Radiohead’s The King Of Limbs Artwork
Here is some information and a closer look at the album artwork for The King Of Limbs. This was originally posted on At Ease. Check it out by clicking here.
The cd is housed in a 4-page wallet, with the actual cd in a slit on the right side. On the left page you can see 8 illustrations accompanied by the following titles; Roots Of Roots, Ragnorok, Urpflanze, The King Of Limbs, Codex, Axis Mundi, Yggdrasil and Arbor Philosophica. The albums credits are below. The back has the word RADIOHEAD mirrored and the track list.
Remember the reference Aporia made about Arbor? Click here for more info on Aporia.
These are the album credits:
The music and sounds of The King Of Limbs were conjured up by Radiohead and Nigel Godrich. The imagery was summoned up by Zachariah Wildwood and Donald Twain. Engineered and mixed by Nigel Godrich. Additional engineering by Drew Brown. Additional assistance by Darrell Thorp and Bryan Cooke. Flugelhorn on Bloom and Codex performed by Noel Langley and Yazz Ahmed. Strings on Codex performed by The London Telefilmonic Orchestra, led by Levine Andrale and conducted by Robert Ziegler. Mastered by Robert C. Ludwig at Gateway Mastering & DVD. Also thanks to Peter Yozell, and Neil Whitcher. Studio equipment etc., kept going by Plank. Ourselves kept going by Kat and Tim. And our office! A big thank you very much indeed to Drew Barrymore. This one’s for new Henry, Zohar and all our little ones. Hello Guys
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The King Of Limbs Symbol
The following was written and sent to me by Lúcio T:
As The King Of Limbs artwork, promo and advertising shows, the King Of Limbs symbol can be seen as a modified Chaos Symbol (click here to see the original symbol), or/and a modified Compass Rose symbol (click here for original)
Starting with Chaos:
Chaos (Greek χάος khaos) refers to the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths, more specifically the initial “gap” created by the original separation of heaven and earth.
In Greek mythology and cosmology referred to a gap or abyss at the beginning of the world, or more generally the initial, formless state of the universe (the antithetical, or possibly complementary, concept was cosmos).
The word is used in classical studies with the original meaning; in mathematics and science to refer to a very specific kind of unpredictability; and informally to mean a state of confusion. In philosophy, and in popular culture, the word can occur with all three meanings.
Greek χάος (Chaos) means “gap, gaping void, chasm, abyss“, from the verb χαίνω, “gape, be wide open, etc.”, from PIE *ghen-, cognate to Old English geanian, “to gape”, whence English yawn.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos
and http://en.wikipedia….%28cosmogony%29
from http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yawn
yawn 1. To open the mouth widely and take a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired and sometimes accompanied by pandiculation.
This meaning of Chaos, of separation, of the void, can be seen in other songs as well, like on Lotus Flower: “I dance around the pit, the darkness is beneath”
and the song title Separator seems to point to this direction as well.
What we should focus on as well is the fact that in this modified Chaos Star, its limbs are not arrows, but hands. You can also notice that some hands have five fingers, while others have four, with no apparent pattern. I still don’t know what to make of it. Maybe this “Star” is The King Of Limbs itself, with its limbs spreading in all directions, or represents it, with the added symbology and meaning of Chaos in all its forms (together with all the other meanings we had before, like the King Of Limbs 1000 years old tree reference).
Another thing that I thought about Bloom’s Yawn, is that this indicates a beginning, like waking up. The “The Universe will sight” image makes me think that the universe is awakening, as this would be an analogy with ourselves as representations of the universe, the Kings of Our Own Limbs. Separator mentions dreams and sleep, as the process would start over again, finishing with the line “Wake me up“.
This could also be a reference to Michael Moorcock’s work, as he created of the Chaos Star Symbol for his “Eternal Champion” stories, but the star today is the widespread symbol of Chaos, not limited to his books.
The “Eternal Champion” is engaged in a constant struggle with not only conventional notions of good and evil, but also in the struggle for balance between Law and Chaos. In a sense this reflects the idea of the “golden mean” as the ideal condition of being (Marcus Aurelius, etc.). Many of Moorcock’s most successful books follow this theme of promoting a dynamic stability which frees humanity (or thinking beings) from the burdens of superstition, hate and fear.
The Multiverse, which consists of several universes, many layered dimensions, spheres, and alternative worlds, is the place where the eternal struggle between Law and Chaos, the two main forces of Moorcock’s worlds, takes place. In all these dimensions and worlds, these forces constantly war for supremacy. Since the victory of Law or Chaos would cause the Multiverse either to become permanently static or totally formless, the Cosmic Balance enforces certain limits which the powers of Law and Chaos violate at their peril. Law, Chaos, and the Balance are active, but seemingly non-sentient, forces which empower various champions and representatives.
from http://en.wikipedia….ichael_Moorcock
and http://en.wikipedia….ternal_Champion
The compass rose is an element of a map used to show direction, showing cardinal directions and frequently intermediate direction.
Naming all 32 points on the rose is called boxing the compass.
The “rose” term arises from the fairly ornate figures used with early compasses. A fleur-de-lis figure, evolved from the initial T in the north wind’s name Tramontane, is sometimes used to indicate the north direction. Similarly, on old maps the east was marked with an L for Levante, or with a Christian cross indicating the direction of Jerusalem from the point of view of circa mediterreaneas countries.A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a map, a nautical chart or a paving (as built in Dougga, Tunis, during Roman times)[1] used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions, — north, south, east, and west. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional magnetic compass. Today, the idea of a compass rose is found on, or featured in, almost all navigation systems, including nautical charts, non-directional beacons (NDB), VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) systems, global-positioning systems (GPS), and similar equipment and devices. Early forms of the compass rose were known as wind roses, since no differentiation was made between a cardinal direction and the wind which emanated from that direction
The “Rose” reference is also very significant as the first song in the album is called “Bloom” and there’s reference to the “Lotus Flower” as well.
