Our Radiohead holiday came a day early, as many of us were surprised to find the newest Radiohead album “The King of Limbs” waiting for us to nervously download this morning! Side-stepping unwanted leaks and any lengthy media build up, the band announced the record this week and self-released the album digitally today with the physical copy to follow (presumably sometime this spring). Available in both WAV and MP3, and for far cheaper than a standard 10 bucks iTunes has made us accustomed to.

The album’s depth is such that any immediately review would be unwise, but here’s a quick breakdown of the record.

The album is eight tracks long, and clocks in at a short 37 minutes. The track list is as follows:

1. Bloom
2. Morning Mr. Magpie
3. Little by Little
4. Feral
5. Lotus Flower
6. Codex
7. Give Up The Ghost
8. Separator

A few initial highlights are Morning Mr. Magpie, and the catchyLittle by Little. Magpie originally appeared in a live webcast the during the Kid A/Amnesiac era as an acoustic solo performance. Given the full studio treatment, the song is able to flourish, as its accented by chirpy percussion loops punchy guitar fuzz. Aside form the album’s single Lotus Flower, Little by Little is probably the album’s catchiest tune, which layers Yorke’s falsetto over groovy percussion.

Before I forget, check out the video that’s all over youtube for “Lotus Flower” here:

I laugh when I think about the fledgling internet culture that, at the time, made such a hub-bub about Yorke’s spastic dance moves onstage during the Kid A era live shows. This video, in many ways, reminds me of a classier version of that, with a stylish bowler to boot.

there will certainly be more to come about this record and the inevitable follow up analysis, but for now, let’s all enjoy!