This is probably the most-hyped release of the year from the world's largest band still actively making music, and it's definitely the most-heard album on B8 (given the original response to the King of Limbs topic compared to, say, Born this Way or Watch the Throne). And we're quickly approaching December, a time when most releases stop, and we reflect on our individual year end lists. So where does it rank for you? Top 3? 5? 10? Does it even rank? What albums do you like more from this year? And what do you think of it as a Radiohead album?
I stopped listening to it regularly in the summer when a few albums stole my attention, and the remix series was just about to start. I'm not sure if I've listened to it all the way through since, though I have spent a lot of time with the remixes. There are some great ones there: Caribou, Actress, Four Tet, Pearson Sound, Shed, and others did a fantastic job. I think I like the remixes more than the album, on the whole. I haven't listened to the CD tracklist (it would probably feel a bit repetitive), but I really enjoyed them as the singles were released. You should all definitely check it out if you're a fan of the album and/or UK Bass.
I'm not sure where the album would rank this year, to be honest. Not top 10, and probably not top 25. The album doesn't have much there; the second half is fantastic, but the first half has the "Morning Mr. Magpie" / "Little by Little" / "Feral" run which completely takes me out of the album, and I like "Feral." As a Radiohead album, though, I'd much rather listen to this than Hail to the Thief or Pablo Honey. It's about even with the Bends for me.
I know Vince loves it more than most, and I think Seg too. But who cares about iconsience? What does the rest of the board think?
I didn't like it very much when it came out. I tried it again a few weeks ago and still didn't care for it. It's probably the most disappointing album of the year for me, tbqh.
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"SMOKEDOG42O taught me how to love." - Pablo Escobar
I've only listened to a very few 2011 albums so I can't really compare, but compared to the other Radiohead albums it's slightly disappointing, 6th out of 8 .... I'll listen to some of its songs now and then, but that's it
From: SMOKEDOG42O | #003 I didn't like it very much when it came out. I tried it again a few weeks ago and still didn't care for it. It's probably the most disappointing album of the year for me, tbqh.
oh god you made the account
you should check out the remix album. you'd dig a lot of the stuff. also, listen to room(s)
2010 was definitely better for hip-hop, but i dunno. everytime i compare the top X of 2010 to the top X of 2011, I give the slight edge to this year, even though last year had an actress album and north.
From: Mershaaay | #008 And "Separator" is the best song Radiohead has ever recorded.
"Reckoner." but you're right in that "Separator" is the best song from this recording session
Tom Waits posted... T What albums do you like more from this year? And what do you think of it as a Radiohead album?
First off, I'm not a huge Radiohead fan, but I of course love The Bends - Amnesiac, and to a lesser extent HTTT and In Rainbows. That being said, I found this album quite boring. Not bad by any means, just kinda there.
Albums this year I liked more: Smith Westerns Destroyer Tim Hecker Dodos Terius Nash Tom Waits
Let's see, according to winamp, the 2011 albums I've heard are: Angles, Alpocalypse, Born This Way, King of Limbs, I'm With You, Rolling Blackouts, Turtleneck & Chain.
Even still it prob wouldn't be top 5. I guess I just don't 'get' Radiohead.
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that tim hecker album is pretty great. kaputt is something that still hasn't clicked with me. i'm a huge destroyer fan, and i love his new style (if you haven't, check them out in concert. the new version of "painter in your pocket" is worth the price of your ticket), but to me, destroyer is an act that throws every crazy idea it has at an album, and even if the end product isn't that great, i still admire the attempt. they're not a band that does a tightly-edited, 80s influenced smooth jazz album. i just can't get past that barrier. i totally get what people love about the album, and what they didn't love about old destroyer stuff -- i'm just on the other end of the spectrum.
From: Tom Waits | #001 I know Vince loves it more than most, and I think Seg too. But who cares about iconsience? What does the rest of the board think?
