Rabbit In Your Headlights - UNKLE feat. Thom Yorke COVER (on Tascam 4-track cassette recorder)

Around the time "Rabbit In Your Headlights" came out Radiohead’s “OK Computer” and DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing” were definitely in my top 10 most listened to albums ever! And I was so excited to hear a dark and twisted Thom Yorke ballad with some choppy hiphop beats. I loved how his piano part almost forcibly drove the drum programming away from where it seemed to want to be (presumably DJ Shadow’s big pay off drop at the end) leaving it constantly teasing 4/4 over a 3/4 meter. It’s a perfectly arranged song which I’d have no business trying to recreate here to the letter. With this one I really just enjoyed singing the song straight to cassette whilst indulging in some warped live effects with my free hand. These are coming at you courtesy of my Korg Minilogue, which I'd rigged up as a vocal delay send. The most challenging and fun moment was the live tweaking of the tape speed / pitch wheel on the cassette recorder for the spoken word section. On the original recording the piano arpeggio is an F sharp minor. Having already transposed the song in to D minor to better suit my voice, I should’ve playing an E minor arp while talking, but I wanted the tape to slow down and dip my voice with it whilst retaining the correct chord and roughly the right speed. After some trial and error I realised I’d have to play the arp a few cents up (G Minor) to compensate for the pitch adjustment, which sounded pretty weird in the room but perfect on playback. That’s right I’m a total nerd. Enjoy
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#ThomYorke #Unkle #Tascam #RabbitInYourHeadlights #PsyenceFiction #Cassette #Cover #Portastudio #Radiohead #424Markiii #Portastudio

Gear used:
Belling acoustic piano
Korg Minilogue
Tascam Portastudio 424 mark iii
Tascam M208 mixer
Mics:
SM7b
SE8 stereo pair condensers (SE Electronics)

original song:    • UNKLE - Rabbit In Your Headlights  

Other covers by me:

Deftones "Digital Bath"    • Digital Bath - Deftones (Cover)  

Adrianne Lenker "Anything"    • Anything - Adrianne Lenker Cover (on ...