Wall of Sound: Airbag/How Am I Driving?


Hands down 1997's Record of the Year by virtue of its pop-smart richness, its avant-garde melodicism, and its precious (but not pretentious) art-rock ideals, Radiohead's OK Computer introduced the concepts of depth and thought to commercially viable modern rock—a considerate gesture indeed in light of the schools of shallow swimmers with whom we are currently wading.
A sort of OK Computer nightcap, the Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP includes seven songs from the album sessions, with only one—the title track—previously released. Overall, the material adheres to the same melodic and artistic contours as its forefather, though it is perhaps a daub less sublime and a little less polished in execution. "Melatonin" has Thom Yorke affecting that same hyper-melancholic vocal as he did on "Paranoid Android," and "Palo Alto" reminds us that Radiohead started out as a fairly conventional (but still good) rock band, as does "Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)," a loosely assembled soft-loud piece with a Beatlesque psychedelic crash tacked on. "Reminder," which holds within it the EP's best melody and a tortuously sad lyric, is the only track that would have been worthy of inclusion on OK Computer. Holding it up to that standard, however, doesn't mean Airbag suffers at all; in the relatively desolate land of modern rock at present, any outtakes from a session as utterly inspired as Radiohead's last is a welcome blast of refreshment. —Bob Gulla

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