Even after your favorite band has entered the studio, anxiously waiting for its next album is a lot like waiting for water to boil – the closer you watch, the longer it seems to take. But if you’re eagerly anticipating the next Radiohead disc, maybe you should hold your breath.
In a May 11 Web chat on fan site ateaseweb.com, frontman Thom Yorke said the band is currently working on its next record, and making good progress.
“It’ll be [ready] sooner than you think,” Yorke wrote. “We are working bloody hard on it. We are trying to be a bit more focused, less neurotic.”
Yorke didn’t describe or name any of the tracks, though he said the record may contain some new versions of old songs.
On July 22, Radiohead will kick off a 14-date tour of Portugal and Spain. Yorke wrote that the group’s set will be composed of “virtually all new” material that for the moment is “all under-rehearsed.” He added there will be “lots of scratching heads and shrugging shoulders” as well as “maybe flashes of inspiration.”
English music weekly NME reported that the band may tape the concerts and use samples from the recordings on the upcoming album. In the past, Radiohead have sampled themselves playing live and played the snippets in other concerts.
Yorke also noted that he’s recently been listening to electronic artists including Squarepusher and Autechre as well as ’70s albums by Bob Marley & The Wailers and Uprising (1980), Marley’s last disc with that band.
And perhaps to prove that he hasn’t lost his penchant for the bizarre, Yorke joked about uncharted artistic places he’s wanted to take Radiohead.
“I wanted to release ‘Everything In Its Right Place’ from [Kid A] as a single and perform it with a dance troupe in leotards behaving like clockwork rabbits.”
Maybe next time.
