording hardly ever falls into the hands of anyone but the most devoted follower, one who undoubtedly owns every commercially available release anyway. For fans, bootlegs grant candid insight into the creative workings of the groups that influence their lives profoundly, and this, I think, is a pretty wonderful thing.

“Last Flowers (Til Hospital)” – Thom Yorke solo, 2005

Dreams / Blue Moon - Cat Power

Just the other week I finally picked up The Greatest, and after a few spins I’ve become completely infatuated with all things Chan Marshall. Here are three reasons.

1. She's from the South and her voice is the sound of soul. If I had to describe it, I would say it sounds like she was born in the window booth of a Georgia roadside diner—the kind of place where you wash down a stack of syrupy pancakes with three or four cigarettes and five or six cups of black coffee. It’s a lot more romantic in my mind than it sounds, trust me.

2. She can do indie-bleak better than anyone who comes from a place where it snows.

3. She's absolutely gorgeous.

Cat Power’s second album of covers, the aptly entitled Jukebox, comes out on January 22nd of next year, and to celebrate, (the royal) we here at Anesthetic Hymns are posting a smoky little medley of tunes by the Everly Brothers and the Marcels, respectively, bootlegged way back in ’05.

Listen, if you will, to the way she says, “moon” as if it were “moan.” I almost can’t stand it.

Right here, guy:
Dreams/Blue Moon (Live at Le Cigale, Paris 2005)

Ell Es Two

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I had a chance to rip a couple of CDs that I’d left back home, and among them was the Matador reissue of Pavement’s 1992 debut Slanted and Enchanted. What I love best about this album is its cohesion as a collection of songs. From the bone-dry delivery on “Summer Babe” through the scatterbrained hi-jinx of “Fame Throwa” to the drunken 6/8 drum pattern on “Our Singer,” the songs hold up all the way through. Even Spiral’s throwaway “Two States” is essential to the mix.

Anyway, one of my favorite songs from this album is “In the Mouth of a Desert.” The song displays the band’s incredible ability to blend really bleak, dissonant sounding guitar with effortless, off-hand pop hooks that you don’t really notice are there until it’s too late and you can’t make it through a single day without singing at least a line or three of Stephen Malkmus’ inimitable lyrics.

Here’s a live version of “Desert” from 1994 that features a cool introduction called “Heckler Spray.”

Yee-uh: Heckler Spray/In the Mouth of a Desert

Download "Atom" Here

Since it's available for free officially on BSP's website. Here's "Atom."

British Sea Power - Atom - from the forthcoming album, Do You Like Rock Music? via Rough Trade Records

I promise this is the last post on British Sea Power until the album comes out, haha.

-ST

British Sea Power @ Maxwell's, NJ 10-15-07

I went to see BSP last night at Maxwell’s over in Hoboken. All in all it was a good show, though the band didn’t seem to be in top form and the sound wasn’t great. Blame it on the hype of pieces like this, I guess. In spite of that, I enjoyed myself, as I was lucky enough to be in the front row and even got a pat on the back and a kind word from Yan after I helped him figure out why he wasn’t getting any sound out of his guitar (it wasn’t plugged in).

“Stay there, man,” he intoned in a high, harsh coastal accent, and I obeyed (he was wearing a Nelson-esque naval officer’s greatcoat), very narrowly avoiding getting smashed in the face by his guitar’s machine heads at various points throughout the course of the set, which included an impassioned, whirlwind rendition of the early EP track “Spirit of St. Louis.” Other highlights included the new songs, “Atom,” “Lucifer,” and “Jet Lag Jimmy Jam,” which all had a real punk feel reminiscent of tunes like “Apologies to Insect Life” and “Favours in the Beetroot Fields” from their debut, Decline of British Sea Power.

I managed to snag the beer-drenched and trodden-on set list, which I’ve attempted to transcribe below:

Set List:
1. Apologies to Insect Life
2. Atom
3. Remember Me
4. Please Stand Up
5. Down on the Ground
6. Pelican
7. Spirit of St. Louis
8. A Wooden Horse
9. Fear of Drowning
10. Larsen B
11. Lucifer
12. How Will I Ever Find My Way Home?
13. Carrion
14. Lights Out F.D.S. (?)
15. Lately / Rock in A
16. Jet Lag Jimmy Jam

Opening act: Star Death from Oklahoma.

-ST

British Sea Power's "Atom"

I feel like over the last year or two I've become a lot more picky about the kind of music I buy. Buzz bands come and go and for whatever reason I just can't seem to tell this month's Cold War Kids from last month's Tapes 'n' Tapes. The creation of billions of blogs just like this one all over the world has created an entirely new way of introducing people to new sounds, but while this is all very well, I can't help but be a little overwhelmed by choice sometimes.

