Category: Global Sonic Cultures

Idiotque is the 8th track off of Radiohead’s 4th studio album ‘Kid A’. The song is based around a synthesizer sample which Jonny Greenwood sourced from Paul Lansky’s 1973 piece ‘Milde Und Liese’ (Mild And Easy). Through the use of audio processing, Greenwood re-pitched the chords down a semitone from the original. This is set to a mechanised, syncopated percussion groove produced by Greenwood using an Analogue System Modular RS 8000.

Paul Lansky was an innovator and pioneer of computer synthesis (later abandoning the genre around 2004). The title of the piece is related to a chord often know as the ‘Tristan chord’ because of its similarities to the Richard Wagner opera ‘Tristan Und Isolde’. Lansky had ‘borrowed’ the sequence himself, repurposing it from the opening bars of Wagner’s work. Use of another sample from the same compilation required Greenwood to seek clearance from American composer Arthur Krieger due to use of samples from Krieger’s ‘Short Piece’. This approach was treated similarly to Creep, adding an extended compositional credit to the track. Lansky has been particularly complimentary towards Radiohead’s use of his work.

The lyrics are constructed using David Byrne’s cut-up method and features familiar phrases “Women and children first”, Take the money and run”, and pop culture references from the time. The title Idioteque is a play on ‘idiotic’ and refers to someone whose obsessed with technology.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thekingofgear (2014) The King of Gear ;, Tumblr. Available at: https://thekingofgear.com/post/106540893930/i-was-trying-to-cover-idioteque-as-close-as

Allen, W. (2021). Radiohead. every album, every song.

Hyden, S. (2020). This isn’t Happening. Radiohead’s Kid A and the beginning of the 21st century.

Closing out Radiohead’s 6th studio album ‘Hail To The Thief’, this track is based around an arpeggio figure. The song is in the key of D minor and is comprised of guitars and keyboards playing in unison throughout the track. For the majority of the track, Thom Yorke approaches the vocals in a lower range than normal and delivers them somewhat as a rap.

The melody was originally a sweet and sincere affair which Jonny Greenwood composed on the acoustic guitar. A contrasting, softer section (from 1:23) allows for a more reflective feeling before a crescendo tears down its intent and is taken back into its original intensity. A further drop in dynamics (around 2:51) brings the track into its conclusion, with Thom finally reaching his falsetto.

This song has a powerful live feeling to it: the drums most notably, with drummer Phil Selway playing stretched out and powerful fills. The lyrics match the powerful delivery with some of the more violent imagery being projected into our minds. “I keep the wolf from the door, but he calls me up, calls me on the phone. Tells me all the ways that he’s gonna mess me up. Steal all my children if I don’t pay the ransom… and ill never see them again if I Squeal to the cops.”

Yorke wrote the lyrics during a period when he felt he was going insane. The band almost cut the song from the album but eventually decided to conclude the 6th album with it.

This song is electronica, composed around sequenced drums and sampled percussive grooves; deriving from kitchen utensils (which provides the initial eastern-like timbres) and even samples of sheep bleats (weak and wavering cry of a sheep). The vocals are delivered in a passive manner which are emphasised by a robotic auto-tune effect.

Originally titled ‘Po Pad’, the now set in stone title suggests the imagery of a damaged car, referring back to Yorke’s previous obsession with ‘Stupid Car’ or ‘Killer Cars’. This fascination with automobiles strives from a near death experience Yorke faced when being involved in a car crash early on in his career. This of course is notable for being the backstory behind Ok Computer’s opening track, Airbag. During a special Later With Jools Holland BBC show in London, Thom Yorke dedicated the song to everyone who had travelled to the venue via London’s Westway (dual carriage way), which confirms the intent of the reference.

The vocal hook “I’m a reasonable man, get off my case” distressed Yorke’s overwhelming discomfort following the bands breakthrough success with Ok Computer during 1997/1998. There is also a sense of misplaced expectation, alluding back to the theme of ‘Let Down’.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hyden, S. (2020) This Isn’t Happening. Radiohead’s Kid A and the beginning of the 21st century.

Allen, W. (2021) Radiohead. Every album, every song.

Bjork’s Biophilia app is a multimedia project that combines music, science and interactive technology. The app is built from a collection of songs from the conjoint Album which are each accompanied by a unique interactive experience. Users can manipulate elements of the tracks, visuals and animations, allowing for a personalised and immersive listening experience. Additionally, the app includes educational features that delve into various scientific concepts, such as genetics, cosmology and ecology.

Biophilia had a significant impact in the age of the smartphone and tablet by pushing boundaries of music consumption and interactive experiences, it blurred the lines between traditional album releases and multimedia as a whole, setting a precedent for artists to explore new and innovative formats for distributing there music in the modern age.

Polyfauna is an experimental collaboration between Radiohead, Nigel Godrich, Stanley Donwood and Universal Everything. The free app was developed and born out of stems from Radiohead’s 2011 album The King Of Limbs and Donwood’s sketchbooks from around that era.

Set to a lunar calendar (based on monthly cycles of the moon’s phases), this mysterious and immersive experience is brought to life through touch and offers a unique set of experiences each time it’s used. Inviting the user into an expansive world of primitive life, weather, sunsets, mountains and forests, Polyfauna comes from an interest in early computer experiments and the imagined creatures of our subconscious. It’s inspired by everything from the atmospheric landscape paintings of Peter Doig and J.M.W. Turner to the computational life forms of Karl Sims.

Polyfauna is regarded as a pioneering collision between digital art and the world of apps, the collaboration sees the creation of abstracted, expanded and exploded versions of audio and visual work by the band. Use of the iPad gyroscope allowed for use of augmented reality, allowing the user to explore vast digital environments from the comfort of their home.

A critical contextualisation and analysis of a sonic case study of your choosing

How does the augmented reality environment enhance the experience of the music?

HEADINGS:

INTRODUCTION

• include research question
• definition of ‘augmented reality environment’
• 1st technological breakthrough in multi-media and music for mass audience was the music video (MTV)
• 21st century – experiments with augmented reality environment – music meets apps (smartphone and tablets)
• WHAT?
• HOW?
• mention Bjork’s multimedia album Biophilia (2011)

MAIN BODY OF ESSAY:

BACKGROUND

• include info on how collaboration began. Reference online articles etc.

THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE:

Paragraph on:

• WHAT – describe how the music is woven through the immersive experience – does each visual environment link to one song at a time? etc
• audience experience – immersive (new technology meets music) – quotes from audiences? See Reddit forums for quotes – you can describe 2D and VR
• critical analysis – critique – is it successful? Does is succeed in what is sets out to do? Include quotes from reviews (reference correctly)

CONCLUSION