...LP launch, recorded live in New York
by steve phillips article written in january 1998 published in "sadness is in the sky magazine" issue 4
| This filmed performance has altered my lif in some small ways. Small, but importantly, it has given a whole new auratic clarity to the way in which i take in the music of PORTISHEAD. PORTISHEAD: is a town which overlooks the Eiree Strait to Wales from Bristol in the UK. It is a small town, sitting quietly in the shadows of Bristol, a major industrial town. It has a par 3, 9 hole golf course, and very little else. PORTISHEAD: is a group of musicians who make shadows and create darkness, then create openings of light within these places. They mix the beauty of voice (Beth Gibbons), the cinematic (Adrian Utlev's lowdown guitar) and the Modern | |
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They are undenyable. The film ancompasses magically the beauty of every element of the music of PORTISHEAD.
Featuring tunes from their 1997 self-titled release and thier essential "DUMMY" LP, the footage is sepia'd in deep blacks and meshes perfectly with the sights of the 38 piece orchestra (used brilliantly to heighten the drama that IS PORTISHEAD), the geometry of their bows and of the PORTISHEAD set-up, as well as Beth Gibbons' awesome vocal prowess.
Each new track brims with amazing depth and somewhat surprisingly, infrequent but welcome white-noise a-la Velvet Underground. But it's all held together by fragile guitar riffing, live hip-hop scratching with pure steady-handedness.
Excuse me for my excitement but this film is indeed a wonderful thing! This recording only goes further to unveil PORTISHEAD as a group of contemporary brilliance and on-going genius.
PORTISHEAD'S "PORTISHEAD" and "DUMMY" LP's are available thru GO! Disc / Poyldor. Both are too fine.
Thanks to Dave Peacock.