Still, every once in a while all the webcrawling pays off and you come across a band like British Sea Power. I learned about these four uber-literate rockers from Brighton, UK on the AtEase (a Radiohead fansite) message board when I was still in high school. The band's 2003 debut, The Decline of British Sea Power is one of the essential recordings of the decade (the aughts?), featuring a range of material from yelping post-punk ("Apologies to Insect Life") to anthemic histori-pop ("Carrion") that's glued together by a rich helping of effervescent guitar squall and warehouse-rave drumming culminating in a collosal 13-minute requiem for a by-gone era called "Lately."

In 2005 the band released Open Season, which pruned back the textures of the debut, but compensated by delivering up a perfect set of guitar pop in the tradition of bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and The Sound. Some of the standout tracks included "It Ended on an Oily Stage" (one of the best opening tracks I've heard in some time, with lyrics like "All across the eastern board / Languages were being lost / You look so elegantly bored now / Totally at ease with it all") and the single "Please Stand Up," which features a chorus hook that could make Bono weep.

As this year comes to a close, the band has released an online EP (which I believe comes out on CD in stores this November) entitled Krankenhaus?. It features the driving "Atom," which hearkens back to some of their earlier songs. You can download the song for free on British Sea Power's website, linked here.

I'm going to see the band play at Maxwell's in Hoboken tomorrow night, and I'm superexcited. Will be sure to report.

Tracklist for Krankenhaus? EP
1. Atom (4:40)
2. Down on the Ground (4:31)
3. Straight Down the Line (4:06)
4. Hearing Aid (1:56)
5. The Pelican (9:18)

10 Radiohead Songs that make everything all right with the world.

10. There There – Hail to the Thief
“There There” was the first song I ever saw Radiohead play live. It was at the dreary 2003 Field Day Music Festival in East Rutherford, NJ (Giants Stadium) that I got to see my favorite band for the first time and it was utter euphoria from start to finish. I remember being in awe of both Jonny and Ed bashing away on tom-toms as if they were being possessed by voodoo spirits. On record, the song is fantastic too, with it’s strange seventh chords and its references to the sirens and walking in pitch dark. The highlight comes at the end with the coda section, with Thom and Ed wailing, “We are accidents waiting to happen” above the crooked-tooth chomping din of Jonny’s jagged lead guitar.

9. Idioteque – Kid A
First of all, Idioteque is so great because it essentially invented (for me, and I know a lot of other people too) the crazy spasm dance move. Just watch any live footage of Radiohead performing this and you’ll witness Thom doing his headless chicken (reference!)/techno raver rain dance. Speaking as someone who cannot dance very well at all, I can’t be more thankful to him for creating a borderline acceptable dance for people who have absolutely no talent for it. As far as the song goes, just listen for yourself. It’s all jittery computer blips and kaoss-padded vox bouncing viciously over a bed of super funky synth drums and an idiotic (ahem) keyboard part.

8. Fake Plastic Trees – The Bends
The most moving ballad of the mid-90s. Thom turns in perhaps his most evocative performance on acoustic guitar and vocals, and the band ride in on a landslide on the third verse. Another great usage of an understated refrain too. Everything about this song is perfect, from the beautifully dramatic strings, to the crashing vainglory (ed: all glory is vain) of the distorted guitars, right on up to the impossibly high falsetto notes of the melody. This song also takes me back to my childhood in Hong Kong for some reason.

7. Karma Police – OK Computer
It sounds a little like Sexy Sadie, sure, but I didn’t know that when I first heard this song. I do know that it’s brilliantly understated chorus is one of the coolest musical tricks ever. I’m pretty sure the song made it onto one of those Now That’s What I Call Music comps, which is pretty absurd, and just goes to show how Radiohead seem to miraculously be able to appeal to just about everybody (except my Dad). What I really love about this song though is the kind of sinister subject of this guy sort of getting second thoughts about this uber-totalitarian society he lives in and then getting lobotomized right at the end during the coda. The best moment of the song is when the robo-phantom siren choir comes in right around 3:15, only to be drowned out by a horrendous maelstrom of drone-y feedback perpetrated by Ed (I believe).

6. You and Whose Army? – Amnesiac
Another of my all-time favorite vocal takes. On this track, Thom sounds like he’s either a) got a bad head cold or b) just got the snot beaten out of him and is lying in a dirty gutter in the middle of some random high street out of Conan Doyle. It also appeals to me as a musician, since it’s got a lot of these cool jazz chords, which are pretty dazzling coming outta Jonny’s Fender Starcaster semi-hollow guitar. The rousing coda at the end is one of those spine-tinglers for me. “We ride tonight!” I always get this image of maybe the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse or something.

