Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque"

The following is an eclectic analysis of the song Idioteque by Radiohead.

The critiques are represented, below, in the order defined by Ferrara in "Philosophy and the Analysis of Music".

I. Historical Background

II. Syntax

III. Sound-in-time

IV. Musical and textual representation

V. Virtual Feeling

VI & VII. Onto-historical world and open listening

VIII. Meta-critique

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Metacritique

Meta-critique

The eclectic analysis of Idioteque by Radiohead generated much information on the track and of the world it is composed in. The heavy usage of first or second hand accounts on information lends credence to the writing. Being able to hyperlink the reader all across the web, via blog, to a variety of informational sources not only gives the author credibility, but invites them into the world in which the researcher saw, and perhaps entice them to continue studying the material. The global digital community in which the writer and readers exist allow for a wealth of information to be exchanged. Research for this writing was made possible by YouTube uploads, blog posting, on-line print databases, communal digital encyclopedias, and more.

While the author has attempted to make all connections to music examples and information references clear, there are limitations to the presentation method. One music read, click, listen, scroll...etc. It can be a little much. Secondly, a discussion of production techniques would have generated more data regarding the song that all included methods disregard. A method devised by William Moylan attempts to codify recording technique and affect. Perhaps this article will inspire a reader to do so.

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Onto-historical World and Open Listening

Onto-historical world

By the release of Kid A, Radiohead were full-fledged rock stars, although much to their chagrin. The OK Computer tour had worn them out; Yorke had grown sick of guitar, and especially ill of the rock industry. In a video interview (linked previously), he says, "Well, God help us if we f*ing were [the biggest rock band in 1997]. Even being called a rock band was a bit of a nightmare really... It sucks man, I hate it. I'm just so f*ing bored of it... It's not really the music...sitting on stage, playing guitar... What I'm talking about is all the mythology that goes with it. I have a real f*ing problem with that. I have a problem with the idea that you have to tour yourselves stupid..."

Thom also regretted positioning Radiohead in a way that was uninviting to electronic music, which he was increasingly being influenced by. To him, the attitude of the music was the same. In the 1990s digital audio technology was becoming cheaper and more ubiquitous, which made a lot of tricks on Kid A possible. The band's willingness to experiment and push sonic boundaries let them away from traditional rock instrumentation and in to synthesizers, samplers and computer-based composition. The possibility of digital technology was an expansion of the band's compositional palette, not, as some writers suggest, a deliberate attempt to isolate their music from the rock continuum.

As touched upon briefly, the lyrics in Idioteque are reflective of the socio-political climate of the mid-to-late 1990s.

"Who's in bunker...Women and children first..."

The mention of a bunker, and the war-time mantra of protecting women and children, conjures up a militaristic image. The song "I Will", written in the early 90s, also mentions a bunker and has been suggested to be referencing the first Iraq war. The war in Kosovo was a big issue pre-Kid A release, and was an inspiration for the cover art of the album.

"Here I'm allowed everything all of the time"

"Take the money and run"

This phrase speaks to the increasing consumerism of the last few decades. It was exacerbated in the 1990s by capitalist greed (dot-com bubble, corporate scandals i.e. Enron). 

"Ice age coming... let me hear both sides"

"This is really happening, happening"

Long before Al Gore made his keynote, climate issues were becoming a major concern. Official Radiohead t-shirts in 2001 featured the ice-berg from the album cover with the warning (taken from the lyric), "Ice age coming" (wiki).

"Mobiles working, mobiles chirping"

This line refers to the growing mobile electronics industry. Cell phones, PDAs, pagers, were becoming common place; this lead to the digital lifestyle in which the modern world has finds itself in today.

"We're not scaremongering" seems very much a reference to the conventions developed by television network news casting. "If it bleeds, it leads," they say. Sensationalism and fear induction is thought to entice viewers to watch, or scare them enough so they won't leave.

Open listening

Is the synthesizer like a church organ? The singer is about to relay his thoughts on the world, to warn us of impending doom... 

The sampling from Kreiger's work sound like a stomach grumbling. Is is a sonica metaphor regarding the turmoil of our world?

The vocal harmony in the chorus, as they sing of their entitlement: "Here I'm allowed everything all of the time". Maybe the multiplicity of voices suggest that there are many people that are this way... those who feel entitled, spoiled, or out of harm's way.

