I must respectfully disagree with all those who classify The King of Limbs as some sort "headphones" album, one that requires careful listening and avid attention to deconstruct and appreciate. The King of Limbs is not some Post-Modern experiment (though it is that, too)--no, it's a dance album.
When I downloaded it just a week ago, instead of sitting their dumbfounded by this strange new track-listing that was bizarre even by Radiohead standards, I found myself actually dancing in my room, almost without thinking to.
I was dancing on the first listen, even. For all the on-line chatter about whether or not this is a band that has become "so obsessed with sound that they forgot to write a song," or if these are just warm-overs from Thom Yorke's solo album, or discussions about accessibility and willful difficulty, I think what most on-line reviews have missed is the fact that this is an album you can dance to.
One would think this fact self-evident, based if nothing else on the fact that the album's first music video features singer Thom Yorke dancing to his own song! He willfully looks like a dork dancing, because we all look like dorks dancing--but then, when we dance, we don't care how we look, we just dance. He likewise wishes you, the listener, to cut loose and not be afraid how you look doing so. One does not need to wait for Radiohead to provide some mysterious skeleton key to grant access to their strange new album--one need only watch their video, and understand immediately the framing device, the context that The King of Limbs is to be experienced in.
It is a dance album. You dance to it. Far from intellectually deciphering its many layers, you are to let go your mind (the fact that the lead single is called "Lotus Flower" should call to mind the Buddhist predilection for clearing your head) and move to the rhythm.
Now, is this their best album? No, not even close. The fact that it took them 4 years to produce a mere 37-minute album that they release off-handedly on the internet one weekend with only 4 days' notice, should probably indicate that their prolific days are well behind them. Sadly, they most likely will never produce another masterpiece like OK Computer or Kid A.
But then, I already own OK Computer and Kid A--I can re-listen to those whenever I want. Last thing the world needs is another band cashing in on a marketable sound, diluting the power of their own original through endless soul-less repetitions. I already own OK Computer; I neither need nor want Radiohead to produce another.
But say I want to dance sometime, cut loose some energy, let myself go, but I'm not in the mood for hip-hop, or Top 40 or whatever; rest assured, in that case, I will put on The King of Limbs.
It's dance music for people who hate dance music. It's dance music for people who love Radiohead.
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