Radiohead Releasing New Song 'Spooks' Via Paul Thomas Anderson Movie 'Inherent Vice'

Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie Inherent Vice will not be officially released until January, but critics got a first look on Saturday morning.

One takeaway that's sure to make the rounds in the music community: Radiohead offered a previously unreleased song — "Spooks" — to Anderson for the film's soundtrack, and the surf rock jam is included in the final product.

Slate reports that the song is officially listed in the credits, and that its sound is "a good fit for the 1970-set Inherent Vice, which includes a surf-rock saxophonist (played by Owen Wilson) as a main character."

The band gave fans a glimpse of the instrumental in 2006, and the clip is available right here:

So what's the deal with Inherent Vice? Based on early returns from reviewers, it's not Paul Thomas Anderson's finest work, but a mostly-worthy piece of cinema that tends to meander.

Here's a basic description (Rotten Tomatoes):

When private eye Doc Sportello's ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a looney bin...well, easy for her to say. It's the tail end of the psychedelic '60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," that's being way too overused - except this one usually leads to trouble.

Reviews thus far - mostly positive - appear to agree on one thing: the plot is overly complicated and the film as a whole is rather drawn out.

But...

"Not being able to follow the plot grants a kind of freedom, allowing you to soak up the vivid atmosphere and dwell on the performances, wordplay and copious visual gags without needing to figure who's doing what and/or to whom," wrote Matt Prigge of Metro.

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