It's surprising how much more aggressive and faster the C section sounds. It contains the same relaxed drum looped, but the fast percussive part on the left channel, along with the alertness the voice demands gives the part a much quicker feel.

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Virtual Feeling

Virtual Feeling

How does one report on the expressiveness of human feeling in a work that is intentionally (or supposedly) devoid of emotion? Langer has met her nemesis, and that is Thom Yorke. As mentioned earlier, Yorke sought to capture the emotion of his words not to emote, to be expressive of emotion, but to simply exist along with the rest of the instruments. In the same breath, he explained, "I think what I find about, like, taking on the electronic sort of thing, taking on programming and editing and that and sampling, is that it stops, it stops you trying to emote... because there's something I find incredibly exciting about leaving something to run and standing there listening to it and not actually play at the time and singing along."

To say that Idioteque is totally emotionless would be to disregard the effect of the instrumentation and timbre, changes of pulse and vocal performance. 

The entrance of the solo drum loop is admittedly cold, but as the harmony swirls in, the listener is brought into a transcendental world by the sounds of a warm, futuristic synthesizer in rich harmony. The first verse's vocal performance is relatively apathetic in delivery, but the falsetto, as the lead singer jumps to B in the refrain, conveys a sense of declaration and entitlement as he sings, "here I'm allowed every thing all of the time...".

Section C, following the refrain, is much quicker in pace thanks to a percussive sample, which counters the mellow pacing of the drum loop. The sparse texture still manages to convey a sense of urgency and immediacy. The singer seems to warn of an impending doom, "ice age coming, ice coming... this is really happening, happening...".

After the quick, and perhaps unsettling, C-section, the refrain returns. This time, it is more soothing to the listener. The sense of alarm has been set aside, as if a horrible news story on TV was put of consciousness suddenly at the changing of the channel. The singer is still safe and happy, and perhaps ignorant of the world around him. In the repeat of the refrain, the singer once again comforts himself and reassures himself that he is indeed okay.

The reversed drum loop marks a shift, perhaps once again into the dark aspects of the world, the one which the vocalist is blissfully ignorant of. An eerie, dark sample accompanies the drum loop. It squeaks and wails and cries. It seems to go on and on, perhaps signaling that problems and trouble will not simply go away. 

The return of the harmony, the beginning of the coda, initially feels calming, similar to the sensation following the C-section. This time, however, the eerie long hall sound does not go away. The comfortable and the uncomfortable co-exist. The vocal returns, sampled, conveying an ominous message, "the first and the children", contributing more to the sense of uneasiness. The singer must become aware of his concurrent existence in the universe, or at the very least, accept the possibility.

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Referential meaning

Music and Textual Representation

Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?
Women and children first and the children first and the children
I'll laugh until my head comes off
I'll swallow till I burst, Until I burst, Until I

Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?
I've seen too much, I haven't seen enough, You haven't seen
I'll laugh until my head comes off
Women and children first and children first and children

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

Ice age comin', ice age comin'
Let me hear both sides, let me hear both sides, let me hear both
Ice age comin', ice age comin'
Throw it in the fire, throw it in the fire, throw it in the

We're not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening
We're not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening
Mobiles working, mobiles chirping
Take the money and run, take the money and run, take the money

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

While writing lyrics to Idioteque and much of Kid A, Yorke drew inspiration from David Byrne's fragmentary composition on the Talking Head's album Remain in Light. Thom describes his process in an interview, "I just basically have all the things that don't work... I stopped throwing them away... and cut them up and put them in a top hat, and pulling them out, and that was really cool because I managed to preserve any emotions that were in the original writing of the words, but in a way that it's not... trying to emote, it's just part of what's going on."

That said, the lyrics to the track can not be looked at as a linear narrative, but as a collection of the composer's thoughts. Each stanza seems to meditate on one thought, and is usually filled with metaphor ("I'll laugh until my head comes off, I'll swallow till I burst..."). Every phrase contains repetition; some are of a few words, others of a line, others of two lines. 

The meaning of the text is unclear, but its references are steeped in sociopolitical commentary which will be explored in a subsequent discussion of the composer's onto-historical world.

