Radiohead’s Kid A Meant to Be Listened to With… Radiohead’s Kid A?

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Radiohead Kid A
Bloggers are blogging that certain songs on Radiohead’s 2000 album Kid A can be, er, enhanced by playing two copies of the CD together, one of them delayed by 17 seconds. Some fans are claiming Thom Yorke has said this mysterious phenomenon is “intentional.” As someone who’s gone on record as being amused by unlikely juxtapositions, I’m game for this: okay, internet, try me.

The Modern Age has three sample tracks posted, and I gave them each a listen. “Everything in its Right Place (17 Second Delay Version)” comes out, um, muddy and ridiculous; “Kid A” actually does synch up on the beat, but still just sounds like two songs playing at once; “Morning Bell” not only syncs up, but, I’ll admit, actually sounds kind of cool. Hmm. What could it mean?

Despite my mashuppy history, I’ve never actually tried watching The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, although at a party this weekend, the hostess had Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” on the TV and a mix CD on the stereo, and when Interpol’s sparse, haunting “Pioneer to the Falls” came on, they seemed to go together pretty well. And no, there was nothing funny in the brownies. Anybody have any other secret musical juxtapositions they’ve enjoyed, either sober or not?

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate