"Kid A"
Song by Radiohead
from the album Kid A
Released	2 October 2000
Recorded	January 1999 - April 2000
Genre	Electronic music, Art rock, IDM
Length	4:44
Label	Parlophone
Producer(s)	Nigel Godrich and Radiohead
Kid A track listing
"Everything in Its Right Place" (1)	"Kid A" (2)	"The National Anthem" (3)

"Kid A" is the second track from the chart-topping 2000 album of the same name, by the British band Radiohead. Artwork for the Radiohead album Kid A. Artwork by Stanley Donwood and Tchock. ... A song is a relatively short musical composition for the human voice (commonly accompanied by other musical instruments), which features words (lyrics). ... Radiohead are an English rock band from Oxfordshire, initially formed by school friends in 1985. ... Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English band Radiohead, released on October 2, 2000 in the United Kingdom and on October 3 in North America. ... October 2 is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Electronic music is a term for music created using electronic devices. ... It has been suggested that Experimental Rock be merged into this article or section. ... IDM, short for intelligent dance music, is an electronic music genre which began as a style of techno in the early 1990s and moved on to include the textures and sound manipulation methods of Musique concrète and early, true industrial bands such as Coil and Nurse With Wound. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Parlophone is a record label which was founded in Germany prior to World War I by the Carl Lindstrom Company. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Nigel Godrich (born 1971 in England) is a Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and record producer. ... Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English band Radiohead, released on October 2, 2000 in the United Kingdom and on October 3 in North America. ... Everything In Its Right Place is a song written by Thom Yorke. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English band Radiohead, released on October 2, 2000 in the United Kingdom and on October 3 in North America. ... Radiohead are an English rock band from Oxfordshire, initially formed by school friends in 1985. ...

One of the most obvious examples of Radiohead's shift in musical style from their melodic alternative rock songs of the mid-'90s, the heavily processed electronic piece polarised listeners as much as anything else on its album. However, it has since become a regular part of Radiohead's live sets and meets with some enthusiasm from fans. Alternative rock (also called alternative music[1] or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Electronic music is a term for music created using electronic devices. ...

Singer Thom Yorke and his bandmates were inspired during this period by the experimental glitch and ambient techno artists on the UK's Warp Records label, most famously Autechre and Aphex Twin, leading them to create something almost equally abstract. Although the whole album could not be said to be an appropriation of the so-called IDM style, drawing also from many other influences (see Kid A), the title track has been noted for its particular similarities to the work of Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin). Thomas Edward Yorke (born October 7, 1968 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England) is best known as the lead singer of the English alternative rock band Radiohead. ... Glitch (also known as Clicks and Cuts from a representative compilation series by the German record label Mille Plateaux) is a genre of electronic music that became popular in the late 1990s with the increasing use of digital signal processing, particularly on computers. ... Ambient music is a loosely defined musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, rock and roll, modern classical music, reggae, traditional, world and even noise. ... Techno is a form of electronic dance music that became prominent in Detroit, Michigan during the mid-1980s with influences from Chicago House, electro, New Wave, Funk and futuristic fiction themes that were prevalent and relative to modern culture during the end of the Cold War in industrial America at... Warp Records is a pioneering independent UK record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989, notable for discovering some of the most enduring artists in electronic music. ... Autechre are an English electronic music group consisting of Rob Brown (born c. ... Aphex Twin (Richard David James, born August 18, 1971 in Limerick, Ireland) is an electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, acid, and drum and bass. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English band Radiohead, released on October 2, 2000 in the United Kingdom and on October 3 in North America. ... Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin Aphex Twin (born Richard David James, August 18, 1971, Ireland) is a UK-based electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, IDM, acid, drum and bass (specifically drill n bass). ...

"Kid A" is not an "instrumental", but neither is it a song in the traditional sense. Thom Yorke's vocals have been heavily modified, producing a distorted effect similar to a vocoder and rendering his lyrics nearly unintelligible. Yorke sings over a backdrop of sterile, downbeat electronica, including a lullaby-like xylophone (possibly synthesized), synthesized strings and electronic drum pad or machine. Digital software such as ProTools and Cubase was often used in composing music by the band at this time and since. A vocoder (name derived from voice encoder, formerly also called voder) is a speech analyzer and synthesizer. ... Xylophone in Bali 1937 The xylophone (from the Greek meaning wooden sound) is a musical instrument in the percussion family which probably originated in Indonesia (Nettl 1956, p. ... A Boss DR-202 Drum Machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums and/or other percussion instruments. ... Categories: Stub | Audio editors | Musical software ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

According to interviews, the vocal effect was actually achieved by running Thom's microphone through the input of guitarist Jonny Greenwood's ondes martenot, an early electronic instrument Greenwood played on several other tracks of the album. Yorke has said the vocals on the album version were disguised to distance himself from the subject matter, which he found necessary because otherwise it would have been too painful. According to Colin Greenwood, "He’s always looking for new ways to try, you know, and express different persona. And the way of doing that is by treating the voice. He sang through a vocoder and the notes were triggered by the Ondes Martenot [Jonny was] playing at the same time as he was singing." Ondes martenot demonstrated by inventor Maurice Martenot The Ondes Martenot (or Ondes-Martenot or Ondes martenot or Ondium Martenot or Martenot or ondes musicale) is an early electronic musical instrument with a keyboard and slide invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot, and originally very similar in sound to the Theremin. ...

However when performed live, the vocals are not manipulated and are consequently more easily understood. Harmonica even featured on some live versions in 2000. The song was a very rare presence on setlists until 2006, when it was revived for the band's tour of Europe and North America.

John Mayer recorded an acoustic guitar cover of "Kid A", available as a b-side on his 2001 single Bigger Than My Body. The lyrics in his version are clearly discernable in contrast to Radiohead's recording, and most likely were taken from one of the many Radiohead fan sites that had pieced them together, as no official lyrics were released by the band. John Mayer may refer to several people: John Mayer, a singer-songwriter John A. Mayer, a psychologist This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... In recorded music, the terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which singles have been released since the 1950s. ... Limited Edition Alternate Artwork Bigger Than My Body is the first single released by John Mayer from his second album Heavier Things. ...

Samples