OK MetaFilter

September 2, 2012 2:32 PM

Back in June everyone was invited to cover a song from Radiohead's OK Computer for the July '12 MeFi Music Challenge #58. (Music Talk thread) Over the past 2 months—the challenge was extended at the end of July—48 songs were recorded covering the entire album and even one excellent B-side. So much about this challenge excited me, like recording and submitting my first (second, and sort-of third!) Music tracks. And I love Radiohead, so. But this part, where I pick my favorite cover version of each song on the album and build my perfect MeFi Music tribute, OK MetaFilter, that's the part I've really been looking forward to. Come inside for links to playlists for each track of the album so you can build yours too.

Per-track Playlists:
01 - Airbag
02 - Paranoid Android
03 - Subterranean Homesick Alien
04 - Exit Music (For A Film)
05 - Let Down
06 - Karma Police ^{07 - Fitter Happier}
08 - Electioneering
09 - Climbing Up The Walls
10 - No Surprises
11 - Lucky
12 - The Tourist
Note that if you want your version of OK Computer to be in the right order on the playlist you create you have to start adding from the last track and work backwards.

And my choices for OK MetaFilter:
01 - Airbag by Lutoslawski
02 - Paranoid Android by onehalfjunco
03 - Subterranean Homesick Alien by hanoixan
04 - Exit Music (For a Campfire) by Yours Shamelessly
05 - Let Down by The World Famous
06 - Karma Police by modernserf
07 - Fitter, Happier, World Famous by Yours Shamelessly & The World Famous
08 - Electioneering by Doleful Creature
09 - Climbing Up The Walls by Johnny Wallflower
10 - No Surprises by Grangousier
11 - Lucky by dubold
12 - The Tourist by qnarf

What does your tribute best-of version look like?

posted by carsonb to MetaFilter-Related at 2:32 PM (24 comments total)

Someone should curate this list and pick out the best ones and put them up for sale on the iTunes music store.
posted by cjorgensen at 3:13 PM on September 2, 2012

Naw, man! If you're not a member of MetaFilter already just drop the fin on a membership and use this post to curate your own!
Your favorite curated MeFiMu OK Computer tribute challenge cover song sucks!
posted by carsonb at 3:30 PM on September 2, 2012

I should also note that choosing favorites was really fucking hard. I can't believe I didn't get a track from either askmeaboutLOOM nor cortex, both of whom put together impressive runs of several songs from the album. In particular, I loved cortex' concept of "Roddy's O-Face", a quick and dirty garage punk band re-imagining of the album called LoFi Computer:

No Surprises
Karma Police
Subterranean Homesick Alien
Airbag
Paranoid Android
Exit Music (For A Film)
Let Down

Also totally forgot to mention that this challenge resulted in the most kick-butt meetup at The World Famous' house where a bunch of LA MeFites totally voltronned into the OK LA MeFi Action Band and had a blast recording Airbag and the Fitter Happier track listed above.
posted by carsonb at 3:42 PM on September 2, 2012

You had me at Mulder's Big Adventure, Cortex, but now you've gone too far. I will pay to hear your 15 min punk version of OK computer.
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 5:13 PM on September 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Man, I really meant to finish off the last five tracks last month too. Just didn't quite have the inspiration. Maybe I'll finish it this month.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:37 PM on September 2, 2012

Thanks for putting together this recap, carsonb.

And thanks again to everyone who participated - especially those who came over to my house bearing food, drink, musical instruments, and awesomeness.
posted by The World Famous at 6:22 PM on September 2, 2012

... and awesomeness.

Awesomeness is MeFiMu's middle name.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:57 PM on September 2, 2012

No, it's "Fi".
posted by chococat at 8:50 PM on September 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

You are a bunch of talented motherfuckers.
posted by gwint at 9:18 PM on September 2, 2012

Here's mine: Mefi Computer.
posted by kenko at 10:24 PM on September 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

track by track, it's:


Airbag by Lutoslawski
Paranoid Android by onehalfjunco
Subterranean Homesick Alien by hanoixan
Exit Music (for a Film) by askmeaboutLOOM
Let Down by The World Famous [x]
Karma Police by modernserf
Fitter Happier ((Russian language version)) by flapjax at midnite
Electioneering by motty
Climbing Up The Walls by Johnny Wallflower
No Surprises by cortex
Lucky by MajorDundee
The Tourist by qnarf
posted by kenko at 10:25 PM on September 2, 2012

My "MeFi Computer" playlist is pretty similar:

Airbag by Lutoslawski - beautifully cascading pianos and a strong vocal solo.

Paranoid Android by onehalfjunco - the waltz concept is brilliant, and captures the complexities of the track well in a very unorthodox way.

Subterranean Homesick Alien by dobie - I loved the new rhythm and beat, and the opening, vocals, and effects were all top-notch.

