It cuts deep
It cuts deep
A human error
These are the rules
These are the rules
And they’re cruel
I’ve always been a fan of 12″ singles* and so when Atoms For Peace released Judge Jury And Executioner I was there. Doubly so because it was limited edition, triply so because it had an exclusive B-side and quadruply so because, well, just because because because, really.
As always with Atoms For Peace it was a really nice quality item to own. The artwork is another slice of Stanley Donwood’s 18-foot long ‘Lost Angeles Lost’, the title is inlaid with purple foil and the back cover is pleasingly debossed, to the point that I have probably stroked it marginally more times already than Angus Young’s hair on Flick of The Switch**.
‘Judge Jury And Executioner’ is probably the most obvious choice for a single from Amok. A brilliant review I read recently said that it was,
The closest to a conventional song on Amok is the swoonsome ‘Judge Jury and Executioner’, which seems to be built on the chassis of a mutant folk song and even has a touch of that Radiohead about it, underneath the divine choir of fallen angels, percussion and atmospherics. It is by far the shortest track on offer and the punchiest too.
Who am I to argue with the greats? Thom Yorke’s voice is such a wonderful instrument these days, the way he sings he picks out the lines like a spider’s web shimmering with waterdrops from the morning dew among the ghostly backing and spindly beat. The whole song is a beautifully fragile construct, it sounds like it might collapse under its’ own weight at any point.
But we all knew all of that anyway, how about ‘S.A.D’? I hear the masses chanting. ‘S.A.D’, does it stand for ‘Seasonal Affective Disrorder’ or ‘Sexy Apple Dumplings’? I’m leaning towards the latter. Interestingly it is the most emotional cut I’ve heard from the Amok sessions, Yorke’s voice sitting proudly atop a great muffled bassline from Flea and yet another skittering beat. The mood this time is tension and regret^^, it does sound beguilingly sad; I’m not a melancholy person but I do love me a sad tune or two, it has to be said. There is an interesting blurred quality about the backing this time, which recalls the distorted thumb piano sounds of Mbongwana Star to me.
Atoms For Peace get big 1537 bonus points for the lines ‘The door is ajar / The door is ajar’, which is a phrase I love and it reminds me of an old Bill Hicks routine and so I grin incongruously every time I hear it, particularly because he did it when I saw him live.
One time me and three friends dropped acid and drove around in my dad’s car. He has one of those talking cars, we’re trippin’, and the car goes, “The door is ajar.” We pulled over and thought about that for 12 hours. “How can a door be a jar?”…”Why would they put a jar on a car?”…”Oh man, the freeway’s melting”…”Put it in the jar.”
So maybe not so s.a.d after all.
653 Down.
*the first one I bought is probably still the best one too, maybe it gave me false expectations.
**I have never, ever felt to see if his buttocks are debossed^. No, that wasn’t me at all, a grown man feeling the drawn buttocks of another grown man wearing a school uniform? it all sounds a bit seedy to me.
^they are.
^^well what did you expect? euphoria? really?
I second what Aaron said. That’s stunning!
Super awesome distillation sans alienating detachment. Stimulates acquisition desire.
I see what you did there. Sadly the only other ones I can think of are childishly obscene, so I better Stop And Desist.
Okay then, so that’s me away over to Discogs. Ta-ta – back soon.
(feels guilty … for seconds)
THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM THE BLOGGING COURT OVERLORDS:
WE HAVE RECEIVED A JEALOUSY COMPLAINT FROM ONE AARON KMA, ESQ, SAYING IT IS UNFAIR THAT ONE HUMAN OWN SO MANY BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL RECORDS.
IT IS THE DECISION OF THIS COURT THAT YOU MUST SHARE THE GOODNESS WITH AARON KMA, ESQ FORTHWITH, IN ORDER THAT THE COMPLAINTS CEASE.
OBEY YOUR OVERLORDS.
Blooming Solar Federation!
When you send all of your musical goodness send them to Aaron’s KMA office in Waterloo and address it to his musical manager, Boppin.
Just going to leave this here.
https://youtu.be/kF99-DsX_lk
Damn fine thing to leave lying around.
Wait! Stop the freaking presses! You actually got to see Bill Hicks live??? Damn. One of my absolute favorite minds right there. Hicks is someone I feel the world needs right now. His Beelzebozo joke gets me every time, too.
Love these singles, too. I’m starting to find myself being drawn to singles myself, both of the 7″ and 12″ variety. I’ve got the “Default” 12″ single as well as this one as well, though mine’s of the plain variety. I’ve thought about collecting them all, but that would seem sort of obsessive. And I’m not obsessive. Not at all.
Yup sometime in ’93, I think in Leeds. Without looking it up, I think it wasn’t too long before he died. I remember him being very, very loud indeed.
Good news that you’re not an obsessive sort of person, they suck.
Did you ever read ‘American Scream’? Great book about the man. It was all very sad towards the end.
Terrific visual description of Yorke’s voice!
Thank you very much.
As the only Thom side project I have is that solo album with the interesting fold-out CD cover (The Eraser?) I was interested to read this. A supergroup of sorts, yes? Anyway, the package looks very lovely indeed. Though your lego self does seem to be a trifle decomposed. If pain persists, see a doctor.
AFP=ACE