KID A

Let me say categorically that I am a Radiohead fan. I regard the band as the most important of recent years, but their commendable obsession with change and experimentation often goes too far, and in fact, leads them away from moments of sheer grandeur and exquisite beauty.

There is no beauty at all in this record, in fact, it's almost entirely complete nonsense, noise substituting for sound, screeching and shouting instead of vocal clarity, mess instead of form, shapeless lumps instead of songs. There is nothing whatsoever here to commend itself to any listener, other than those who seize on its determination to be obscure and obtuse as some kind of genius that is beyond their comprehension, and therefore deserves their awe and praise. That to me smacks of the Emperor's new clothes.