[HOT TRACK]Radiohead Continues Its Run

The British rock band Radiohead rose to fame with their song "Creep," featuring self-deprecating lyrics like: "I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, I don't belong here..." The band is now at the forefront of the alternative rock scene.

Since the release of their debut album "Pablo Honey" in 1993, this revolutionary rock band's appeal has only increased. They released three more albums: "The Bends" in 1995, "OK Computer" in 1997 and "Kid A" in 2000, which took its title from the name of a British project to clone a human. Their most recent release and fifth album has another vivid title: "Amnesiac." The new album shot to the top of the charts in Korea, proving the group's sustained popularity.

Radiohead has drawn both critical acclaim and popular appeal on the international music scene. In Korea, "Creep" became the "must-know" track that defined whether you were really a music afficionado or just a wannabe.

As the bassist Colin Greenwood explains, "Amnesiac" is a collection of "leftover" songs from the previous release "Kid A," which is considered to be their most innovative effort to date. The band's keyboardist, Jonny Greenwood, confirms that "Amnesiac" does sound similar, because it was recorded at the same time. "But 'Amnesiac' manages to combine the experimentalism of 'Kid A' with the popular appeal of 'OK Computer,'" he said The vocalist Thom Yorke describes the difference between the two latest albums metaphorically: "If you look at the artwork for 'Kid A', well, it's like looking at the fire from afar. 'Amnesiac' is the sound of what it feels like to be standing in the fire."

The most innovative and thus the most notable track is the unusually titled "Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors." This selection is not so much a song as it is carefully orchestrated noise, featuring narration rather than singing. The creatively titled track, "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box," is also inventive, while "Knives Out" sounds more traditional and akin to their old recordings with melodies and vocals.

The one disappointment in the new release comes not from the band but from the Korean distributors who translated the lyrics. Unable to convey actual meanings, many of the songs have been translated literally. For instance, the slang "chew the fat" from the song "Life in a Glasshouse" is translated as if it were applied to Jack Sprat's wife instead of being defined as chitchat.

by Chun Su-jin