The Double Doghouse

this week for the weekly review, we’re taking a look at Radiohead’s 2000 record, Kid A. let’s dig in!

Everything In Its Right Place is a phenomenal start to the record – the soft, melodic tones with the vocal bits that intro this track are a great first few seconds to the record, with Yorke’s voice breaking right in and the rest of the instrumentation building up around it to the moments of clarity throughout the track. Kid A’s neat – lotta fun stuff happening instrumentally here, and it’s a bit understated for a title track, haha. i read about them pulling the lyrics for this song out of a hat, which was an interesting choice since the vocals get chopped up as much as they do by the synth filter they’ve put it through. The National Anthem an absolutely killer bass line that forms the driving line of the track. the strange audio samples they bring in and the tinny quality of Yorke’s vocals make this sound like you’re being pulled through like, a portal to another world, basically right up until they bring in the brass and then it escalates into a cacophony. yeah i dig this track. an absolutely correct amount of mess. How to Disappear Completely bring in guitar to the soundscape, which i’m not gonna lie i didn’t notice has been missing up to this point until SEVERAL listens in, and this one’s a very effective track. the soft sounds completely Yorke’s vocals extremely well, and there’s a very subtle quality to the shape of this one. neat. Treefingers is a nice interlude track – a very nice holding space for a second. Optimistic’s good, and probably the most accessible track on the record, haha. on a personal note, i listened to a lot of Switchfoot growing up, and DAMN i can tell those dudes listened to a lot of Radiohead at this point, haha. In Limbo’s pretty good, but i think i have very little to say about it. Idioteque’s probably my favorite song on the album. i really like some of their more dramatic experiments here with electronic tools, and this one’s a home run for me. Morning Bell’s another interesting song, but i’m just aight on it. our proper closer is Motion Picture Soundtrack, an absolutely lush track that brings in strings and organs for a proper sendoff, if a bit depressing lyrically. we also get a little Untitled outro, which is neat.

faves – Everything In Its Right Place, The National Anthem, Optimistic, Idioteque
dislikes –

i think my feelings on this one land close to where they did on OK Computer, though for different reasons. i found Kid A a little more interesting musically – a lot of the electronic elements on this record create some extremely neat-sounding songs, and i found several more individual tracks that leapt out at me and i think will sit with me a bit more. that being said, i think OK Computer‘s central thesis was a lot stronger and more directly conveyed. not every record NEEDS something like that to be a home run, but damn OK Computer definitely did, haha, and while i did enjoy where Kid A played lyrically it just wasn’t quite there. i think i will spend more time with this record than OK Computer by merit of the individual tracks i found appealing, but i don’t think the whole package will land in my listening as much as OK might.

it feels a little unfair to spend my overall reflection on this record comparing it to OK Computer rather than trying to focus my thoughts on it by itself, but i don’t think it’s completely inappropriate, given that this was the follow up to that record, and a lot of it was written in reaction to that record.

Kid A – 7/10

next week, i’ll be back again checking out VAPERROR’s Polychromatic Compiler. i’ll be back next Friday, May 19th with that review and to pick another weekly record, and in the meantime, let me know what album you’d like me to review! (i pool all suggestions in one place, and draw a person, then one pick from that person, so feel free to drop as many as you’d like! if you leave an email or username i’ll contact you when i’ve gotten through all your suggestions.)