Radiohead Hides Several Pots of Gold ‘In Rainbows’

With all the attention Radiohead’s new In Rainbows album (released digitally today) has received due to its unique sales plan, it’s possible to forget that this is an album with actual songs on it, rather than a way to turn the music industry on its ear.  But it is, in fact, an album, and that album has a sound.

Fans expecting a sonic revolution on the magnitude of Kid Aare likely to be disappointed, In Rainbows representing an expansion of earlier Radiohead ideas rather than a departure from them.  Likewise, anyone looking for the dramatic anthems from the band’s earlier albums will prefer to keep listening to those.  But the more I listen to In Rainbows, the more I notice the sort of subtle touches, sonic variety and chordal development that could make the album a so-called "grower" with Radiohead fans.  It simply gets better with each listen.

Listen: 30-second sample from "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi":

Making your way through In Rainbows, you understand why Radiohead refuses
to release their albums as individual songs on iTunes and other digitaloutlets: the songs flow into each other with a sense of purpose, and sound like they’re meant to be heard in a row.
Ingeneral, the trend throughout the album is from fast to slow tempos, but, of course,
the overall progression is a lot more complex than that.

The album kicks off with Thom Yorke declaring, "How come I end upwhere I started, how come I end up where I went wrong" on top of astomping beat that feels like an IDM-typedeconstruction of the sparse, cheerleader style pioneered by GwenStefani in "Holla Back Girl," but soon guitar and bass kick in toenvelope the listener in a rapidly-expanding layer of Radioheadlushness.

Then it’s time for live favorite "Bodysnatchers," a whirling dervish of a track that rouses on the level of Kid A‘s "National Anthem."  After these two driving tracks, In Rainbows
wends its way into slower, more haunting territory with "Nude," a waltzwith velvety bass and string swells that sounds like it would be perfect accompaniment for slow space footage a la 2001: Space Odyssey.
The ambitious, beautiful "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" expands a jitteryacoustic guitar riff into a glittering crescendo that resolves into theunderwater aesthetic hinted at by its title, ultimately ensnaring thelistener in a whirlpool.

"All I Need," a nicely disorienting track, sounds somewhat likeThom Yorke fronting The Boards of Canada, while "Faust Arp" could be ananswer to The Beatles’ "Blackbird." Then the album takes a turn for theexperimental with the wide, watery drum sounds of "Reckoner," whichadds Fender Rhodes and more string swells, and includes afew suprising/satisfying major chords.

As for the last three songs, you’ll have to listen for yourself.  Then, vote for your favorite In Rainbows tracks with our voting widget:

How do you rate the songs on Radiohead’s In Rainbows album?

• By Eliot Van Buskirk

Third Day's Mac Powell Going Country

Mac Powell, lead vocalist for Grammy winning Christian rock band Third Day, has recorded a solo project -- and it's a country record.

"I grew up listening to country music," Powell tells Billboard. "It was a big part of shaping me musically and I think that's pretty evident in Third Day music. There's always been little tinge of it."

"Powell recorded the project with producer Jason Hoard, a multi-instrumentalist who has been touring with Third Day for the past two years. The album was recorded at Hoard's Black Cat Studios, just south of Atlanta, Ga. "I first met him through the 'Glory Revealed' projects," Powell says of the two Dove Award-winning worship albums he recorded with a cadre of special guests. "Jason grew up with some of the same influences that I did and he brings a little more of the bluegrass flavor in with banjo and being a great mandolin player."

Powell, the principal songwriter in Third Day responsible for such hits as "Cry Out to Jesus," "Revelation," "Call My Name" and "Make Your Move" co-wrote half the album with acclaimed Nashville tunesmith Brett James (Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel," Kenny Chesney's "Out Last Night," Chris Young's "The Man I Want to Be").

"I started writing with Brett. He was really the first step," says Powell, who will make his solo country debut June 7 performing on the Hard Rock Café stage during CMA Music Fest. "We just hit it off really well and came up with a lot of ideas in a short amount of time, and then Jason worked on a few of those ideas as well. We started recording them and it just started feeling great. Jason brought in some friends of ours to play on the record. It came together very easily."

Powell has yet to sign with a label to release his new country project. He's entertaining offers, but may just release it on his own. "I really can't wait to get it out there and have people hear it," says Powell, who plans to hit the road, performing solo dates booked by his longtime CAA agent Jeff Gregg.

Though he's excited about his country record, Powell is quick to point out his new solo effort doesn't signal the end of his successful band. "I've been very clear that we're not breaking up," Powell says of the Essential Records outfit that has collected four Grammys and 26 Gospel Music Assn. Dove Awards. "In fact, we're finishing up a brand new record that I'm really excited about. We worked with Brendan O'Brien who has produced Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and so many great records in the past 20 years. Getting to work with him here in Atlanta in our own studio was a great experience. That record comes out in the fall and we'll be touring it in the spring."

Article by Deborah Evans Price