Radiohead – not just music

The one thing that download-happy Radiohead fans didn’t get when they pulled the new “In Rainbows” album off the band’s website recently was any of the distinctive art work that’s been an integral part of the group’s aesthetic since the beginning. Anyone who wants that has to pony up roughly $80 for the actual box set, which includes the new songs on CD and LP formats plus artwork from Dr. Tchock, the nom de canvas of Radiohead front man Thom Yorke, and artist Stanley Donwood.

Now there’s also a new book, “Dead Children Playing” (Verso, $15.95), devoted to the visual side of the Radiohead juggernaut. Along with reproductions of works that have appeared with every Radiohead album since “The Bends” in 1995, “Dead Children Playing” includes examples of Donwood’s other pieces and commentary by the two men, offering illumination into the jagged, icy landscapes they’ve crafted to accompany the band’s atmospheric music.

Their work for an expanded edition of 2001’s “Amnesiac” brought them a Grammy Award for album packaging and artwork. Images titled “Avert Your Eyes” and “Trade Center” were created around the “Kid A” album in 2000, while “Hole” was something Donwood did for himself after hiking through England and observing a number of circular holes in the landscape.

Donwood also posts many of his works on his website, www.slowlydownward.com/ DCPimage.html.

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– Randy Lewis