Thu 8 May, 2008
In the mid-90s Portishead became the pioneer of the trip-hop genre with their debut LP Dummy. The album with its melodic melancholy, looped sampled baselines and the haunting sorrow in vocalist Beth Gibbons’ voice, became an underground success and has been heralded as one of the best of all time.
With their self titled sophomore album, Portishead’s style took a decidedly dissonant and abrasive turn. The melancholy was still apparent, however, the songs were less demonstrative of victimization and sorrow but contained a rather bitter biting edge.
After taking a break for an entire decade, the trio released Third, quite possibly their most successful out-the-box success of all, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard charts. This album definitely a logical progression of the Portishead style; more dissonant and at times even industrial and ugly. The music seems to be wallow in the darkness of emotional angst, with Gibbons’ tortured vocals on aggressively militaristic tracks.
“Nylon Smile” leads both suddenly and seamlessly into “The Rip” with their complementary melody and discord. “Machine Gun” and “We Carry On” are harsh and prickly. There is still evidence of Portishead’s electronic roots with the occasional melody and even an acoustic break from the coarseness of the rest of the album with "Deep Water."
Even though it is a bit odd and gloomy, Third is definitely a logical progression of Portishead’s music. Some of the songs will have to grow on me but all in all, Third is a great album and I love it.
VinylNotes says:
Radiohead Covers Portishead: “The Rip”
Apparently Radiohead are fans of Portishead. Check out this video of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwodd playing "The Rip" - Portishead's latest single from Third. Find more videos like this on w.a.s.t.e. centralHat tip: NME.com …