Pitchfork

Alright, kids, this is it: last Radiohead news story we run for a long time, barring any annoucement of an honest-to-god actual tour. We just can't keep doling out weekly stories to Radiohead (even if our "sayola" scheme with Capitol is edging our bank accounts into the sextuple digits); other bands deserve the space. Granted, there's been a shitload of action at Camp Radiohead these past couple of months-- festival dates, release dates, club tours-- but this is the one it's all been leading up to.

n Word came in across the wire yesterday afternoon that Radiohead have now announced an official title and tracklist for their forthcoming sixth album, in addition to the June 10th release date they trumpeted last week. The outcry among Radiohead supporters is that the new title, Hail to the Thief, is easily their least original since... ever. A none-too-subtle jab at G.W. Bush that is, even now, nigh on becoming as dated as a Dead Kennedys lyric, it doesn't bode well for the originality the band has made their trademark since the release of 1995's The Bends.

n Nonetheless, fans remain optimistic about the material on the record, which-- if recent performances are any indication (and they may well not be)-- is the band's darkest yet. The fourteen-track lineup encompasses just about all of the new songs debuted in the band's showcase European tour last summer. Dark horse album contenders "Go to Sleep" and "Where I End And You Begin" have both made the cut, and AOL Instant Messenger traffic was momentarily disrupted Monday when 3.7 million Radiohead geeks simultaneously exchanged digital high-fives over the inclusion of longtime bridesmaid "I Will". Yorke and crew even give a shout-out to fuzzy math in opener (and potential single) "2 + 2 = 5" and toss in previously unknown tracks "Backdrifts" and "The Gloaming" for the hell of it. Tracklist:

n 01 2 + 2 = 5
02 Sit Down. Stand Up
03 Sail To The Moon
04 Backdrifts
05 Go To Sleep
06 Where I End And You Begin
07 We Suck Young Blood
08 The Gloaming
09 There There
10 I Will
11 A Punch-Up at a Wedding
12 Myxamatosis
13 Scatterbrain
14 A Wolf At The Door

n Very little is known about the sound of the Nigel Godrich-produced record, save for Yorke's own comments on "Myxomatosis" as posted on the official Radiohead bulletin board earlier this month (and we quote): "It has Funk and UGGGGLLLIIIIEEEEEE keyboards." Fucking Filter magazine, of all people, were somehow sneaked a listen to four cuts from Hail to the Thief, and the geniuses over there compared it to OK Computer. Original, guys!

n Interestingly, two tunes debuted in a December webcast (known unofficially as "I Froze Up" and "Good Morning Mr. Magpie") have apparently not made the cut. New song "Up on the Ladder" (which New Musical Express compared favorably to "Airbag") is also among the also-rans, alongside longtime fan jizz objects "Lift" and "Big Ideas (Don't Get Any)". As previously reported, the first single from Hail to the Thief, "There There", is expected to include four non-album cuts, so cross your fingers and don't uncross them until the single is released on May 26th or it won't happen.

n Radiohead are also collecting video clips from fans for inclusion in an as-yet undisclosed multimedia project. The band will be accepting entries between 10 seconds and "at most a song's length" until May 8th via the group's Oxford P.O. box. "Take one of the live MP3's of a Radiohead track," the band's recipe-like announcement reads in part. "Make some moving pictures to it (can be anything: live action, animation, graphics, etc.)" Radiohead will also consider existing short films "that would benefit from an airing," brief Quicktime animations, and entries from 2003 Best Director winner Roman Polanski for the project. Visit the w.a.s.t.e. fanclub site linked below for more info.

n And finally, as previously reported, um, just last Thursday, the Oxford lads will be playing a brief seven-date club tour of the UK and Ireland beginning in May, and have some festival appearances lined up as well. The band's publicists are also teasing us to expect a North American tour as soon as this fall. For the last time, here are the confirmed dates:

n 05-17 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia Theatre
05-18 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia Theatre
05-19 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Waterfront
05-21 Edinburgh, Scotland - Corn Exchange
05-22 Manchester, UK - Apollo
05-24 London, UK - Shepherds Bush Empire
05-25 London, UK - Shepherds Bush Empire
06-13 Hultsfred, Sweden - Hultsfred Festival
06-20 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany - Southside Festival
06-22 Schee\xDFel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06-26 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
06-28 Glastonbury, UK - Glastonbury Festival
07-04 Belfort, France - Les Eurockennes Festival
07-17 Nimes, France - Nimes Arena

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