Electronic > P Electronic > Trip Hop / Big Beat

Portishead Third

Advantages: First new LP in over a decade
Disadvantages: Terrible lyrics

Portishead - Third (Island Records) The release of Third by Portishead has been imbued with a heavy cultural significance. It has been reviewed on the Late Review, generated acres of coverage in the music press and broadsheet newspapers and there is a growing online buzz. It feels less like a release more an event. In a music scene so deprived of anything approaching sonic innovation, there is a desperate desire for Third to be an audio panacea. ...
...hissing grooves of Dummy. Third is much closer to the disappointing harsh metallic sounds of the bands second LP. The songs are overloaded with heavy bleeding synths, high whining strings, heavy strained rhythm patterns and a far too many turgid guitars. Yes Third is dense but devoid of tension. It aims to be abrasive and harsh but comes across merely ingenuous and brash. You get the feeling that the band where aiming for something edgy, maybe ...

highwayfive 23.05.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Third - Portishead

Sterile

Advantages: For completists only
Disadvantages: Sterile renditions, not representative of Portishead live.

PNYC is a recording of the band's concert at the Roseland Ballroom, New York to promote the then new album, Portishead. To release this subsequent to the album doesn't seem to serve a great deal of purpose. To my mind, there are several ways of looking at this. The first is a Portishead's Greatest Hits (live) album... unfortunately, Portishead aren't the kind of band who would be suited to such a record, as they write *albums*, records which hold ...
...album and mix them with those from others does not seem wholly sensible. The other is that this is a record of the Portishead live exprience for fans. This isn't the case - Roseland was a carefully planned, thoroughly rigid performance with a full orchestra, and thus entirely different from the real-world experience of seeing Portishead on their 1997 tour. So who is this aimed at? I guess me... the suckers who will buy anything a band releases, ...

mikegray 25.06.2000 · Read full review
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Review of PNYC (Live At The Roseland Theatre) - Portishead

Voice of the Mysterons? No..Beth Gibbons..Dummy!

Advantages: Groundbreaking intro. to trip-hop
Disadvantages: Tears will well up. Guaranteed.

...~ The Album: Dummy ~ It's a matter of both quantifiable and objective fact that if an individual tells you he (or she) is dark, deep and twisted, he (or she) is extremely likely to be as dark, deep and twisted as a well planed, wafer thin sheet of MDF with a light pine veneer to match…it is also possible though - yet highly unlikely - that you have wandered into the wrong type of club on the back-streets of Barcelona where PVC is awash, everybody ...
...John Lewis. Gibbons' voice on Dummy is breathy, breathless at times and at many junctures so raw and overcoming that you can hear her bitter sweet vocals against the distinct backdrop of dry lips parting and lungs reeling back the air to feed the next tortured line of the track. The lyrics in their own right, are so beautifully moving and full of innermost expression that it makes Jim Morrisons' highly acclaimed poetic mumblings sound as self exploratory ...

Dudo_Perudo 06.03.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Dummy - Portishead

A must have for any trip-hop fan

Advantages: Original, classic
Disadvantages: Sometimes high frequencies may seem too harsh

I fell in love with Portishead when I first heard their 'Roads' covered by My Dying Bride. First album was simply beautiful, that voice just sticks in your head. However, this follow-up is a bit different, since you can still feel Portishead spirit you must love. Best tracks in this album would be 'Only You' and 'Half Day Closing', in my opinion. 'Only You' is a song written in 'Dummy' style. 'Half Day Closing' is quite different, creepy, but beautiful ...

wusheng 19.06.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Portishead - Portishead

The "Miles_Gurtu" experiment

Advantages: A blend of intricate beats, varied jazzy melodies and experimental soundscapes.
Disadvantages: Over-tweaking disrupts the ambience occasionally. No mainstream appeal. Some tracks don't work.

Take a Swiss-Italian ambient trance producer (Robert Miles) and blend together with an Indian percussionist (Trilok Gurtu). Add other talented musicians to the mix and allow to simmer gently, making sure you season generously with electronic sculpting and processing. The resulting album is an interesting fusion of acoustic instruments, electronic processed sounds, intricate beats, jazz and experimental soundscapes. Released in 2004, “MilesGurtu” ...
...the dream trance that he became famous for. It builds on his previous album “Organik” (released in 2001), which was his first attempt at creating an experimental sound. This album is characterised by being completely instrumental although 3 tracks feature vocal samples. Double bass, strings, guitar and rhodes performances feature frequently, creating delicate melodies whilst complex beats are generated from drums and tabla. Many tracks shift and ...

music-mad 22.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Miles_Gurtu - Robert Miles & Trilok Gurtu