Thom Yorke
Watch Cillian Murphy in Video for The Smile’s ‘Pana-vision’
The Smile has extended its creative partnership with the hit Netflix British drama Peaky Blinders via a new video for its song “Pana-vision” starring the show’s Cillian Murphy. “Pana-vision” previously debuted in an April episode of the show’s sixth and final season and can be found on the Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood-led group’s debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention. In the video, directed by Peaky Blinders director/producer Anthony Byrne, Murphy reprises his role as World War I veteran/gangster Tommy Shelby. Yorke’s haunting vocals and ethereal piano playing offer the perfect complement as Shelby awakens in a field after a night of drinking and contemplates a drastic measure involving a loaded pistol. [embedded content][embedded content] The Smile just wrapped the first leg of ...
The Smile Builds an Alternate Universe Radiohead on A Light for Attracting Attention
Fifty-nine seconds into “The Same,” the first track from The Smile’s debut release A Light for Attracting Attention, the unmistakable voice of Thom Yorke begins singing about how “we are all the same” atop a sci-fi pulse of piano, acoustic guitar, and analog synthesizers. There’s no easy release from the tension of the song’s slowly creeping dread, and it soon begs an important question: how is an album with Radiohead’s singer, lead guitarist, and producer actually not, well, a Radiohead album? The answer lies somewhere in between Jonny Greenwood’s simple desire to work on something — anything — with Yorke during the lockdown era of the COVID-19 pandemic and a larger philosophical debate about the evolution of Radiohead’s music in the past 15 years. Both are reflected throughout the superl...
Watch Thom Yorke Perform Radiohead Hits Solo For the First Time
Thom Yorke performed a handful of Radiohead songs solo for the first time during an acoustic set at Zeltbühne in Zermatt, Switzerland last night. His 23-song setlist included the solo live debuts of “Bodysnatchers” (from In Rainbows), “Exit Music (For A Film)” (from OK Computer), “Decks Dark” and “Daydreaming (both from A Moon Shaped Pool). Yorke also played “Rabbit In Your Headlights,” his 1998 collab with UNKLE, and the Smile’s latest single “Pana-vision” live for the first time. Radiohead’s “These Are My Twisted Words” and the title track off his solo album The Eraser were also performed solo for the first time since 2010. See fan-footage from the show and Yorke’s career-spanning setlist below. [embedded content][embedded content] [embedded content][embedded content] [embedded cont...
Thom Yorke Surprise-Releases New Song ‘5.17’
Thom Yorke has been focusing efforts on his Radiohead side project The Smile, which made it that much more surprising when he released a new solo track called “5.17” without warning this morning. Though it’s unclear why the song came out today, it may not be a coincidence that its arrival coincides with the third episode of Peaky Blinders’ sixth season — Yorke and his bandmate Jonny Greenwood reportedly contributed music to the show. “Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood contributed some original stuff,” Peaky Blinders director Anthony Byrne previously told NME. “I’m over the moon about all of that. The music has always been really important historically, and I was really keen to bring a dramatic score into it. We’re using that much more in this season. It’s a much ...
Radiohead Side Project The Smile Release First Single ‘You Will Never Work In Television Again’
Last year, Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood joined Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner as a new super trio, The Smile. Today, they unveiled their first-ever single “You Will Never Work In Television Again.” Debuted live in the band’s secret show at last year’s Glastonbury event Live At Worthy Farm, the new track is the group’s first official release. Produced by Nigel Godrich, its accompanying lyric video was directed by Duncan Loudon. The Smile will perform three consecutive live shows on Jan. 29 and 30 at Magazine London, which will also be live streamed, and the shows are set within a 24 hour period. Physical and livestream tickets are on sale at 9 a.m. GMT on Jan. 7 via Driift. Superfans can sign up for pre-sale tickets by joining The Smile’s mailing list. All three shows w...
Thom Yorke Releases a Very 2021 Remix of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’
Whether you know “Creep” from being a Radiohead fan or from all of the copyright controversies it has been involved in over the years, it is indisputably one of both the band’s and Thom Yorke’s most well-known works. Now, nearly 30 years after the song’s original release, Yorke has shared this remix of the tune. While it’s not entirely unrecognizable, it’s definitely different. Yorke changed the entire pace of the song; he slowed it down, used acoustic guitar instead of electric, and even incorporated some pitch-altering effects to the words so that it doesn’t conform to its original phrasing. Not to mention, what was once a four-minute song, now sits at just over nine minutes in this re-imagined version. He managed to make a nine-minute song not feel too drawn out though, as it has the ca...
