Album Review: Third

Portishead: Third



Let’s get this little bit of relevance out of the way without wit: it was in excess of 10 years between albums. (holy shit)

Do you ever catch yourself in the checkout line waiting on that old bag up front to finish writing her damn check, look over, see that candy you REALLY liked as a child, get instantly nostalgic, and buy it? Later, you take a big, feel-like-a-kid-again bite only to exclaim, “It used to taste better.”

Welcome to Portishead’s Third, at least for the first bite.

The first track “Silence” sets the tone for the entire album: despondent lyrics (as usual), haunting rhythms like you’re being chased in a dream (this record is not about kittens or sunshine or ice cream), and an abrupt ending (the shock treatment will continue.)

Beth portrays a very passionate, yet demure lady on “Hunter” and her vocals really stand out here – it’s everything you like about her voice and the years have not treated her poorly in this regard. It was here that I really started to settle into the album, only to be up-ended soon afterward.

“The Rip” is another exercise in surprising the listener. The first half of the song totally lulls you in with what I will characterize as 2 minutes that could pass as Stevie Nicks with Lindsey Buckingham (acoustic, mind you.) Then Bang! For the last half of the song you find yourself asking questions like, “How long can Beth really hold her breath? When did I start dancing? Is this the same song?” One of the true gems on the album, for certain.

Occasionally, you’ll get a cockroach leg in your Wonka bar. The placement of “Deep Water” in the tracklisting is questionable at best. In truth, it’s obnoxious with its delicate little ass nestled between two of the more driving tracks on the album. It reminded me of that drug-induced nonsense “Wet My Bed” on Stone Temple Pilots’ Core – similarly placed between “Plush” and “Crackerman.” A forgivable rookie mistake for the Pilots, but I don’t expect such from an album – debut or not – when the band has had ten years to decide whether the children’s tune belongs to the remaining mature, cohesive whole. (side note here: Yes, artists/bands can subtly showcase their versatility. However, the aforementioned infractions do not qualify.)

“Machine Gun” is an opera singer meeting an angry drum machine in an industrial showdown. This speaks to the feel/image provoking nature of Portishead’s arrangements and it is one of the brighter feathers in their cap.

“Magic Doors” leads seamlessly into the closer, “Threads.” It’s here that you’ll find the track (outside of “Hunter”) most reminiscent of the Portishead you remember. The final lyrics, “Where do I go?” leave us with an appropriate question. After a delicious and frightening romp through maze-like sound and imagery, we are left alone, lost.

It was always dark, but now it’s gloomy with no hope for escape. The lyrics throughout their history have centered around various relationships or worldviews not exactly going to plan – and it’s no different on Third. That’s the unmistakable nougat you’re chewing on, same as it always was.

In all, despite the 93 second intermission of “Deep Water,” Third is a very original and cohesive piece. Just don’t push too hard for those beloved trademark scratched samples. They’ve been replaced by more ambitious noise experiments. However, Beth is still sultry and the music is resurgent, yet progressive. The album may actually be more accessible to those who don’t bring their 1997 palates to the table. Further, another layer down, the returns are boosted through additional listens on account of the initial shocking nature of certain tracks – I’m looking at you, “Plastic.”

So, there’s a guy in a nice office somewhere. He’s the suit that decided to import the cocoa from a different country because of tariffs and such and he’s why your candy bar “don’t taste right.” Cut him some slack though. The times have changed and so have you.

And what of your precious trip-hop?

It grew up and made friends.


