25
Mar

UK Sounds

Album Preview: Portishead - Third

Written By : Stone // Comments (6)

portishead_500.jpg

Is Portishead hip-hop?

That was a topic of a spirited online discussion I had with my friend a few months back. My friend argued no. I said yes.

It it hip-hop in a literal sense. Probably not. The don’t sound like anything close to hip-hop, and they definitely don’t look it. But they take the basis hip-hop (sampling) redefined the concept.

From Pete Rock to the Native Tongues, hip-hop’s golden age provided the basis of what trip-hop was going to become. Growing up in Southwest England, the guys who would eventually form Portishead, Tricky, and Massive Attack took their love of such acts as Public Enemy and formed it in their own way. Trip-hop was born off the back of late 80s and early 90s hip-hop.

But what happens now, when hip-hop sounds nothing like it once did back in the day?

Well, for their third album, aptly titled…Third, the group pretty much largely abandons the beats for guitars. What results is an album which sounds more like Radiohead rather than its trip-hop brethren. This might upset some fans, since Portishead’s Geoff Barrow is considered one of the best samplers out there (he created his own orchestral score for the sole purpose of sampling it later), but surprisingly the group continues to maintain their dynamic and sound. The essence of Portishead is lead singer Beth Gibbons’ haunting (and some say depressing) voice, which has remained unchanged.

I’m not going to give a definitive rating of Third until I have a physical copy sitting in front of me, but the unmastered leak will reassure any fan that the group has still “got it,” after a 10 year hiatus between albums.

Third drops on April 28th. The first single, “Machine Gun” is out now. (New fans–don’t judge. This is probably going to the weakest song on the album.)

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6 Comments

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himalaya on March 25th, 2008 4:54 pm

>the group pretty much largely abandons the beats for guitars

yeah, the people at Okayplayer are revolting as i type….

and yeah, Portishead is hip-hop. word is the early demos had beth singing over some rakim-era beats. crazy.

boogie tonight on March 26th, 2008 1:10 pm

this project is TRASH…

himalaya on March 26th, 2008 1:29 pm

^^ okayplayer member ^^

Stone on March 27th, 2008 10:35 am

Dude, I think you called it….

And I dont’ think that this new Portishead album is TRASH. It’s not as good as the previous two but better than a lot of stuff that passes for music these days.

DeLuca on March 28th, 2008 6:02 am

Geoff Barrow once told in an interview his love for one particular album: Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest. That makes Portishead hip hop to me.

Read the complete interview:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Studio/8424/port66.htm

Portishead on Current TV : The Couch Sessions on April 14th, 2008 11:40 am

[...] the full Concert from Current TV. The network will be re-aring the concert up until the release of their new album Third, which drops on April [...]




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