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Key · 08-01-2016, 01:01 PM

NOTE: No longer album of the year. Disregard it being mentioned in this review.

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)

I know what you're thinking, "it's only August 1st, how can you have an album of the year already?" I'll tell you. I don't think i've been this surprised by an album in a long time. I've been talking about this album more this year than I have been talking about any other album that's been released so far, and there's a lot of albums that I absolutely love and I would talk about them as much as well, but god damn, I really cannot stop talking about this album.

I'm sure there's a bit of confusion as well considering I'm pretty renowned for being one of the biggest haters of Radiohead. Seriously, I tend to go out of my way to **** on their music, and tell the people that listen to them that they have no taste. But to be fair, the fanbase surrounding Radiohead is pretty poisonous, so it pretty much calls for someone like me to say the things that I do, but I digress. I wasn't initially interested in A Moon Shaped Pool, but as I do for albums that are released by artists that I have tried to listen to, or just don't like, I do give them their fair shot to possibly change my mind about the band, and although I wouldn't say A Moon Shaped Pool completely changes my opinion on Radiohead, I do have to admit that they've put out a killer album. And the neat thing about finding enjoyment out of this album is that I've given their previous albums another chance, and although I still hold the opinion that Thom Yorke can't sing his way out of a paper bag, I'm more accepting of that and I have been enjoying some of their older music now. Nowhere near the enjoyment I've been getting out of A Moon Shaped Pool, but I definitely don't hate their earlier work as much as I used to. Still, not saying I'm definitely on board with Radiohead just yet, because unfortunately for me, one great album can't change my opinion about a band altogether, because you don't know if that's the route they're going to continue on with or they'll change their sound completely again.

A Moon Shaped Pool has a lot of what I like about music, and again, I was just as surprised as most people probably are that I'm choosing this as my album of the year, but hell, it deserves it. The album creates an emotion story driven atmosphere while at the same time, taking the atmospheric notion and using it to their advantage. While doing that, Thom Yorke finally doesn't try to strain his voice or do things with his voice that he can't do. He finds a happy medium and he uses it along with the atmopspheric tones throughout the music that makes for a really easy listening and easy going experience as a whole. It's interesting for me to say that I find every single track on this album to be beyond fantastic, mostly because whenever I listen to this album now, I don't skip a single song. In fact, once the album ends, I almost feel like starting it over and listening through it again. It's one of those albums that you can put on in the background, and let your mind wander while at the same time, knowing that you're enjoying the music.

Usually when I'm curious about what other people think about an album, its for albums that I consider to be perfect. I've actually found myself reading other people's reviews on other sites on A Moon Shaped Pool and finding a lot of differing opinions. I do have to say that it's not necessarily surprising given the bands reputation. To me, I've always noticed that there's two sides to reviewing a Radiohead album. You either think the album is a god given gift, or you think it's the worst thing ever written. There's the people that consider this album the best they've released, then there's people that will go so far as to rate it in terms of where they think it lies in relation to their other work. I've seen people consider The King of Limbs better than A Moon Shaped Pool, and I've given The King of Limbs it's fair listen, and I respectfully disagree. The King of Limbs still has the issue of having Thom Yorke feel as though he needs to strain his voice in order to make the music interesting, which if you listen to A Moon Shaped Pool, he discards that completely. If he can continue to just use his voice in a nice calming way, it'd be great for the future of his music.

So let's talk about tracks now. I have a few tracks that I consider to be stand out tracks, but again, like I mentioned before, all the tracks work off of each other in such a way that it's nearly impossible to choose just one track that is the be all end all. If I were to choose a few however, I would choose Ful Stop, Daydreaming, and Desert Island Disk. Again, I choose those songs strictly on the fact that I just enjoy them a little bit more than the rest of the tracks, but still, I could switch that list with any other 3 tracks on the album and be just as happy with it. Though, I probably wouldn't take Ful Stop off the list as I'm finding that it is my all time favorite track off the album. I get excited to hear it each time it comes up in the album, and I often times have to hit repeat just to hear it again. The build up at the beginning really compliments the song well, and it keeps going into a wonderfully presented track that makes the whole album complimentary.

If you're a Radiohead fan and you've been hesitant about listening to this album because you're basing your opinion solely on the opinions of other Radiohead fans, take this recommendation from someone that isn't a Radiohead fan at all, listen to this album at least once before you make your judgement, because if you just dismiss this album based solely on other hardcore Radiohead fans reviews, you're seriously missing out on one of the best releases of this year. I don't mean to exaggerate either, but given the nature of albums that's been released this year, I'd be hard pressed if I was to be forced to switch my album of the year with anything else. I do seriously feel like this album has been everything that I wanted to hear out of this band, while simultaneously somehow not making me a fan of the band just yet. Though, I suppose that can change if and when they release another album. If they do release another one though, I hope it's as good if not better than this album. If they switch it up and return to what they did with their previous work, I won't say i'd be disappointed, but it would be disappointed in a way.

