My review of the latest Portishead "Third"...
..I've waited a good solid week of listening to the new Portishead "Third" before diving into the review. That's to say, its been almost a non-stop solid listen for me...while I'm finding it be a rather difficult task to eject from the CD player...hasn't been since the release of Radiohead's "Kida" that I've found anything quite as artistically embracing and sensually orgasmic as "Third."
Nah! "Third" is no "Dummy" nor it is a replication of the self-titled release...this is a band that is too intellect to do the same thing twice and too far removed from the media to give a toss, as admitted by Geoff Barrow in a recent SG interview. For those who were expecting a "dance" album--toss that one out!!!
No, Portishead is not a dance-music making band! As "Dummy" might have helped to define "trip-hop"--it had its gleeful soulful moments, enriched with periodically sampling. Happy music?!? When has Portishead ever put out a bouncy Celion Dion whimsy of inspirational "white" fluff for the masses?
But, it's not all about the gloom on "Third," as the seductive-pulp sounding ballad "Hunter" sedates the listener with the lines: "...and if should fall will you hold me? Will you pass me?"--a brilliant love song. Likewise, "Nylon Smile" carries on writing the same sweet-heart letter that cries: "I don't know what I've done to deserve you/and don't know what I'll do without you..." "The Rip" on the other hand is a rather vibrant colorful mellow humming, creating a visual sensation like staring into a kaleidescope and slowly turning the dial as the tempo gradually glides --perhaps the most "upbeat" blissful moment of the album.
"Third" is by far the most studio-experimental release that Portishead has created YET. "Machine Gun" splices two electronic drums together, creating a fired-ammunition trigger-happy effect. "Plastic" is a hard-grinding mix, recalling the claustrophobic thump of "Elysium, with a choppier, looser feel with its quick surged-cuts. "Silence" is fast-drive raid of panic nightmare rage--the song is cut just before it fades (classic!).
Removing themselves from the electronica dark-wave feel of the previous two studio albums, on "Third," the band introduces its first few acoustic guitar intros on "the Rip" and "Small," while "Deep Water" stands naked of any electronic effects with its barber-shop croon.
Both "Small" and "Threads" are the climax gems of "Third." "Small" begins as an angelic melody layered with Beth Gibbon's ethereal ice-breaking vocals which suddenly morphs into a spiraling swerve of galactic swaying guitars and early Pink-Floyd-like thumping organs. "Threads" is the most haunting of any of delicate delights featured on this 49 minute-long orgasm with its droning hallow-sound guitar riff accompanied with the constant high-pitch "squeal" in the back ground, induced by the chill of hypno-voodoo beats--producing a entangling effect of euphoria. The song ends like a heavy moan of a Tibetan chant and slowly fades--what a brilliant place for the last song!
No, "Third" is not a dance album, it's not another "Dummy," nor it is all "happy"--it's the avante-garde masterpiece of the 2000's. On "Third" Portishead is solid proof that the band is less about producing music and more about creating the art. Ten years was well worth the wait for this magnificent stereophonic high!
..I've waited a good solid week of listening to the new Portishead "Third" before diving into the review. That's to say, its been almost a non-stop solid listen for me...while I'm finding it be a rather difficult task to eject from the CD player...hasn't been since the release of Radiohead's "Kida" that I've found anything quite as artistically embracing and sensually orgasmic as "Third."
Nah! "Third" is no "Dummy" nor it is a replication of the self-titled release...this is a band that is too intellect to do the same thing twice and too far removed from the media to give a toss, as admitted by Geoff Barrow in a recent SG interview. For those who were expecting a "dance" album--toss that one out!!!
No, Portishead is not a dance-music making band! As "Dummy" might have helped to define "trip-hop"--it had its gleeful soulful moments, enriched with periodically sampling. Happy music?!? When has Portishead ever put out a bouncy Celion Dion whimsy of inspirational "white" fluff for the masses?
But, it's not all about the gloom on "Third," as the seductive-pulp sounding ballad "Hunter" sedates the listener with the lines: "...and if should fall will you hold me? Will you pass me?"--a brilliant love song. Likewise, "Nylon Smile" carries on writing the same sweet-heart letter that cries: "I don't know what I've done to deserve you/and don't know what I'll do without you..." "The Rip" on the other hand is a rather vibrant colorful mellow humming, creating a visual sensation like staring into a kaleidescope and slowly turning the dial as the tempo gradually glides --perhaps the most "upbeat" blissful moment of the album.
"Third" is by far the most studio-experimental release that Portishead has created YET. "Machine Gun" splices two electronic drums together, creating a fired-ammunition trigger-happy effect. "Plastic" is a hard-grinding mix, recalling the claustrophobic thump of "Elysium, with a choppier, looser feel with its quick surged-cuts. "Silence" is fast-drive raid of panic nightmare rage--the song is cut just before it fades (classic!).
Removing themselves from the electronica dark-wave feel of the previous two studio albums, on "Third," the band introduces its first few acoustic guitar intros on "the Rip" and "Small," while "Deep Water" stands naked of any electronic effects with its barber-shop croon.
Both "Small" and "Threads" are the climax gems of "Third." "Small" begins as an angelic melody layered with Beth Gibbon's ethereal ice-breaking vocals which suddenly morphs into a spiraling swerve of galactic swaying guitars and early Pink-Floyd-like thumping organs. "Threads" is the most haunting of any of delicate delights featured on this 49 minute-long orgasm with its droning hallow-sound guitar riff accompanied with the constant high-pitch "squeal" in the back ground, induced by the chill of hypno-voodoo beats--producing a entangling effect of euphoria. The song ends like a heavy moan of a Tibetan chant and slowly fades--what a brilliant place for the last song!
No, "Third" is not a dance album, it's not another "Dummy," nor it is all "happy"--it's the avante-garde masterpiece of the 2000's. On "Third" Portishead is solid proof that the band is less about producing music and more about creating the art. Ten years was well worth the wait for this magnificent stereophonic high!