Radiohead - T.K.O.L RMX
Genre: Alternative/Electronica
Rating: 7/10
Following on from their frankly disappointing 8th album The King Of Limbs Radiohead return with a two disc set in which various artists remix the aforementioned album. These remixes, much like those of Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser, were first released two at a time on limited edition vinyls before being compiled into this two disc set. Remix albums on the whole are a tricky business to get right. When a band offers up a whole album to a wide range of artists the results can often be quite inconsistent and often feel like a cash based rehash of old material or something that has no place in either of the artists back catalogue. That said I've been pleasantly suprised before with some quite flawed albums gaining new life after interesting and inventive reinterpretations.
Whilst The King Of Limbs was a scittish album filled with out of tempo scratchy beats and rather lacklustre tracks the remixed album fairs much better. Somehow even with the wide range of artists involved it manages to be more consistently pleasing than the albums source material. The reinventions of the tracks are the real clincher here with some tracks sounding almost nothing like their original forms. Oddly though the most popular track for reinterpretation is "Bloom" with 5 of the nineteen tracks being remixes of this track. An odd choice considering "Bloom" was one of the many weaker moments on King Of Limbs its mismatched electronic beats and keys making it a dull and dreary bore. However all five of these remixes breath new life into this tired track without sounding similar. The album whilst stronger than the original is not all smooth sailing whilst some of the remixes add new depth and dimensions to the tracks some sample and edit the tracks so much they are near enough unidentifiable which somewhat defeats the object. Another disappointment is the reluctance to use Thom Yorke's vocals on a lot of the tracks making many of them solely instrumental affairs. Most of the music on show though hits the spot and rather than turning the tracks into dance floor filling club bangers predictably they aim to capture the eerie mood of the dark electronica pioneered on the bands previous outings like Amnesiac or Kid A. Whilst there are more than a few duff tracks the sheer size of this release means this isn't anything that a track skip won't fix. Highlights include the brilliantly reimagined opener "Little By Little (Caribou RMX)" which see's the band cut and twist Thom Yorke's falsetto vocals with joyful abandon whilst bringing forward the power of the original melody. Other highlights include "Good Evening Mrs Magpie (Modeselektor RMX)" which turns the bands track "Morning Mr Magpie" into a much darker form with claustrophobic beats and sinister synths throughout turning the otherwise dull track into something with real substance. Flaws like "Morning Mr Magpie (Pearson Sound Scavenger RMX)" however fail to add anything to the album as whole and strip back the original track so far it is unrecognisable turning an ok song into nothing but an off beat drum track.
Whilst TKOL RMX 1234567 is not perfect the whole record balances out as a rewarding listen. Whilst the source material was flawed by its minimalist nature and wishy washy overall sound the remixes on display offer a more robust end product. Bad tracks are few and far between and the whole thing is just easier to get into. Recommended.
Download: "Good Evening Mrs Magpie (Modeselektor RMX)" "Little By Little (Caribou RMX)"
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