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The Degeneration of the Voice in Radiohead's 'Kid A'

For being one of the defining albums of its time, Radiohead's Kid A certainly doesn't have much to "say". The band's thoughts on losing one's voice in an increasingly individualistic society suddenly takes on a much greater potency.

                                      
Music
    
        Radiohead's 'Kid A' and 'Amnesiac' Separated at Birth
    
Bill Gibron

        02 Oct 2020
    
Music
    
        Between the Grooves of Radiohead's 'Kid A'
    
PopMatters Staff

        02 Oct 2020
    
Music
    
        Deftones Pull a Late-Career Rabbit Out of a Hat with 'Ohms'
    
Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

        28 Sep 2020

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PopMatters is moving to WordPress. We will publish a few essays daily while we develop the new site. We hope the beta will be up sometime late next week.

For being one of the defining albums of its time, Radiohead's Kid A certainly doesn't have much to "say". The band's thoughts on losing one's voice in an increasingly individualistic society suddenly takes on a much greater potency.

Arcade Fire's Will Butler creates bouncy, infectious rhythms and covers them with socially responsible, cerebral lyrics about American life past and present on Generations.

With the release of his seventh solo album, Late Night Laments, Tim Bowness explores global tensions and considers how musicians can best foster mutual understanding in times of social unrest.

David Bowie's Outside signaled the end of him as a slick pop star and his reintroduction as a ragged-edged arty agitator.

Whereas My Morning Jacket's The Waterfall contemplated conflict, The Waterfall II identifies healing and personal transformation as the next stage of being.

There's humanity skating across Deradoorian's Find the Sun, a collection of barely-touched ideas that allows listeners to float in place.

Kate Bush's Never for Ever served as the stepping stone for the artist to reach her full potential as a bona fide musical genius.

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Acclaimed guitarist and composer Gregory Uhlmann charms and confounds with his gorgeous, layered sophomore solo album, Neighborhood Watch.

In honor of the band with the most U.F.O.s and robots, here are the ten best Flaming Lips songs based on all things science fiction. The psychedelic band's new LP, American Head, releases this September.

Post-punk's Protomartyr have honed their sound into something apocalyptic on their defiantly modernist Ultimate Success Today.

Television’s 1977 masterpiece Marquee Moon is the 25th Greatest Album of All Time, but is it too “too too” to put a finger on? Counterbalance sees it all backward.

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Sublime harmonies and constant innovation make Ohmme's Fantasize Your Ghost an impressive work of modern indie rock art.

Shadow Offering has glimmers of Braids' former album but with a new direction and an attempt to adopt a new maturity and sensibility.

The Beatles once again make their way onto the list with their 1969 tour de force Abbey Road. Halfway through, Klinger and Mendelsohn realize they can steal but they cannot rob.

One of the most critically-acclaimed debuts in rock history, Patti Smith’s Horses is a whirlwind of poetry and proto-punk rock. Counterbalance takes Horses for a ride -- go Rimbaud and go Johnny go!

Two years after Frog Eyes dissolved, Carey Mercer is back with a new band, Soft Plastics. 5 Dreams and Mercer's surreal sense of incongruity should be welcomed with open arms and open ears.

Nine tracks, recorded by the BBC in 1996 show David Bowie in a relaxed and playful mood. ChangesNowBowie is a glimpse into a brilliant mind.

Following The OOZ and its accolades, King Krule crafts a similarly hazy gem with Man Alive! that digs into his distinct aesthetic rather than forges new ground.

David Thomas guides another version of Pere Ubu through a selection of material from their early years, dusting off the "hits" and throwing new light on some forgotten gems.

Up next for the Counterbalance series is David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Press your space face close to mine!

After nearly 50 years and two dozen albums, Sparks continue their reign of resonantly quirky art pop-rock delights on A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip.

The Beatles' 1968 self-titled double LP has been referenced by everyone from Joan Didion to Charles Manson and analyzed literally backward and forward. Mendelsohn and Klinger, always smiling and arriving late for tea, discuss the Number 14 album on the Big List.

Is Radiohead's OK Computer the last canonical rock album? Counterbalance debates the case.

Every track on Sorry's indie rock debut, 925, features something interesting, but the songs don't quite gel yet for the young London band with a lot of promise.

Protomartyr's "Processed By the Boys" is a gripping spin on reality as we know it, and here, the revolution is being televised.

"House Music All Night Long" is a song our inner, self-isolated freaks can jive to. JARV IS... cleverly captures how dazed and confused some of us may feel over the current pandemic, trapped in our homes.

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Arriving less than a year after Drift Code, Rustin Man consolidates a rich vein of form with the sepia-toned Clockdust, an autumnal record rendered generous and exquisite by each song's emotional weight.

With the help of some celebrity friends, Anna Calvi tinkers with her past and creates an alternate version of her last album.

Reunited New York City avant rockers, Disturbed Furniture demonstrate with "Halo of Pain" that they've lost none of their fire since disbanding in the early 1980s.

Magnetic Ghost's Pixels is absolutely masterful stuff from a sound-sculptor sitting at the intersection of post-rock, post-classical, and strains of ambient music.

Brooklyn post-punk trio, the Wants deal in 21st-century dread but do so in a most danceable way on Container.

Sama Dams whip up the emotionally-charged "Not Gonna Lie" that goes the distance between art rock and garage rock.