OMG. . . . Radiohead's In Rainbows is perfect.

Let me get this out of the way now: the quality of the Music notwithstanding, there are two outside-the-Music reasons why the album is so good. First, I'm a lifetime Radiohead fan. I've collected them since forever and have compulsively listened to them for just as long, and I do consider them to be one of the rare musical outfits making truly cutting edge Music (and though I don't necessarily care for his style, I would also lump Justin Timberlake into this grouping.) Second, the Music is free and so, frankly, it could be total garbage and I would still be pleased with it.

Now, that having been said, I would still contend that Radiohead's newest album In Rainbows is easily the most exciting album that will come out this year, made all the more impressive by a) the fact that you have to download it ( here ) to purchase it and b) that you can pay whatever you think it is worth (free being one of the options.)

For those of you who don't listen to the Music, Radiohead's ouvre has developed over the past 10 years into a strangely beautiful genre resistant synthesis of rock, hip-hop, blues / jazz, and electronica. I imagine if you haven't grown up on them though that Radiohead could be a little off-putting. But don't be put off by their apparent ecclecticism and the unorthodox nature of "purchasing" the album, because In Rainbows is easily their most accessible Music since Ok Computer in 1998. In fact, In Rainbows is a step backward for Radiohead, displaying a fusion of early Radiohead lyricism and technical instrumentation with recent Radiohead experimentalism and abstraction.

If you like rock and world music and aren't afraid to step into the dark, dreamy soundworld of Radiohead, download it now - for free - and give it a listen or two, and I really believe it'll become a part of your life. Radiohead albums are like that. They are long form by nature and resist most attempts at easily breaking them down into individual songs. They are more like soundtracks, and listening to a Radiohead album is always at first like piecing together a movie that you only have that soundtrack for, but, after you've listened to it a few times, the strangeness wears off and leaves behind in its place very memorable sound experiences.

It's available at Radiohead.com.