Radiohead
Kid A

THE REVIEW

So. 1997 “Ok Computer”, 2000 “Kid A”.

A clear break between before and after: before, an esteemed insertion into a historical line of sharp guitar rock; after, departure from planet Earth.
Let's start.

In “Kid A”, you can hear the noises of a childish universe, few colors ("Two Colors In My Head"), few keys, a curiosity that leads to the birth of the "baby a" in the final cry. The reception of the first disordered stimuli begins (“National Anthem”, insinuating bass, chatter of trumpets, a chaotic chorus of loud shrieks): everyone is around me: what's happening?

Let's completely change the scenario. In a worn-out weave of ecstatic light “How To Disappear Completely” presents us with the image of a pagan transfiguration: the protagonist becomes air, floating in absolute unconsciousness, carried without will, a pure observer. The strings define an exceedingly refined weave first in elegant courtships, then in anguished coils.

Paranoia of the "conspiracy" returns in “Optimistic”: we have our heads on sticks like puppets, diligently fed, Orwell nods with a frown. Still from the ground to the visionary (in limbo, waiting position, air, recurrent resolution in a vortex of elements), however, we begin to doubt whether the journey taken is real or a joke of our paranoid psyche. We dance and slide ("Idioteque") on a jagged rhythmic base, pointwise arrangement of the bass, in clumps, in nervous and black rollers. “Morning Bell”: on a depersonalized drum, the melodic line and text branch off, the former muffled and soft, the text delirious, walking walking walking, getting lost along the road...

The last track inaugurates a sacred ceremony, an unhappy love is celebrated finding peace in sleeping pills and red wine, organ and voice on celestial choirs, judgment day harps, silence, elevation, blooming. The innovations introduced through minimal electronics have led to refreshing results.