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Sep 26, 2014 Thom Yorke By Mike Hilleary

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has just released a brand new solo album. The follow-up to Yorke’s 2006 LP The Eraser, the new album is called Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes and is available exclusively via BitTorrent.

In a statement co-authored with regular collaborator/producer Nigel Godrich, Yorke writes, ”As an experiment we are using a new version of BitTorrent to distribute a new Thom Yorke record. The new Torrent files have a pay gate to access a bundle of files. The files can be anything, but in this case is an ‘album’. It’s an experiment to see if the mechanics of the system are something that the general public can get its head around ... If it works well it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work. Enabling those people who make either music, video or any other kind of digital content to sell it themselves. Bypassing the self elected gate-keepers. If it works anyone can do this exactly as we have done. The torrent mechanism does not require any server uploading or hosting costs or ‘cloud’ malarkey. It’s a self-contained embeddable shop front… The network not only carries the traffic, it also hosts the file. The file is in the network. Oh yes and it’s called Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes. Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich”

Downloading Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes costs $6.00, while the audio and a music video for the included track “A Brain in a Bottle” are available for free. The downloads are available here or through the embed found below the album’s tracklist.

This marks the third time Yorke has participated in an unconventional album release. In 2011 Radiohead released The Kings of Limbs with just a week’s notice. In 2007 the band’s album In Rainbows was announced just ten days ahead of its release and was paid by fans with whatever amount they saw fit.

Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes:

01 A Brain in a Bottle
02 Guess Again!
03 Interference
04 The Mother Lode
05 Truth Ray
06 There Is No Ice (For My Drink)
07 Pink Section
08 Nose Grows Some

(www.radiohead.com)