Portishead : Third : The Rip


Portishead : Third : We Carry On


Buy Third Here

Portishead Myspace

A Random MP3 Trilogy

Here are a few of the hott tracks rolling around the big series of tubes:

There' a new Beck album produced by Danger Mouse about to hit stores soon. Rumours say it could suddenly drop from the sky like In Rainbows or the new Nine Inch Nails albums, but not necessarily for free. It is tentatively titled Modern Guilt and is supposed to have a '60s psychedelic feel. I've even heard rumours that Cat Power appears on it. I'm excited:

Beck : Chemtrails


Ratatat is another great artist with a new release dropping this summer. Everyone I know has fallen in love with these guys since their 2006 Classics blew up. In addition to creating high quality, crowd pleasing original instrumental jams, they do some stellar remixes, Volume 2 of which you can download for free from their myspace. LP3 hits stores July 8th, and here's a preview:

Ratatat : Shiller


Finally, I have been jamming the new Islands album, Arm's Way, hard since it came out yesterday. It certainly has its share of flaws, of which most everyone reviewing is paying a lot of attention, but there are a plethora of amazing things going on that have me hooked. Just like how many people who loved the Unicorns didn't like the direction Islands took things originally, many people who were really into Return To The Sea may not have wanted them to go they way they did for this one, but if you take it for what it is, it kicks some major ass. They just did a Daytrotter session, including a Brian Eno cover, that you can check out here, but here's a really different version of "The Arm" from it:

Islands : The Arm (Daytrotter session)

What Up In The ATL?

Tight Brothers Network, who has been "the official talent purchaser" booking shows at The Drunken Unicorn has become a free agent. It looks like that means that Gavin from Stickfigure will be taking his place booking shows for The Drunken Unicorn and Tight Brothers will be doing things in other venues TBA.

Snowden are on the road.

Altanta's Foxfire just released a new album called Early Rising.

When Rocky Beat The Russian just released an EP called Reason Your Way Out.

Nomen Novum released a new song called "Green Greener Greenest" available on their myspace.

Slow Motion Crash is going on a "semi-permanent hiatus" and will be playing their last show June 7th at The Five Spot.

WRAS 88.5 FM, Georgia State's awesome student radio station, just announced their 2008 awards.

Here's Club Of Rome at The Beep Beep Gallery:




Wednesday night New York's Northern State is going to be at The Earl. They toured with Tegan And Sara and they have a similar upbeat, "girl-rock" sound. Here's a video:



Thursday night I recommend checking out Efterklang and Slaraffenland (both from Denmark) at the Drunken Unicorn with Atlanta's Sleep Therapy. A Efterklang video:



Friday night there are some interesting artists paired up with some not so interesting artists:

Center Stage: The good: Type O Negative, The not-so-good: Hatebreed
Variety Playhouse: The good: Be Your Own Pet, the not-so-good: She Wants Revenge
Fox Theatre: The good: The Roots, the not-so-good: Erykah Badu

Also there is a The Roots after party at MJQ following the show featuring ?uestlove DJ set and a listening party for their new album Rising Down and The Presidents Of The United States Of America will be at The Loft. Or you could just keep it local and catch The Coathangers, Proton, and Groovestain at The Drunken Unicorn.

Saturday night I like the show at Eyedrum with Sonn Av Krusher, The Forever War, Mistaken For Them, and The Khans (US).

Sunday night gives you two great choices between Clinic at The Earl or Silver Mt. Zion (featuring members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor) at The Drunken Unicorn.

Album Review: This Piano Plays Itself

This Piano Plays Itself: This Piano Plays Itself



Local Atlanta's This Piano Plays Itself just released a self-titled EP that takes the listener through an impressive variety of tones. Their "Explosions-in-the-Death-Cab" sound is highlighted by some electronic muscle that stretches their sound out of the worn idea of guitar rock, and although their influences may be somewhat transparent, this self-produced first effort shows huge potential. The opening minute or so of the record, a series of reverb-heavy synth loops, do a great job of setting up the first real song of the record, Day of Symmetry. From there, the record continues to display more guitar than synthy rock, but there are a couple electronic music-esque production tricks thrown in, like on Post Haste the Proletariat Waits and Awake/Asleep. Throwing on the reverb thick on both the guitars and vocals give the shoe-gaze elements of this band's sound an other worldly quality. Having seen the band live a couple times, the record surprised me by accomplishing a more calculated and in the pocket feel alongside their normally raucous and Godspeed!-type spastic parts, exemplified in the closing track of the record, These are Segments of Revolving and Revolting.

