For the legions of Radiohead fans out there, any hint of a new album on the horizon usually conjures up a unique level of excitement that's difficult to replicate with other musical acts... thanks in no small part to the radically different sounds that the band experiments with for each album.
While it might not count for an entirely new album (just yet at least), the band has released new music this week via their app PolyFauna.
The PolyFauna app was released this past February and was described as being an interactive visual deep-dive into their album 'King of Limbs'. Described by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke as being "from an interest in early computer-life experiments and the imagined creatures of our subconscious," the app displays trippy visuals amongst a backdrop of the album's tracks.
While a lot of apps in the iTunes App Store feature a long description with multiple review quotes and outlined features, the band chose to keep the app description simple with the following:
"Your screen is the window into an evolving world. Move around to look around. You can follow the portal. You can wear headphones," it read.
The fact that Radiohead decided to release some music through their app rather than more common (read: commercial) distribution methods shouldn't come as a surprise. Previously the band has released their material via a 'pay as you wish' sliding scale and has never been known to be a fan of where music and corporations intersect.
In a 2013 interview, Thom Yorke famously said that the popular streaming music service Spotify is "the last desperate fart of a dying corpse," with the 'corpse' being the current state of the commercialized music industry.
"I feel like as musicians we need to fight the Spotify thing. I feel that in some ways what's happening in the mainstream is the last gasp of the old industry. Once that does finally die, which it will, something else will happen," said Yorke.
"We don't need you to do it. No artists needs you to do it. We can build the shit ourselves, so fuck off. But because they're using old music, because they're using the majors... the majors are all over it because they see a way of re-selling all their old stuff for free, make a fortune, and not die."
By releasing their music through their own app, Radiohead is essentially taking full control of their new releases while also offering their listeners the flexibility of a portable listening experience... something that has become vital for the streaming music business.
The PolyFauna app is available for free on both the iTunes App Store and Google Play. Radiohead will be heading into the studio this month to start work on their next album.
