Every move Radiohead makes, we’ll be blogging about them, argues an essay about the group published today on Slate. Well, guilty as charged, at least to an extent — after the band released a series of 12″ singles featuring remixes of tracks from their latest album, The King of Limbs, and then compiled them in the form ofa two-disc remix compilation, titled TKOL RMX 1234567, the unveiling of three more TKOL revamps might carry with it the slightest whiff of barrel-scraping.
Then again, as anyone who remembers buying Radiohead EPs and import singles in the pre-Napster era can attest, sometimes approaching this band’s music with the fewest expectations is what satisfies you the most. Here’s hoping that turns out to be the case with these three remixes, available for purchase here starting on Monday. After all, the lineup of reworkers is pretty impeccable: mysterious German future-bass duo Anstam, lushly psychedelic IDM producer Nathan Fake, and the xx’s minimal-groove maestro, Jamie xx. Hail to the thieves.
As it turns out, all three “new” cuts are either alternate or extended takes on tracks the same remixers reworked for TKOLX RMX 1234567. At first blush, this eight-minute version of Jamie xx’s TKOL RMX two-minute “Bloom” take again sounds like a highlight, with chopped-up vocal samples and elastic bass lines that recall the best of Jamie’s Gil Scott-Heron remix LP, We’re New Here. Antsam’s original stab at the languidly percussive “Separator” retained most of the original’s languid percussion, but this new effort veers into heavy, dubstep-tinged teeth-rattling. Nathan Fake’s “harshdub” remix of the jittery “Morning Mr Magpie” is a similarly leftward move, leaving behind the buoyancy of his TKOL RMX cut for dystopian jagged edges and rumbling atmosphere before accelerating toward some extraterrestrial dance floor. “You’ve got some nerve,” indeed.
It’s also worth noting that these tracks aren’t showing up now because they were considered too lousy for prior TKOL remix releases. According to the band’s blog, they were merely too late: “We wanted to get them out because we’re big fans and wanted you to hear them too,” the band says. You can do that below (via At Ease).
