E’ difficile spiegare perché un disco diventi il mio preferito tra le heard it hundreds of records in 2008. I do not think the effect has been waiting for: to have waited 11 long years is not finding anything on the market that could represent an alternative. I do not think even depend on the fact that seeing them live in March was one of the most intense musical experiences of my life. But even without live I think this record is very solid in the first place.
I think this is the record of my 2008 because it is the representation of music in my own mood of an entire year. Moves and boosts feelings so intimate that I think lights hard to hear in public. Difficult to summarize a very complex record: CEH but I remember when I listened the first time I was struck by the feeling of struggle, of antagonism between the melody of the voice of Beth Gibbons and violence of tools and machinery. The lack of communication made in music. The same seems to wonderfully Gibbons "caged", forced between four walls made of waterproof thick sounds and noises, deep agony. Creepy.
The disc starts with "Silence", as if to celebrate a decade of recording silence. The piece opens with a frame is performed in Portuguese by a few old movie. The tone of voice, musicality of the language sounds and atmosphere seem to presage "soft." But soon you encounter a real wall of sound: heavy, repetitive, hyper arranged, very hard. Well as long lasting 2:10 minutes almost stops to bring out the suffering of the voice of Beth. It almost seems that you have waited for the moment or that his tormentor is still to get out of his hole. And all the song keeps the hectic pace of a chase, is the vivid presence of a danger, the anxiety of a struggle. All music by a sequence of sounds troubling, supported by a spectacular session for fast and primitive percussion.
The second piece is "Hunter", Hunter precisely. Here the atmosphere is very sophisticated. It's not lounge, it's not folk, not pop. But is all this together. E 'and suffered the resignation of Beth sang this time to "de-tune" with the music. It continues with
"Nylon Smile" where the scene becomes more acidic and electricity. Personally this is my favorite piece of the whole lot less, perfect for us to pass on some remix tamarro some Milanese aperitif.
continues with "The Rip", which is destined to become a classic Portishead. This is demonstrated by the fact that Radiohead already (mica cocks ...) honored him with a cover. The piece as part of a lunar folk and alien, with Beth's voice is really the state of grace. But in the middle of the piece, the haunting reverb of his voice "moon" is contaminated by sounds "land," seem almost beaten the woods. And between song and the sound is created that distance sidereal in my eyes makes it a masterpiece. The atmosphere you create is away, disillusionment, incompatibility. Following
"Plastic," where there is still a very strong dichotomy between the melodic singing to what Beth and the delirium of sounds and noises that in trying to torment you, cover it, disoriented. Listen to this song well: it seems to imagine this sort of Joan of Arc that sings its truth surrounded by metal blades, propellers, helicopters and giant boomerang that try to take him out. For others the best percussion ever heard this year.
"We Carry On" is probably the poster of this disc. The beginning is paranoid, obsessive, disturbing, threatening. With this "noise" pulled indefinitely you drill the mind. Even in this piece there is natural competition between Beth's voice and this sound (which seems a bit signal), it becomes almost a duet. A dark piece. An industrial parts. A piece dark-wave. A techno song, just wonderful. This is the funeral of trip-hop that the comparison looks like something out of focus, limited, too licked. Looks like a genre that ... something was missing. And that something (which still can not define) is all there.
After this riot of sounds anxious, there is set "Deep Water". A song of little more than a minute. Almost a piece from CocoRosie, a crooked rhyme and sung almost drunk. It almost seems like an interception from a world far, far, made of light-heartedness and happiness. Subtle
these Portishead. After this heavenly piece you placed the hardest and most shocking of the album: "Machine Gun". Song as the most important (in spite of the record uptight and boring) as "single" (if it still makes sense to use that word). Beth here seems a death sentence under fire of machine-gun sounds and sequences seem "bad" (I do not know how else to define them) of synthetic batteries. It seems to be inside the factory of terror and anguish. Where is all this shaped, and created almost hear the work and the clatter of infernal machines. On this dense carpet of sounds thrown very low (not played) with malice and sounds more and more pressing, moving vocals of Beth sensitive and resigned. A mix between Public Enemy, Kraftwerk, Einstürzende Neubauten.
is followed by "Small". The pace here, they stop completely. It 's almost a lament is supported by the minor surgery. An intimate piece, and beautiful funeral.
Following "Magic Door", which is much closer to the old production processes. Here, everything travels in unison. The use of synth almost makes it a piece that could be included in the previous record of the group. To contextualize the rest of the disc we have placed the insert in the middle of a sound spectrum and hydrogen, but it really looks like an addition to a piece of structure that is different from the rest of the lot.
But the ending is a miracle. "Threads" is one of the best things I've heard in my entire life. (See video) This is the final battle between the sound of the record and the melody of the voice. And it suffered a duel where the voice of Beth is the most painful ever heard, the chorus is really a "burning of hosannas liberators," as I read in a review. But haim does not come out the winner. It is literally eaten away by this sound end that closes the album. A loud sound and ruthless that it seems a siren of a ship. Maybe the Titanic by a last sign of life after more than a century. In short, something scary and alien. Even more amazing to think that this sound Portishead have done by taking the sound of a guitar and adding millions of synthesizers. In short, an experiment by pimply nerd. And not to be the undisputed masters of music as they once again proved to be.
0 comments:
Post a Comment