Jaydiohead: The Jay-Z/Radiohead Mash-Ups

First it was Jay-Z and The Beatles. And only a few months ago, Coldplay released a more flavorful Jay-Z version of 'Lost,' which in turn inspired Viva La Hova, the Jay-Z/Coldplay mash-ups. Now, DJ Minty Fresh has added yet another mash to the Jay-Z/(insert rock band here) repertoire.

Jaydiohead, as the name suggests, is Jay-Z + Radiohead. The mixtape is brilliantly put together, and is currently rocking my iPod. You can check out Jaydiohead's official site here. From there, you can download the mixes for yourself.

Below, find the full stream to the entire compilation:

Radiohead Live in Concert: NPR Music Podcast

If I could get away with just linking to National Public Radio music articles all day, I might. But posting on this one was simply beyond my control.

NPR's Bob Boilen takes us back to Radiohead's August 28th concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl in California for a 2-hour performance of epic proportions.

The band brilliantly showcases it's latest effort, In Rainbows, while scouring it's extensive catalog for old favorites and deep tracks alike. Every song manages to sound meticulously practiced, yet completely spontaneous. Decade-old singles are rejuvinated as if being played for the first time.

The result is a spectacularly atmospheric retrospect of the band's career, and NPR's live recording of the show captures the quality and sheer intimacy of the moment.

Boilen compares the show to the first time he saw Pink Floyd perform Dark Side of the Moon, saying, "Radiohead's show at the Santa Barbara Bowl came as close for musicianship and creativity as any show I've seen in 37 years. I've seen a lot of shows."

You can stream and download the entire experience for yourself by clicking here! And I highly suggest you do so!

Some New Songs

The World Should Revolve Around Me Lyrics Little Jackie	Ain't No Way Lyrics Git Fresh
I'm Just A Boy Lyrics Beyonce Knowles	Dynamite Lyrics Christina Aguilera
World Is A Hustle Lyrics Lauryn Hill	Apologize Lyrics Timbaland
Beat It Lyrics Michael Jackson	Fell In Love Without You Lyrics Motion City Soundtrack
Some Come Up Lyrics Birdman	The Party's Wherever I Am Lyrics Heidi Montag

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The Whitest Boy Alive - 'Golden Cage'

I recently ran across a band that is just as cerebral as Radiohead and Badly Drawn Boy. And to top it all off, they make abstract videos too!

You can watch The Whitest Boy Alive's video for 'Golden Cage' below:



(You can check out The Whitest Boy Alive's Myspace by clicking here.)

Top Songs

Through The Fire And Flames Lyrics Dragonforce	Damaged Lyrics Danity Kane
Sometimes You Leave Lyrics Carrie Underwood	That Chick Lyrics Mariah Carey
Down In The Dirty Lyrics Ludacris	Letchu Go Lyrics Janet Jackson
Can't Be Good Lyrics Janet Jackson	Surveillance Lyrics Wynter Gordon
Best For Me Lyrics Tyler James	Portrait Of Love Lyrics Cheri Dennis

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Caught On Tape: Radiohead's Video Archives

In keeping with Steve's recent post regarding Radiohead, I've decided to dive into the band's deep catalog to summon a couple of favorite music videos. Not an easy challenge when you consider how many great videos the band has filmed. In fact, few other artists have consistently put out videos of the same caliber. So while this column could survive on Radiohead alone for the next several months, I have decided to narrow down the list into a single post.

Listeners who first came to know of the band during their mainstream breakthrough likely remember the standout single and video to "Karma Police." The video plays like a scene from a dark, gritty mafia flick. Vocalist Thom Yorke sits backseat in the slow pursuit of a man on foot. As the title implies, the tables soon turn, and the hunter becomes the hunted.

Other memories might recall the visually lush shopping cart video for "Fake Plastic Trees," or the bizarrely entertaining animation for "Paranoid Android."

A captivating exchange at a diner plays into a dramatic conclusion on "High and Dry."

The video for "Just" is a slowly unraveling mystery that leaves as many questions as answers. Fans are still arguing over what exactly it is the man says at the end.

But perhaps two of my absolute favorite video picks from Radiohead are "Knives Out" and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)."

