Wed, 10/10/2007 - 2:26pm — dibo

Not since I was a pimply long-haired teenager have I been so excited at the prospect of getting a new album. I was 16 then, and the subject of my greatly, amazingly misplaced anticipation was Live’s album Lakini’s Juice.

That album (and much of that band’s work really, on reflection) was a piece of utter pap to rival the worst of Matchbox 20 and their ilk, but overlaid with the sort of pretension that should only ever (and in this case, didn’t at all) accompany some serious fucking talent.

So now I’m getting excited about a much more pretentious band’s new album. Radiohead are releasing In Rainbows any minute now via their website. I love The Bends and OK Computer, and to be honest I love the later ones as well, though there are songs I am neither here nor there about. Climbing up the walls, Like spinning plates (the live version), Life in a glasshouse and Myxomatosis are some of my favourite pieces of music full stop, and there’s plenty more in the back catalogue that I like almost as much so I’m sure this album’s going to be fucking awesome. Hence the dancing on the spot level of excitement that I’m not quite containing today.

The website setup is pretty neat – Radiohead have been without a label for the last few years, so for this album (their first since Hail to the Thief in 2003) they’ve gone for a distribution setup completely based around their site.

You hop on there and pre-order the album and pay whatever you feel like paying. Whatever you feel like. When you ask for further guidance, the site says ‘IT’S UP TO YOU’. Pressed further, it only responds with ‘NO REALLY, IT’S UP TO YOU’. They are spectacularly wealthy, so I guess they can do what they like, really. I found it cute anyway…

So I paid them ten pounds (roughly what I’d expect to pay in a store plus a 45p processing charge…) and they’re gonna send me an email with a download code, after which I’ll be able to download a little zip file less than 50mB in size and in there I will find 10 mp3 files.

It’s a neat way to do it, but I will miss the tactile experience of having a new CD, opening it up for the first time to see the cover art inside (and invariably about a dozen of the teeth from the centre of the disc tray have broken off and are falling about everywhere) and then the part thrill/part terror of playing it for the first time.

Is it genius? Is it horseshit? Is it four runs off the bat or will I have to graft it out to get comfy with this one

A new album is such fun.

Of course, if you want the full-on tactile experience you can always go the discbox, with two vinyl discs and two CDs for 40 quid, but I’m not sure I really wanted to stretch that far. I may change my mind, you never know.

All there is for now is to wait, and hope that their first album in four years is a good one.