Kid A is not a Radiohead album. It might not be an album at all. The warning signs were all there in last year's Meeting People is Easy, the Grant Gee directed documentary of their OK Computer tour. It depicts a band unable to handle the praise from critics worldwide and their ensuing angst. After taking two years off to record at least three album's worth of material, Radiohead has timidly returned with a frighteningly self-indulgent idea. So daunted by OK Computer's praise they made an album that didn't need them at all. It's not post-rock, post-electronic, post-millennial, or even post-apocalyptic but far more pretentious. They are now post-Radiohead.
The most engaging part of Radiohead has always been Yorke's ability to go from a whisper to a roar and make both soar with emotion. Since it has received such critical praise, the first step in becoming post-Radiohead was obviously to ruin the purity of Yorke's singing. KidA starts with "Everything in its Right Place" which features Yorke's vocals used as a sample. It isn't till the fourth track, "How to Disappear Completely", that you are really able to recognize Yorke's infamous wobble. Throughout the rest of the album Yorke's vocals are electronically distorted so that what he is saying or any emotion that he might be saying it with is completely lost in a haze of electronic cacophony.
The next step to developing this post-Radiohead sound was to take a band with three guitar players and replace almost all the guitar parts with synthesizer and electronic gadgetry. Kid A sounds likeDJSpooky,DJShadow or DJKrush with all the spirit and soul of hip-hop removed which leaves five white indie guitar geeks pushing buttons and turning knobs in the studio.