album #14

ok computer (radiohead)

I was pleasantly surprised by how melodic this album was. I guess I expected something more overtly, obnoxiously experimental, but for the most part OK Computer is overflowing with really beautiful melodies. "Airbag" is immediately awesome. It immediately evokes this dramatic, transformative mood; the album really introduces itself as a force of change, in just one beautifully dark guitar riff. "Paranoid Android" is fascinatingly diverse, very moody- alternations between aggressive and sad and plaintive. It's the noise of teenagerhood, with a melodic loveliness flowing throughout. "Let Down" is a fine slice of dark, mid 90's pop; "Karma Police" is of course a classic. My other favorite was "Electioneering," which opens fantastically and maintains this vibe of classic alternative rock- a bit of a vintage vibe, something about it, for whatever reason, makes me think of the Smiths.

Atogether a very moody, sad but melodic album. Intense but not as experimentally obnoxious as I had anticipated. There is, however, a lot of intense, draggy sadness. I don’t think I would repeatedly listen to it- this definitely is not fun as a repeat listen album, it drags and it hurts. On the plus side, the melodies are good and it’s an indisputable influence on some of the music that came afterwards- both the big ambient sounds and the aching lyrics.