Update: The welcome page at Radiohead’s album site is frequently loading without the link to the next page due to problems acknowledged by Jonny on the Radiohead blog. If you need to get in to order the download or Discbox set, you can jump to this page.
Radiohead have just announced an array of surprises about their upcoming album. The title will be “In Rainbows.” It will be available for download on October 10, much earlier than expected. And in a unique twist, fans can pay any price they choose to pre-order the download at InRainbows.com.
One more surprise offering is a “Discbox” set, also available for pre-order. It includes the album on CD and on two LPs, plus:
A second, enhanced CD containts more new songs, along with digital photographs and artwork.
The discbox also includes artwork and lyric booklets.
All are encased in a hardback book and slipcase.
These will ship by December 3. At a price of 40 British pounds (with international shipping included) the set currently costs $81.18 for us Americans.
According to the time stamp on the band’s “Dead Air Space” Blog post, they announced the coming release and the link to InRainbows.com on Oct 1 at “00:09:26 +0100.” If that’s correct, that’s Sept 30 at 11:09 p.m. in the UK and 6:09 p.m. on the east cost of the US.
All this surprising news follows a cryptic series of images recently posted by the band on that same blog. The first showed up on Sept 22, more than two months after the band’s previous post. Fans deciphered the following messages from the nine posts:
September 21: YES WE ARE STILL ALIVE
September 21: BLINK YOUR EYES ONE FOR YES TWO FOR NO CODE CODE CODE
September 22: PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY
September 22: XENDLESS
September 23: MIGHT NOT OPERATE PROPERLY
September 24: A FLATLINE WE ARE IN A MEETING
September 25: CONSIDERING DISSEMINATION
September 25: SEMAPHORE ELEMENTS
September 26: MARCH WAX
The announcements also follow discussions among fans of a site created last week, RadioheadLP7.com, that offered a mysterious countdown clock. The clock appeared to count down to about midnight GMT on the night of Sept 28. Band representatives denied the site’s authenticity. However, the URL now forwards to InRainbows.com.
