Warblin’ Wednesdays: Radiohead
4 Comments Published April 9th, 2008 in Art & Culture, Bama Blogging, MusicTomorrow night, I’m headed over to the Alys Stephens Center’s Jemison Hall with several friends to attend Radioheadings. Included in the works to be performed is Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood’s Popcorn Superhet Receiver, which will be conducted by…Johnny Greenwood. Much of PSR was incorporated into There Will Be Blood, which I’ve not yet seen, but I’ll probably go rent tonight because I’ve been meaning to see it for a while and I’ve heard the musical score is excellent. I was a pretty huge Radiohead fan in college and this will begin to make up for the time I had tickets to a flooded-out show at the Nissan Pavilion several years ago. Tickets are still available.
Without further ado, here’s one of my favorites (I think the video is fantastic as well). It’s called “Just”:
There are many others that I would recommend, but I’ll leave it there. I’ll tell you how the show went on Friday.
Update: Oh, the disappointment of a fake-out. Evidently, I was misreading the concert description. Johnny Greenwood was not at last night’s performance. Nor was there a guest conductor. The ASO’s Conductor Maestro Brown (from Birmingham, England), however, is no slouch and actually quite entertaining as he conducts. He certainly seems to be having a good time. There was a guest composer, Paul Lansky, whose Mild und Leise Radiohead sampled on Kid A’s Idioteque.
Despite the absence of Johnny and the fact that modern (or is it postmodern?:) music is not necessarily my favorite, I thought the concert was pretty good. Lansky’s Shapeshifters, for Two Pianos and Orchestra was probably my favorite followed by Poul Ruder’s Light Overture and then Greenwood’s Popcorn Superhet Receiver. I watched There Will Be Blood Wednesday night and I think it works better in the context of the film than as a standalone piece, even though it wasn’t written for the film. Though parts were very good on their own, it didn’t seem to work together as a whole. Perhaps that is part of the point, if there is a point. I must admit, I don’t know enough about the modern style to offer a thoughtful critique. But there it is; so check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. As I said in the comments, PSR complements TWBB very well.
sounds good
I just watched “There Will be Blood” last night and we were talking about the music and how great it was.
I was also surprised about how not evil the main character was as it was based on an Upton Sinclair book.
Thanx.
@Xaq: I actually went and rented last night as well. The music was definitely well-matched and really helped to convey the alienation and bitterness that Plainview felt and dished out. I also didn’t think he was as evil as everyone made out and I even felt sympathy for the character several times up until the end and then I felt that he had been completely devoured by his emotions to the point of insanity. Of course, at times, his callousness and cold-hearted attitude were almost difficult to watch. Still, he wasn’t nearly as depraved as some of the reviews made him out to be. Granted, towards the end, he became less and less reserved and became horrifically violent. Like Radiohead says: “You do it to yourself…and that’s what really hurts.” I also thought that many of the scenes with the minister were intentionally absurd and so over-the-top that I had to laugh. Some of it was truly ridiculous. I also laughed at the end–in spite of it all that last line was somehow very funny and very apt. Lord, I hope I didn’t just write some artsy-fartsy sounding review. Oh well…good movie. Looking forward to the show.