The post-apocalyptic mural, “Hollywood Doom“, is a spin-off of the album art from the forthcoming Atoms For Peace debut, ‘AMOK‘. Currently veiling the exterior of the XL Records building, the mural turned animated GIF is a collaboration between Stanley Donwood and INSA.
In his bold graphic style, Donwood depicts Los Angeles flooded and burning, with fireballs raining down from the sky. His argument is, that Armageddon‘s already here – we’ve squandered planet Earth, exploited each other to make a buck, and polluted our drinking water in the process.
At first glance, I enjoyed the novelty of animating a mural and the cool, graphic design. But as nihilistic as Donwood‘s evaluation of our current state of affairs is, it’s easy to appreciate the truth in his words. It wasn’t until I looked at the piece with that frame of mind that I found it disturbing. Looking at the city I live in being simultaneously torched and swallowed by the ocean was uncomfortable because perhaps it’s not far off.
‘AMOK‘ was just released on Feb. 26, 2013 and represents the official debut from the Thom Yorke / Flea supergroup, despite having formed to tour Yorke‘s solo album, ‘The Eraser‘. At that time the band didn’t have a name, so their early shows were billed Thom Yorke ?????? or just ??????
If you’re a fan of Radiohead‘s sound, you should like that Atoms For Peace feels more or less the same, but with a relentless rhythm section including Flea on bass.
In other words, they’re epic as fuck.
This track, “Cymbal Rush“, is from the last album but it should give you an idea of how hard they crush it.
Clearly, these guys live up to their supergroup status.
For longer listening, check out the below mix Yorke contributed to Dazed Digital along with band-mate Nigel Godrich. It’s a full 25-minute set featuring many of what I like to call “Yorke on Yorke” remixes.
