It seems like just yesterday I was living in some shithole apartment in Aurora. On the walls of my shithole were my collection of subway size posters of bands and albums I enjoyed. One of those posters was of Portishead, the pioneers of trip-hop. Perhaps it was a phase, or maybe a fad, but I really enjoyed all artists from that genre. Portishead’s music was the perfect mix of heavy beats and soothing vocals that worked together to create a dark and gloomy atmosphere.Year after year murmurings of the band’s third album were pretty much routine. It wasn’t until I finally saw activity (ten years later) on the band’s website did I believe these rumors to be true. Well, this week a couple of little birdy’s informed me that the album leaked on to the glorious Internet.
My initial thoughts:
• Trip-Hop sound is pretty much absent (no scratching).
• Beats and drums are far more unconventional then their previous work.
• “Machine Gun” is excellent. I love the synthesizers!
• In certain instances it captures a Sci-Fi vibe perfectly.
• Beth Gibbon’s voice has held up over the last decade. Still pristine and haunting.
• Sounds like my iPod has been possessed and is emitting evil sounds.
I’ll expand further when I do my album reviews at month end. For now, I’ll just let Portishead’s “Third” marinate…
