IN RAINBOWS

Radiohead's "In Rainbow" benefited from its marketing issues but, in fact, reveals no more than a collection of beautifully crafted, but regular songs. Despite the big fuss created - as a matter of fact, a constant on any Radiohead album (giving the idea that almost any excrement they would release would be, even so, venerated to exhaustion by many). The truth is that the album, nevertheless not being bad (as we could expect from the band), it has really nothing of revolutionary or something of extraordinarily original. The band moved to a even more nihilistic perspective of the universe, based on minimalism and haunting crescendos, which can present novelty for those not familiar with the post-rock and avantgarde movements.

The first two songs resume the album's creative side quite well. Although joyful, "15 Step" is clearly a Björk-based song and adds few to the electronic experiments of the band in the past, while "Bonysnatchers", by the other side, represents a mediocre effort on the obligation to use the guitars and rock hard. "Nude" and "All I Need" represent the solemn side of the album, and have the common to be driven by vigorous abstract bass lines, which functions as a base to create these lush craftily paintings. The last of the two starts with the beat of Mickael Bolton's "Streets of Philadelphia". "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" is a minimalistic post-rock crescendo, in the mood and resemblance of Tortoise's album "Million's Now Will Never Die". "Reckoner", with its subtle guitars, reminds the structure of their own track "Optimistic", while "House of Cards" is indeed an effective minimalistic innuendo. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" is perhaps the best track of the album, evolving in a very gentle and effective dance-rock mood. The album ends with the piano-driven "Videotape", another minimalistic momentum, this time working as a conspicuous moan, in the limit of exploding, but never doing so. In fact this album is prodigal in this matter - it works in the limbo but rarely reaches the climax.

Instantly recognized as a masterpiece by almost all critics, these are the same who will forget it as time passes by (as it happened with other Radiohead albums). Although convincingly pretty at times, it is far from showing sufficient arguments to reinforce the band's title as "best rock band of 21st century". Truth is, would this be done by a new band, it probably would never reach recognition.