I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RADIOHEAD-“Supercollider”/”The Butcher” (2011).

These two songs came out some time after The King of Limbs.  They were available from a number of sites, like Stereogum and were also released as a 12″ vinyl.

I liked these when they came out (it’s Radiohead after all), but listening again now, sort of out of the Radiohead mindset, I’m a little more critical.

“Supercollider” is 7 minutes long and, surprisingly for a Radiohead song, it doesn’t really deviate from itself very much in all that time.  And I know that that’s the point, it’s a moody piece–much of King of Limbs was like that.  It’s an enjoyable song for its mood, but it’s not a very interesting song.  For many groups that’s a minor criticism, but for Radiohead I think it’s pretty big.

“The Butcher” on the other hand has my favorite thing about new Radiohead: skittery drum beats.  And while the bass line (which is all the melody you’ll get here) isn’t super complex, Yorke’s voice more than complements it by really nailing an interesting, slightly menacing tune.  And when you can finally get a grip on the lyrics at the end of the song, it all gels nicely.

Neither one of these songs would be out of place on Limbs, but then again, neither one would really stand out on Limbs either.

[READ: December 30, 2011] “Things I Learned from My Friend’s Dog”

Of all of the blog posts on Max Barry’s blog, this was the shortest.  But, given that it’s about dogs by a guy who has never owned a dog before I thought it would be fun to include it here.

The dog he’s watching is two years old (named Snow).  And Snow has taught Max what any dog owner knows:

There are smells (often bad) and sounds (surprisingly loud) that are specific to dogs.  Dogs have even worse selective hearing than people.  And my favorite, which I will quote: “If you step backwards (at any time), you will stand on Snow.”

Several of Snow’s issues seem to also apply to my mother-in-law’s dog, Sophie (who is a poodle), but not our dog, Pippin (who is a mutt).  Like standing as close as possible to a human.  Our dog likes to be outside, but Sophie, holy cow, she is magical in her ability to be underfoot and her inability to get out of the way.

Similarly, “it is uncouth to push open a slightly ajar door in order to pass through it; rather, one should sit in front of it and whine.”  Sophie doesn’t whine, but she does sit in front of a door waiting for it to open. In fact, when she’s not underfoot it’s safe to assume she is in front of a door waiting to go out.   Pippin, on the other hand, will push open anything.  Or bark loudly if he cannot.

Barry has a few points regarding the dog’s desire to do something other than what you are doing–outside is preferable to in unless you are inside (much like kids).

His final point is applicable to everyone, I think:

“If you don’t know what it is, lick it”

Read the whole list here.  That’s a picture of Snow by the way.