Radiohead
Amnesiac
(Capitol)

Rating: 8/10

The remaining Kid A sessions are given in Amnesiac. However, the album is very different in concept. While, listening to the two albums in a row definitely gives them a magnificent structure, it is also worth to listen to them as separate entities. Amnesiac is a beautiful entity. The only problem is that the album will require your complete and absolute attention as the small sounds in the background are just as crucial as the grandiose sounds that can’t avoid your ear. In songs like “Pulkpull Devolving Doors,” the background grabs your attention as the continuous beat in the foreground suddenly disappears, and lets the background noise come forth. All this, while repetition of the beat goes on in the background, and rejoins to your attention when you least expect it. With such intensity, the album continues as it builds up in sonic sound like in “You and Whose Army” and ends in a fast fury. Diversity comes along in all flavors as we hear the jazzy side of Radiohead with “Life in a Glasshouse” and a beautiful guitar driven song like “Knives Out.” Songs like “Hunting Bears” relax the listener from the intense trip as the sounds are imprinted in your head warning you of the song that is to come, a song which Yorke sings backwards. The only real downside of this album is “Morning Bell Amnesiac,” a song that fails to reach the beauty that the original “Morning Bell” was able to bring to the listener in Kid A. However, despite all its glory, Amnesiac does not follow the same flow that Kid A holds, and this alone is its fault.

Arturo Perez

Kludge Sound
06.01