Panix

I'm sending the new Portishead record, Third, through my ears right now, and can surely say that I've never felt so creeped out listening to music. This album, which bears very little of the signature trip-hop sound which made Portishead famous, sounds positively psychedelic, with fuzzed-out guitars, organ stomps, and Beth Gibbon's mood-dulling vocals push, push, pushing me into my myself.

If I were to describe what this album sounds like to a stranger (perhaps you are one), I would use the following phrases: panic room, negative space, and Christ, I'm suffocating in my own presence.

Seriously, I feel uncomfortable.

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The fine(r) folks over at McSweeney's are having a sale this week: today, all items in their store are 30% off; tomorrow, all items will be 20% off; and all items on Thursday will be 10% off.

I think I'll treat myself to a couple of books by Stephen Dixon which, as a bundle, are being sold for a grand total of $15. Go forth and help our struggling economy!

http://store.mcsweeneys.net/

[DR]

Recognize the Poison of My Heart

I was going to write about The Kills' latest album, Midnight Boom, until I read that Portishead, a band which, along with the likes of Tricky and Massive Attack popularized a sub-genre of electronic music known as trip-hop, had released the video for "Machine Gun," their new single (released in advance of their forthcoming record, Third--their first full-length recording in ten years). The song, propelled by Geoff Barrow's flurry of sixteenth notes played on and distorted through a drum machine (lending the track something of an industrial feel), is slightly different than what one might expect to hear from this group, even though Beth Gibbon's strangely inviting voice is still quite present.

Third is out on April 29 via Mercury.

[dr]