Totally Wired
Risky Business
BY Dave Morris March 26, 2008 15:03
The cash-in comeback is such a cliché that it’s hard to believe an act would return after an extended absence for any reason other than money. Portishead probably haven’t run out of money in the 11 years since their last studio record came out, suggesting that their real goal is artistic. Whether the air of calculated mystery that once made them thrive can be cultivated in a digital age is a bigger, unresolved question.
The blurry video for new single “Machine Gun” that surfaced last week hammered home the magnitude of the risk they’re taking by re-entering the pop marketplace. They could be actively flouting it — the video merely consists of the band in a studio shrouded in security-camera-esque blue light, as though they wanted to intentionally strip away their mystique. The song itself breaks that oblique quality down too far, dropping their classic ‘60s-noir drums for brutal electronic percussion that doesn’t have nearly as much character, though Beth Gibbons’ voice is as unique as ever. And now that a poor-quality copy of their upcoming album Third has leaked, their fate may already be sealed. (www.portishead.co.uk)
THE BACK OF A VOLKSWAGEN?
Speaking of bands on the comeback trail making videos, R.E.M. kick out a fun little acoustic version of “Living Well Is the Best Revenge” at La Blogotheque (which you can download via iTunes). But did they have to shoot it inside a moving car? I knew PR budgets were shrinking, but this is ridiculous. (www.lablogotheque.net)
MP3 OF THE WEEK
Cloudland Canyon, “Krautwerk”: Plenty of bands claim Krautrock as an influence, but few go so far down the k-hole as these Memphis-by-way-of-Brooklyn heads do in these seven minutes. Hopefully the rest of their forthcoming disc Lie In Light (on Kranky) will consist of remixes of this song, Neu! 2-style. (via www.fluxblog.net)
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IN THE AIR TONIGHT
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