Radiohead are one of the great bands of our time. The album is particularly striking for coming out of nowhere after the band had been on hiatus for several years, and for its innovative distribution method. The latest record of the biggest band will be $0 if you wish.
Creator and composer On4Word is currently releasing a project called In Rainbow Roads. (opens in new tab) (Youtube (opens in new tab)). Using the Super Mario 64 soundfont (a soundfont is basically all the files used to create a particular soundtrack) he recreated the entire 43-minute album in a very incredible way. doing. The creator simply says that one of the best tracks on the album, Reckoner’s lyrical riff, was “dedicated to the existence of all toadstools.”
In fact, it’s so good that it received the ultimate badge of approval. Radiohead composer and guitarist Jonny Greenwood made up a Mario joke and linked it to it.
That’s me, Arpeggio! (h/t @boingboing) https://t.co/SwWBrjOPlsJanuary 24, 2023
This is far from Radiohead’s first game brush. His one of the band’s most recent projects was an Epic Games exclusive called Kid A Mnesiac. (opens in new tab), an odd combination of an exhibition and what Thom Yorke called a “mutant reengineering” of his earlier work. On4Word has also done other individual Radiohead songs. (opens in new tab) (including No Surprises and Paranoid Android), and some great versions of Aphex Twin tracks (opens in new tab).
If you’ve heard In Rainbows, you have to give this one a listen. Because it’s kind of silly how well these two different soundscapes mesh. The attention to detail in the songs is extraordinary to find a match for Mushroom Kingdom. And all of that can result in something that looks silly on the surface but is almost eerily beautiful.
