Introduction
On October 2nd, 2000, British band Radiohead released Kid A. 0xDJ Athena was heavily inspired by this album. To celebrate its influence on the 0xmusic project, all 0xDJs will play in the style of 0xDJ Athena on October 2nd every year until the end of time.
Additionally, we airdropped two brand-new tracks that were custom-created for the 0xmusic community. Holders of 0xDJ Athena have been airdropped the track “Three fingers,” and holders of a full 0xDJ set have been airdropped the track “Motion Picture Sadness”. 0xmoments are released under CC0 licensing, and holders can use them in any way they please.
Kid A: An appreciation
Kid A marked the beginning of the 21st century not only in terms of its timing, but from the perspective of how it was consumed. Kid A was one of the first albums to be consumed in an online format at such a mass scale: it garnered about 400,000 streams.
Though Kid A’s place in history is now rarely contested, Radiohead’s defiance of expectations initially yielded mixed reviews. Following the release of OK Computer — which was widely lauded as one of the greatest rock albums of all time — the whole music world was on the edge of its seat for the band’s next release. It would have made business sense for them to create something more accessible than OK Computer, more tracks along the lines of “Karma Police” and “Paranoid Android.” Musical peers such as Coldplay and Muse rocketed to the top of the charts/industry by giving their fans more of what they liked.
What Radiohead did was create an inaccessible, electronic dystopian sonic landscape that manages to feel futuristic more than two decades later, while simultaneously remaining timeless at its core. What’s even more remarkable is that this record not only didn’t alienate their fan base, it served to expand it. In a now-infamous review, Pitchfork gave it a perfect score of 10. Several other music critics eventually followed suit. A band that created one of the most beloved rock records of our age in OK Computer pulled off what so many talented musicians cannot: making a hard pivot in terms of sound and still retaining their fanbase.
What Kid A did was continue Radiohead’s tradition of making music to be consumed in album format. When listened to from beginning to end, you are transported to a place that is filled with angst while somehow leaving you feeling serene. On the other hand, it was a dramatic departure from the band’s “sound.” Guitars and drums were replaced by synthesizers. But despite using different instruments and tools of expression, the album retained Radiohead’s signature core themes of brooding angst.
Kid A has also had a huge impact on my musical journey. It was Jonny Greenwood who originally introduced me to MAX MSP — a software for creating basic programming building blocks in music. Seeking to expand my knowledge, I took a course on interactive art through the Columbia University music department. That course completely changed the way I thought about musical representation, and a lot of the ideas I started sketching out became the seed that blossomed into 0xmusic.
0xDJ Athena
Rhythmically, 0xDJ Athena was loosely inspired by the grooves and sounds in Kid A. The placement of the snare and bass drums disobeys conventional music theory as it relates to strong and weak beats. Athena also stays true to a classic electronic sound with its plucked lead and fuzz bass. What you end up with is a dialogue between all of these disparate entities reminiscent of early 80s electronic music that permeated so much of the pop culture, film, and video games of that era.
The contour of the face of Athena loosely resembles the Seated Harlequin. Hit the play button, and the image comes to life with a balance of vertical and lateral motion animation of the different shapes in the image, along with other shapes that resemble neon-style lights that periodically go on and off.
Three Fingers
The name is a hat tip to the track “Treefingers” on Kid A. Musically, most of the lead and bass of the track is a direct use of MIDI stems that were acquired from the 0xSong Three Fingers. A small human-composed piano counterpoint section was added to the track at various points for juxtaposition against the completely computer-generated sections.
This is also the first 0xmoment that completely subverts 4/4 rhythms and is structurally unpredictable.
Motion Picture Sadness
“Motion Picture Sadness” is also based off of MIDI stems, and draws its inspiration from the track “Motion Picture Soundtrack” on Kid A. Both “Motion Picture” tracks are pitched on the major scale (which is usually associated with “happy” vibes, at least in the context of Western music), but still manage to evoke feelings of sadness and nostalgia — not the kind of sadness that you necessarily want to disappear immediately, but the sort of almost cozy and comforting sadness that you know is fleeting, and feel compelled to indulge and even relish. This description seems absurd when written in text, which is really a testament to the idea that music is the best and perhaps sometimes only means of expression for the complexity of certain aspects of the human experience.
Conclusion
Beyond a brief analysis of the technical and contextual aspects of Kid A, Radiohead’s deft pivot inspires contemplation about the nature of authenticity, experimentation, and musical identity. It’s possible to experiment and evolve without losing our core identities. We may even forge new connections and strengthen the existing ones if we decide to express ourselves in more varied ways, so long as the expression is authentic. Ultimately music to so many of us is a language of emotions that’s arguably far more complex and nuanced than any other art form. As a writer of this audio language of emotions, it would seem to make sense to be your most authentic self while writing and performing, as doing the opposite is tantamount to trying to sell a web of lies.
Like most things in life, this is easier to say than it is to do for most artists, who also need to make a living, play industry politics, and do what is necessary to get their art to be heard by as many people as possible. Typically, musicians who strongly prioritize either the artistic or the practical aspect of their work do so at the expense of the opposite factor: contrary to what we would like to believe, passion and artistic integrity alone aren’t usually enough to pay the bills or attract listeners. Conversely, derivative art devoid of conviction and authenticity may yield some material success if hustled properly, but easily fades from the memory of musical history.
Radiohead is one of those rare instances of a group whose members have steadfastly retained artistic integrity and made complex, authentic music that has also enjoyed popular and commercial success. It’s been an honor to have lived through an era contemporaneous with this band. Keeping with that spirit, the 0xmusic project will continue devoting unswerving attention to concepts that lie squarely at the intersection of music, art, mathematics, and technology.