Album / CD art cover titled " The King of...

Album / CD art cover titled " The King of Limbs" by Radiohead. Credit: None/

This time out, Radiohead isn't looking to change the music industry with new pricing ideas. It's not even looking to change ideas about the band.

No, this time out, for the band's eighth studio album, "The King of Limbs" (TBD), Thom Yorke and friends simply roll out eight excellent new songs that continue along the electronic-experimentation-meets-guitar-rock road they started down with "OK Computer." They have veered off occasionally with varying results, but no surprises here.

There are skittering sounds, combined with electro-jazz and dreamy synths on "Bloom" or polyrhythms and heavy breathing on the daring "Feral." There are moments of accusation and the aural equivalent of claustrophobia on "Morning Mr. Magpie," where Yorke attacks, "You stole it all! Give it back!" while Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien debate with their guitars and bassist Colin Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway ratchet up the angst with their conflicting rhythms. And there are potential rock hits -- most likely with the first single, "Lotus Flower," which combines a soulful falsetto from Yorke with sturdy rock underpinnings, or with "Separator," which is in the same sonic neighborhood as one of the year's breakout artists James Blake.

Though Radiohead left the conventions of the music business years ago (the band offered less than a week's notice of the existence of this album before making it available for download), "The King of Limbs" shows that Radiohead no longer feels the need to break new ground every time. And that's perfectly fine.


RADIOHEAD

"The King of Limbs"

GRADE A-

BOTTOM LINE No grand ideas, just grand music

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