Radiohead at Fonda Theatre Benefit for Haiti — Photo by Lindsey Best
Early this week Thom Yorke teased what appeared to be a new album in the works. Today, he has released Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes. The album is available exclusively via file-sharing platform BitTorrent. Check out the video for “A Brain In A Bottle” below. The album is available for $6.00 here.
In a letter, Yorke and long time collaborator Nigel Godrich explained the decision to release the album via BitTorrent,
“As an experiment we are using a new version of BitTorrent to distribute a new Thom Yorke record.
The new Torrent files have a pay gate to access a bundle of files.
The files can be anything, but in this case is an ‘album’.
It’s an experiment to see if the mechanics of the system are something that the general public can get its head around …
If it works well it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work.
Enabling those people who make either music, video or any other kind of digital content to sell it themselves.
Bypassing the self elected gate-keepers.If it works anyone can do this exactly as we have done.
The torrent mechanism does not require any server uploading or hosting costs or ‘cloud’ malarkey.
It’s a self-contained embeddable shop front…
The network not only carries the traffic, it also hosts the file. The file is in the network.
Oh yes and it’s called Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes.
Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich”
The album is also available on deluxe vinyl and is, “printed with a metallic silver laminate then multi-tone black and a striking neon green; the whole is enclosed in a bespoke anti-static shield bag – a metallised laminated material usually used by the electronics industry for protecting components from electrostatic interference. The bag is printed with neon green on both sides, and has a resealable grip closure.”
Yorke’s last solo album was 2006’s The Eraser.
There is still rumors that Radiohead is in the studio but nothing has been confirmed since Johnny Greenwood made mention of it back in July on BBC Radio 6.
Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes
01. A Brain in a Bottle
02. Guess Again!
03. Interference
04. The Mother Lode
05. Truth Ray
06. There Is No Ice (For My Drink)
07. Pink Section
08. Nose Grows Some
Radiohead at Fonda Music Box (Benefit for Haiti) – Show Review and Videos
Ultraísta featuring Nigel Goodrich at the Echoplex – Photos & Show Review – Oct. 19, 2012
