Thom Yorke supergroup Atoms for Peace throw hypnotic dance party

Radiohead may be one of the most esteemed modern day bands, but their music tends to be fairly deep and progressive. It makes many demands of its listener. So for those who enjoy the Radiohead sound but wish they would just wig out and throw a dance party every now and again, allow me to introduce Atoms for Peace. The highly touted supergroup featuring Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, privileged Nashville by paying a visit to War Memorial Auditorium as a part of their Atoms for Peace tour.

Atoms for Peace singer Thom Yorke forged bold dreamscapes Thursday night.

It could be considered a minor upset that Nashville even got a date on this tour at all, given the fact that is a rare touring act playing a relatively limited run. Most of their dates see them sticking to the obvious large markets. So it was fitting that an upbeat and spirited crowd packed virtually every inch of War Memorial, and the band themselves put all they had into it. They went to work quickly, getting most of the songs from their latest album, Amok, out of the way early. Yorke broke out his trademark dance style, swishing and sashaying to and fro not unlike a narcolepsy patient. Flea, on the other hand, cut a much more imposing and dominating swath, galloping and strutting all across the stage, all the while wielding his bass like it was a sledgehammer or some deadly weapon.

Musically, they present a somewhat unorthodox approach. It's very hypnotic, chilled out dance music but relies on traditional instrumentation much more so than what you see from the majority of electronic artists today. So it's very organic, band based music but it's based almost entirely on percussion and rhythm alone. Nigel Godrich spends his time minding the keys, but there are a pair of percussionists. Joey Waronker serves as the band's traditional drummer, while Mauro Refosco does various odd jobs in terms of percussion, beating on a variety of drum pads and surfaces. Together, they create highly stylized and textured rhythmic patterns which form the backdrop for each song. Sometimes you might have a skittering, relentless barge of various drum sounds, and at other times the drumming might have more of a watery, rain drop type aesthetic to them.

As for Flea, Yorke said in an interview with The Daily Show's Jon Stewart that the main reason he wanted him in the band was because he plays bass like it's a lead instrument, and that's pretty much what you can expect from his performance. At times, it's almost too much to wrap your mind around with everything that's going on up there.

Bassist Flea lunges forward in a burst of awesomeness.

Accordingly, it took a few songs for the crowd to truly embrace what was going on and get into it, but once they did the place was electric. "Ingenue" was an early highlight, with the infectious main melody driven almost entirely by Flea's bass. Yorke, seated at the piano, let out gentle, lilting croons, while the leaky faucet drum style pervaded in the background. By the time they rolled out "Black Swan," every booty in the joint was grooving.

Although the band could pull of a variety of moods, they seemed to be their best when they were most entrancing and hypnotizing. Flea's bass on "Unless" rang out loud with a constant and pervading buzz that engulfed virtually everything in the arena; it felt like that bass was trying to take over the world. As the set wore on the band began to delve into their back catalog, bringing various cuts from Yorke's 2006 solo album The Eraser to life.

The opening of "Harrodown Hill" amped up an already giddy crowd even further, while "The Eraser" and "Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses" featured much heavier use of the guitar, adding some new elements into the band's sound. We also got the rarely played and awesome "What the Eyeballs Did," the B-side to their Default single.

But one of the most jaw dropping moments came at the end of the first encore, when Yorke's crispy, twinkling guitar combined with one of Flea's most assertive basslines and the bright, flashing white lights to forge a dreamy and spaced out rendition of Amok's title track that sent nearly everyone in the vicinity into a haze. One more sleepy rendition of "Atoms for Peace" during the second encore finally finished it off. Atoms for Peace's set was focused and there was little dicking around. They came in and simply laid down their law, and are doing it in a way that is much more inventive and highly stylized than most bands today.
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Atoms for Peace - Amok album review 

Atoms for Peace gives Thom Yorke chance for one more encore

It's no secret that Radiohead brainchild Thom Yorke has been mesmerized with electronic music since the 2000 release of Kid A, but his efforts to refine the sound has provided one of the more intriguing storylines over the years. This time he's got some new guys around him -- the principals being Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, former R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker, and producer Nigel Goodrich, best known for his work with Radiohead.

It's not hard to see who the dominant influence is. Amok has already drawn a smattering of comparisons with Thom Yorke's 2006 solo album The Eraser, and for good reason. The key differences are that Amok is much heavier on analog elements, features a much more spastic and diverse rhythm section, and also showcases the fact that Yorke has made many strides in production and arrangement of composition since then. Many of the synths that come in over the top are pure sex for your ears, able to dominate songs in ways they never had been before.

A great example is "Inguene," which opens with one of the album's thickest synth patterns. It sounds like something from Boards of Canada's Music Has the Right to Children, while projecting a serious sense of groove and swagger. Meanwhile, opener "Before Your Very Eyes" dazzles the ear with its pulsing synths, while introducing more and more layers as it goes on. Not to be outdone, lead single "Default" opens with an infectious rhythm, leading into one of the most blissful pure electro-pop songs on the album.

Of course, one of the key areas where Amok stands apart is in its sense of groove and swagger. Songs like "Dropped" and "Stuck Together Pieces" have prominent, well defined basslines, but "Reverse Running" is the only song that approaches the gold standard rhythm awesomeness of "Lotus Flower" from the previous Radiohead album King of Limbs. With its warm, open bass tones, oriental inspired guitar lead, and Yorke's spiraling vocals, it's an easy standout.

