Thom Yorke once again became the talk of town when he dropped Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes last week. The talk, however, has been mostly centered on how the album was released, not the music itself. We have seen the music industry constantly trying to experiment with new business models. Radiohead has been at the forefront of these experiments with its “pay what you want” In Rainbows and the “newspaper editions” of The King of Limbs. This time, Yorke introduces us to the new Bit-torrent-only album, bypassing any need of a record label or iTunes. This concept ensures that the money goes directly to the artist himself.
While its way of distribution has received lots of attention, this album can really be a hit or miss musically, depending on what kind of Radiohead/Yorke fan you are. It continues Yorke’s electro-galactic exploration started from The Eraser, only this time we seem to have strolled even further away from the Earth. Do make sure you put on headphones before start listening. “A Brain in a Bottle” starts us off with some rotating beats and Yorke’s signature wailing. We then move on to a more inward-facing “Guess Again!” laden with piano and glitches, quite possibly a Yorkeified version of “Pyramid Song”.
Beatless “Interfere” gets incredibly personal with its apologetic lyrics. “The Mother Lode”, the possible centerpiece of the album, is a multi-layered, eyes-wide-open track contrasting greatly with the previous ones. Beats, vocals, synth rhythms and indistinct falsetto all manage to find their ways onto this track, magnifying the musical space of the album.
Then we retract into the free-flowing “oh my god, sin sin sin” of “Truth Rays”, signifying a more ambient second half of the album. The rather monotonic “There is No Ice(For My Drink)” is arguably one of the weaker tracks. Transitional “Pink Section”, on the other hand, does a seamless job leading to “Nose Grows Some”. The final track wraps up by finally bringing back some dreamy vocals and keeping us unclear of where Yorke is heading towards.
Overall, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes offers another musical exploration of Yorke that remains quite unsurprising and, at times,bland. It does have exciting moments, more so in the first half of the album. But for Thom Yorke, he certainly had a lot of fun playing with his laptop and giving Bit-torrent a big shout out.