First Impressions: Radiohead – Lotus Flower

You can’t say that Bends fans won’t like this. The Bends was great because it understood rock structures; its rhythms; its power; its hooks. Kid A was weak because the songs were insubstantial and meandering. You couldn’t remember the songs as you were hearing them, with the sole and notable exception of the superior Idioteque.

So, what’s Lotus Flower? It’s immediate – a funky, insistent groove that wriggles under your skin with the raw immediacy of one of Rihanna’s better songs. Toes and fingers tap unconsciously. Thom’s voice dances around without grating or cloying – it’s unfussy, unselfconscious.

The song’s well-structured, fine and fun with a moreish quality that makes you want to play it again as soon as it’s finished. People pointing to dance acts are staring in the wrong direction – this is of the same ilk that Trent Reznor’s been pushing the past 10 years – unhurried layers of rhythms, bleeps and squeaks that maddeningly defy description but are instantly familiar to fans of the non-genre.

It’s better than anything Reznor’s done since The Fragile.

Can’t wait to hear the rest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/feb/18/radiohead-king-of-limbs-live