The title track and album closer is easily Amok's most unique song. Its ghostly and ephemeral opening sets the scene for Yorke's fleeting phantasmal images. It showcases an uncanny knack for progression with a shimmering keyboard riff coming in near the end, all structured around one of the album's best basslines.

In comparison with King of Limbs, Amok is much more straightforward and less meandering, but not as deep. In general, the meat of the album is laid on the surface of most songs. This makes it more accessible than the last couple Radiohead albums, but leaving less to discover on repeat listens. In addition, it doesn't do much to push forward the sound that Yorke and his various companions have developed via various side projects over the years, expect that he now has the best bass player behind him he's probably ever had.

Yet despite some flaws, it is still a well thought out and well composed composed electronic pop album that delivers large doses of sensuality while also being capable of conveying a downcast and detached vibe. In short, it's a great dish for anyone craving more of Yorke's patented sense of rhythm and style.

Score: 86/100

King of Limbs highlights Radiohead's artistic side

Genre: Electronic Rock
XL/TBD
Running Time: 38:08

Following the release of Hail to the Thief in 2003, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke famously prognosticated that the band would take an extended hiatus, then reemerge totally unrecognizable.

Nearly eight years have passed since then, and Yorke's prediction has been mostly accurate.  

In Rainbows represented a sonic step away from the Kid A/Amnesiac/Hail to the Thief arc. For those hoping for a return to those days, don't expect to be obliged by King of Limbs. I've heard some people compare this album to their Kid A days, but I don't see that.

My initial instinct is to say that King of Limbs bears some similarity to In Rainbows; the band has managed to  blend the sound of their instruments so well with the electronic elements of their music that it's tough to discern what's a live instrument and what's electronic.

In Rainbows was a pensive, emotional record, but that wouldn't be an accurate way to describe its successor. If I had to describe King of Limbs in a word, it would be hypnotic. It's not necessarily psychedelic, but it contains some hints of that.

I've heard comparisons to Animal Collective and I don't think that's really accurate but I can see it a little bit.With The King of Limbs, Radiohead has once again made something that sounds totally different from what they've done previously but it holds its own when stacked up against their back catalog.

One of the most striking aspects most Radiohead records is how they're able to set the mood for an album almost instantly after you hit play. Within the first 10 seconds of the opening track, expectations are forged or crushed. Here, you get Bloom, which sets the mood with its slightly psychedelic electronic intro.

But for a band that's well known for having stellar album openers, I can't help but feel that Bloom falls a bit short of the mark. Yorke's vocal sounds a bit flat, almost like he's just going through the motions. I think that most listeners will find Bloom to be one of the more abstract and experimental tracks to be found on King of Limbs.

Some of the effects sound like they could have been pulled right off Sufjan Stevens' Age of Adz album. Not a bad track, but it took some time to grow on me.

Bloom segues perfectly into Good Morning Mr. Magpie, and if you're not paying attention it may sound exactly like the the song before it. The vocals are still a little flat, but the instrumentation is more interesting than in Bloom.

That leads into Little By Little, the first track on the album that really grabbed me from the get-go. The guitar work provides something rarely heard in a Radiohead song - a real sense of groove. That earns it bunches of brownie points in my book. And it sounds as though Yorke has finally had his coffee, as he comes alive on the first time on this album to show great range and emotion in his voice.

Feral is a bit unique. There are no actually articulated lyrics, just formless, misshapen moans that drift through the eerie ethereal fog that is the backing music. It's powered by an ominous buzzing bassline and other creepy electronic effects. This song makes me feel like there's something stalking me in the shadows, but I don't quite know what it is.

Louts Flower is easily my favorite off King of Limbs. The drums and bass work together perfectly to create a serene and enlightened listening experience. Yorke also takes the opportunity to show off the depth and dynamism of his range. Lotus Flower is entrancing, captivating and magnificent.

From this point the pace of the album begins to seriously mellow out and slow down the pace. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I personally lose a little bit of interest at this point.

Codex is the token non-experimental song, as it features just Yorke's vocal and a piano. It's nice, reminds me a little of Motion Picture Soundtrack, but not as emotional or as brilliant.

Give up the Ghost presents an interesting proposition. Radiohead has been a band often known putting a lot of emotion in their work, but that doesn't really show so much on this album until you get to this track. It's a heartfelt emotional ballad in which Yorke begs for the pain to stop.

The effects applied to the backing vocals sound similar to the distortion used on the vocals for You and Whose Army from the Amnesiac album. Not my favorite song on the disc, but one I've grown to appreciate.

All that's left after that is Separator, which I'm not really a big fan of. Most Radiohead closers are usually pretty emotional pieces but this one is not so much. It's just rather bland, and the looping drum pattern is just annoying.

So once again Radiohead has managed to make a solid record and do something different from their previous works, though I can't help but mentally group it in the same general family with In Rainbows. It may not ever be a serious contender for the title of best Radiohead album, and may even come across as slightly obtuse at certain points.

But give it time. It took a little while to grow on me, but I can now safely say it's moving up the ranks of my favorite Radiohead LPs.

Score: 80/100