I love all 8 songs. For a Radiohead album it feels short (and Radiohead never makes long albums), but that's not a con at all. Most of the people are hating on the first half but I believe it's got as much good songs as the second. Okay, hate's maybe too strong a word, but the general consensus is that the first half is the weaker one. I don't believe it is.
Songs like Bloom are as strong as any great Radiohead song and while Magpie FEELS very convoluted and rushed at first, it really shines after a few more listens with its very raw and organic repetitive guitar lines and almost robotic bass and beat. I love the dancey feel Little By Little has and how it goes back to a more dark and punkish, HTTT Era Radiohead. But I guess if you didn't like that album as much as I did, you won't like that track too much either. I'd call Feral the weak point of the album, and that is by no means a bad thing. It's a good song if you're into the more electronic side of Radiohead, which I am.
I could rave about the second half equally as much mind you. Maybe I'll do that!
Lotus Flower is one of my favorite songs this year. Most people see it as the highlight, or at least one of the highlights and I can't help but agree. It just sounds so much how everyone expected Radiohead to sound in 2011. And that's not a bad thing either. It's expected maybe, but it's one hell of a song. A moody, minor piece that has Thom Yorke's Eraser written all over it. Codex is the obligatory piano track, but it's really something special. It didn't really move me at first, but I've grown to love the haunting falsetto, the very lowkey piano keys and the reverby sound of it. The lyrics are probably the best of the bunch too. Give Up The Ghost is a very immediate, but lasting song. It was my favorite and first. I love the simpleness of it, just Thom with a few vocal tracks, an acoustic guitar playing the same chords for the whole song and Jonny accompanying him with a simple but effective lead riff.
And then Separator. A song I feel is a bit underappreciated in the circles of iconsience. The way that song opens up about halfway through the song is brilliant. Great closer, too.
Not only is The King of Limbs AOTY for me in what has been a very great year so far for music, Radiohead has also made 4 other tracks which are equally as brilliant. Go check out Supercollider, The Butcher, Staircase and The Daily Mail on youtube or whatever if you haven't already. The last 2 songs have only been performed live though. And now that I mention their live performances, I feel the need to tell you that some of the King of Limbs tracks are even better performed live. Bloom is pure bliss live:
From: VincentLauw | #013 Most of the people are hating on the first half but I believe it's got as much good songs as the second. Okay, hate's maybe too strong a word, but the general consensus is that the first half is the weaker one. I don't believe it is. Songs like Bloom are as strong as any great Radiohead song
I think "Bloom" is both a great way to open an album and a great song on its own. That can stay. It's just what follows that bothers me: two standard, unspectacular Radiohead tracks that could just as easily be late 90s b-sides, and then a sharp turn in the other direction with the progressive (and great) "Feral." it's part pedestrian songs and part poor sequencing.
And then Separator. A song I feel is a bit underappreciated in the circles of iconsience. The way that song opens up about halfway through the song is brilliant. Great closer, too.
nah. I've been singing its praises since the album came out and I think most of us have as well. maybe even Cokes, and he doesn't like the album that much.
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the second half is fantastic, but the first half has the "Morning Mr. Magpie" / "Little by Little" / "Feral" run which completely takes me out of the album, and I like "Feral."
I agree with this. Bloom plus the second half could have made a killer EP
it's ok. it'd be top 10 on my list but that's more of a 'by default' then anything (Sounds of a Playground Fading is my #1 now, at 9.1/10, and I gave Burst Apart like an 8.6 or something for #2, it's just a weak year for me. i'm not going to hand anything an AotY title if that's as high as it can go.)
King of Limbs definitely gets stronger as it goes and that's not good for me; I need to be in the right mood to listen to it since it takes so long to really get my brain going. there are too many other things i'd rather listen to.
