In Rainbows

IMO their best album. A good synthesis of all of their best experiments and some of their rock roots.

Bodysnatchers stands out to me as an example. In the beginning of the song you are in a tight, non-reverberant space, standing directly in front of the amp while a band performs off-kilter riff rock. In the B section, there's heavy reverb, a broadening of the imagery. You go from claustrophobic to the wide-open expanse of outer-space before coming back down.

Or All I Need. Loud-Quiet-Loud. But during the loud parts, mixed low in the background (imperceptible unless you're looking for it) are violins playing a quarter-tone apart creating a "haze" of sound. Sonically: you are at a basement show of a local band, with overtones bouncing off of the near walls and mixing together into that haze.

There are precedents for these, but Radiohead has not paid this kind of attention to the ambiance and the ineffable effects of the spaces in which we listen to music before or since. It was their most difficult album to make; they agonized over every detail, threw out entire mixes and started over, fussed over every parameter and tried as many permutations as the could. According to Thom Yorke, it was so unpleasant that they never want to make an album like that again. I think it's the kind of thing where they couldn't get back into that creative mindset again even if they tried. Changed by the experience.

And if you don't consciously register any of this, it doesn't matter. It'll have its effect on you, and the songs are well-written regardless of the production.

I found myself in a remote part of Brasil, without internet access, right after it came out.

I had downloaded it and it was the only music I had on my box. Usually I listened to streams on winamp from my comfortable home office.

I was busy hacking away at a startup and programming every night for hours with no other music on my computer in the jungle heat, with my windows open I once had a giant tarantula pop right in fromt of my face.

For 3 months I listened to that album on repeat for 4-5 hours every night while I slammed cafezinhos and baré.

I've gone through periods where I've done that again state side.

The album never gets old, never cloying from repetition.

It's a perfect album.

+1. It is my favorite Radiohead album and the one that I revisit the most.

I still listen to it a lot. It's one of my favourite albums of all.

I don’t think there’s a better album, let alone by Radiohead.

Appreciate the recommendation. I like Radiohead a fair bit but I had blatantly assumed Pyramid Song was their last/best work and I kinda stopped paying attention to them since. Will be looping this one for a while!