In Rainbows
RadioheadFantastic album from Radiohead and arguably the first of their “vibe” albums, which would become their signature sound as a band untethered from major label demands; under produced jazz like drum sounds, dry arpeggiated guitars in weird time signatures and Thom Torke’s reverbated smear picking out a vague but compelling narrative. If I have one complaint it is over the mixing and production choices, which I feel don’t always completely maximise the potential of the songwriting, but most of this is entirely deliberate to be fair to Radiohead; an intentional step away from both tidy rock anthems and cold electronica, and an embracing of a looser, more stripped down skifflish sound. So whilst In Rainbows lacks the focused songwriting muscle of OK Computer and the conceptual, muted beauty of Kid A, it comes a very respectable third in my Radiohead rankings.