everyday

In Rainbows is Radiohead’s (Wikipedia article) seventh major studio album. While I (and many, many others) have written about the manner in which it was offered before, I have been reserving my judgment of the music until I had time to let it all sink in. I tend to be too critical and judgmental during the early phases of my listening experience. I want the new album to be like the previous album (or the first album, or second album or whatever I happen to think is the greatest). This desire to hear more of the same clouds my judgment of the new offering. Knowing this, I like to give a new album some time to grow on me. That being said…

I love it!

It is altogether fantastic. A wonderful mix of their own stylings; touching on nearly every form they have created to date, while updating and improving the sound all the while. The songs each have a distinctive sound and appeal to me for entirely different reasons. In my earlier listens, I felt like the first half of the album was considerably stronger than the second half. This feeling has subsided, completely. The entire album, comprised of so many different songs, is absolutely wonderful!

There is an interesting article on Inhabit about a new train from General Electric that is utilizing hybrid technology to decrease fuel consumption and emissions. Trains have had hybrid drives for ages. They all use a diesel engine powering a generator that sends electricity, via large batteries, to the electrical drive motors. The difference with the new technology is that they are using regenerative braking to significantly boost the charge in trains batteries.