Phew, what a week Radiohead must have had. People have been talking about the new album where ever I turn; from the countless mentions across the Internet to the general excitement of my housemates in the lounge of our happy home.

Thom Yorke and the Oxford boys gave the music industry a bit of a kicking this month with the experimental release of In Rainbows, their seventh studio album (sans EMI), online with a “pay as you please” payment system.

Not the band’s first venture into eMarketing; the five piece ensemble also had a website devoted to their live performance/documentary/video art mash ups called Radiohead TV. Thom told NME earlier today that he spent the day yesterday relaxing in his local pub while the world went Radiohead crazy.

The band have refused to release information of yesterday’s download stats or sales figures, but the experiment had fans crashing the Radiohead.com website while clambering to get their hands on the much anticipated album.

The album is easy on the ears and full of distinctive calculated fuzz and eyrie plateaus, and strikes me a cross section of Radiohead’s style from 1993 to present. The tracks echo familiar nuances from their extensive repertoire - without sounding stale or stagnant.

The tracks Weird Fishes/Arpeggi and Jigsaw falling into place could be off The Bends or possibly Pablo Honey at a push, while electronic ditties such as 15 step reinforce Radiohead’s multi-instrumental meandering escapades of the Kid A and Amnesiac era. And finally Nude picks up where they left off on Hail to the Thief.

The Crux: Radiohead released the news of their latest album at the beginning of this month on their official blog. No billboards, in store promos or endorsements. The alt rock giants have managed to be the exemplar for the power of blogging combined with word of mouth. From a single source and in a matter of a few weeks the band managed to spread the information across the Internet, to news stands and the tips of tongues across the world.