“And yet here we are, always already too late — responsible critics though we may be, we’re talking about this record on a day on which, no joke, people are already advancing conspiracy theories about the next Radiohead record. As if this particular Radiohead record weren’t still basically on pre-order, the mysterious ‘Newspaper Edition’ of the record still literally two-and-a-half months away. (In this, they may have approximated the modern feel and timing of the contemporary newspaper hardcopy in more ways than intended.)

And yet, I have to admit, I am just as put off by you and the oceans of your ‘everyone just live with it for awhile first’ peers as I am by those who rushed to review it within hours of its release. Why should Radiohead be different from all other bands? Why must a solemn hush fall over the internet while we all process Thom Yorke’s mind gems for a week, two weeks at a time? I have no doubt that The King of Limbs rewards, as New York’s Nitsuh Abebe put it over the weekend, ‘serious listening’; so, Fat Joe might tell you, does his newest single, or this Lykke Li stream that a bunch of my friends seem so impressed with today. Are we just giving Radiohead fans the worldwide SHHHH sign because the band’s new record sounds like something a sad schizophrenic made while huddling in a closet? Or is it that people made up their minds about this band being their eternal favorite long ago and now intend to impose that level of love and awe on the casual bystanders who may merely want to stand on the sidelines and make jokes about the whole thing sounding like whales crying?”

The “always already” is a nice pomo touch. I’ve had a similar notion—albeit a less articulate one—the past couple of days. If I listen intently, repeatedly, to this album because I think it deserves it, will I have an interesting reaction to it because it rewards that dedication or because I should give every record that dedication in the first place? So far, I haven’t connected to any of the songs, and it feels like a minor work from the band. If I listen enough to find new things in it, is that my true reaction? Or have I just deluded myself into thinking that because of the investment?

For now, to be pithy: OK Computer > Kid A > Amnesiac > The Bends > In Rainbows > Hail to the Thief > The King of Limbs > Pablo Honey