Review/Critique: Kid A

Kid A

Artist: Radiohead

Review/Critique: One of the biggest reasons I decided to do Year of Critique was to broaden my horizons within each individual medium that interested me. I felt as though for the most part I had stagnated when it came to all four mediums and the consumption of them felt like a waste of time rather than a good use of it. What I could not have predicted however, was exactly which medium of the four I would spend the most time with outside of my monthly picks and to my surprise that medium ended up being music. After listening to "Ziggy Stardust" earlier this year, I decided to listen to a bunch of other albums by David Bowie as well. Once I had exhausted his catalogue for the time being, I decided to ask a close friend of mine who is pretty into David Bowie what other artist I would like. He strongly recommended me OK Computer by Radiohead. Well I decided to give that album a listen, and I have to be honest - it has quickly become one of my favorite albums of all time. I also knew that when it came time for the theme Artificial Intelligence I had been planning to do, the sequel to that album "Kid A" would have to be my album of choice. I waited in heavy anticipation for the month to come around, on the first day of August I set some time to listen to this album from start to finish, and god damn did it absolutely blow me away. I'm going to go into spoiler territory in the next paragraph, so if you want to go into the album blind I do recommend you skip to the recommendation section of this review/critique.

         As I said before "Kid A" is the direct sequel to the critically acclaimed album OK Computer, an album whose contents deal with themes of isolation in an ever growing age of great technological advancement. This sequel takes place during a desolate dystopian future where that advancement has reached its natural conclusion, and the first child born into it is given the name "Kid A" (get it cause computers, but also shouldn't it be like Kid 000000A, I guess that doesn't roll off the tongue as well). It is very much a concept album like its predecessor, every song playing a piece in the greater narrative and story. The opening tracks "Everything in its Right Place", "Kid A" and "National Anthem" present an optimistic and cheery outlook on the world as if they take place from the point of view of a child who knows of no other life than the one in this post apocalyptic dystopia. Even these though have an eerie and creepy vibe to them that shows that the underpinnings of these world are deeply broken. What follows these introductory tracks are ones which are much more somber. "How to Disappear Completely" and "In Limbo" present a much more gruesome view of the world from an individual's position. Alongside these depressing personal anecdotes are political tracks like "Optimistic" and "Idioteque" which paint the picture of public sentiment and government ineptitude during a world that sees so many oncoming horrors. It all ends with "Motion Picture Soundtrack", another personal anecdote perhaps from the perspective of this "Kid A" that assumes an end to the overall story with a suicide by red wine and sleeping pills. This complete narrative from birth to death wrapped up in a matter of forty-five minutes.

         See I say that "Kid A" is a concept album like OK Computer, but in all honesty OK Computer has nothing on "Kid A" in this regard. OK Computer has a central theme that every track plays around with pretty loosely, "Kid A" exists within the confines of a greater narrative where every song plays a piece towards the inevitable conclusion. Something I also failed to mention until now, "Kid A" is not an Alternative Rock album like all of Radiohead's previous records, it's an electronic album. The Alternative Rock elements are certainly still there, but this album was a great departure from Radiohead's earlier sound, perhaps the most impressive departure made in music history. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to hear this album for the first time in 2000 as a Radiohead fan. Your favorite band just cranked out one of the best Alt-Rock albums ever made - they could release anything like it and you would be on cloud nine. Instead though, they release a dark, desolate, eerie electronic album where not a single traditional instrument is played until more than halfway through its run time. I don't think a left turn exists in music history so great, and what makes it all the more impressive is how well it worked. This album is as, if not more beloved than OK Computer by most fans, something that's nearly unheard of in the music world. Almost always when a band makes a big departure from their sound, its met with heavy backlash by their fans, at the very least an "It's not bad but I prefer their old stuff" and for the times that it does work out, it takes much more than one album to get into the groove of their new sound. This album though is many long time fans favorite, and is their first and last purely electronic album ever released. I think what makes this album so great though is just how thematically consistent it is. With a lot of music it's really easy to pick out a few tracks in isolation and listen to them with no context, that's not the case here though. Every track fits in tightly with the narrative and benefits so much from being listened to in proper order. It's one of those albums that demands you listen to it from start to finish, and aside from a few tracks does not work as well outside of this type of experience. I think it's really cool though, since if you're not much of an album listener I could definitely see an album like this changing your mind.

Favorite Tracks:

Motion Picture Soundtrack: After the set of bizarre, warm yet cold tracks that come before it, "Motion Picture Sountrack" presents the first honest outlook on the world and it's fucking grim. It's an extremely dark and depressing track that concludes in a really hopeless way. You all know I am a sucker for super somber, pensive tracks and this is probably the most thought provoking track on the album. Love it.

Idioteque: This is the banger track. It's one of Radiohead's most iconic, and it does not disappoint. It's so dark, groovy, and depressing and has gotta be one of Thom Yorke's best vocal performances ever. I get chills every time he pleads "This is really happening".

Motion Picture Soundtrack: In my opinion the best closer of any Radiohead album, and for sure one of the best closers of any album I've listened to up to this point in my life. I've heard it was modeled after the music from Disney films in the 1950s and I can definitely hear it. It's by far the most depressing song on the album, and when the climax of the song comes in it gives me ASMR level tinglys all over.

Recommendation: I need to give a caveat before I get into the recommendation of this album. If you do decide to listen to this album, please do me a favor and listen to OK Computer first. The transition from that album to this one is fucking amazing, and if you end up listening to them out of order you will never be able to experience it. If you take one thing away from this review/critique, please let it be that. Okay, now onto recommending this album. In all honesty I think Radiohead is pretty easy to like; however, my personal experiences lead me to thinking that this is not true. Many people I know think their music is a bit boring, or a bit too experimental. If you don't have the patience for slower music, or music that is a bit more artsy then I understand being skeptical. Like I said though, I don't really think it's that out there or that boring, but I will admit I am also biased towards the music I like and obviously wouldn't think that I like boring music. If though you like tonally depressing music, or the word "concept album" gets your jollys goin', give this album a listen (after you listen to OK Computer). You will have a fuckin grand experience I guarantee. If what I said above does make you skeptical, throw it on in the background while you do some stuff. If you like it, give it a deeper listen, if not, it's probably not for you.

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And that's my review/critique of Kid A! Damn it feels good to get that out of the way, I had a lot to say and I hope I did a good job getting across my feelings (and didn't leave anything out). Next up is my review/critique of "EX Machina".

Until Then!