Welcome to the Cheap Seats

Today I got Third, the new Portishead album. What can I say after one listen? The Portishead essentials are all there: Beth’s heart-rending vocals, Adrian’s vintage guitars, Geoff’s favourite bass and organ sounds, the overall noir film-score vibe. What’s gone is the Hip-Hop. No crackly vinyl drum breaks, no comfortable old grooves. No scratching even. In it’s place is a much more experimental approach to creating beats, one that wouldn’t sound out of place coming from Luke Slater or Autechre. While there is a lot of variety between tracks, the overall result is a harder sound, more demanding to listen to. This isn’t classic chill-out music. The sample track, Machine Gun, on their MySpace page should give you an idea of the harder end of the new Portishead sound. I love the first two Portishead albums, and I like Third a lot. But be warned, you might love the first two Portishead albums and hate it.