The Daily Swarm

Spinner:

When told that Radiohead’s Thom Yorke sent out a mass e-mail describing the group’s tribute song to the UK’s last veteran of World War I, ‘Harry Patch (In Memory Of),’ Matthew Friedberger adds the British rock star to his fraud alert list. ”‘Oh, please listen to our new song about Harry Patch,’” Friedberger says mockingly. “Fuck you! You brand yourself by brazenly and arbitrarily associating yourself with things that you know people consider cool. That is bogus. That’s a put-on. That’s a branding technique and Radiohead have their brand that they’re popular and intelligent. So they have a song about Harry Patch…..“How’s the song?” Friedberger asks. “Is it 48 notes to the octave? What does it have to do with Harry Patch? Oh, my wife says I am being very rude. She doesn’t like me insulting Radiohead. She’s afraid they will send their lackeys through the computer to sabotage us. But they needn’t worry—we are a band that sabotages ourselves.”

Pitchfork:

UPDATE: According to Matthew Friedberger’s publicist, Friedberger thought the Spinner interviewer was asking about Harry Partch, not Harry Patch.

Harry Partch Information Center:

HARRY PARTCH
Harry Partch (1901–1974), one of the greatest and most individualistic composers of all time, was not only a great composer, but an innovative theorist who broke through the shackles of many centuries of one tuning system for all of Western music, a music instrument inventor who created dozens of incredible instruments for the performance of his music, and a musical dramatist who created his own texts and dance/theatre extravaganzas based on everything from Greek mythology to his own experiences as a hobo. Between 1930 and 1972, he created one of the most amazing bodies of sensually alluring and emotionally powerful music of the 20th century: music dramas, dance theater, multi-media extravaganzas, vocal music and chamber music——mostly all performed on the instruments he built himself.