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The Smile

Started by Glyn, April 21, 2022, 02:32:17 PM

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Glyn

Any interest in Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner's side project ?

5 songs released so far and an album coming in May. Video for Skrting on the Surface with Thom Yorke doing his annual school trip to Big Pit is here:
https://youtu.be/_nmutqhuWFE

Nothing mind blowing so far for me and the main surprise has been just how 'traditional Radiohead' most of the material is so far. A lot of it could very easily have sat on the King of Limbs or A Moon Shaped Pool.

You Will Never Work in Television Again is so far the only song that feels a bit different to what Radiohead have been doing for atleast the last decade but perhaps that just because it sounds more like something from In Rainbows (somewhere between bangers+mash and bodysnatchers).

Will still buy the album but feels a lot like treading water from half a band who haven't exactly broking a sweat for a while. Not selling this much am I ?

Johnny Textface

Nothing has peaked my interest so far. Wonder why the didn't just turn them into Radiohead material.

Head Gardener



their 7" is going for silly money but as there are only 450 copies I'm not surprised

Head Gardener



Smile was also the name of the band who became Queen


Rich Uncle Skeleton

Quote from: Johnny Textface on April 21, 2022, 07:26:08 PMNothing has peaked my interest so far. Wonder why the didn't just turn them into Radiohead material.

Skirting On The Surface was Radiohead material for a bit. Got played a few times while touring King Of Limbs in 2012 and probably got tried out for A Moon Shaped Pool. Before that Yorke had a crack at it during some Atoms For Peace gigs and the title/some of the lyrics have been floating around for nearly 20 years though god knows if the tune was the same back then.


aaaanyway moving on. I'm up for giving this a listen when it comes out (really don't fancy giving that many singles a go at once when the album's just round the corner) few short clips I've seen from promos they've stuck up sound fine. Not getting my hopes too high. And I'd maybe check them out live or something but given it's Radiohead-adjacent fat chance of getting a ticket.

Inspector Norse

Quote from: Rich Uncle Skeleton on April 21, 2022, 08:06:04 PMAnd I'd maybe check them out live or something but given it's Radiohead-adjacent fat chance of getting a ticket.

Ticket prices are a joke if the Stockholm gig next month is anything to go by - £75 a pop for a side project?

SweetPomPom

I went to the sunday morning stream show at Magazine and they were great but also entirely satisfying in one go so I don't have any interest in seeing the tour.

I thought the original intent was this is Radiohead stuff but at least a couple of the band couldn't be arsed or had other commitments.

brat-sampson

Album's out officially today.

I'm really into it so far and looking forward to the live show in person.

jobotic

Quote from: Inspector Norse on April 22, 2022, 06:44:38 AMTicket prices are a joke if the Stockholm gig next month is anything to go by - £75 a pop for a side project?

You could get a beer for that!

Memorex MP3

Quote from: Johnny Textface on April 21, 2022, 07:26:08 PMWonder why the didn't just turn them into Radiohead material.
Possible reasons:
- the other members had zero interest in touring so the album was basically made as an excuse to do a tour
- they think Phil Selway's shite
- it's a set of songs they want to get rid of so they don't cloud the process of figuring out the next Radiohead album


First option seems pretty plausible

good times

It's funny how You Will Never Work In Television Again got compared to The Fall

Literally not a single aspect of that song sounds like a Fall song, and seemingly proof that most of the journalists / social media arseholes referencing them have barely heard a note.

Either way it's a good song, more reminiscent of Sonic Youth's punkier numbers.

On third spin of the album now, like most of Thom Yorke/Radiohead material it's clear a good chunk of the songs will take a few listens to reveal themselves. So far sounds decent enough if a bit meandering in parts, like Moon Shaped Pool. Much prefer the up tempo ones like You will never... and The Opposite.

fucking ponderous

Listened to it today at work. Big eh. Decent enough but not much that doesn't sound like a ton of stuff they've done before. Wish they would let themselves cut loose more often, maybe even do a whole record of songs like "You Will Never Work in Television", a whole record where they may even sound like they're enjoying themselves. Don't they ever get tired of being in Dirge Mode?

good times

I swear about 25% of the songs on this album were also on Anima.

Most of the album is decent enough though, with the exception of Free in the Knowledge which even Chris Martin (or perhaps, Thom Yorke circa 1992) would recognise as wishy washy bollocks which is B-side material at best.

The song also turns into "Man in the Mirror" halfway through - I wonder if one day Thom is going to realise and curse the rest of the band for not having had the balls to point it out to him.




 

DJ Bob Hoskins

#13
Saw them in Amsterdam last week. Full disclosure: I am a raving Radiohead fanboy and would happily give a kidney just to watch Jonny Greenwood fart through a harmonica for 90 minutes. Therefore my opinion may be somewhat biased, but:

They were phenomenal. The album had only been released about a week before the gig, so I had only listened once and went in with vague expectations, but I was hella impressed.

