The Eraser

I've decided to weigh in on Radiohead singer Thom Yorke's newish solo album since it's been on steady rotation for a few weeks now. 'The Eraser' is beginning to grow on me now that I've navigated past the blips and beeps towards the real songs underneath. Yorke reaffirms his skill with cool chord progressions, funky bass loops, cryptic lyrics and even the occasional beautiful falsetto vocalise. My only complaint is to be expected since it is the work of one artist with a producer (albeit the exceptionally talented producer Nigel Godrich): there's not quite enough contrast for my taste. The beauty of Radiohead's albums is the juxtaposition of electronicky minimalist-type songs, beautiful piano or guitar-based ones and songs which fuse the two. It shows just how important the contributions of the other band members are: a simultaneously melodic and sturdy bassline, an improbable drumbeat in 11/4, beautiful guitar processing, and orchestration. The bottom line for me is that Thom Yorke is good, in fact really good but he's exceptional when he has his collaborators with him. At any rate, it's a nice appetizer until the next Radiohead album arrives...

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for: The end of my ban on talking about sports! American football season starts in just a week and I'm excited about the Philadelphia Eagles. Although we all say this every year, I think this squad has really good potential; a perfect blend of young and experienced guys with one of the best quarterbacks in the league at the helm. Tough division though...

Right now I'm wrestling mightily with dead French composers. So far I'm tied with Faure, Massenet is just beating me, and I've got Duparc and Gounod on the ropes.