Radiohead’s recent week in New York City — promoting The King of Limbs on Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and for a few non-televised live performances — is only the start of what they have in store for the rest of 2011. This winter, Radiohead will return to their Oxford studio to record more new material, Thom Yorke revealed to Rolling Stone. What’s more, Yorke’s side project, Atoms for Peace, has a full-length debut nearing completion.
“There are a few of those,” he said of new Radiohead tune “Come to Your Senses,” which was recorded during a rehearsal that captured “the essence of what [they] need.” He added, “It would be fun to have them ready when we go to play next year. I don’t know how we would release them. It would be nice to make it all part of the flow and just enjoy it – not think about it too much.”
Meanwhile, producer Nigel Godrich revealed they are “waiting for the lightning bolt to strike” in order to complete work on an Atoms for Peace album, which is set to include solo Yorke songs with and without his all-star band’s lineup of Flea, Godrich, Maura Refosco, and Joey Waronker. By the looks of things, 2012 just might be an even bigger year for Radiohead than this year — or, at the very least, an equally productive one.
Arriving well in advance of this winter’s holiday season, She & Him’s first Christmas album, A Very She & Him Christmas, hits shelves in just two weeks. But before you pick up the 12-track set of traditional tunes, Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward have offered up a free preview of opening cut “The Christmas Waltz,” a lesser-known oldie that fits the pair’s retro folk-pop whimsy like a glove. Upon first listen, fans of Deschanel’s first public foray in Christmas music for the film Elf should have no problem employing this record as a memorable soundtrack to their year-end festivities. Spin the first track below:
Not only will Johnny Depp star in the new adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary, but the former full-time rocker has recorded music for the film as well, set for release via Lakeshore Records later this month when the Bruce Robinson-directed film hits theaters. While pieces of composer Christopher Young’s score make up the vast majority of the 24-track set, Depp contributed to 4 of the tracklist’s final 5 cuts, which also features a new original tune from the great Patti Smith titled “The Mermaid Song.” Depp performs an instrumental take on Smith’s tune, as well as a song with JJ Holiday called “Kemp in the Village” and two tracks not-so-cryptically credited to the JD Band. Check out the full tracklist below (via