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Arctic Monkeys

THOM YORKE

Currently touting his well-received debut solo album The Eraser, Thom Yorke has been the front man and eloquent, emotive mouthpiece of Radiohead since the early Nineties.

Exploding out of Oxford with the Nirvana-like breakthrough single Creep, the band grew from student friendly, angst ridden indie types, to become one the world’s most unpredictable, challenging and constantly exciting rock bands, in the process inspiring and influencing a whole new crop of rock acts such as Muse .

Albums like The Bends and OK Computer reinforced their reputation as one of the world’s top stadium outfits alongside U2, while the contrary, stark electronica of Kid A and Yorke’s forceful political opinions successfully alienated many amongst their chart friendly fanbase.

It is to Kid A’s stripped back, machine powered sound with synthetic textures and the usual angry, doomladen lyrics that Yorke returns on The Eraser. Produced by Radiohead regular Nigel Godrich the album is a raw, yet life-affirming work. There’s plenty here to touch, amuse and excite until a new Radiohead album appears.
 
 
 
 
Hard-Fi

Muse

Since they formed in 1997, Devon rock outfit Muse have been both helped and hindered by comparisons with Radiohead. Four studio albums down the line though, singer/guitarist Matt Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard have managed to give Thom Yorke and co the slip, emerging as a unique and creative force with a sound all its own.

In 2001, breakthrough album Origin Of Symmetry cracked skulls wide open with its bombastic, theatrical, sometimes operatic approach to rock, Bellamy’s vocals oft compared with Queen’s Freddie Mercury and of course, Thom Yorke. Selling over 2 million copies, 2003’s Absolution was another grandiose and ambitious work, bursting with ideas and occasionally drawing on the dark and muscular influence of metal bands.

Perhaps surprisingly, Muse have had to wait until 2006 to receive a Mercury Prize nomination. Current album Black Holes and Revelations, a Wippit favourite, finds itself up against albums by the Arctic Monkeys and erm, would you believe it, Thom Yorke ladies and gentlemen!

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