The record throws some serious wall of noise guitar bashing in with the peripheral electronic experimentation while not feeling gimmicky, or as if searching for filler. The biggest problems with this record are minor and the same as any other young band: transparent influences and production values. Impressive in its own right, this is a self-produced first recording, which rarely, if ever, turn out this well. This band's thick sound shows huge potential and I am psyched to hear them move forward with more tunes.

This Piano Plays Itself : Day Of Symmetry


This Piano Plays Itself : Post Haste, The Prolitariat Waits


This Piano Plays Itself Myspace

Monday Mash-Up

Sigur Ros had a teaser video rolling around the Internet last week:



Listen to a new CocoRosie song here.

The 2008 version of Ozzfest has them abandoning the touring festival format for a one day event in Dallas, TX with Metallica and Ozzy headlining. I guess that Ozzfest for free last year didn't work out so well.

Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg quit his keyboarding spot in Okkervil River to focus on Shearwater full time.

The Big Boi solo album is coming along nicely.

The Hold Steady will be at The 40 Watt in Athens, Ga August 9th, but is not coming to Atlanta.

Hot Chip will be at The Variety Playhouse on October 9th.

Death Cab For Cutie did the Black Cab sessions.

Only the finest videos for you:

Flight Of The Conchords "Ladies Of The World":



Pelican "Dead Between The Walls":



Bon Iver "Flume":



Ruby Suns "Tane Mahuta":

Tonight In The A: Indian Jewelry

I'm pretty stoked about the Indian Jewelry show at Eyedrum tonight. I loved their last album, Invasive Exotics, and they were very interesting to see live when I caught them at SXSW this year. They have a new album out on Tuesday called Free Gold!. Here's a few tracks to entice you to see them tonight:

Indian Jewelry : Free Gold! : Swans


Indian Jewelry : Free Gold! : Temporary Famine Ship


Here's a really weird promo video for the upcoming album:



Seriously, do yourself a favour and catch this show tonight. Even the openers are worth looking into.

Live Show: Tom Waits (11/21/1976)

He will be at The Fox Theater on July 5th. It looks like tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10am, so check out info here. I really want to see this, but it looks like the cheapest tickets are $67. Damn. Anyways, here is a cool live show from 1976 I found:

Tom Waits 11/21/76
Ivanhoe Theater
Chicago, IL

1. Emotional Weather Report

2. Invitation to the Blues

3. Virginia Avenue

4. Jitterbug Boy

5. I Can't Wait to Get Off Work

6. Fumblin' With the Blues

7. Pasties & a G-String

8. Small Change

9. Eggs & Sausage

10. The Piano Has Been Drinking

11. Tom Traubert's Blues


Download Lossless Torrent Here

DIY Nation: Soundlab 84

After returning from my Radiohead roadtrip, I recharged and headed out to Cabbagetown or Reynoldstown (I'm not sure exactly where the line is) for a house party last Saturday night. The party was hosted by the guys from Missile Command, featuring some of Atlanta's most prolific artists and all-around cool dudes. The house was perfectly suited for this sort of thing, with great porches, a front living room converted to a small venue, and plenty of booze to go around. And of course the show was absolutely free. ATL superstars were out and about for this one.

