Everything is in its place.
Radiohead has been one of the best bands on the planet since the mid-'90s and manages the rare gimmick of being eclectic and experimental while at the same time achieving massive commercial success. The band has always been quite Internet-centric: A key part of this new, elusive project, their 2000 album Kid A, saw the band step back from traditional press almost entirely in favor of a website, dozens of 10-second video clips, and an early streaming tool called iBlip. . Of course the cherry on top was when it was leaked to Napster a few weeks ago.
In September, it was announced that Radiohead would bring the Kid A Mnesia exhibit to Mac and PC, and it's now available for free download. As you can see from the launch trailer above, this doesn't seem like a pretty place! The press release describes it as “an upside-down digital/analog universe created from original artwork by Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood and sound design by Nigel Godrich to commemorate the 21st anniversary of Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac albums.” At least he didn't call it the metaverse.
Radiohead's Thom Yorke popped up on the Playstation blog (also available on PS5) with some thoughts. The project apparently started as an idea for a physical exhibition in London and was catchily described as: “This amazing steel shell was to be inserted into the urban fabric of London like an ice pick to Trotsky. The gray Englishman was rising into the sky.”
Yorke ran into several issues with group setup and scheduling permissions before Covid "actuated the final destruction." “Our dream was dead. Until we realize… It would be so much better if it didn't actually happen. Because then it didn't have to conform to any normal exhibition rules or reality. Much better."
