Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

Supercollider/The Butcher
by Radiohead.

Coming hot on the heels of the ordinaire and mildly obtuse "The King of Limbs" we firstly have to ask ourselves after listening to Supercollider/The Butcher why. Why didn't these tracks make it onto the LP? I can't fathom it myself but perhaps I'm not supposed to. One thing is certain though it's good to have them. Something original arriving outside the ever increasingly boring music management scheme of things, and it's good that the record itself has the labels on the wrong side of the vinyl. This shit doesn't happen enough nowadays - well done Ticker Tape Limited - you may be new but always remember dysfunctional haphazardness is where its at.

But what of the record itself. Well "Supercollider" is definitely a high energy particle accelerator in comparison to most of the bulk data found on "Limbs" - and as far as I'm concerned it's something of a gem. OK so both tracks do still sound (to the untrained ear) like only Thom Yorke, Phil Selway and Nigel Goodrich turned in on the "Limbs" session but that aside both "The Butcher" and "Supercollider" have a great deal more drive, menace, fluctuation and unnerving intensity about their being.

"Supercollider" with the click of a stick and a continual urgent beeping flutters and meanders for more than six minutes in and out of dark, and in and out of shade,reminding us, if need be, that Radiohead can still take us on a journey to a place unknown. When "The Newspaper" finally arrives, and all the results are in, then perhaps we'll know the truth about The King of Limbs. But in the meantime allow me to confirm that Radiohead are not dead!