Exit Music (for a Film) by askmeaboutLOOM - Starts out a little underwhelming, but bursts into something pretty raw and interesting. Hearing the other version revealing the mystery instrumentation was fun, too.

Let Down by The World Famous - Loved the driving reinterpretation of the signature layered guitars.

Karma Police by lazaruslong - Unadorned, but so good.

Fitter happier and more malicious by freya_lamb - There were so many ways to go with this, and freya_lamb nailed it with flawlessly creepy vocals. Reminds me a little of Papa Sangre.

Electioneering by not_on_display - I don't know how the translation of the infamously rocky track into a... drunken sea shanty (?) works, but it does.

Climbing Up The Walls by Johnny Wallflower - Turns the intense insanity of the original into smooth, understated chorals without losing any of the underlying tension.

No Surprises by Grangousier - The string plucks throughout were a nice touch; reminds me of the Vitamin String Quartet's take on Let Down

(half) lucky by valdesm - The vocoded vocals were surprisingly pleasing, especially given the Android rationale.

The Tourist by cathodeheart - I liked how the effects seem to play off the electronica spirit of OKC follow-up Kid A

I was a little bummed the B-sides didn't get more play in the challenge extension, but what we got was pretty great.

PS: If you liked my pre-contest OK Computer megapost, check out the last comment; I threw in a bunch of extra material right before the thread closed.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:43 PM on September 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

This is the sort of thing that can spawn a number of "best of" playlists by the same person depending on their mood. I'm not entirely in the "cool dream" sort of mood right now, otherwise this playlist would (and will, later) look different... and looking back over my list I'm apparently very bad at choosing just one.

1. Airbag by Lutoslawski (but the OK L.A. Action Band version from The World Famous is a very close second)
2. Paranoid Android by chococat (but cortex's version is a lot of fun and will end up on the commute's playlist)
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien by dobie
4. Exit Music (For a Campfire) by carsonb (askmeaboutLOOM's cathedral-ish version, though, gives me chills)
5. Let Down by dubold and Let Down by The World Famous
6. Karma Police by askmeaboutLOOM
7. Fitter happier and more malicious by freya_lamb
8. Electioneering by Doleful Creature
9. Climbing Up The Walls by Johnny Wallflower
10. No Surprises by Grangousier
11. Lucky by MajorDundee (but valdesm's tragically short version is, well, great)
12. The Tourist by qnarf

Such a fun challenge to listen to.
posted by neewom at 10:53 PM on September 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Also, this is my first playlist, considering that might be easier to listen to. I suspect there will be a lot more shortly.
posted by neewom at 11:09 PM on September 2, 2012

I've stayed away from mefimusic, just because...I don't really know why. But this is all fucking glorious.

Glorious. I love you all.
posted by geek anachronism at 3:09 AM on September 3, 2012

Oh my, glad this is up. I need to go listen to it (and am commenting so I'll get the reminder in Recent Activity.
posted by immlass at 7:42 AM on September 3, 2012

The Evolution of Music

167 BC         Yes, abacus.
1821 AD        I should jolly well say so, difference engine.
1985 AD        Totally, calculator watch.
1997 AD        OK, computer.
2000 AD        You have got to be fucking kidding me, voting machine.
2013 AD        AS YOU COMMAND, ROBOT OVERLORDS
posted by the quidnunc kid at 9:23 AM on September 3, 2012 [12 favorites]

I tried to pluck out "No Surprises" on my koto, but even with a weird tuning it was painful.

These are all great, though!
posted by that girl at 10:53 AM on September 3, 2012

Damn chococat's "Paranoid Android" is great.
posted by kenko at 11:26 AM on September 3, 2012

Karma Police by lazaruslong - Unadorned, but so good.

Wow, this was really good. Thanks for pointing it out.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:14 PM on September 3, 2012

I guess this is a good place to apologize for not submitting my required song. I learned some chords, found some nice banjo-picking... patterns, and practised it all month, but I could never manage to record it so that you could hear anything other than the thump of my thumb against the cigar box of my homebuilt banjo stick thing.

I read through the recording threads and was intimidated by the cost of microphones, and I read through the music threads and was extremely dubious about all of the 'recorded with my cell phone' comments, and I just gave up.

So can you all just imagine some off-tempo banjo pickin' and eerie whistling, and pretend like I'm not so technologically incompetent?
posted by Acari at 7:45 PM on September 4, 2012

You can still do it! Don't give up!
posted by The World Famous at 7:51 PM on September 4, 2012

Is there any update on when the cortex ep is coming out?
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 9:40 PM on September 4, 2012

I could never manage to record it so that you could hear anything other than the thump of my thumb against the cigar box of my homebuilt banjo stick thing.

Not seeing the problem here.

Course, I am a percussionist and all. Notes are overrated.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:43 AM on September 5, 2012