Radiohead mystifies, excites fans by erasing online presence

It wouldn't be a new Radiohead album cycle without a lot of mystery, intrigue, and strange behavior by the band.

On Sunday, the rock band sent fans into a tizzy when the group seemed to "erase" its online presence, including blank, white avatars on social media and turning its website into a blank page. 

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Also blank are the band's social media accounts which, besides the white images, have had all posts and other activities completely wiped from Twitter and Facebook pages. (The same can also be said of the band's Google+ page, but who would ever notice such a band's Google+ page?)

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

When asked by Mashable via email about the online tomfoolery, a rep for the band offered no comment.

The band, which has already teased a new album and announced a world tour recently, also teased UK fans in a totally-not-creepy-at-all move by sending them postcards that read, in part, "We know where you live."

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As Pitchfork points out, the postcard also features the phrase, "Burn The Witch," which is also, allegedly, the name of unreleased track the band has toyed with over the years and even played fragments of in concert. 

And to further fuel the "OMG NEW RADIOHEAD ALBUM" Internet hysteria, we now turn to Reddit where, as Stereogum noted on Saturday, web sleuths pieced together a few clues. 

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...according to Germanic folklore, Walpurgisnacht — or “Witches’ Night” — falls on either 4/30 (today) or 5/1 (tomorrow), depending on the year. Radiohead recently started two companies, Dawn Chorus LLP and Dawnchoruss LTD, and International Dawn Chorus Day is held on the first Sunday in May, which also happens to be tomorrow, 5/1.

It should be noted that the importance of the band founding a new company is that the band did the same thing before its last two album releases, which were self-released online with little to no notice. 

So with all that said, let the speculation and hyper-vigilant watch begin. 

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