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From: Kibago | #024 I need to be in the right mood to listen to it since it takes so long to really get my brain going. there are too many other things i'd rather listen to.
yeah, that's how i approach it. it's not something i'm often in the mood for. i'll put one of the last songs on at any opportunity, but i don't often want to pay attention to the album for the 40 minutes or whatever the time is.
just a quick top 5 songs of the year for me:
1. Tom Waits - "Hell Broke Luce" - 2. Machinedrum - "Come1" - 3. Deadboy - "I Wish You Were Here" - 4. Gillian Welch - "Hard Times" - 5. Burial - "Stolen Dog" -
I haven't listened to it a lot but that's because I still haven't fully listened to everything from Radiohead. I actually listened to Hail to the Thief a ton this summer.
I think I haven't listened to king of limbs since like early summer maybe even late spring. I think I still have codex on my ipod because it's a pretty cool song but that's about it.
I really don't know where I'd rank it for this year though, since I'm bad at ranking stuff. I do feel like a lot of artists I enjoy have released albums that haven't really lived up to my expectations, like fleet foxes, the kills, bon iver, and the antlers. And also probably M83.
actually my favorite album might be let england shake, at least it's the best pj harvey album I heard (then again I haven't heard that many albums of her I should probably get on that). either that or strange mercy, think I like actor better than strange mercy though.
I don't know, it has three of their best songs (There There, Where I End And You Begin, and Wolf at the Door). Sure it's inconsistent but the worst songs are still pretty good
it's about on a par with HTTT for me, which makes it a definite disappointment if far from outright bad. will probably make my top 50 for the year, but there's a reasonable chance it won't. it's been a really good year for depth.
oh I still like all of those albums, it's just that I could have liked them more. I might just have too high expectations as well, especially for the antlers considering how much I liked hospice.
and the kills album really does fall apart near the end. I usually stop caring around the last 4 songs.
Top ten album. Separator is the fifth best Radiohead song of all time behind Nude, Everything In Its Right Place, Idioteque, and All I Need. Better albums this year: Fleet Foxes, James Blake, PJ Harvey,J. Cole and of course the album of the year HOUSE OF BALLOONS.
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Realo won gold at the Sex Olympics with a BROKEN FRIGGIN NECK.-Voltch
The Decemberists - The King Is Dead The Human Abstract - Digital Veil Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues PJ Harvey - Let England Shake Mariachi El Bronx - II Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost Portugal. The Man - In the Mountain in the Cloud Mastodon - The Hunter Beirut - The Riptide St. Vincent - Strange Mercy The Antlers - Burst Apart Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
These are all albums that I have above the king of limbs so far. We also still have new Alcest, Baroness, and The Shins releasing new albums this year (supposedly). Three of my favorite bands, I don't see them disappointing. I'd say top 20 is about right, out of the 45+ albums I've listened to from 2011.
The album I think gets the LEAST love in Iconsience is Bon Iver. That album is wonderful top to bottom. It has that same magic Funeral had where every single song just feels special, anthemic. I went from liking it to loving it over the past few months. It would be my album of the year but House of Balloons and James Blake both get perfect 10s from me. 2011 has kicked so much ass. MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUM: Goblin. Easily at that. Coincidentally it contains my song of the year.
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Realo won gold at the Sex Olympics with a BROKEN FRIGGIN NECK.-Voltch
did you guys like Stories from the City? I love that album and the few songs I've heard from Let England Shake seemed in the same vein. I thought I was the only one who liked that album but maybe you guys would.
From: TheConductorSix | #043 The album I think gets the LEAST love in Iconsience is Bon Iver. That album is wonderful top to bottom. It has that same magic Funeral had where every single song just feels special, anthemic. I went from liking it to loving it over the past few months. It would be my album of the year but House of Balloons and James Blake both get perfect 10s from me. 2011 has kicked so much ass. MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUM: Goblin. Easily at that. Coincidentally it contains my song of the year.
This post is top tier except I don't really like House of Balloons all that much.
Goblin is still good, but it could've been so much more. I'm definitely pumped for Wolf though, which will be Tyler basically starting from scratch instead of just gathering a bunch of older and newer songs