Radiohead, R.E.M. Hit the Studio to Work On New Albums
A pair of the biggest bands in rock, Radiohead and R.E.M., hit the studio recently to begin work on their next albums. While both groups are in the beginning stages of writing and recording, they offered up some early details in a series of interviews.
Radiohead have reconvened with longtime producer Nigel Godrich to start work on the follow-up of 2007ís In Rainbows. ìIt was very noisy and chaotic and really fun,î bassist Colin Greenwood told BBCís 6 Music of the bandís recording session. ìItís at the stage where weíve got the big Lego box out and weíve tipped it out on the floor and weíre just looking at all the bits and thinking ëWhatís next?í Iím very impressed and grateful for Nigel our producer and his ability to make it all sound vaguely plausible.î
Greenwood had some more vague details for NME.com, adding, ìItís really cool and everything is sounding great. Itís early days and it is a bit like having a scrapbook at the moment because everything is up in the air, but itís good to be back in the studio.î Considering the recent report that the band was encouraged by their management to ìsplit upî during the tumultuous recording of In Rainbows, weíre glad to hear that things thus far are going smoothly. While the band provided no specifics, one of the tracks that may get the studio treatment is ìSuper Collider,î which Radiohead premiered during concerts on their In Rainbows tour.
As for R.E.M., guitarist Peter Buck spoke to Pitchfork about the early stages of recording their follow-up to last yearís Accelerate. Buck and bassist Mike Mills recently entered a Portland, Oregon studio to record skeletal tracks that they written wrote touring behind their recent album in the hopes of making some music that would ìexcite Michael [Stipe] about getting inspired.î Unlike the stripped-down Accelerate, Buck says, ìThis record, I want it to be broader; I think Michael [Stipe] is into that. So there are some really pretty acoustic things, some really total noisy rock, and some kind of poppy stuff. It runs the gamut.î While Jackknife Lee will likely serve as producer again, Tucker Martine, who produced the Decemberistsí Hazards of Love helped Buck and Mills lay down the demos.
Categories