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Sound in time

Radiohead - Idioteque

The following is a phenomenological description of the "sound-in-time"

00:00-00:20

A techno/house drum loop begins, slightly distorted. It is joined seconds later by a crescendoing grinding sound. There is a quick broadband flutter, and then a smooth, video-gamey synthesizer enters... it rises and falls with each chord change. 

00:20-01:00

A thick kick drum now joins the loop to fill it out. There is some more fluttering and gargling. The texture is reduced to the loop and a jingling sound (like coins in a bag) on the right channel. The coins fade to only drums.

01:00-01:34

A male voice enters, and the synthesizer returns. A second and third voice (possibly the same singer) appear, one to double the lyric, and another mumbles in the background. There is some more gargling noise before a change in section.

01:35-01:51

The vocal jumps higher, and a second vocalist enters singing a lower harmony. The instrumentation remains the same as the previous section.

01:52-02:36

The pace quickens noticeably. An uptempo percussion line enters on the left channel. The singer seems hurried to relay an urgent message. There are more blips and juts. The mumbling voice in the background returns. A small buildup takes us into a new section.

02:37-03:10

A previous section is repeated, this time with the new hurried percussion. In the right channel, the male voice is being looped with a previous line about children.

03:11-03:50

Drum loop is reversed! Ahh okay, it returns to normal. It is joined by eerie creaks and wails coming from the back of a long hall. Brief blips pop up.

03:51-04:06

The jingling coins are back! They fade out not too long after. In its place comes a second beat, mostly in the left channel. Its much more aggressive and quicker.

04:07-04:21

Ahh the synthesizer pad has returned. We are coming home.

04:22-04:49

The "children" vocal sample returns and is repeated in different iterations.  

04:54-05:09

A broadband crunch scrambles and leaves in its wake the long hall wailing heard not long ago. A distant, dark instrument searches high and low for a note, but never settles. The track bleeds into the next, and we are out.

Eclectic Analysis - Radiohead "Idioteque" - Formal Analysis

Key: Eb Major/ G minor

Meter: 4/4

Form: A B C B B  D E

            intro | verse

      | chorus

      | interlude

      | chorus     | chorus

      | bridge

      | coda

Transcription of harmony by Paul Lansky:

The harmonic progression is Eb > G > Bb > D. The synth pad, borrowed from Lansky, is the only instrument creating a harmony. The rest of the texture, save the vocals (which primarily rides between D and Eb in the verse, and B in the chorus), is percussive. The verses and choruses can be sub-divided into 5-bar phrases.

Since there is no other melodic content, a method by William Moylan was used to plot, as he calls, sources versus a timeline. It is especially useful with the amount of sampling that takes place in the track. Sources (Y) are plotted against time (X; marked in measure numbers), and color-coded. Sections are clearly marked under the measure markings. (Please excuse the scanning bleed from the back of the paper.)

The drum loop enters alone, and continues throughout the piece, altering only a couple bars when it is reversed (section D). Sample's from Kreiger's Short Piece, introduced in the historical critique, are interspersed through the composition as a percussive ornament. Not each entrance is the same material, but it can be recognized easily after a couple listening of the source work. Lansky's synth pad is prominent in the verse (A), each repetition of the chorus, and the coda. It enters 7 measures into the introduction, and ducks out for 10, leaving the drum loops, a Kreiger sample, and what the author is referring to as "Jingle sample" (it sounds like jingling coins). O'Brien sings harmony with Yorke during the choruses, as marked in pink. On the first repeat (or second entrance) of the chorus, Yorke and O'Brien are joined by a sample of Yorke's vocal "the first and the children". It also re-appears during the coda. There is a sole instance of a small percussion sounding sample in the C-section, which fades into the repeat of B. Roughly two-thirds of the way through Idioteque, the bridge (D) hits, and introduces an eerie, long dark hallway sound, which lasts through that section, and the entire coda. The D section is spare, only containing the long hall sound and the drum loop, although the jingling reappears briefly. Near the end of the D section a second beat (referred to as "break-beat" since it creates polyrhythm), which is much quicker in tempo, enters, and runs through the coda. Shortly into the coda, Yorke's sample returns ("the first and the children"), and rides us through to the end, repeating at different occurrences within the sample ("first and the children, the first and the children, the first, the first and the children...").