Radiohead / TKOL RMX

Radiohead
TKOL RMX
(XL Recordings)
* * *

The last few months have seen Radiohead embark on a typically subversive approach to releasing their music: the Oxford androids have been issuing one remix a fortnight on 12” vinyl, each one presenting an electronica-flavoured reworking of songs from ‘The King Of Limbs’. However, on the 10th October, this series expires. Zoiks! So what happens next Scooby?

The answer is ‘TKOL RMX’: the remixes bundled together into a pleasingly symmetrical whole, and crated into your homes ripe for an evening of urban paranoia. Yet here’s the thing: we all know remixes can either eclipse the originals or geek you to death, so what’s it to be? Here’s a tip: don’t bet on the familiar names. The young analogue synth merchant Jacques Greene delivers a magical and subtly dancey take on ‘Lotus Flower’, which leaves Caribou’s rendition sounding strangely dull.

‘Bloom’ is the remixer’s choice du jour: it shows up five times here, with Mark Pritchard going for an ‘80s Doctor Who vibe, Blawen throwing it into a rattling washing machine, and Jamie XX switching its location to a monk’s retreat in Thailand.

Are you ready for the part of the review you already know? That’s right; if you’re not ‘hip’ to avant garde electro music, this record might sound like a maths teacher gibbering out an impossible equation in a foreign language. To put that another way, you might find yourself trying to understand a record which would better just be enjoyed.

Still, there’s still a whole miniature kingdom of grooves, textures and sensations to be explored that Radiohead’s more exotically-minded fans will devour with glee.