KID A

Radiohead

Crossover Prog

3.96 | 863 ratings

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OpethGuitarist
Prog Reviewer

An odd duck this is.

The common complaint for this album is that it's "too weird". The other is that it is "not prog". How, exactly, can it be both? And if it is, then what genre of music would you describe it as? That's my premise, anyway, that this is most definitely prog, which envelops all sorts of musical "weirdness". It is perhaps the weirdest release of a commercially successful band, but by no means the King of Weird. Enough with the weird, onto the music.

Idioteque and Everything in its Right Place are the best tracks here. The album starts out very strongly, under the premise that less is more, and here, indeed it is; we touch on a piano/electro mix with an intriguing vocal arrangement. Idioteque really doesn't get kicking till a few minutes in, with an electronic melody which is unlike anything else on the album, for better or for worse. Most of the other songs can be categorized by having a general depressing nature to them.

I would also like to point out some of the similarities this has with Ulver's later work, that being the heavy electronic influences, along with experiments in trip hop and minimalism. Although both bands have a very different sound, the commonalities are enough to warrant a semi-comparison.

This is not a "stunning" album particularly, but for me it more than solidifies the premise that yes, Radiohead is prog, regardless of what their fan base is. Anytime we have creativity and artisitc expression at the forefront, it can almost always be certain that the effort can be classified under the prog umbrella. Kid A gave us a successful prog release, even if no one knows it's prog.

OpethGuitarist | 3/5 | 2006-11-30

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