Radiohead are giving fans unique master tapes of their recording sessions

Radiohead just released their ninth album, ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’. And as part of the physical release of the new record (starting 17th June), the band are giving fans a unique trace of their history.

A special edition of the album - out from September and priced at £60 - gets you a unique piece of 1/2 inch master tape from a Radiohead recording session.

“The tape degrades over time and becomes unplayable. We thought rather than it ending up as landfill we would cut it up and make it useful as a part of the special edition. A new life for some obsolete technology,” the band say.

“Each loop contains about ¾ of a second of audio - which could be from any era in the band’s recording past going back to Kid A. You may have silence, you may have coloured leader tape, you may have a chorus… It’s a crapshoot.”

“We have copies. Don’t worry.”

Here’s what the snazzy special edition looks like this: