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July 20, 2009

New Thom Yorke - "The Present Tense" (Live At Latitude)

thumbnail icon: New Thom Yorke - "The Present Tense" (Live At Latitude)

Over the weekend we alerted you to Thom Yorke's 12-song set at the Suffolk-based Latitude festival, mentioning that he played Eraser and Radiohead songs along with the newbie, "The Present Tense." We have some video of the performance: Thom -- a singing head emerging from behind a bunch of equipment -- jokingly introduced the spare, downcast, and somehow familiar track as "a new song, so you know, go for a piss." As expected, more than a few people held their bladders and stuck around to hear it out.


(via atease).

Thom Yorke - "The Present Tense" (Live 7/19/09) (MP3)


[Pic by Gab.]

So, that's the second peep from Yorke in a week. If you missed his stab at Miracle Legion's "All For The Best," don't.

Posted at 9:46 AM by brandon in ,
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34 Comments

guitar reminds me a lot of his black swan song

Posted by: dru at 07/20/09 10:08 AM  | Reply
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Reminds me of Portishead's The Rip. Not a bad thing!

Posted by: anon  in reply to dru's comment at 07/24/09 6:40 PM  | Reply
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What I don't get is the timing of chord C against chord D in the symposium song that starts off at four minutes and ten seconds into the album. is it me or does that remind you of a hippopoatomas dancing in the wind?

Posted by: John Flipop at 07/20/09 10:13 AM  | Reply
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makes it a dominant 7th chord with the 7th on the bottom.

Posted by: aaron Ford  in reply to John Flipop's comment at 07/20/09 4:18 PM  | Reply
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I wouldn't say a hippo, but rather a gentle minx rubbing against a bushy beard.

Posted by: Rueben Chili at 07/20/09 10:23 AM  | Reply
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You are comparing the amazing work of Thom Yorke to a minx rubbing on a beard and a hippo dancing in the wind? The man is a genius. Give him some credit and at least compare him to a lovely little swan gently flapping its wings amongst the summer breeze as fish swim below its feet. The sweet sweet wing flapping of a swan.

Posted by: Frank Giocciapolis at 07/20/09 10:30 AM  | Reply
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Love that guitar line.

Posted by: tcaporale profile link at 07/20/09 10:31 AM  | Reply
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...Elvis should have done "Homesick Alien" on his Hawaii special...

Posted by: Blue Cloud Sunburn at 07/20/09 11:11 AM  | Reply
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I love Thom Yorke, but I'm worried for him. Like how he's going to do music for the Twilight sequel.

Posted by: dafs profile link at 07/20/09 11:13 AM  | Reply
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He was also supposed to "do the soundtrack" for the latest Terminator movie and for Choke (the most recent Palahniuk film) as well as a ton of other shit that never materialized because people who make movies like to talk out of their asses. Unless this is confirmed by someone from Radiohead (which hasn't happened, in case you were wondering) I'm not holding my breath for Thom's shiny new vampire love song.

Posted by: lily profile link  in reply to dafs's comment at 07/20/09 2:02 PM  | Reply
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Downvote the truthteller, huh?

WHOOPS.

Posted by: dafs profile link  in reply to lily's comment at 07/24/09 10:59 AM  | Reply
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Want a cookie?

Posted by: anononon  in reply to dafs's comment at 07/24/09 6:42 PM  | Reply
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Oatmeal, please.

Posted by: dafs profile link  in reply to anononon's comment at 07/24/09 8:59 PM  | Reply
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Mmmmm, good choice.

Posted by: anononon  in reply to dafs's comment at 07/24/09 11:28 PM  | Reply
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I was there! It was an excellent set, Thom clearly in a good mood (jokes, even) and playing some fine reconfigured versions of The Eraser songs (I haven't checked YouTube but Harrowdown Hill was a particular standout) and the odd Radiohead song, including Follow Me Around and True Love Waits.

Posted by: Simon at 07/20/09 12:03 PM  | Reply
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this video of it is much better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmbg3Z0x6jQ

Posted by: er at 07/20/09 1:06 PM  | Reply
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What a beautiful tune. Hope he'll record it this way and not opt in for full on electronics.

Posted by: Charbarred at 07/21/09 4:16 AM  | Reply
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Hey that's my photo of the setlist there !!!

Posted by: Gab at 07/22/09 9:47 AM  | Reply
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Thom did FOLLOW ME AROUND? Where is THAT video? Love that song, and Radiohead has never released it....

Posted by: Jeff at 07/22/09 11:31 AM  | Reply
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Check youtube, it's there. In good quality, too.

Posted by: anon  in reply to Jeff's comment at 07/24/09 6:32 PM  | Reply
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Boring.

Posted by: Matt at 07/22/09 11:33 AM  | Reply
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i really love band, specially Thom Yorke he is a true genious, also he is handsome and lovely, I hope to receive more information about Radiohead and Thom Yorke.
kisses

Posted by: jOsS at 07/22/09 11:00 PM  | Reply
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What is it? This song is like...it just bugs me like mosquitoes under a hot light.
I know most fans think he's a genius but i definitely do not fall into that camp.
Some rock stars just think too much...

Posted by: timsored profile link at 07/22/09 11:10 PM  | Reply
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Ooohhh. Another beauty. Who thinks this is a Radiohead track and who thinks it's new Thom solo stuff? I vote Radiohead I hope. That song would be highly intense with the whole band adding to that already awesome dark guitar.

Posted by: Chrisser at 07/24/09 2:09 PM  | Reply
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This is going to be amazing.

Posted by: anon at 07/24/09 6:29 PM  | Reply
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It's days like this i wish to god i lived in the UK. Those lucky bastards!! I'd have given anything to be there.

For anyone interested, you can download a great recording of the entire set here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zyz2erzmzmz

Posted by: Anonymous at 07/24/09 8:14 PM  | Reply
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really don't like this guy. wish he would leave

Posted by: auto at 07/25/09 8:30 PM  | Reply
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hey not even technically minded to listen to this yet but you can not dis thom i've been listening to him and all his rapture inducing music for a long time and he is the master and so say all of us

Posted by: dionne at 07/26/09 7:22 PM  | Reply
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love the t shirt lost guitars in you im lost

Posted by: dionne at 07/26/09 7:38 PM  | Reply
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I will admit that at first I found this to be very boring, then later on in the day I realized I couldn't get it out of my head!

Now I can't stop listening to it! Thom does it again!

Posted by: Jack at 07/26/09 9:24 PM  | Reply
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"Cause I'm not going to Bitch!"

Posted by: Trevor at 07/27/09 11:53 PM  | Reply
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It was freaking hilarious when he said that.

Posted by: anon  in reply to Trevor's comment at 07/29/09 2:55 AM  | Reply
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I didn't notice before, but looking at that setlist, it looks like we almost got another new one called "Give Up Ghost."

Posted by: understood at 07/28/09 12:55 PM  | Reply
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I wonder if this song is still a work-in-progress. Could've fit well on The Eraser.

Posted by: SubSickAlien profile link at 07/28/09 8:37 PM  | Reply
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