IN RAINBOWS

The best musician in my school loves this band. Since he is such a good musician, I took his word that they were a good band. He told me that they were coming out with an album that since they ditched their record label they were going to sell the album online where the buyer could name their own price. I picked up the freebie on their website and here's what I got:

15 Step is a really cool opener. I've never heard such a cool dance like song. It's very interesting, because it combines jazz-like guitar and bass with an interesting 5/4 electronic rhythm. Of course, Thom Yorke's vocals are very good, and the song is very well put together. Especially in the bridge around Then a sheer drop where the listener will actually feel like they're falling if they listen while laying down.

Bodysnatchers is my idea of one of the more overrated songs on the album. A basic riff-based song, sounding like simple alternative music. It has a mid-paced tempo and nothing much to it. The guitar tone is very cool though, I like it.

Next is Nude. This is such a beautiful song. It is in a slow 6/8 tempo, and there are atmospheric synthesizer and string sounds all about it. Thom Yorke's falsetto singing is top notch in this one, and it has one of the best endings of any song I've ever heard. Definetely one of the highlights of the album.

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi is definetely an interesting song too. It starts off with a tight drum beat repeated a bit, and then a guitar comes in creating an interesting triplet meter/common time polyrhythm. All in all it's a very good song and I reccomend listening to it.

All I Need, however, has nothing special to it. I suppose it's atmospheric, but mostly it just feels like a slow song. The bass tone is very interesting though, so it's not terrible.

Faust Arp is a short and good song. There are a couple of simple time changes that make it all the more interesting. There's also a nice orchestral sound behind the acoustic guitar and the vocals. It goes by a bit too fast to notice the greatness of it though, it's only a couple of minutes long. I like the orchestral harmonies the best.

The next is Reckoner. It starts off with a cool jazzy drum beat, and then some shaker percussion comes in. A beautiful guitar comes in and makes a beautiful melody. Things build up a bit. Then Thom's voice comes in absolutely beautifully, in one of the greatest vocal lines i've ever heard. This is a very emotional song, and I love it. Even though the first couple minutes are rather repetitive, it's absolutely beautiful, so it doesn't really matter. However, the bridge doesn't seem to do it justice, it's very simple. This is a good example of a really beautiful song that definetely could have been thought out more to have been made a masterpiece. The fadeout is good though.

House of Cards is very boring to me. It's based on a riff that's almost entirely one chord. It's a slow song, and there's nothing interesting at all there. There are a few echoes that make it seem to try atmospheric, but that seems more like an attempt at being interesting.

Jigsaw falling into place is a pretty, quick-paced type song. There's nothing terribly interesting on this track either. Seems like a regular alternative rock song, but it's not terrible. It's just not very good. It's pretty basic.

The final song on the album is Videotape, a minimalistic piano ballad. I think this is one of the most beautiful songs ever created and it doesn't fail to make me feel like I need to let my sadder emotions out of me. It builds up ever so slowly, starting with just piano, eventually adding lead vocals, a strange and haunting drum beat, background voices, and electronic noises. Another defining part of In Rainbows.

Well nobody can say that it wasn't worth my money, because after all I got it for free. And it was a worthwhile listen, though I can't help but think that a lot of this is just background music. I found it very good for doing my homework to, because it was soothing and minimalistic, so it made me feel good without distracting. When things get good on the album, they are absolutely beautiful. However, things tend to be boring here. I think it's definetely worth 3 songs.