Radio (in my) Head editOK, the cat’s at least halfway out of the bag now so I suppose it’s about time we gave you a bit more gen on the Radio (in my) Head album.  The project was conceived a few years ago by Bandhouse Records MD John O’Sullivan as a college project at the London College of Contemporary Music.  He realised that Radiohead songs were a common frame of reference for musicians from all over the world and that every musician seemed to have an interesting take on a Radiohead song (although, personally speaking, I draw the line somewhere short of Brad Mehldau).  By 2012, the college project was completed, but the concept wouldn’t lie down; John had graduated from LCCM and started up the Bandhouse organisation, working with fellow alumni and new contacts on the London music scene.

But the expansion didn’t stop there; the internet (particularly Soundcloud and social media sites) enabled the project to become truly global with contributions coming from eleven bands and/or producers from (wait for it) Italy, Serbia, Russia, Israel, USA, Ireland, France, South Africa, Colombia, South Korea, Norway, Iceland, India, Singapore and Estonia (and good old Blighty).  I make that eleven tracks put together by contributors from sixteen countries.  I think that pretty much ticks the world music box.

I heard a few whispers about this project just over a year ago and that says a lot about how long it takes to get something like this together.  John got the official Radiohead seal of approval for the project at about this time last year, but the whole process of mastering, tying up all of the legal and publishing loose ends and generally giving the project the final polish it so richly deserves takes time, so here we are in September 2013 with the first single released and the album almost ready to go.

I really wish I could tell you more about the album at this stage but most of it’s still very tightly under wraps apart from Ido Livni and Re’ut Szekely’s cover of “Videotape” which was released today on iTunes.  What I will say is that I’ve heard pre-master versions of several songs and they’re all very, very good.  We’ve reviewed live and recorded material from several artists involved in the project here at MusicRiot and we can’t wait to hear their contributions.

We’ll have more news for you about this intriguing album very soon.

Videotape 1I know we’ve been teasing you with this for a year now but we’ve finally got a release date for the first single from the Radio (in my) Head project and the album’s on its way fairly soon as well.  The concept was initiated by the founder of Bandhouse Records, John O’Sullivan, as a college project at the London Centre of Contemporary Music and quickly spiralled out into an album featuring artists from across the globe.  But we’ll tell you more about that when the album’s released.

The lead single is Israeli producer Ido Livni’s collaboration with singer Re’ut Szekely on the 2007 “In Rainbows” track “Videotape”, which is backed on the single by “Untimely Storm”, a collaboration with Maria Gutman, Ori Livni and Tal Alagim.  Incredibly, Ido is only eighteen although most of the work on these tracks was done when he was seventeen.

So how does this version compare with the original?  The Radiohead version is built around traditional instruments (piano and bass mainly), but Ido’s version is a purely electronic and very percussive backing track full of squelchy analogue synth sounds and very heavy bass underpinning Re’ut’s sultry and soaring vocals.  The only rule I enforce with cover versions is that you make the song your own and Ido and Re’ut certainly do that with “Videotape”.  And the “B” side’s pretty good as well.  After a bit of a gimmicky start, “Untimely Storm” settles down into a trip-hoppy groove with a distinctive vocal and that’s good enough for me.

You’ll hear much more about the Radio (in my) Head album over the next few weeks, but this is a pretty good start.  Watch out for more news here.

Out September 24 on iTunes.