​This morning, Radiohead announced more tour dates, and the British band has finally filled in the New York City area on its 2012 map; they'll perform at the Prudential Center in Newark on May 31 and June 1. Tickets go on sale this Thursday, March 8 via W.A.S.T.E., while the public will get its hands on them on Saturday, March 10.

Our sister paper, the Miami New Times, attended last week's tour kickoff; the set list drew chiefly from Radiohead's 2011 album The King Of Limbs, although the band also debuted two songs and played the 1998 song "Meeting In The Aisle" (from the Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP) in concert for the first time. Video of that performance below.

More >>

​Unlike MTV's Video Music Awards, which usually reward some combination of pop excellence, symbolic audacity, and likelihood of being controversial, the Grammys' short-form music video category is a lot like the Oscars. They don't always pick the best videos—this year's list omits such highlights as Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass," Ke$ha's "Blow," the Beastie Boys' "Make Some Noise," and Beyoncé's "Girls (Who Run the World)"—but they do a good job of capturing the middlebrow zeitgeist, recognizing those videos that manage to combine critical respectability with popular appeal. Looking through their past winners, they generally pick the right one from the bunch ("Opposites Attract" in 1991, "Losing My Religion" in 1992, "Digging in the Dirt" in 1993). Their blind spot is the same one in every other category: older artists. That's why "Free as a Bird" beat "Tonight, Tonight" in 1997, and Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" won over Feist's "1234" in 2008. With no dead artists eligible this year, will the righteous (Adele) triumph? Or will Grammy voters give in to their lazier impulses and just pick OK Go?

More >>

​The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences introduced the Best Alternative Music Performance category in 1991 in anticipation of punk breaking later that year (and permanently renamed the award in 2000). Over the past two decades, the changing demographics of the nominees have reflected the ever shifting and hotly debated definition of the word "alternative." The Foo Fighters' debut was nominated for in 1996, but without changing their sound much at all they've since migrated to—and dominated—the Best Rock Album category. This year, the award continues to struggle with its identity with a field that's more unpredictable than usual: There's no lock like Beck or The White Stripes present and no big commercial breakthrough for a long-running band like the last two winners, Phoenix and The Black Keys.

More >>

To supplement this year's Pazz & Jop launch, Sound of the City asked a few critics to expand on the reasonings behind their voting. Here, Michael Tedder breaks down his entire ballot, and along the way he talks about about the operatic heights of Fucked Up, the shredding ability of Annie Clark and Ritzy Bryan, and the power of the "boof."

​Fucked Up, David Comes to Life (30 points): I was starting to get a sense of the way the wind was blowing for this year's roundup, and I'm generally aware that aggressive music, no matter how smart and inventive, has a ceiling for critical support. (I should point out that I submitted my ballot before the Spin endorsement.) So, just like I did last year with Titus Andronicus' The Monitor (I will not accept the idea that anyone this decade wrote a better album about America now, or a better album period than that), I went all in, points wise, to try to get my favorite album in to the top ten. Like last year, I failed, and I regret nothing. Anyway, people focusing on the intentionally confusing plot of this rock opera are not paying enough attention to the operatic arrangements (that term is not used as loosely as you imagine) Mike Haliechuk and company are offering up here, like some bizarre amalgam of Crass, Queen and Chavez. Also, I still don't know how Veronica died, and I'm surprised that in these #OWS days no one is discussing the working-class fatigue subtext ("those better days have passed us by") on display here.

More >>

Radiohead
Roseland Ballroom
Thursday, September 29

Better than: Groceries for the next six weeks.

When Radiohead took the stage at 10:07 p.m. on Thursday night, people were talking. When the amusingly Cobain-coiffed frontman Thom Yorke acknowledged the sold-out crowd of 3,500 with a one-word salutation ("Hey") after the set-opening "Bloom," people were talking. Throughout OK Computer bustout "Subterranean Homesick Alien"? More chit-chat. Even during the delicate "Codex"—a plot point at Radiohead shows where I've seen large theaters and even arenas taper down to an impossible church-like silence—people talked and talked. And talked. How they managed to score tickets. Why the band couldn't just suck it up and play "Creep." How they were crushing it despite the recession. No topic was off limits. "That's alright," said Yorke with a trace of irony during the upright-piano intro to "The Daily Mail" near the end of the set. "It's Thursday night. You can talk, I don't care."

More >>

So sayeth the official web site of the downtown occupation. Is it a surprise show if it's announced ahead of time? (Not really!) Do you think they'll break out "Creep" from the archives and tweak the lyrics? "No, you're the creep, you fatcats!" (Probably not!) Should you probably start heading down there right now if you want to be within aspirating distance of Thom Yorke? (Uh, you're probably late already?) UPDATE: Oh, Internet: Radiohead's spokesperson says it isn't happening. Well, enjoy your Friday afternoon off, those of you who decided to extend Summer Fridays to the end of September. And, uh, I would maybe advise against going down there? I have angered that band's diehards in the past, and they get pissed, at least on the Internet.

​Let's hope all those sodden souls huddled under tarps made their way into 30 Rock to catch a glimpse of the two performances ("Lotus Flower" and "Staircase") embedded below.

More >>

Last May the season finale of Saturday Night Live was prefaced by Lady Gaga fans setting up a mini-campsite in the middle of Rockefeller Center so they could get the chance to see their heroine perform on the show. Not to be outdone by silly fans of pop music, a bunch of Radiohead fans have also started a vigil of their own in anticipation of the band performing on tonight's Alec Baldwin-hosted season premiere; in the video above, you can see them lined up in last night's drizzle, talking about "a loootttt of advertising" and prepping for campfire moan-alongs to tracks from The King Of Limbs. (Be sure to peep the guy getting creative with mail crates at the 0:30 mark.) Two questions come to mind: First, did Radiohead send over any pizzas yet, and two, I wonder how many citizens of this temporary neighborhood set up their web browsers so they'd be pointed at the correct Ticketmaster page on Monday morning before they left their houses? [via @tcostello/Twitter]

Out standing in their field.

​
Radiohead will be in town for this weekend's Saturday Night Live season premiere (hosted by Alec Baldwin!) and the Internet-beloved Brits will apparently be making New York City their home for more than just this weekend; the band's playing two shows at Roseland Ballroom on September 28 and 29, a.k.a. next Wednesday and Thursday, and tickets go on sale a week from today at 10 a.m. Note that there's a two ticket limit "per household," what with these shows being the band's first live appearance in the United States since the release of The King Of Limbs earlier this year. So, uh, line up your web browser early? (www.ticketmaster.com is a 20-letter url.) And enjoy the band's "From The Basement" showcase of Limbs below.

More >>

​
This morning Radiohead premiered "Staircase," a moody, somewhat noodly track with a bouncing bassline and drones buzzing past each other. The performance of "Staircase" was recorded during the filming of Radiohead's forthcoming From The Basement episode, which premieres July 1 on the BBC; Radiohead will reportedly play The King of Limbs in full on the broadcast as well. Clip below.

More >>