BY KEITH EVANS
Let's clear a few things up.
Hi, my name is Keith LaVar Donte' Evans.
I am 33 years of age.
I am black and Dominican.
I have never been circumcised.
My favorite rapper of all time is Jay Z.
My 3 way tie for favorite bands are Pink Floyd, Incubus, and Radiohead.
Oh yeah, speaking of Radiohead, I just "copped" their new release, "The King Of
Limbs" off of some site which will remain nameless, because it's not their fault
Radiohead makes me feel the need to be completely honest. Only when listening to
them of course. Radiohead is not my pagan god. They are however, one of my three
most favorite bands of all time.
Pink Floyd ranks in this category simply because they are my equivalent of people's
Stones and Aerosmith. My home team band and by all technicalities the oldest band
I have the highest admiration for. They're like my uncle. They were around for
a lot of my un-sober moments, guiding me sloppily through haze and chaos, like one of
Scrooge's Christmas spooks, but nicer. If every time I went to the bar to drink
beer, I was forced to only hear one band's music for the rest of my life, it would
most definitely be Pink Floyd. Favorite song? Have A Cigar. Favorite album?
Darkside Of The Moon.
Incubus gets its entry fully rooted in the album Morning View. Without Morning
View and marijuana, i would have never been even introduced to Morning View, let
alone, the rest of Inc's discography. Morning View was one of those things that
marked a pivotal direction with how I felt about my own music. Brandon Boyd has
one of the best singing voices, live AND recorded, in rock music period. Mike
Einzinger is definitely one of the most under rated guitarists, present day. Every
member, past and present, really display rock solid musicianship, and honestly, you
have to admit, out of all the rock bands with DJs, Incubus is by far the best.
Both, their former bassist and Dj, and their more recent bassist and DJ are damn
good. Both sets responsible for the multiple vibe changes the band went through,
all, might I add, amazing evolutions. Favorite song? Sick Sad Little World.
Favorite album? Morning View.
When it comes to Radiohead, I'm pretty sure it's their genre-less sound that
initially hooks me. Whether the composition is grandly complex, or plainly put
simple, it's like an epic movie score to your life. For anyone reading this who's
lived most of their life in a rural or suburban area, and you only make it out to
the "big city" every now and again, try listening to Radiohead on your ipod the
moment you step off the train and begin to mingle throughout the commercial
property-infested inner workings of the skyline you gazed upon as a child. It's
like every single piece of "city street activity" stock footage has surrounded you
and the best music to listen to, as to gain progress and flourish within this
commerce-fueled chaos. Favorite song? Talk Show Host. Favorite album? A tie
between In Rainbows and Hail To The Thief.
With that being said, I listened 2 RH's new joint, TKOL. That's text talk for
Radiohead's new album, The King of Limbs.
It's only 8 tracks, which is a slight bummer, but manageable.
An awesome fringe benefit about Radiohead, is that when you listen to it you feel
smarter. Slightly futuristic, like you live inside one of those Japanese neo
modern apartment pods, with a robotic dog walking about. Every track sounds like
the end sequence to a Chris Nolan film. I am in full agreeing that every
cinematographers favorite band should be Radiohead. That is how monumentally put
together RH's music feels to me. If you ever seen them live or watched a live
taping, they generally wear the demeanor that they enjoy playing their own music.
Big plus.
I guess the sweet thing about it being 8 tracks is that I can't figure out which
song IS my favorite, as they are all so individually outstanding. It definitely
has a similar vibe to In Rainbows, but maintains it's own identity. I suppose my
only complaint at THIS point is that it's only 8 tracks. Sort of leaves me wanting
more, but I suppose I could just solve that by filing it in the 30-45 minute road
trip category. I highly recommend it, not only to those familiar, but those who aren't.
That's how Radiohead comes off to me. Just good "life" music.
I give it a A-. These things, you have to give them time. I could sit here and say that The
King Of Limbs isn't as commercially or monumnetally successful as previous releases, but
I truly don't know the future, I only listen to it.
Oh yeah, here's another thing that positions RH in my top 3; Without them, there would be no Gorillaz or Coldplay, both of which are in my top 10.
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