Happy December 1st Everybody!
Winter is here. Well in Ontario anyway, though this week is looking to be pretty mild. I’m no weatherman, and that’s not what I’m here for, so let me switch gears and jump into today’s goods.
Caught this video today, Portishead – Magic Doors. It was immediately one of my two favorites from their latest album Third. In Third you can hear them retain a certain grounding in their Trip Hop roots, but also hear a experimental flourishing of their style incorporating styles like Krautrock and traditional forms of Techno. In retrospect it’s not surprising to me that ‘Magic Doors’ and ‘The Rip’ became my favourites right off the starting line as they stand above the others in terms of lush melody, and balance of vocal and instrumental fragility and driving instrumental and percussive accompaniment.
Portishead came back this year after hiding under one hell of a rock, totalling a 10 year absence from the music scene. Their second album, previous to Third, self-titled Portishead had come out in 1997. Boy did they come back this year. As history has shown us, few bands can come back from extended absences and still present themselves relevant in a current music scene.
Portishead were an essential act in forging the Trip-Hop scene of the 90′s (primarily along with Massive Attack and Tricky), and surprised many this year by pushing themselves out of that comfort zone to release possibly one of the best albums of the year in ’08. A hell of a comeback……unlike some others.
I’ll just go ahead here and double-down, adding my other favourite from the album, ‘The Rip’. Beautiful song indeed. Once again it exemplifies their new stylistic evolution of blending their original Trip Hop sound, and adding to it elements of Krautrock and Techno. Sweet Medicine, especially on a wet December day like this one.
Late change up, Beth Gibbons, frontFemme for PH called me up and asked me to take down their official video I had posted for ‘The Rip’, so I’ve switched it for this live version. Nice treat anyway, I hadn’t seen this until now…..enjoy!
Last bonus, bonus a self indulgent intimate cover of ‘The Rip’ by Radiohead (well, to be specific, in this case Sir Thom Yorke, and Sir Jonny Greenwood. They definitely aren’t Knighted, but in my eyes Ol’ Gordo Brown should make that Priority number one). If you don’t know me, know that I love Radiohead. They are one of the true few bands who have kept morphing through a long span of time, often presenting something new and different, sometimes challenging, for their fans.
