Word directly from the horse's mouth is that Radiohead will be releasing a new album in the near future. If you haven't already seen the release date, you must be thinking December or early January. You're probably thinking about which store you're going to pick it up from, or which torrent site will have the first advance copy. Neither matters. You won't find the new album in stores, and I highly doubt you'll see an advanced copy. Why? The album comes out October 10.
That's 10 days from now. Normally that kind of secret would be impossible to keep because of the astronomical amount of fake time between recording and release, but there's no label around to slow the process down artificially. Radiohead mark the first for a band of this magnitude to forgo the label and distribution process entirely to record, produce, and deliver the music on their terms. Well, that's not true. Radiohead are delivering the album on your terms. You decide how much to pay. I'm not shitting you, the digital copy of the album can be downloaded for any price; they said so themselves. What kind of fan service is that?
"I despise digital downloads, and prefer to enjoy my music through physical means" - Old Person
For those who aren't hip on this whole "MP3" business, Radiohead are making a delicious package of goods available for purchase. The "discbox" contains the new album on CD and on double 12" heavyweight vinyl, an enhanced CD with more songs and digital photography/artwork, and the lyrics booklet all enclosed in a hardback book. Unfortunately, this set doesn't feature a variable price and goes for a fairly steep $81. Keep in mind the band is not making use of a well-established distribution chain to manufacture everything in the set, because they're no longer benefiting from a major label's discount. That's a good thing, and the extra coinage is worth it.
I wonder what Lars Ulrich thinks of all this.
