Thom Yorke
Spitting Feathers

It really seems like Mr. Thom Yorke is getting the hang of it. I've used The Eraser as my "summer album" (even if it doesn't seem so sunny and suitable), staying in my player for a long time, I really wanted to write a review but "better late than never"…

Now, what did I discover a few months ago? That the gentleman from Oxford wants to release a nice collection of B-sides, and, guess what, it will be released only in the Land of the Rising Sun! The collection was published and let's say, absurdly, just like that, I went to Japan to get it, yeah! Just to make the review more interesting. So, I've returned and here I am, reviewing the album.
So while a lot of people have reviewed The Eraser, I'm reviewing the novelty directly from Japan.

To a large extent, The Eraser could be considered by me, positively speaking, a continuation of Kid A, but this is not a "stupid" brother or cousin, as the fantastic Amnesiac (a 2001 Radiohead album, ed.) was considered at the time, but a kind of stripped-down Kid A child, and if you'll allow me a more lugubrious expression, a skeleton of Kid A. Practically, it's as if Radiohead had left the Oxford dwarf alone in a room and he, eager to let people know what he can do and surely trying to calm the inflamed spirits of the many Radiohead fans who have been waiting for signs of life from them for more than 3 years, took a notepad and laptop and got to work. The work (The Eraser) was well received and was perfectly successful.
Now this EP is nothing more, nothing less, it's practically the same music you find (perhaps with some missteps) in The Eraser.

21 minutes of pure electronic music divided into 5 songs including a remix. The cover is nothing but a recycled cardboard booklet of the "Eraser" in blue/black negative. "The Drunkk Machine" opens the dance, and the good morning looks promising from the morning, the song is beautiful, particularly fascinating, twilight, Thom's voice is mechanical, cold yet as usual, rounded in the sounds it emits and the loops shoot out like crazy from the speakers. The second maintains the initial tone, I'm referring to "A rat's nest", here the voice takes on a decadent and melancholic aspect, the melody seems less frantic, at times reminiscent of a slower "Skip Divided", the song continues like this, it seems that it wants to explode, but once the fuse is consumed, it doesn't find the explosive.
The third isn't bad at all and here you start thinking maybe it was worth it: "Jetstream" starts with doubled loops compared to the opener, Thom's voice goes from mechanical/twilight to melancholic/decadent and here takes on a fast/sketchy aspect. These three songs could be the ideal soundtrack for a horror film, could be the background for scenes of a gruesome murder.

But the "misstep" I initially mentioned is around the corner and as far as I'm concerned, the remix (that I mentioned right at the beginning) of… guess what (or read on, patient readers), of "Harrodown Hill" is practically useless. I don't know what a remix of a song that maybe was the most catchy, radio-friendly on the album is for. And I don't know what it serves to extend it up to 7 minutes, resulting long and boring. Pointless. Just like the last one is pointless, which is only notable for its title, "Iluvya" which is nothing but an electronic orgy of sounds, without head or tails, without a melody that can stand out.

Surely this "Spitting Feathers EP" isn't to be dismissed or discarded, but there's no need to shout masterpiece in my opinion. Reserved only for the curious and die-hard fans. If you didn't like The Eraser, forget it! Then if you find yourself in Japan, why not… ACCATTATAVILL'!!!

I conclude with an appeal to Mr. Yorke: What do you say, Mr. Yorke, about starting to do something concrete with Radiohead and setting aside for a while the solo career?