I haven't written anything about Radiohead's new album. It is time!

A Moon Shaped Pool is a dark confessional, most likely about the ending of his relationship with his girlfriend of 23 years. This album is a mini-orchestra with horns, cellos, violins, who knows what else. It all starts with the first notes - the strings - of the album on "Burn the Witch. "

It's further explored on "Daydreaming" and all of the orchestral elements come to an unforgettable crescendo on the most delicate song of the album, the wandering "Glass Eyes":

And the path trails off and heads down a mountain through the dry bush. I don't know where it leads and I don't really care.

In the ranking of their discography, I'd put this ahead of Hail to the Thief but behind Amnesiac. But Hail is such a great and different album, it's pretty hard to compare. I know it's better than The King of Limbs and every album is better than Pablo Honey so there's always that!

The album has moments of serenity amidst the blackness, but further investigation into Thom Yorke's almost always slithering and unintelligible lyrics indicate the light is skin deep.

"Present Tense" sounds like a sweet lullaby but Yorke's lyrics are broken and beaten (I shortened the repeated lyrics for ease):

This dance
Is like a weapon
Of self defence
Against the present
Present tense

I won't get heavy
Don't get heavy
Keep it light and
Keep it moving
I am doing
No harm
As my world
Comes crashing down
I'll be dancing
Freaking out
Deaf, dumb, and blind

In you I'm lost

I won't turn around when the penny drops
Won't stop now
Won't slack off
Or all this love
Will be in vain
Stop from falling
Down a mine
It's no one's business but mine
That all this love
Has been in vain

In you I'm lost

Pretty beautiful poem. Pretty dark too!

Overall, I really love the album with only two tracks - Desert Island Disk and The Numbers - as ones I don't find myself drawn to. But so many other tracks have SO many damn layers and sounds (sorry, I had to).

"Ful Stop" is a completely ridiculous bull run of a track, starting in solemnity and apprehension as the bass beckons, gathering steam as Yorke's voice enters, then comes full gallop after almost three and half minutes as Yorke wails to the heavens. The bull disappears in the fade, reappears to the rising sounds until exiting stage left as the music fades and it saunters off without a scrape. This is the kind of track only Radiohead can make.

"Decks Dark" may be my favorite track on the album - and speaking of the theme, Yorke starts th song, "And in your life, there comes a darkness." Oh man, this is going to get ugly:

There's a spacecraft blocking out the sky
And there's nowhere to hide
You run to the back and you cover your ears
But it's the loudest sound you've ever heard
Are we trapped? Rag doll cloth people
We are helpless to resist
In your darkest hour

And the whole song ends, "Have you had enough of me, sweet darling?" So like any human being in this entire world who just ended a 23 year relationship, Yorke is in a tough place. But writing is cathartic so here's hoping he's doing alright.

(Side note: I meant to write one sentence for this mixtape, saying I was busy this week. THIS is what happens when I start talking Radiohead.)

I'd love to speak more about Carl Broemel's (guitarist of My Morning Jacket) solo album because it is fan-freakin-tastic, maybe one of my top 10 albums of the year, but instead I'll direct you to "Sleepy Lagoon." I hope you love this song as much as I and please listen to the rest of the album,

And "Amerika" by Young the Giant is just a phenomenal opener (for their new album - which is very disappointing - and for this mixtape). What a beat!