I thoroughly enjoyed all 4 bands on the bill. Everyone there was rocking loud and hard. The cops came at least twice, but must have been pretty cool because the music never stopped. I have not attended a ton of house parties on the east side of town, so its great to see people doing it right outside the college kid infested neighborhood I live in. I got some videos, and while the sound is pretty decent, the lighting was way too dark. But if you want to watch the blurry shadows bringing it hard, I've uploaded them to youtube anyways (think of them as audio recordings):

Missile Command:



Icecaps:





Black Skies:









All The Saints:

Bands I Heart: 65daysofstatic

65daysofstatic is a really great band that doesn't get enough hype on the blogosphere, including here. Their full-length from last year was our #30 best album of 2007 and I had only mentioned them once before that, so here's some 65daysofstatic stuff. This UK outfit is broadly a post-rock band, but they break down more genre walls then most any band you can paint with that brush. They just dropped a new video on youtube earlier this week in support of their new EP/Single, The Distant and Mechanized Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties:

"Dance Parties (Distant)":



So they seemed to have gone post-dance-rock with this EP and these guys have the ability to conquer just about any sort of feel they want. Here's another track from it:

65daysofstatic : The Distant and Mechanized Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties : Goodbye, 2007


They are touring around with The Cure right now and will be at the Gwinnett Center Arena on June 15th. Here is a recent torrent form one of those shows:

65daysofstatic 2008-05-10 Wachovia Spectrum/Philadelphia, PA (16-bit) (FLAC)

65daysofstatic
(Opening for The Cure)
Wachovia Spectrum
Philadelphia, PA
May 10, 2008

Recording Location: Section 226, Row 16, Seat 7

Source: SP-CMC-19 > SP-SPSB-1 > Edirol R-09

Editing and Conversion: Audacity 1.3.4 (Editing and track splitting) > Trader's Little Helper 2.1.0 (FLAC conversion and fingerprint creation)

1. Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here
2. Await Rescue
3. Fix The Sky A Little
4. Primer
5. Retreat! Retreat!
6. Radio Protector


65daysofstatic Myspace

Buy The Distant and Mechanized Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties Here

One last live video:

Album Review: You Know People I Know People

Morning State: You Know People I Know People



Morning State finally released their debut full-length album last week after having to scrap the first recording due to their label collapsing. You can read all about that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-esque storyline here. The album released is actually from a second, separate recording session earlier this year with Asa Leffer (The Whigs, Dark Meat, The Pendletons) at DARC in Athens, GA over an 11 day span.

The album opens with "Sad Is When I'm Driving" and is the perfect intro track to this band. At moments it is melodic and reserve, others it is rocking hard delivering the best of its collective members. Sweet and concise guitar riffs, driving rhythms on the drums, straightforward, catchy hooks from vocalist Russ Ledford, and a tease of their bottled up potential to jam out. The album builds up momentum with the short second track, "Hurry, Hurry", before they drop one of the obvious hit songs, "Never So Strange." The version of this track seems so much more laid back and tentative from what I remember of it live. It helps with the overall flow of the album, but something about the song itself seems lacking.

"Grown Up (Atlanta)" is up next and is my favourite song on this record. I usually go back and listen to this one again every time I put You Know People in my CD player. It channels everything I enjoy about bands like The Foo Fighters and Queens Of the Stone Age. The jam at the end of the next track,"On A Walk," really sells the guitar work on this album. Evey riff they employ seems to be the right decision for the particular feel they are trying achieve.

After a bit of a slow down, another standout tune,"That's Quite A Rash," picks up the velocity and really highlights the things that appeal to me most about this band. The two tracks that close out You Know People make for an interesting finale. As I understand it, "What Did You Want" was a newer song that wasn't on the original recording. The extended jam in it seems so uncharacteristic for these guys, but feels so right. "Knives" ends an album that always seems stronger when its louder, bigger, faster, harder with their softest, most downbeat tune. The paradoxical ending accentuates both the potential this band has and exposes the quirks in its identity.

The biggest problem with this record is that the somewhat derivative, '90s rock aesthetic might discourage someone with a progressive taste in music casually listening from digging deeper into the nuances and depth You Know People possesses. At the same time its idiosyncrasies may prevent it from being gobbled up in radio-pop land. The line they ride I think is a very interesting experiment in the current music climate, and I'm intrigued by both how it will turn out, and where these guys will go next. Even the way the album ends feels more like a question mark than an exclamation point. I'll be patiently awaiting the answer.

