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Thom Yorke's The Eraser turns 20 with playbacks around the world
The Eraser, Thom Yorke's first solo album, is 20 years old today, and XL Recordings are marking it with playbacks of the whole record at listening rooms and record shops around the world. In Tokyo, listeners who registered for the session at Tower Records Shibuya go into a draw for a reissue of the original 2006 poster, the only thing reissued for the anniversary.
Yorke announced the playbacks on Bluesky on Wednesday, and CDJournal and Billboard JAPAN count 28 venues. In Sheep's Clothing, a hi-fi bar in West Hollywood, held its session last night. Tonight Sona, a listening room in Condesa, Mexico City, gives it 90 minutes, with phones locked away and no talking. Milan and Tokyo follow on Tuesday.
As Glide Magazine recalls in its anniversary piece, Yorke made the record in the break after Radiohead finished touring Hail to the Thief in 2004, encouraged by the band and by Nigel Godrich. Glide adds that the songs began as instrumentals and the vocals came once Godrich was involved. The album was nominated for the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, and two of its songs found their way into films: “Analyse” into The Prestige, “Black Swan” over the end credits of A Scanner Darkly.
Yorke marked the day itself with a video of Atoms for Peace playing live on From the Basement, captioned as 20 years of The Eraser.
Playbacks named in the coverage
| Date | Venue | City | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 July | In Sheep's Clothing HQ | West Hollywood | 19:00-22:00; Klipschorn speakers |
| 10 July | Sona | Mexico City | 21:30, 90 minutes; OJAS analogue system, uncompressed files from XL; phones locked away |
| 14 July | Combo Milano | Milan | 19:00-20:30; free with registration; introduced by Nicholas David Altea, played without a break |
| 14 July | Tower Vinyl Shibuya | Tokyo | 20:00-21:00; reissued 2006 poster for pre-registered listeners picked by draw |
Atoms For Peace, From The Basement· From The Basementwatch on youtube →