The Cardinal Rose reference can also be seen as a link with the maps from Hail To The Thief and the cosmos images in In Rainbows, as the maps made a direct connection between the songs and the world around us, or at least to that particular world Radiohead wanted to show us. This time the Cardinal Rose could make us imagine the various possibilities and directions we could take, and their consequences, and the hands on the tips of the Rose would illustrate that even more, showing that every path leads to even more choices and ramifications, but that we must try and take hold of it.
As for the different colors in the Star (the promo version is plain, but the vinyl and ad version are divided into two and four respectively), maybe this could be a reference to the four seasons (maybe the regular vinyl version shows only two colors because it has two sides, making up four colors in total. if this is correct, the newspaper version vinyl symbols would have one color each as there will be two vinyls = 4 sides). This is one more indication that could lead us to see the album as a progression of changes, like the development of a tree or the phases of someone’s life, not only in long term but also in short term: a year cycle compared to a life cycle. Each season has its symbolic significance, so this would add even more meaning to the songs as well. As there are 8 songs in the record and the star has 8 hands, this could also reference each individual song.
Of course these are just some references and loose interpretations. I’d love to hear more thoughts and references about this subject, more connections to the album as a whole, to its concept and the individual songs. Cheers!
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Radiohead’s The King Of Limbs physical copy (photos)
Here are a could of photos that were sent to me of the physical copy of The King Of Limbs. I will have some additional photos when it comes out on the 29th. You can order it from Amazon.com here for the CD, and here for the vinyl.
Notice how the 8 arms are in 2 different colors on the vinyl(yellow and orange)? If you remember the post about The King Of Limbs being 2 EPs (you can read it here ). That could possibly explain the 2 colors on the Vinyl.
In this photo there is both the vinyl and the CD.
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“All I want is the moon upon a stick”
So, today (3-19-2011) was the first Full Moon since February 18th, which of course is when The King Of Limbs was released. I know a lot of thought something could happen today, though unfortunately nothing happen. Below is a video I shot of the Super Moon and what it looked like from Orlando, FL.
This photo was sent in by Gerald and was captured in France:
This one was sent in by Nils in the Netherlands:
This photo was sent in by @almagenes on Twitter:
So, I know there are some people out there who have lost hope and I think that after a month that can be expected. On the other hand there are many of us that have not. I can say that personally I am confident that there will be more, and here is why: Let’s go back to ‘In Rainbows’ when it was released under the “Pay What You Will” method. The bands interviews back in 2009 indicated a different way of releasing music though they would not give any details. They also hinted at possibly releasing EP’s in some form.
Now let’s look at The Present Tense (pun intended). The band announce the album on Feb 14th and back on Thursday, Feb the 17th when Radiohead sent out this cryptic message in Japanese, “渋谷 ハチ公広場 金曜日 １８時５９分” , on Twitter which in English reads “Hachiko Square Shibuya, 59 minutes at 18 Friday.” I think this message just set the stage on how mysterious the band have been so far for this album. The band released the album one day early on Friday, Feb 18th, and Ed O’brien (Radiohead guitarist) mentioned it was a Full Moon. On top of that there is Chieftan Mews, Aporia, Stanley Donwood (which just happened to first use Twitter on Feb 9th- At least that is his first message on his account), the band remaining 100% silent except for Jonny Greenwood’s interview for the “Norwegian Wood” soundtrack, which indicated they were still recording and not planning to far ahead (I never read into this interview too much). And the band’s record label XL Recordings posting rumors about a part 2 to “The King Of Limbs” on their own site. I do realize it’s an automatic news feed, but they would delete that from their site if they were false. I think there are way too many coincidences here to think otherwise.
Now, the physical release is going to released on March 29th (there is a link below if you would like to pre-order it on Amazon.com), so I think they might be waiting until after that. I think an announcement before then could be a serious burden on record sales with “The King Of Limbs”. I know we all wanted something to happen this weekend with the Full Moon and Super Moon, especially with all of the Moon references, etc. And, if in fact this album is a four season album and we already have the Spring portion, wouldn’t they wait until closer to Summer. The first day of Spring is March 20th. The first day of Summer is June 20th and the Newspaper Edition of the album will be shipped out on May 9th, so maybe we will have to wait until around then?
These are just my thoughts on this, let me know what you think in the comments section below. I think patience is a virtue on this.
ALSO! I know I mentioned it my video update yesterday, but I have to give a big Thanks to Tony who has helped me on the new site!! If you have not noticed he has recently made a few posts on the site, and is also a big fan of Radiohead.
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Radiohead update The King Of Limbs website
This was brought to my attention just a few minutes ago. Here is what it says on The King Of Limbs website, and the change is highlighted in red:
Newspaper Album – PRESALE
Radiohead’s new record, The King Of Limbs, is presented here as the world’s first* Newspaper Album, comprising:
- Two clear 10″ vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
- A compact disc.
- Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
- The Newspaper Album comes with a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players.
- The Newspaper Album will be shipped from Monday 9th May 2011 you can, however, enjoy the download now.
- Orders placed on or after 21st February 2011 (UK time) will ship from 1st June 2011
- Shipping is included in the prices shown.
- One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12″ vinyl. Competition closing date 28th March.
*perhaps
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