08-01-2016, 01:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	NOTE: No longer album of the year. Disregard it being mentioned in this review. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) I know what you're thinking, "it's only August 1st, how can you have an album of the year already?" I'll tell you. I don't think i've been this surprised by an album in a long time. I've been talking about this album more this year than I have been talking about any other album that's been released so far, and there's a lot of albums that I absolutely love and I would talk about them as much as well, but god damn, I really cannot stop talking about this album. I'm sure there's a bit of confusion as well considering I'm pretty renowned for being one of the biggest haters of Radiohead. Seriously, I tend to go out of my way to ** on their music, and tell the people that listen to them that they have no taste. But to be fair, the fanbase surrounding Radiohead is pretty poisonous, so it pretty much calls for someone like me to say the things that I do, but I digress. I wasn't initially interested in A Moon Shaped Pool, but as I do for albums that are released by artists that I have tried to listen to, or just don't like, I do give them their fair shot to possibly change my mind about the band, and although I wouldn't say A Moon Shaped Pool completely changes my opinion on Radiohead, I do have to admit that they've put out a killer album. And the neat thing about finding enjoyment out of this album is that I've given their previous albums another chance, and although I still hold the opinion that Thom Yorke can't sing his way out of a paper bag, I'm more accepting of that and I have been enjoying some of their older music now. Nowhere near the enjoyment I've been getting out of A Moon Shaped Pool, but I definitely don't hate their earlier work as much as I used to. Still, not saying I'm definitely on board with Radiohead just yet, because unfortunately for me, one great album can't change my opinion about a band altogether, because you don't know if that's the route they're going to continue on with or they'll change their sound completely again. A Moon Shaped Pool has a lot of what I like about music, and again, I was just as surprised as most people probably are that I'm choosing this as my album of the year, but hell, it deserves it. The album creates an emotion story driven atmosphere while at the same time, taking the atmospheric notion and using it to their advantage. While doing that, Thom Yorke finally doesn't try to strain his voice or do things with his voice that he can't do. He finds a happy medium and he uses it along with the atmopspheric tones throughout the music that makes for a really easy listening and easy going experience as a whole. It's interesting for me to say that I find every single track on this album to be beyond fantastic, mostly because whenever I listen to this album now, I don't skip a single song. In fact, once the album ends, I almost feel like starting it over and listening through it again. It's one of those albums that you can put on in the background, and let your mind wander while at the same time, knowing that you're enjoying the music. Usually when I'm curious about what other people think about an album, its for albums that I consider to be perfect. I've actually found myself reading other people's reviews on other sites on A Moon Shaped Pool and finding a lot of differing opinions. I do have to say that it's not necessarily surprising given the bands reputation. To me, I've always noticed that there's two sides to reviewing a Radiohead album. You either think the album is a god given gift, or you think it's the worst thing ever written. There's the people that consider this album the best they've released, then there's people that will go so far as to rate it in terms of where they think it lies in relation to their other work. I've seen people consider The King of Limbs better than A Moon Shaped Pool, and I've given The King of Limbs it's fair listen, and I respectfully disagree. The King of Limbs still has the issue of having Thom Yorke feel as though he needs to strain his voice in order to make the music interesting, which if you listen to A Moon Shaped Pool, he discards that completely. If he can continue to just use his voice in a nice calming way, it'd be great for the future of his music. So let's talk about tracks now. I have a few tracks that I consider to be stand out tracks, but again, like I mentioned before, all the tracks work off of each other in such a way that it's nearly impossible to choose just one track that is the be all end all. If I were to choose a few however, I would choose Ful Stop, Daydreaming, and Desert Island Disk. Again, I choose those songs strictly on the fact that I just enjoy them a little bit more than the rest of the tracks, but still, I could switch that list with any other 3 tracks on the album and be just as happy with it. Though, I probably wouldn't take Ful Stop** off the list as I'm finding that it is my all time favorite track off the album. I get excited to hear it each time it comes up in the album, and I often times have to hit repeat just to hear it again. The build up at the beginning really compliments the song well, and it keeps going into a wonderfully presented track that makes the whole album complimentary. If you're a Radiohead fan and you've been hesitant about listening to this album because you're basing your opinion solely on the opinions of other Radiohead fans, take this recommendation from someone that isn't a Radiohead fan at all, listen to this album at least once before you make your judgement, because if you just dismiss this album based solely on other hardcore Radiohead fans reviews, you're seriously missing out on one of the best releases of this year. I don't mean to exaggerate either, but given the nature of albums that's been released this year, I'd be hard pressed if I was to be forced to switch my album of the year with anything else. I do seriously feel like this album has been everything that I wanted to hear out of this band, while simultaneously somehow not making me a fan of the band just yet. Though, I suppose that can change if and when they release another album. If they do release another one though, I hope it's as good if not better than this album. If they switch it up and return to what they did with their previous work, I won't say i'd be disappointed, but it would be disappointed in a way. Last edited by Key; 10-31-2016 at 04:48 PM.