The Awl

Thom Yorke Establishes His Mope-Rock Bona Fides

Maura Johnston — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:00:51 +0000

Thom Yorke, who's spent the last few weeks taking a break from his Radiohead-fronting duties to play a handful of shows with his all-star backing band Atoms For Peace, threw Joy Division's oft-covered "Love Will Tear Us Apart" into his set last night. Somehow the Internet has not broken wide open and swallowed itself as a result of this particular song making its way to YouTube! Is it Flea's fault? [Via]

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Musical Odd Couple: Thom Yorke And Flea

Dave Bry — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:09:54 +0000

This is weird. Thom Yorke has started a band with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I can't think of two more different public personalities. The band does not have a name yet (I'll throw out "Arty on Your Pussy" as a first suggestion [Ed Note: Say what now?]) but they're playing two concerts next week in Los Angeles. I wonder if they'll come out in the old Chili Peppers' uniforms? (Careful at work: there are socks in this picture.)

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Another New Radiohead Song Hits The Web, Mysteriously

Dave Bry — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:30:47 +0000

So when Thom Yorke says, "I'm not very interested in the album at the moment," it apparently means that that Radiohead's music will now just appear on the internet all willy-nilly-one new song at a time, with no publicity or even any official notice. "It sure sounds like a Radiohead song," Pitchfork says of the above "These Are My Twisted Words." "We haven't received any confirmation that it actually is." That's cool. Thom is clearly an ahead-of-the-curve kind of guy. Soon enough, one would imagine, he'll be beaming tunes directly from his brain into those of his fans. (Surely, this is what "Radiohead" has meant all along.) And letting everybody choose their own method of payment. I'm already beaming him thousands in mental-money thought-dollars as I type this. (Well, hundreds, at least.)

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Mercury Prizes Announced: I'm Sorry, Who?

Dave Bry — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:25:03 +0000

The short list for England's Mercury Prize has been announced and basically nobody has heard of any of the ten bands up for the prestigious album-of-the-year award. Not even the record geeks at Pitchfork. (Most well-known: Bat for Lashes. Silliest name? Led Bib.)

The Mercury folks seem to take pride in such inscrutability, as last year, the obscure Seldom Seen Kid album from the group Elbow beat out Radiohead's magnificent and much-loved In Rainbows.

So in protest, let's watch the new song Radiohead singer Thom Yorke debuted this past weekend at the Latitude Festival-which is also in England! It's reportedly called "The Present Tense." And featuring lyrics like, "As my world comes crashing down/I am dancing, freaking out..." it doesn't get much Yorkier than this.

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