Why is the biggest Radiohead fanatic chiming in so late you might ask? Because he's been busy listening to In Rainbows!
I love the new album, it's tough to be a megafan, because your expectations are beyond what most would call ridiculous. A band can only reinvent themselves and music so many times. The last major "breakthrough" was Kid A/Amnesiac IMO. I guess now I'll have to settle for them revolutionizing the consumer market by cutting out every middleman imaginable.
On the album- overall sparse yet lush. Thoms vocals are clean and soulcutting. Drums are interesting in that throughout the album inthat they seem strangely detached, not quite "with-it" so to speak. The effect is almost like your heart skipping a beat somewhat arrhythmic at times, I don't know what I'm talking about. This is the "Radiohead of Olde" lots of meandering repetitive guitar all the digital sound effect stuff is there, but it doesn't rule like on KidA/Amnesiac. Any way a solid album. I place it better than Hail to the Thief, on par with Amnesiac (as far as how cohesive the album is not in sound) but can't hold a candle to anything earlier including Kid A, OK computer, and The Bends. Give it time though my opinion will undeniably change.