There was a sort of slinky groove to most of it which sets it apart from previous stuff. Most of the tracks started off one way and morphed into something else entirely by the end. Tom Skinner's drumming was sublime throughout, and there's something about the rhythms in that they are entirely danceable, but seem to be in some impossible math-jazz time signature.

That album is a real grower. In fact I'm of the opinion that it's much better than Radiohead's last album A Moon Shaped Pool. I've had it on a loop for the past week and it still feels like being taken on a strange walk through an unfamiliar place each time.

Purely from a nerdy point of view: I've been lucky enough to see Radiohead (and some of their solo projects) a good few times over the years and never get tired of watching them ply their craft. If they weren't such geeks it would be total Spinal Tap territory. At one point Jonny G had one foot on his pedalboard, the other on his Moog Taurus bass synth pedals, and all the while is playing some intricate Steve Reich-esque guitar counterpoint. A harp was wheeled out which he used for approximately 40 seconds for an effects-laden solo before it was wheeled off again. Magic.

There are some surprisingly good quality clips available on this YouTube channel, for the time being at least:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtVLCAPLbouAG_tr0BHjOGQ/videos

I managed to snap a couple of nice photos. I think this is the closest I'm ever going to get without them calling the cops / taking out a restraining order:








SweetPomPom

They've been added to the Nick Cave bill for Field Day so I'll get to see them again in August.

Have they completely dropped Different For Girls now?

DJ Bob Hoskins

Quote from: SweetPomPom on June 04, 2022, 01:22:29 AMThey've been added to the Nick Cave bill for Field Day so I'll get to see them again in August.

Have they completely dropped Different For Girls now?

According to this, those Magazine shows in London were the only times they ever played it:

https://www.setlist.fm/stats/the-smile-43f21f13.html

Bently Sheds

Concert on Sky Arts now. I've got it on but it's not really grabbing me

DJ Bob Hoskins

They've published some 'bonus material' on their site.

There's a video of 6 songs from their June 12 performance at the Vyv festival in Dijon, plus a 1GB 'goodie bag' of animations and artwork.

https://thesmiletheband.com/unlock-bonus/

amateur

Radiohead without the feel-good factor imo.

Loved the album at first but am bored to death of it now. I'm glad they released it digitally first so that I had a month to figure out that I shouldn't waste £30 (!) on the vinyl.

Saw 'em live the other week and they're absolutely phenomenal musicians. But they were so tight that everything just founded exactly as it does on the record, which is a bit of a problem when you like it less after every listen.

Custard

Pity this record kind of vanished after the first few weeks, as I'm still really liking it. It was clearly meant to be the new Radiohead album, but apparently some of the band don't wanna tour

Pana-Vision has that Suspriria soundtrack feel to it, and is one of Thom's finest ballads of recent times

"He's a fat fucking mist" from You'll Never Work In Television is my new favourite lyric too

Head Gardener


Ferris

Not worth a new thread considering this one didn't last long, but I heard this today out of nowhere and it's brilliant. Everything I love about Radiohead, but more so.


Whatever you think about Thom Yorke and his material (and similar to @DJ Bob Hoskins I'm a raving fanboy), he never stands still.

Johnny Textface

Speech Bubbles also feels utterly Radiohead to me. It even has a riff akin to Paranoid Android.


There's another gig here.. they certainly like polyrhythms and cacophony anyway.


I really don't know how the drummer deals with all this but he's pretty fantastic.

Ferris

Ha! I just watched that, it's where I heard Open The Floodgates. KEXP do some great stuff, I use them to find new bands and artists and I was browsing through and sort Thom Yorke but not listed as Radiohead which is what piqued my curiosity...

Good little set, that.

Johnny Textface

Quote from: Ferris on January 17, 2023, 06:44:16 PMHa! I just watched that, it's where I heard Open The Floodgates. KEXP do some great stuff, I use them to find new bands and artists and I was browsing through and sort Thom Yorke but not listed as Radiohead which is what piqued my curiosity...

Good little set, that.

Yep KEXP is great. In fact I think my avatar is from the John Maus set from a few years back.

kalowski

Not had a chance to listen to it yet but I'm posting now so I can find the thread when I have.

Spiteface

I like The Smile, but Jonny Greenwood looks wrong playing a Les Paul, or indeed any guitar that isn't a Tele Plus or Starcaster.

That KEXP session is fab, though.

I really struggle with their name, 'The Smile', it sounds like a middle of the road indie-landfill band that would have popped up on Soccer AM.

Ferris

Quote from: Spiteface on January 17, 2023, 07:31:50 PMI like The Smile, but Jonny Greenwood looks wrong playing a Les Paul, or indeed any guitar that isn't a Tele Plus or Starcaster.

Tremendous hair for a bloke in his 50s though. He looks about 25!