The two-disc
TKOL RMX 1234567, a compilation of
King of Limbs remixes geared more for home listening than dancefloors, gathers all the tracks from seven 12” and download singles released between July and October 2011. Each one of the eight songs on
King of Limbs is remixed at least once, while one of them, “Bloom,” gets five looks -- including two by
Mark Pritchard, who provides a sighing ambient dub mix as
Harmonic 313 and a blistering Krautrock-in-dub mix under his birth name.
Lone injects his tranquil/turbulent rainbow spangles into “Feral,” creating great tension with off-center ambient house textures, rattling percussion, and
Yorke’s vocal reduced to clipped sighs.
Pearson Sound's “Morning Mr. Magpie” is among the most radical takes, smearing synthetic handclaps, battering drums, sub-bass throbs, and shotgun snares. Earlier on, in
Jacques Greene's “Lotus Flower,” some of
Yorke’s vocals are left untreated, and the choppy rhythm of the original is switched out for a soft rustle that develops into a straightforward, gorgeously ornamented groove. In a way, this is overkill indeed -- over 100 minutes of remixes for a 40-minute album. However, it’s also fascinating to hear how this current crop of producers -- spanning abstract hip-hop, house, dubstep, bass music, and experimental techno, all selected by
Thom Yorke -- twists, bends, adjusts, and appropriates the source material.