Imaginary Sounds Mix 23; Part 2: Radiohead - Xendless Xurbia

One of the great things about Radiohead is that they have an extensive collection of b-sides, and most of them are so good they make you wonder why they never showed up on the full-length albums they were recorded during. I recently came across a collection of all the Radiohead b-sides from over the years and realized that that if they were good enough to be on those albums, they could be made into albums themselves. 

So I took those B-sides and compiled them into 3 different collections by the era they came from and, like the only-child-nerd I am, I created a story for these albums. They are 3 albums (not b-sides at all) the band recorded, mastered, and finished and shelved due to problems and the fickle nature of the band (not unlike other famously unreleased lost albums like SMiLE or Get Back) only to be found, finished, and released years later. And that's the story from here on out. Yeah, I even made art for the covers. Deal wit it.

(download full album) [111MB]

The second release in this series is Xendless Xurbia,

an album that was completed and packaged to be released during the Radiohead world tour in May of 2003 between albums Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows. Xendless Xurbia easily competes with HttT to be the band's most eclectic and thematically varied album. This may have something to do with Radiohead ultimately shelving the album a mere 3 days before they were to announce that the album existed. While being lightyears more organic than previous albums like Kid A, the album manages to still carry that album's choking claustrophobia. Even the early tracks like Down is the New Up and Bangers and Mash, examples of the band cutting loose and resigning it's fear of decibels, have an underlying tension and darkness that is palpable.

Short interlude tracks MK1 and MK2 break the album up into three distinct parts. MK1 serves as the catalyst that pushes us down the dark well that is the electronic and experimental second-third that. Much less organic, and creepier as it goes, by the time we get to Where Bluebirds Fly, you are truly feeling haunted at the bottom of the damp abyss.

We are pulled back up by MK2 into the warm and welcoming acoustic strumming of Gagging Order. The third, more intimate and folksier, side of Xendless Xurbia gives us our clearest look at the theme of the album: the salvation of being adequate in a world that is largely incompetent itself.


Tracklist:
1. Down is the New Up
2. I Am a Wicked Child
3. These Are My Twisted Words
4. Bangers & Mash
5. 4 Minute Warning
6. MK1
7. Up On the Ladder
8. Paperbag Writer
9. I Am Citizen Insane
10. Where Bluebirds Fly
11. MK2
12. Gagging Order
13. Last Flowers to the Hospital
14. Go Slowly
15. Harry Patch (In Memory Of)
16. Fog (Again)