Notes from the underground

Radiohead releases new album, all hell breaks loose on Internet

The new record, titled “The King of Limbs” is slated to release as a “newspaper album” which makes it particularly relevant to us. Gone is the old “pay as you will” system of 2007’s “In Rainbows,” and instead, Radiohead offers a couple different payment options, the cheapest of which is $9.

For that $9, you can choose to download the album in mp3 format. For $5 more, you can get the album in wav format, which is higher quality uncompressed files (once again, nerds).

For those of you who desire a tactile record, it can be yours for the low, low price of $48. Once more, for wav format, you’re looking at an extra $5, which brings the total to $53. That’s a far cry from 2007’s “pay as you will” pricing scale.

With a digital copy costing just as much as a CD you’d buy in an actual store, one must wonder if this album will stack up to “In Rainbows.” Has Radiohead’s pretentiousness finally imploded? Will nerds ever be the same?

Well, the reviews are slowly trickling in at the time of this writing. The general consensus? Thumbs down! However, in the interest of truth and justice, we will provide you with our review ASAP.

Foo Fighters releases new song, escapes the vortex of dad rock

Last week, Dave Grohl and company released the track “White Limo,” a new track off their long-awaited album “Wasting Light,” which comes out on April 12.

When news leaked that the Foos were recording this album in Dave’s basement with a bunch of old analog equipment, dads the world over drank a Rolling Rock to celebrate. Up to this point, the bulk of Foo Fighters fans has slowly transposed from alternative kids to 40-year-olds who talk about albums in terms of “tone” and “chops.” The announcement that the Foos would work exclusively in the medium of analog gear only solidified the talks of tone and it appeared that middle-aged dads had finally claimed the Foos as their own. Just as the music community was about to pitch in to buy the Foos a proverbial gold watch, “White Limo” came out.

Like so many other bands who head down the path to dad rock, we always pray that they will put out a single or record that gives us hope (see also: Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day). Almost every time, this results in disappointment. The Foos decided that they would not succumb to this, opting to not be buried in a coffin built by Dockers.

Simply put, “White Limo” kicks serious ass. It’s fast, hard and features about 10 percent clean vocals. Dave Grohl snarls, screams and sputters over this track, rarely stopping to take a breath. The video features Lemmy of Mötörhead fame, and upon watching it, we learn that Pat Smear is back in the band.

It becomes clearer and clearer as the track unfolds that Dave’s time spent drumming for Queens of the Stone Age has clearly rubbed off on him in making this record. Honestly, you couldn’t ask for a better influence. ?