Is Thom Yorke physically incapable of releasing music conventionally? Quite possibly, but that’s no bad thing. From the pay-what-you-want model of Radiohead’s In Rainbows to brief, enigmatic video teasers, the releases are always met with excitement and/or intrigue.
The most recent piece of arthouse marketing (if that’s a thing) from Yorke comes in the form of adverts seen on the London tube, phone booths in Milan, and in The Dallas Observer ads section.
To be honest, they’re the kind of ads you’d easily miss, with bland, monochromatic design, but look closer and they’re pretty odd. “Do you have trouble remembering your dreams?” they ask, and advertise a “Dream Camera” – courtesy of Anima Technologies – that can get them back for you.
Call the attached phone number, though (07588 733 111, in the UK), and you’ll just get a prerecorded message stating: “Anima Technologies has been ordered by the authorities to cease and desist from undertaking its advertised business.” A similar message appears on an associated website.
The caller is then given the option to leave a message after the tone; the tone then morphs into the introduction of “Not The News”, an unreleased track Yorke has been playing on tour. You can hear the song in a video of his Florence performance last year.