So apparently Radiohead's new aptly titled album Hail to the Thief (Hi Dubya) which is due on June 9th has been leaked to the p2p networks. I do not use these illegal devilish systems (just joking) but I stumbled over an mp3 of the song Backdrifts at Fluxblog. Thank you, Matthew.

Though I have the impression that this song is almost purely electronic it seems to meld natural noises with artificial ones convincingly. The song is dominated by a mystic background sound reminding me of the amplified sound of a shell when you hold it onto your ear: you can hear the roaring ocean. The backbone of the track are the hypnotic (what else did you expect) propelling drums which kick in after 30 seconds together with Yorke's tortured voice. The drumming is precise and robotic like a drum-machine. After three minutes the piano repeats the theme, I wouldn't call it a melody. A trippy haunting track whetting my appetite for this album. I wasn't interested in it at all in the beginning. Somehow I have never looked forward to a Radiohead album but in retrospect they made at least one great one: Amnesiac. Will I ever finish my review of it?

Paul wrote some more not too positive things about the new album at The Rub.

P.S. The album can be downloaded from here. I have read that it is not the final mastered version though. Some interesting impressions on We Suck Young Blood which I haven't heard yet at Sean's (from the Canadian review site tangmonkey) new music blog said the gramophone.

P.P.S. The download link does not work anymore. Too much traffic I guess.