Radiohead's long awaited new album — their eighth studio release overall and the band's first since 2007's In Rainbows shook up the recording industry with its then revolutionary new distribution model — will be available this Saturday as a download through a special website set up by the band. The album is once again produced by longtime Radiohead musical collaborator Nigel Godrich.
Details about the new album, titled The King Of Limbs, were first released in a statement by the band this past Monday, and in typical Radiohead fashion, were predictably sketchy.
What is clear is that Radiohead will once again initially deploy the same download-only distribution model they used for In Rainbows, although there will not be a "pay what you want" or otherwise free option this time around. At the time of its 2007 release, In Rainbows shocked the music industry by allowing fans to download the album for whatever price they chose to pay, including paying nothing at all. This time around, the download will come at a fixed price of about $9.00 American.
The band will subsequently release physical CD and vinyl editions of the album on March 28. The vinyl edition is being touted by the band as the world's first "newspaper album," due to its elaborate jacket that folds out like a newspaper. Perhaps, they have never heard of Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick, which was released in a similar jacket way back in the early seventies.
What is less clear about The King Of Limbs however, is the track listing. A Japanese website set up for online pre-orders was at one point reporting that the album will feature eight new tracks, but has since removed the post. Early sessions for the album in 2009 produced two tracks, "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" and "These Are My Twisted Words," which were subsequently leaked as downloads.
Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Update it's available today on the site that was posted in this article.
And, they are also offering it in .WAV,so, unless you actually care about the artwork, you wouldn't have to buy the physical CD.
2 - Glen Boyd
Yeah they apparently went a day early with it. There's also a goofy video online with Yorke dancing for the song "Lotus Flower." Thanks for the heads up Brian! Saved me the trouble...
-Glen