With 2001's Amnesiac album, the band released "Knives Out." Directed by Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), the surrealistic video is accomplished through the heavy use of choreographed character props and one single filming take that revolves around the set design. The complicated process ended in a well-realized artistic statement. Watch the result below:





"Street Spirit (Fade Out)" was directed back in 1995 by Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast; aforementioned "Karma Police"). Easily my pick for Radiohead's most visually stunning effort, this video was shot using different frame speeds to allow the characters and objects to intersect and float through space at different time signatures. Shimmering in silver B&W, every still of this video could be displayed as its own photograph. Possibly among the best music videos ever made:

Cool Songs

Best Of You Lyrics Lee Ryan	Down In The Dirty Lyrics Ludacris
Realize Lyrics Colbie Caillat	Aog Mixtape Lyrics Tila Tequila
You Are Not Alone Lyrics Bobby Valentino	The Way I Love You Lyrics Ashanti
Picture To Burn Lyrics Taylor Swift	I'm Me Lyrics Lil' Wayne
American Boy Lyrics Estelle	Ching A Ling Lyrics Missy Elliott

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Radiohead - 'The Bends'

Rock in the mid-nineties was dominated by one mantra: back-to-basics. Following two prior decades of progressive artists who pushed the genre's envelope beyond the three minute single toward sprawling and complex mind treks, many bands of the last decade reacted and traversed into the opposite direction. Shorter tunes returned during the nineties, and the aural odysseys created by studio perfectionists such as Pink Floyd and Steely Dan all but disappeared from popular rock.

Radiohead's The Bends was one exception to this trend.

The Bends is one of those albums you have to listen to with headphones in order to truly understand. Much of the record features trippy, computerized sound effects layered on top of understated guitar, and the band carefully utilizes feedback and squelch that you would otherwise miss on normal speakers. Of course, such computerized blends would later become part of the band's signature sound.

From a production standpoint the record offers several different introduction techniques that grant each track its own identity. The title song, for instance, makes use of a circus parade for its beginning that is presumably extracted from an old movie. 'Bones' leads in with an alien hum that could have easily been dubbed into the score of an X-Files episode. And 'Black Star' commences with a throwback fade-in used by many other bands of yesteryear. Such speculative procession grants a warmth that can really be appreciated---it feels like a freshly discovered secret every time these experimental intros are heard.

Lyrically, The Bends is about as brooding one can get. "I need to wash myself again to hide all the dirt and pain / I'd be scared that there's nothing underneath," and "So pay me money and take a shot / Lead-fill the hole in me," and "I want to be part of the human race" are all profound snapshots of a protagonist in despair. However, lacking the raw angst present in many of the grunge songs of the same era, the tracks on this record craft its self-deprecation with such consideration and eloquence that one cannot help but see a glimmer of hope shining through all that yearning and anguish.

Nevertheless, in light of the advanced studio techniques and abstruse lyrics, The Bends's real gimmick is the anthemic conclusions that anchor every song. Many of the songs follow the same enticing formula: seductive intros, alluring crescendos, and resonating culminations. But it's a formula that never gets old. As much as Radiohead tries to be cerebral on this album, it is its lucid hooks that drive the listener to rotate this record uninterrupted from beginning to end. And it is that simple pop blueprint that relates The Bends to the other back-to-basics records of its time.

For a band that has created classics with nearly every album it has recorded, controversy certainly arises when one makes the brash move to call The Bends Radiohead's greatest record. With the onslaught of acclaim that continues to attach itself to this band, to suggest that Radiohead peaked on their second album is probably hearsay to many fans. However, in light of that acknowledgment, I maintain that very assertion.

For me, what makes The Bends Radiohead's best is its portrayal of a band at its most comfortable before its fans defined what comfortable should be (if Radiohead released an album similar to this today fans would riot). It is an album that extends the fresh excellence of Pablo Honey a little bit further, just prior to the band's music becoming reliant on computerization and the conceptual.


I am including four songs that accurately portray the feeling of this album: 'Planet Telex,' 'The Bends,' 'Bones,' and 'Just.' You can stream all below:


Radiohead - 'Planet Telex'



Radiohead - 'The Bends'

Radiohead - 'Bones'

Radiohead - 'Just'

Radiohead on itunes?

In a recent discussion with Billboard.com, Radiohead manager Bryce Edge revealed that the band was in talks with Apple to release In Rainbows through the itunes store. Nothing has been made official, but should Radiohead's seventh studio album make it onto Apple's digital shelves, it will be the first full Radiohead album available for sale on itunes.

To read more on the story, click here.

If you can't wait for Radiohead to become available via itunes, you can download their newest album for any price you deem fit on the band's official website. In the meantime, enjoy a couple of my favorite songs from In Rainbows.

Radiohead - Bodysnatchers

Radiohead - All I Need

62% of 'In Rainbows' Downloads Were Freeloaded

There is an interesting post over at Tech-Ex detailing just how many people chose not to give Radiohead anything for their latest album.

View the graphs and charts here.

chart makers

Know My Name Lyrics Blake Lewis	Girlfriend Lyrics Bow Wow
I'll Be Waiting Lyrics Lenny Kravitz	Winner At A Losing Game Lyrics Rascal Flatts
Cash Rulez Lyrics Cassie	Footprints In The Sand Lyrics Leona Lewis
I Will Be Lyrics Leona Lewis	Kinda Girl For Me Lyrics Craig David
Watching Airplanes Lyrics Gary Allan	Home Lyrics Westlife

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