Radiohead's 'These Are My Twisted Words': a tornado warning of a release to come?

Listen and learn where the newly leaked track came from, and why the 'Wall of Ice' website may make for an interesting Monday morning

Katie Hasty   Radiohead's "Twisted Words" are getting fans in a tornado of excitement. Sometime on Tuesday evening, a track "These Are My Twisted Words," credited to Radiohead, started making the rounds on "utopian" Torrent tracker What.cd. You can stream the track below. UPDATE: Be sure to check out our Monday follow-up story <a href="../../../articles/2009-8-17-radiohead-officially-release-twisted-words-track-for-free" target="_blank">here</a>. Users on <a href="http://www.ateaseweb.com/" target="_blank">AtEaseWeb</a>, a Radiohead fan site, caught wind, further disseminated the track, and uncovered a description within the data of the track, including a release date, Aug. 17, a release title, "Wall of Ice," and a data "poem," which is not the lyrics to the song: i just wanted to reassure readers that following representations seeking confirmation that before your very eyes behind the wall of ice that the box is not under threat however they are set to remove other boxes in fact i have the list in front of me i went to a briefing on their plans and challenged them to tell me exactly what the cost would be they spoke in broad terms Meanwhile, the domain <a href="http://wallofice.com/" target="_blank">wallofice.com</a> seems to be open for business -- or at least re-directs users to Radiohead's  official W.A.S.T.E store, to the <a href="http://www.waste.uk.com/Store/waste-radiohead-display-category-35-1-digital.html" target="_blank">digital releases section</a>. The genre for the track was specified as "doomcore, folktronica, ukf" and further says "we're looking for: talented puppeteers worms, disgruntled executives, sacked flies." The band has made no statement about it, nor has its PR handlers, but the track hasn't been suppressed, either. YouTube, torrent sites, blogs and (ahem) online magazines have really let this thing loose.  The original leak came from a user called "crza," and was his first post. "There is apparently evidence that connects the file data (specifically, the ISRC field) of These Are My Twisted Words with the only 'official' recent Radiohead release, Harry Patch (In Memory of)," says an article in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/14/new-radiohead-song" target="_blank">Guardian</a>. "Some fans say they were created on the same computer." On its face, the song is just so massively, totally Radiohead (who else has that close-eyed croon other than Thom Yorke?), and comes only a week after the group released "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)," a track that Yorke and Johnny Greenwood only recently recorded.  The band <a href="../../../articles/2009-5-19-radiohead-begins-recording-new-album" target="_blank">has said</a> it's gone back to the studio with Nigel Godrich, but Yorke recently told The Believer magazine (via <a href="http://stereogum.com/archives/radiohead-lp-not-coming-anytime-soon_083631.html" target="_blank">Stereogum</a>) that it doesn't plan to release albums like it has in the past. "None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off," Yorke says. "We've actually got a good plan, but I can't tell you what it is, because someone will rip it off. But we've got this great idea for putting things out." Then again, Yorke speaks his mind on this very concept: "I mean, I don't spend my fucking life downloading free MP3s, because I hate the websites. No one seems to know what they're talking about." Undoubtedly, more will be known by time the band takes the stage for a few, rare dates in the UK on Aug. 21. Perhaps they'll even premiere some new songs live. Starting with 2007 "In Rainbows," its first album since departing former label home EMI, Radiohead's released its music pretty much however it damn well pleases. But Yorke has gone on his own to release a solo track for the Mark Mulcahy tribute and for the forthcoming "Twilight Saga: New Moon" soundtrack. The only Radiohead-dubbed new release is "Harry Patch." This song doesn't at all sound like something that would come from their pre-EMI backcatalog, which the label would then own, but you never know. So here's looking at Monday, Aug. 17, which could be Radiohead's idea of April Fools, somebody else's idea of a mean trick or the opening of the new chapter on the British band's "great idea." Just for kicks, a little fun fact: the Flat Earth Society -- folks, back in the day, who thought that Earth was flat -- said that the oceans were kept in place by a 150-foot wall of ice. Radiohead are known to be environmental activists, so perhaps its a statement on what happens with the ice melts? My own brain just melted, I need a nap. music

2009-08-14T22:01:43Z

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Updated: Listen and learn where the newly leaked track came from, and why the 'Wall of Ice' website may make for an interesting Monday morning

2038-01-01T00:00:00Z

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