The 100 Greatest Rock Stars Since That Was A Thing
Three of the 100 are in this picture! The Rolling Stones, in 1964, from left to right: Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones. The problem with lists like this is they are invariably bullshit. So our prime objective was to make sure we didn’t do a bullshit list. I’m not saying we did a scientific one either. Because that isn’t possible — actually, it is, if you wanted some compilation of who sold the most records/concert tickets/has the most fans/got the most death threats, etc., and someone could come up with a bunch of very empirical metrics and create a “heat index” or something, and could deliver an actual scientific ranking! But we, um, didn’t do that. In fact we didn’t even, technically, do the “we...
Watch Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood Debut Their New Band the Smile
Just hours after announcing its existence, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood’s new band the Smile made its debut during a set for Glastonbury’s Live at Worthy Farm livestream. The Radiohead side project, which also features drummer Tom Skinner, ran through an eight-song setlist that opened with a new version of Radiohead’s unreleased track “Skirting on the Surface” (the set list refers to it as “Skating on the Surface”). From there, the trio treated fans to seven new songs that unsurprisingly sounded like pared down Radiohead tracks with slightly different nuances. Though production was credited to Yorke’s longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich, he wasn’t present during the performance. There’s no word on whether the Smile plan to release an album (or any recorded songs, for ...
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood to Debut New Band the Smile During Glastonbury Livestream
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have formed a new band with drummer Tom Skinner and producer Nigel Godrich called the Smile. The quartet, which got its name from a Ted Hughes poem, is slated to make its debut tonight during Glastonbury’s ticketed Live At Worthy Farm livestream event today. “We’re truly honoured that Thom and Jonny have chosen our livestream event to premiere their brand new project, The Smile,” Glastonbury co-organizer Emily Eavis said in a statement. “Sadly, we are all unable to gather together at Worthy Farm, but alongside sets from other wonderful performers, this has all the makings of a special Glastonbury moment – and one we can broadcast to the world.” Yorke and Godrich have been longtime collaborators. Aside from producing all of Radiohead...
Thom Yorke Gives ‘Creep’ Haunting Remix For Japanese Fashion Show
Fashion designer Jun Takahashi showcased his UNDERCOVER Fall 2021 collection “Creep Very” during Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo and gave its womenswear portion quite the fitting soundtrack: a haunting remix of Radiohead’s “Creep,” orchestrated by Thom Yorke himself. The sparse track features acoustic guitar and glitchy electronics and clocks in at around nine minutes. “The theme is of a person who is frail and weak but has a truly pure heart,” Takahashi told Vogue of his new line. “I was expressing the worries and anxieties that individuals carry every day and the hope of what lies ahead.” <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”wid...
Thom Yorke Pays Tribute to ‘Massive Inspiration’ MF DOOM
After news broke of MF DOOM’s passing on Thursday, tributes came pouring in. On Saturday, Thom Yorke paid his respects via Twitter. “I am so sad to hear MF Doom’s passing,” he wrote. “He was a massive inspiration to so many of us, changed things.. for me the way he put words was often shocking in it’s genius, using stream of consciousness in a way i’d never heard before …” In the post, Yorke linked to his remix of DOOM’s “Gazillion Ear,” which was a bonus track on what would end up being the rapper’s final solo album, 2009’s Born Like This. The Radiohead frontman and his bandmate Jonny Greenwood were also featured on the 2012 DOOM and Jneiro Jarel track “Retarded Fren.” See Yorke’s tribute below. I am so sad to hear MF Doom’s passing. He was a massive inspiration to so many...
Burial, Four Tet, and Thom Yorke Collaborate On Double-Sided “Her Revolution / His Rope”
Burial, Four Tet, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead have been garnering a lot of attention for their unexpected double A-sided 12″ vinyl release earlier this month, titled “Her Revolution / His Rope,” and the pair of tracks are quite an interesting and eclectic collaborative effort. It all started as a physical-only release when sets of unlabeled, blacked-out 12″ vinyl began showing up in various London record stores, and the news broke via two Instagram posts by Phonica Records and Sounds Of The Universe Records. A few days following the vinyl release and the two tracks had found their way onto all digital streaming platforms. Released on XL Recordings, the two tracks mark the first time all three artists have collaborated since their last ...
