Radiohead Scotch Mist (2008)

From collectorsmusicreviews.com

Weird Fishes, Bodysnatchers, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Faust Arp, 15 Step, Videotape, Reckoner, House Of Cards, All I Need, Nude.

Bonus feature:  The Pinkpop Festival, Landgraaf, Netherlands, May 27, 1996:  My Iron Lung, Planet Telex, Electioneering, High And Dry, Nice Dream, Street Spirit, Bones, Lift, The Bends, Creep, Lucky, Fake Plastic Trees

Scotch_Mist:   A Film With Radiohead In It was broadcast on December 31st, 2007.  A placard with the OED definition of “Scotch Mist” at the beginning states:  “you thought that you saw something; you didn’t; it was a trick of the light, a phantasm, a spectre.”  This is a film capturing the band recording their latest album in a large country home.  Apocalypse Sound present the webcast in excellent quality and this will appeal to fans of the band.  One fan writes:

“I heard In Rainbows once or twice in the last month before this visual/spiritual experience, but what did I remember from it? Absolutely nothing, musically! What was I doing, getting so high or not high enough that it simply slipped past digestion and went straight to excretion, of which the end product was my “fuckin digging it.” I felt the good vibe, despite the fact that in retrospect I couldn’t discern a single thing from this album that characteristically relies so heavily on simple, yet excitable, repeated phrases and synthesized emotional catharticism.  But of course the unyielding lyrics, creative genius and generally insurmountable vibe radiating from this band keep you hooked, keep you present, keep you on the edge of your seat, undoubtedly requiring your concentrative breath after almost every song because your heart’s taken to fluttering at the god honest truth and familiarity, in all its originality and simplicity.

“But to satiate those who need a little something solid, I finally did procure the actual album off iTunes (I didn’t jump on the bandwagon and buy it for cheap online), but I won’t go into analysis of every song like I normally would, because this is not a review of the album.  Just trust me that every track is rad, in its own amphetamine-fueled melancholic way.  Every song feels like the best song in the world-granted a slightly different level than Abbey Road contains all the best songs in the world-but still uniquely powerful. The original melodies hit the heart hard, my favorites being “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” (ahh the hydrophonic arpeggio), “Reckoner” (gawwwd, that voice), and “House of Cards” (‘I don’t want to be your friend/ I just wanna be your lover/ No matter how it ends/ No matter how it starts’).  The simple repeating phrases drone beneath Thom’s transcending moans, resulting in a completely rich and complex experience throughout.

“So who knows what did it for me this time around? Maybe I woke up because of the visual stimuli, maybe because I watched it twice in a row (it goes by so fast), or maybe because In Rainbows, and frankly, the whole band, just happened to be there at the perfect time, a serendipitous presentation just for me, along with me every second I thought I was to be alone. Maybe Radiohead just wafts through the loneliness like a true Scotch mist, a trick of the senses, an unheralded yet enchanting transient. And before you know it’s even come, it is gone.”