Remix albums are a tricky proposition. Invite a bunch of fellow travellers, limit their creative tools to the contents of the work in question and hope that their collective output satiates the fans but doesn’t outshine the original – in this case Grinderman’s second release, Grinderman 2 (QRO review) has been repurposed to produce Grinderman 2 RMX. This latest release doesn’t pose any threat to the impeccable second album recorded by the esteemed Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds side-project, but nor does it have any hope of placating their adherents. This is a forgettable and unnecessary collection of remixes by a bizarre assortment of rock luminaries and indie aspirants two years after the original’s release.
The motley crew they’ve assembled to desecrate these great tracks include noise-meisters A Place to Bury Strangers (QRO spotlight on), perpetual desert-stoner Josh Homme and remix-tragics UNKLE (QRO album review) amidst an assortment of other, forgettable entrants. Fortunately some tracks are spared the meddling of these well-meaning artists, though the brutal "Evil" is subjected to three different, mediocre interpretations. The only redeeming effort here is A Place to Bury Strangers’ industrial-shoegaze reconfiguration of "Worm Tamer", which manages to inject a frantic momentum to the proceedings. With Grinderman currently dissolved, it’s a great disappointment that this could be their last release. Here’s hoping they come to their senses and round their oeuvre out to a satisfying trilogy.
MP3 Stream: "Worm Tamer (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix)"