5. Lurgee – Pablo Honey
It’s kind of a less remembered song, being from Radiohead’s first and, admittedly, flawed album Pablo Honey, but Lurgee is just one of those songs that I just got really attached to. Like so many Radiohead songs, its bittersweet and could be interpreted as a pretty sad song, but I just find it really inspiring and I used to listen to it before I had to do anything important as a kind of embarrassing fan-boy ritual. I have no regrets! Also, I’m pretty sure it’s pronounced Luhr – Gee (like a hard ‘g’ sound) and not Luhr-jee (as in jellyfish).

4. Cuttooth – Knives Out CD Single
Once I got really obsessed with Radiohead during freshman and sophomore year of high school I started buying all their singles and paying exorbitant amounts of money for Japanese imports, but the first B-side I ever heard was “Cuttooth.” It’s a piano-pounding little number with a snarling Thom vocal that mostly stays in the baritone register, with the occasional lilting howl occasionally thrown in just to make things too good to bear. I remember trying to figure out the lyrics and just loving the line that (I think) goes “I won’t lead your wallpaper life, I’m running away to the Foreign Legion.” I must’ve listened to the CD single it’s on dozens and dozens of times and it never gets old. It works really well as a follow-up track to “Knives Out” as well, and I often think that Amnesiac would’ve been better if some of the fantastic era B-Sides had been included.

3. Let Down – OK Computer
This song blows me away. Featuring guitars in weird time signatures I don’t understand, visceral imagery like “shell smashed, juices flowing, wings twitch” (disgusting!), and perhaps the most uplifting harmony line I’ve ever heard (at about 4:18 thru), this song dips you in a vat of liquid nitrogen, pulls you out again, and then smashes you to smithereens with a hammer swung in part by every person you’ve ever thought you’ve been in love with ever. It really does.

2. Climbing Up the Walls – OK Computer
The scariest rock song ever written. This song is anchored by a terrific growling bass synth line played by Colin, but it’s the vocal take that really thrills me. Thom Yorke starts out singing in this kind of slurry falsetto that makes him sound like he’s this rabid lunatic escaped from an asylum. Then it transitions to a more frantic delivery in the second verse and the more shrill notes start distorting and then the song really takes off. I just get this vision of scraping metal and hissing steam as it reaches its noisy climax and then it suddenly ends real violently with this horrific shriek. Unbeatable. What’s more, it’s followed immediately by No Surprises in the running order of OK Computer, so you feel like you’ve just witnessed some traumatic event and now you’re in therapy and someone’s playing Pet Sounds on the hi-fi.

1. Optimistic – Kid A
Optimistic was the first song I ever heard by Radiohead. I remember around 2001 I was in the eighth grade and still had a CD wallet full of M.O.R. excrement like Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, Limp Bizkit’s Significant Other, and others I would name if they didn’t cause me to projectile vomit. It was also around this time that I kept seeing the Kid A blips (maybe it was 2000 then?) and I was really fascinated by the little minotaur cartoons. Then I saw the video for Optimistic, where the band was shown playing the song live in Dublin. I remember Thom introduced the song saying “This song is for Jubilee 2000” and I remember also not knowing what that meant.” What followed was five minutes and sixteen seconds of mind-invading psychedelic pop ecstasy that changed my entire life. Love that watery organ in the background, but it’s the wordless falsetto bits at the beginning and the end that just send me to another planet.

In Rainbows Oct. 10th / Back from the Dead

Oh no, Pop is dead! Long live Pop!

Greetings, beloved Friends and Enemies!

Just to let you know, my all-time favorite band, Little Thommy Yorke & The Fabulous Radioheads are releasing their (count 'em!)seventh album, entitled "In Rainbows" on Wednesday, October 10th, and the best part is, they're selling it themselves! Yes, that means no arms-dealin,' band killin,' payola dishin,' (don't quote me), and all-around jive-mongerin' record companies or a&r or anything. Just click here for more details.

Anyhow, as far as this writer currently understands, the album will be offered as a download on their website on October 10th and basically, you pay as much as you feel you oughta give, just as if you were visiting the Museum of Natural History or something. Needless to say, this is a revolutionary way of marketing music that I have only seen attempted before by the incredible Harvey Danger on their album Little by Little, (http://www.harveydanger.com/downloads/) which was also offered for free when it was released back in '05. The difference this time is that Radiohead is a huge band and this is a really big deal considering the current state of the music industry. I guarantee this will have a widespread effect on the music community and I expect many albums will be released this way over the next year.

With this exciting news comes the rebirth of my blog, Anesthetic Hymns, which initially started as a writing project that I abandoned. From now on, this blog will be a regularly updated channel for updates on my projects and those of my close friends and family. In addition to this, I'll be posting the occasional music review, news article, or just a random tirade about something.

On the right you'll see a couple of links to my music projects, and I hope soon to have a separate blog with written shorts for you to have a look through.

Regards,

ST