Kolya on 11/6/2008 at 10:05
I'm listening to the new album. It's quite a bit faster than P used to be, apart from that it's what I expected. Beth Gibbons still can send shivers down my spine. My only gripe is why this album didn't come out 9 years ago.
(
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=portishead+third)
SubJeff on 11/6/2008 at 10:17
They had, errr, issues, didn't they?
I'll give it a listen. Can it truly hark back to the old days? And will people get them anymore? We'll have to see.
Scots Taffer on 11/6/2008 at 11:20
I didn't like it, but then I'm one of the people that Portishead are pissed off really loved Dummy. They quit for a while complaining about the "chill out lounge wankers" that absorbed their album into their niche culture, which really seemed to annoy the fuck out of them as their artistic sensibilities are inherently anticommerical (going by the interview I caught on the radio a month ago). Basically what most people will like about this album is the reasons I don't like it, to quote a discussion I had with Stitch: it "challenges the listener" whereas I'm a sort of "take it as I hear it" kind of guy. So songs cutting off midstride don't shake up my idea of what music is, it just makes me irritated that they can't finish a song conventionally - as if cutting it off is so revolutionary, bleh.
If we're talking new albums that are rocking your shit hardcore, I'm in love with The Roots' Rising Down and it's been a regular fixture in my car for the past month or two.
Rogue Keeper on 11/6/2008 at 11:50
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
They quit for a while complaining about the "chill out lounge wankers" that absorbed their album into their niche culture, which really seemed to annoy the fuck out of them as their artistic sensibilities are inherently anticommerical
This happened to trip-hop scene in general, from Massive Attack through Moloko to DJ Shadow. Actually Portishead have refused the trip-hop tag from the same reason.
Scots Taffer on 11/6/2008 at 12:18
I say "boo fucking hoo, if your music gets commercially accepted and you make a metric fuckton of money that corrupts your artistic integrity then tough fuckin titties".
fett on 11/6/2008 at 13:02
What Scots said. Portishead was great, but they come off as a bunch of whiners in the tired vein of Eddie Vedder, pissed off at fans and barely hiding the fact that they think they're better than everybody else. Whatever. I also got sick of the Portishead album because a friend of mine (who went on to write and play in an internationally known Portishead influenced band, which in turn spurred a legion of terrible clone bands that are roughly a third generation copy) played the fucking thing non-stop during the three months he lived with us. I haven't listened to it in five years.
Stitch on 11/6/2008 at 14:43
I take it you guys are referring to Dummy and not Portishead (i.e. their popular first album, as opposed to their second).
Anyway, Third is head and shoulders above anything else they've ever done, and so far ranks as the best album of the year. It isn't an easy listen, but for the first time their music reflects the tension, alienation, and utter loneliness of the lyrics.
You can't fuck to it, but that's kind of the point.
N'Al on 11/6/2008 at 16:54
I agree with Stitch on this one, album of the year material.
Not easily accessible, true, but once you, uh, access it, it becomes bloody fantastic! Plus, how can you not love the (
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Soggy+Bottom+Boys/_/I+Am+a+Man+of+Constant+Sorrow) Soggy Bottom Boys-esque
Deep Water being followed by what must be the harshest song on the album,
Machine Gun?
fett on 11/6/2008 at 17:23
Yeah - I meant Dummy (sorry). Also Stitch and N'Al - you guys are off your cracker. ;)
N'Al on 11/6/2008 at 17:38
The only way to be!
