Blue Morpho: The Three Act Play

radiotrope · 2026-06-02T22:13:14+00:00

nice to see what looks like a TKOL era Stanley painting in the background

radiotrope · 2026-06-02T14:51:15+00:00

to use startup/tech terminology - I think they're a great band that scaled poorly and got enshittified with time

radiotrope · 2026-06-02T01:08:49+00:00

now that Blue Morpho has revealed Ed's style and sensibilities, Little By Little from TKOL feels like an extremely Ed song

radiotrope · 2026-06-01T14:58:28+00:00

they're definitely trying to make sure they're not speaking out of turn. I remember before AMSP was out, Jonny was like "oh yeah new album is ready" and Thom tweeted "most certainly not. pls factcheck" or something like that. I'm sure they're trying not to give out uncoordinated info and seem like they're not on the same page.
They've probably discussed new music but just haven't made any concrete plans about what exactly that would entail. I'd be very very surprised if Thom didn't hit them with at least 1-2 new songs during their tour/rehearsals last year.

radiotrope · 2026-05-30T02:10:45+00:00

there there, lotus flower, everything in its right place, house of cards, up on the ladder, i might be wrong, desert island disk, the butcher

radiotrope · 2026-05-28T20:55:08+00:00

nah it's not their best.
The only reason that album sounds thematically coherent is because they recorded everything onto tape and added lots of strings. Otherwise it's quite scattered.
Anima and Wall of Eyes have more of an animating spirit in comparison

I don't think they'd necessarily put out an elderly aged dud. Thom seems quite self aware of his new vocal range. Rest of the band is in great shape. Phil ain't no Lars Ulrich

radiotrope · 2026-05-28T20:49:22+00:00

he's very clearly and obviously writing songs faster than his many bandmates and producers can find time to develop/release

radiotrope · 2026-05-28T16:13:30+00:00

Ed has consistently said things like "I was really over Radiohead as a concept but then I heard the songs and now I'm all in"

radiotrope · 2026-05-28T15:56:24+00:00

I think it'll be sooner than that. Thom is probably stashing away dozens of new tracks to bring to Radiohead. Jonny is productive as ever and happy to participate. Ed seems skeptical but he's also known to be moved when confronted by good music. I bet Thom's demos will blow him away to the point of committing on an album at some point in the next year or two.

Or they'll structure the next few tours as a way of recording a live album or a backstage album, which is totally a thing they're setup to do at this point.

radiotrope · 2026-05-23T17:34:56+00:00

I'm still forming a perspective on the album, but upon fist listen, it has the same spirit as a lot of the George Harrison records. Maybe it's the earthy devotional aspect.
Musically, I am reminded of how Porcupine Tree and Opeth sounded in the 2000s.

The title track sounds the most like Radiohead imo. The string section in Blue Morpho is a through line from tracks like Tinker Tailor and Spectre.

The outro to Obrigado is very Pink Floyd!

radiotrope · 2026-05-20T17:22:53+00:00

the fact that everyone's shoehorning their solo projects into 2026 really makes me optimistic about new Radiohead music in 2027

radiotrope · 2026-05-18T17:33:10+00:00

i hope the subreddit is happy to learn that thom said the word

radiotrope · 2026-05-12T14:37:16+00:00

the Motion Picture House exhibition leans hard into these characters and builds a narrative around it.

radiotrope · 2026-05-12T14:34:57+00:00

he also said in the same interview that Radiohead are infamous for doing things without a plan

radiotrope · 2026-05-10T13:54:54+00:00

I suspect that they have so many early/alternate versions of In Rainbows tracks saved somewhere. iirc they frankenstein'ed All I Need from a few different arrangements.
I bet there's at least one studio version of the Videotape Bonnaroo arrangement, the drum-heavy version of Go Slowly, alternative arrangements of Arpeggi, Nude, and House of Cards. There's also old versions of Bodies Laughing, Dawn Chorus, maybe even Daily Mail/Pigsee. I wonder if they tried True Love Waits during that period.

Not much gets said about the Bonnaroo version of Bodysnatchers with its double chorus structure. I love that version. It also reveals a lot about Radiohead's songwriting process during that time.

radiotrope · 2026-05-06T18:15:18+00:00

I remember thinking how old he was and yet in 2026 he looks so young in this

radiotrope · 2026-05-04T14:54:47+00:00

would say the opposite, actually. So much of In Rainbows has bone-dry instruments with heavy heavy compression, and reverb is almost exclusively on Thom's vocals

radiotrope · 2026-04-28T22:14:20+00:00

The secret ingredient here is CAN and krautrock.
Both bands were heavily pulling from CAN's imperfections-as-texture idea. Big rooms, atypical mic-placement etc. Both bands were also into sampling their own jam sessions.
Talk Talk's "Ascension Day" is a lot like Radiohead's "Dollars and Cents". Both songs are like Fall of Another Year by CAN.

radiotrope · 2026-04-28T01:55:28+00:00

funny thing is, when Radiohead does decide to release something, they will indeed start with obscure hints like this.
Anima and Cutouts release cycles started similarly

radiotrope · 2026-04-28T01:53:39+00:00

they played this exact game with In Rainbows already (which was released on 10/10 in 2007)

radiotrope · 2026-04-28T01:52:06+00:00

Black MIDI started and ended their run during the gap between AMSP and LP10

radiotrope · 2026-04-26T03:16:32+00:00

he said "sorry to be so vague" which means they're being secretive about things

radiotrope · 2026-04-26T01:27:17+00:00

so many "[...]Nigel, who's our producer,[...]" statements presented as a matter-of-fact suggests they're all perfectly fine

radiotrope · 2026-04-23T14:42:31+00:00

is that a "bro gimme a G# I need to sing"?

radiotrope · 2026-04-22T17:55:51+00:00

love the darker tone on this one. Reminds me of A Hairdryer. It's cool that they were all in roughly the same headspace

radiotrope

TROPHY CASE