Review Summary: Cold, harsh, and bitter sometimes makes an amazing album.
Radiohead is like champagne-its an acquired taste. No, you don't have to 'get' it (as the rule goes), you just have to be optimistic (no pun intended), open-minded, and have alternative within your musical tastes.
Kid A is also a lot like a glass of champagne; bitter at first, and smooth going down; it is much of a shock to the listener upon first listen. Its challenging. It requires the correct atmosphere. The correct 'mood', the way you 'feel'.
When I want to listen to
Kid A, I usually am really bored, and usually alone. Sitting in my bedroom, I lay down on my bed and listen to the flowing, cold atmospheres of songs like
How to Disappear Completely,
Optimistic, and
Idioteque. Thom Yorke's cold, whiny vocals mixed with the windy, frigid atmospheric noises of the keyboards and acoustic guitars makes this album a truly epic experience. Its a solemn album, its lonely, and definitely makes you feel as if you are on a mountain, all alone, singing your heart out with nothing but a keyboard in front of you and a guitar around your shoulder. Quite simply, the soundscapes and atmospherics of the album are astonishing. Never has Radiohead created an album that is so realistic, depicting, and epic as
Kid A. And by the end, the swirling atmospheres of the album settle down and call for another listen, as you slowly realize how epic, and what a classic this album is.
Radiohead has never made an album that is better than
Kid A and most likely won't ever. Whereas
OK Computer was a few good listens with a lot of filler that held the album together (but still an amazing album),
Kid A is a complete masterpiece filled with songs like the opener,
Everything In Its Right Place, which introduces you to the 'cold' feel of the album, without revealing much more of the album's atmospherics and multiple personalities. Or there's
Optimistic which fits the requirements for a single perfectly. The song feels cold, creepy, almost windy, while still giving it a radio-friendly catchiness and sound about it. There's more to the multiple personalities of
Kid A still,
Idioteque showcases the dance-floor beat Radiohead often showcases while still being the most strange and odd song on the album with its noises, keyboard squiggles, and Thom Yorke's haunting vocals.
The multitude of instruments that Radiohead uses is found in excess in
Kid A. The album throws in a quick violin solo for good effect in random places, or xylophones as a nice backdrop. But the multitude of instruments isn't what makes the album so strange and harsh; the overuse of Thom Yorke's whining, deep vocals or the heavy distortion of his vocals into someone else's voice; in songs like
Kid A.
The National Anthem is another odd song that features Yorke's cries; but continues to be drastically different and odd due to the multitude of instruments and effects this song carries. The song is like a mishmash of every musical style; going from a heavily atmospheric alternative track to a jazz cymbal-bashing track then back to an atmospheric track while pulling it off in great success takes real skill. The jazz band truly creates some traditional noises that become haunting really quickly with the heavy drum beat in the back and the atmospherics behind the jazz band, making a truly interesting and odd track.
Motion Picture Soundtrack is the most mournful, depressing, and epic Radiohead track of all time. The organ sets the tone, and the lyrics are especially dark and dreary. The way the song flows back and forth, setting the mood and feel is epic. It flows into a hidden track, which ends the album the way it began; heavy on the keyboards and atmospherics before wrapping it all up and sending it off to record stores worldwide.
There's not one standout track on this album, they all fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. The album is...an instant classic; Radiohead's masterpiece. The songs fit together perfectly and manage to tell the depressing, brutal storyline that
Kid A follows out. The album is cold, piercing, and harsh. Its a radical maturation from
OK Computer which really made Radiohead become the strangest alternative rockers out there. It split fans, it splits ideas, and is just a moving and excellent piece of work that everyone should experience at least once in their life.
DOWNLOAD:
Everythig In Its Right Place
The National Anthem
How To Disappear Completely
Optimistic
Idioteque
Morning Bell
Motion Picture Sountrack
