End of the Line

Tully Rohrer

December 8^th, 2006

I went on an awesome hike with my father on Wednesday. We found three abandoned mine shafts, all connected by an ancient rail track to this, a structure used to pulverize unprocessed ore. Essentially, they put the stuff in small carts, pushed it down the rail, and dumped it off the side into this building. As a result, there appears to be a rail line to nowhere. I took a few interesting shots of this place that I’ll post over the next few days. Evidently there are thousands of miles of tunnels through the mountains around Telluride from ancient mining operations… Pretty cool. Oh, by the way, the road you can see off to the side of the structure is Highway 62, where we started hiking from almost 1000 vertical feet below.

You have to be a pretty dedicated listener to make sense of Thom Yorke’s first solo release, The Eraser. This is probably the least accessible song on my 2006 Favorite’s List, and as well it should be. Thom Yorke and the rest of Radiohead have been pushing the limits of popular music for years now, and it would be a surprise if The Eraser were any different. At number #12 we have the opener and title track, The Eraser, and I guarantee it takes a few listens to wrap your head around the arhythmic, pulsing piano chords. Of course, as always, it would be unfortunate to be put off there, because as with every Radiohead song, there is much beauty waiting to be discovered. In the chorus Yorke’s voice is back to his trademark falsetto, singing, “The more you try to erase me, the more, the more that I appear,” in one of the prettiest, most restrained, and yet most enraged moments of 2006. The songs fades into a minute outro ending in Yorke’s fragile falsetto singing, “oooh” as though it were providing a warning of impending doom. Which is, of course, a prevalent theme in this album as it pertains to climate change and environmental destruction. The Eraser doesn’t reach the heights of, well, any Radiohead album aside from Pablo Honey, but Yorke has yet again managed to create one of the most important and original releases of the year.

Favorites of 2006:
#16: Islands - Rough Gem
#15: The Decemberists - The Crane Wife 3
#14: Headlights - Owl Eyes
#13: Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
#12: Thom Yorke - The Eraser