Thom Yorke and his fellows in Radiohead recently recorded “Harry’s Patch (In Memory Of)” as a tribute to the man of the title (must’ve been fun growing up with that name), the UK’s lone surviving soldier from WWI, who passed away at the age of 111 on July 25th from, we are assuming, boredom. 111 years is a longass time to be British (JUST KIDDING DUDES). Patch’s appearance on BBC radio inspired Yorke et al to record this war hymn in an abbey just before his death, as according to Yorke, “The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me… It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us. I hope we do not forget.” The former, fair enough, totally subjective; the latter, some (namely vets of that other World War) would argue that there are still many profound lessons to be gleaned from the millions still living who have fought and continue to fight in wars around the world. Anywayyyy, plenty of lessons for everyone. Listen to the song at Stereogum and buy it (with proceeds going to the British Legion) here.

Pitchfork reports Crowded House’s Neil Finn, Johnny Marr, Ed O’Brien (Radiohead drummer), Phil Selway, Jeff Tweedy, KT Tunstall, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Pat Sansone and others have formed this supergroup-esque collaborative follow-up to 2001’s 7 Worlds Collide. Unfortunately, Monsters of Folk just announced their record and Dead Weather remains fairly awesome. Too many supergroups in existence at one time will swallow all other non-super bands into a supergroup black hole, but we can look the other way just this once because this one’s a benefit for Oxfam International and not just a publicity stunt or excuse to tour with your bros. It’s also less a supergroup and more Judgement Night-style pairings of famous artists with other famous artists for individual tracks, only instead of rappers pairing up with rockers and our music collections suddenly including a Mudhoney/Sir Mix-A-Lot song, Neil Finn teams up with KT Tunstall and a ton of little kids around the world get to eat.

Just a few days after Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon sounded off on Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want model, the British rock demigods have opened up their own digital record shop at their Dead Air Space page. You may remember that when the band released their latest, In Rainbows, only the first disc in the set of two was available for whatever you fancied, the second only for purchase as part of a relatively pricey box set. No more. Now, in addition to Thom Yorke’s The Eraser and guitarist Johnny Greenwood’s work on the “There Will Be Blood” soundtrack, you can purchase Disc 2 from In Rainbows exclusively from the new w.a.s.t.e shop. Or just rip a friend’s copy!

Us Radiohead fans are a rabid bunch; any mention of “Radiohead” and “new” together, and we think the second coming of Christ is here. Hell, Thom Yorke could crook his pinky at us and we’d break out into hives trying to interpret it.
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Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but we bet that Brian Message feels like a pretty big tool for actually recommending that Radiohead part ways prior to the release of their epic, insanely successful In Rainbows.
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