Radiohead's Hiatus Defintely Hasn'T Kept Thom Yorke Out of the Studio – He's Released Three Great Albums With The Smile, and Earlier This Month, He Dropped The Excellent Tall TalesA Long-in-The-Works Collaboration with Veteran Electronic Producer Mark Pritchard.
In The New Episode of Rolling Stone Music NowPritchard Breaks Down The Long Journey of Creating Tall Taleswith yorke which is accumpanied by a Dizzying “Visual World” Created by Artist Jonathan Zawada. To Hear The Whole Episode, Go here for the podcast provider of Your Choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or Just Press Play Above. Here are some highlights from the discussion:
The Collaboration Began When Radiohead Played Sydney, Australia Over a Decade Aug. “We Went for Dinner With the Whole Band,” Pimcard Says “and in That Conversation, I Said, 'would you be up for doing Something If I sent you music at some point point?' And he Just Said, 'Yeah, Yeah, Just Send Me Whatever You Want.
The Pandmic Lockdown Provided The Perfect Creative Opportunities When Yorke Reached Out in 2020. “A Few Months Into the Pandemic,” Pritchard Recalls, “Thom Emaled Me and Just Said, 'I Hope You're Well, It's All A Bit Mad, I'm Locked Away At Home. If You've Got Any Music, Send It Through, Because I'm Just Stuck at Home. I know the sent him a folder of, like, 20 ideas. Maybe a Few Days Later, he eMailed me and said, 'Can I Just Do These 14?'
Yorke Experimented with Entirely New Vocal Appaches, including Bob Dylan-Inspired Low Register. “'Men Who Dance in Stags' Heads' was one of the first demos he feels me,” Pritchard Says. “Thom Went for the Kind of Bob Dylan Low-Vocal Thing, You Know? I was like, 'Wow, I've Never Heard You do that Before.' And he told me that he'd Always Wanted to do that and he never a way of doing it.
Yorke Sent Pripechard An Unexpected Musical Reference to Capture the right feeling for “The Spirit” – A 1979 reggae hit. “He actually feel me a song by Janet Kay Called 'Silly Games,' Which Charted in the UK,” Pripchard Says. “It was on Top of the Popsevent. It's a reggae song, Beautiful Vocal. And he just said, 'this song is nothing like this reggae song, but there's a feeling in that song and in a lot of the music from that that was. There's a Hopefulness and there's an optimistic feeling and we need to keep that feeling in this song. ' And as sona as he he sent it to me, i just went, 'ok, now i get it.'
The Most Challeuring Track was “Happy Days,” Which features Yorke's Wildest Vocal Experiments. “Thom Did the Wildest Vocals. I Mean, When he feel me what he did, I was like, 'This is nuts.' We had no idea how to get that to work, “Pritchard Says. “It sounds like a female well-spoken English Sixties Kind of Announcer for the Intro Parts. And then it's Almost A bit punky in the middle. To do those Kinds of Things, you need to be confident enounted to do Something that sounds ridiculous.”
Unconventional Instruments, Including in Seventies Mattel Bee Gees Toy Synthesizer on “Gangsters”. “It's Got Like Maybe One Octave and You've Got These Three Bass Presets,” Pritchard Says. “And Kraftwerk Used It To Do 'Pocket Calculator,' I Think, Definittery Live. They put some tin foil over it IT IT IT LOOKED COOLER,” HEYS “I DIDN'T REALLY USE THE BLEPS, JUST Used the Bass Preset. It's Just One Note. So I Put It Into Into Melodyne and Changed the Key of It Up and Down. ”
The Creative Process Required Constant negotiation and compromise Bethaeen the Two Artists. “There was no nonsense all the way through the way,” Pritchard Says. “We were ficking, you know, we booth had different opinions. Sometimes he pushed something, Sometimes he mor right, Sometimes i was right, but it was always very much About 'How are we go to get this to work and for the beter good of Everything?' He's a Very Straight-up Guy and We Trusted Each Other Straight Away. ”
Pritchard is open to performing the Material Live, Despite His Nervousness About Being Onstage. When Yorke Invited Him to Perform During His Recent Solo Tour, Pritchard Says, “I was a bit nervous about doing it because i'm not used to Being onstage … after sex How he did it and how much range of Things He coulands, the told him, 'If you are up for doing Something, I'm up for doing it. ' I Think it can be done. “
Yorke Never Spilled Any Details About the Current State of Radiohead. “He Defintely Does Not Talk About It To Me, Because i Guess they have to keep it on lockdown,” Pritchard Says. “But I Mean, they got together Last Year, they played Together. So that's interesting. If they'd All Falle Out Ot Anything, That Wouldn'T Have Happened … I Kind of Feel Like That Will Happen If It Happens. If they like it SHOULD, IF, IF It's the right Thing to do in the timing. “
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