radiohead

Published: Monday, July 28, 1997

Monday, July 28, 1997

Soundbites

Radiohead "OK Computer" (Capitol) Forget "electronica," Radiohead has given us the future of rock. "OK Computer," the follow-up album to their 1995 beyond-its-time classic, "The Bends," is no doubt one of the most daring and revolutionary records to hit alternative rock in the past few years.

Like its brilliant predecessor, "OK Computer" hits you after the third or fourth listening, and hits you hard. Ignoring the 1997 standard of bouncy melodies and happy-go-lucky kitsch, Radiohead surges towards the millenium with their brand of brooding techno-angst and anthematic atmospheres.

Songs like the bass-heavy "Airbag" and the somber, Leonard Cohen-esque "Exit Music (For a Film)" sound like refined "The Bends" outtakes. "Paranoid Android" goes from mellow desperation to crunching funk. "The Tourist" strums like a psychedelic country song, while "No Surprises" brings us themes of slow deaths in a lounge-rock fashion.

"OK Computer" is not an album full of singles, but more a sum-of-all-its-parts piece. Exceptions to this notion is the stand-out, beautifully haunting new single, "Let Down" ("shell smashed/ juices flowing/ wings twitch/ legs are going/ don't get sentimental/ it always ends up drivel"), and the pop song "Electioneering" (which sound like the '90s version of the Smiths) and bar room-ish "Karma Police."

Like U2 and the Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead takes on the future with finely layered styles, emotional vocals (thanks to singer Thom Yorke) and a technophile attitude. "OK Computer" sweeps you up in its tumultuous currents, and somehow sustains a rapturous flow between its many mood swings. Mike Prevatt A+

Prodigy "The Fat of the Land" (Maverick) Well, Prodigy has landed here in the States and the hype has been met. "The Fat of the Land," a bombastic juggernaut that pummels your ears for an hour, has sold now over 400,000 copies in half a month, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts and met all sorts of critical praise and acclaim. The question remains ... how will the normal, pop-listening folk take it?

"The Fat of the Land" is an impressive record in that Prodigy mastermind Liam Howlett shows off a musicianship and creativity few electronic artists share. Given the mood, you are destined to shake your ass. However, given the hoopla and the critical attention, Prodigy has nothing over the Chemical Brothers or Underworld (who did the brilliant "Born Slippy" from "Trainspotting"). Half the album is overly repetitive. And much of it is unmelodic dance music with a sporadic and sometimes annoying sonic blaring.

The other half, however, remains full of character and color. "Breathe," their current radio hit, is Depeche Mode meets Rage Against the Machine meets the Sex Pistols. Ironic, because frontman Keith Flynt sounds dangerously like Johnny Rotten in songs like "Serial Thrilla" and "Firestarter," a chaotic noisemaker that will either compel you to dance violently or throw your stereo against the wall.

Other songs like the punky "Fuel My Fire" (an L7 cover song) and progressive "Climbatize" highlight what may go down to some as a raging, uncompromising deviant of a record that, for better or worse, could end up as influential as Nirvana's "Nevermind." Turn the volume up and numb your mind. Mike Prevatt B

Ron Sexsmith "Other Songs" (Interscope) It's hard to believe that Interscope Records, home of such noisemakers as Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, is the label pushing this Canadian folkster. A cross between Bruce Springsteen, 10,000 Maniacs and Neil Young, Sexsmith's melancholy yet articulate sound is one for the mellow jet set. With "Other Songs," the follow-up to his critically acclaimed, self-titled 1995 release, Sexsmith takes us on a journey into his Normal Rockwell-gone-Morrissey world.

While his guitar playing and musical background are worth swaying your head to the real treat, here is Sexsmith's imagery-heavy lyrical styles which tell stories almost as interesting as Bob Dylan ever did.

"Strawberry Blonde" recalls a little girl disturbed within her tortured childhood ("But the neighbors said her mother had lost her will/ to gin and sleeping pills/ it was no life for a little girl"). "Average Joe" is an unpretentious triumph of self-awareness and love ("No, we don't have much/ but this I know/ you've made a king out of this Average Joe"). "Nothing Good" and "Pretty Little Cemetery" also tell stories with such simple and vivid language, music videos would never do the songs justice.

Once you're done with the synthesized acrobatics of Prodigy and the perky sugar-pop of Hanson, check out music that actually says something worth pondering. Mike Prevatt B+

En Vogue "EV3" (Elektra) And then there were three and it was good.

Although this once happy harmonious quartet is down to a threesome, En Vogue has managed to remain an untroubled trio for their newest album, EV3.

A bit more bluesy than their first two characteristically R&B records, these funky divas have ironically laid down new lyrics of optimism and spunk. With an occasional swoon and wail in the song "Too Gone, Too Long," the rest of the album remains full of bold vocals about determined desire.

The song "Don't Let Go," begins with a hip-swinging, head-dropping intro full of syncopated drum beats and low jazzy "aahs" balanced with a periodic light cymbal "ting" in the background. The sounds blend right into a chorus of fearless females bellowing "There'll be some love-making, heart-breaking, soul shaking/what's it gonna be?"

The alluring song "Damn I Wanna Be Your Lover," is complete with sexy, slinky and breathy oohs accompanied by heavy bass strumming lazily behind, while the thick gospel-like grooves of "Don't Let Go" border on deep soul.

But the trio doesn't stick with all the same smoky night club creations as the boppy song "Right Direction" mixes it up with light maraca shakes and finger-snapping high harmonies. More isn't necessarily merrier for this trio. Their numbers may have shrunk but their vibrant voices still remain En Vogue. Nerissa Pacio A

RADIOHEAD

"OK Computer"