KID A

Absolutely a masterpeice. This album is Radiohead's most experimental album, with heavy emphasis on electronic instrumentation. Their least acccesible album for sure, but in my opinion, their absolute finest. The first track opens the album perfectly, letting you know that this is far beyond the mostly straighforward alt-rock of The Bends and Ok Computer. Dense keyboard textures and odd vocal glitching add to the very surreal atmosphere of this peice. While songs like "Optimistic" remind of Radiohead's alt-rock past, brilliant tracks like "The National Anthem" show how much the band has progressed - featuring an intense buildup of chaos, eventually boiling over into an explosion of squealing horns and bizarre ambient sounds - all overtop of the fantastic bassline. One of my favourite Radiohead songs. Some other highlights include "Idioteque" - a glitchy electronic track, featuring an oddly compelling vocal performance by Thom- and some trruly bizarre lyrics. "How To Diassapear Completely" stands as on of Radiohead's most beautiful songs, a divine crescendo of beauty overtop calming acoustic guitars and backed by a superb string section.

Although i would not consider this album "prog" in the traditional sense, it is most definitely a progressive album- and certainly a masterpeice. Highly recommended. 5/5