Morning State will be at The Star Bar Tomorrow night for a CD Release party with Casper And The Cookies.

Morning State : You Know People I Know People : Grown Up (Atlanta)


Morning State : You Know People I Know People : That's Quite A Rash


Morning State Myspace

Buy You Know People I Know People here

Live Review: Radiohead (5/8/2008 & 5/9/2008) Atlanta & Charlotte

Last week I was on Radiohead overload and I loved it. I think maybe every single person I know in this city was at the Atlanta show. They are so damn popular now. I mean no matter what sort of style or taste in music of people I know, they all at least can appreciate this band. One down side of this is that there is going to be a crowd with some douches in it, as I've heard many people complain. But I would challenge anyone to tell me about a sold out show at Lakewood that didn't have its share of annoying people attending.

That said, I was probably one of the more annoying people at the show. Since I had seen them 4 times before this and I was pretty much stone cold sober for all of those concerts, I decided to get blotto for this one. Since the night is pretty much a blur, and most people reading this blog were probably also there, I'm just gonna note a couple of things:

• I do not like overbearing cops and security at concerts, and there was way too much of that. People were getting arrested two cars down from where we were hanging out before the show. Why is it illegal to drink on private property at a concert but its ok to walk around with alcohol on Georgia Tech campus, which is lawfully not allowed anytime, during a football game? It is just such a stark contrast between the Phish shows I would go to back in 2000 at Lakewood and what that place has become now. I mean there really isn't much else worthwhile about seeing a show at that sized venue except the bigger-than-life party atmosphere.
  
• While I'm ranting about how much I don't like Lakewood, Liars just didn't sound good in that venue. It was really disappointing to be listening to songs you know and love but not really enjoy them because you are like 7 miles from the stage. It made me not feel so bad being unable to catch a Radiohead show with Grizzly Bear opening.
  

Anyways, since a torrent of the Atlanta show has yet to surface, here's some vids:

"Pyramind Song":



"Lucky":



"Talk Show Host":




To do the review of the Charlotte show the next night, I want to welcome Ohmpark's newest contributor, Josh West. I'm looking forward to many more great contributions to the site from him, and since he is a total Radiohead super-fan, this is a very appropriate debut:

@ around 1:39pm Friday 9 May 2008, I strolled through the door at Ohmpark to find comparable degrees of hungoverness to my own. We recounted the slides of our memory as an obligation – needing to put to rest the previous nights ecstasies in Atlanta in order to fully anticipate lightening striking us twice. With that, we were on the road to Charlotte where Radiohead was waiting once again.

Fast forward to the house lights falling. We found our way with beers in hand to the middle of the lawn as the cheers of the crowd gave way to the slow, soulful "All I Need." After a few songs to warm the crowd, as well as the band, and then…
all engineering efforts began to come alive. For starters, there are five cameras scattered about the stage positioned on a band member, instrument, or both and their feeds are displayed side by side in the widest of widescreens behind the band. So, if you're at the back of the lawn, you can still see Jonny go apeshit.

The fun (and electrical engineering) doesn't stop there. The band also decided to drape themselves in 50 or so waterfalls of light that vary between about 20 to 30 feet in length each. When they're in the middle of a jam, you can see this shit from space.
And for the rest of the evening, as they sprinkled a song or two from albums past amidst our new In Rainbows favorites, the five piece came off as very seasoned and highly coordinated professional showmen – because they are. At times I couldn't decide on the most interesting thing to watch – whether it be Thom's maniacal dancing or the other thing on the screen they happened to be making noise with at the time. Thankfully, there was only one thing to listen to.

Further, when you have accumulated the catalogue that Radiohead have over the past 15+ years, you can construct a setlist that has it all. They're like that campy-ass summer blockbuster movie that has something for everyone, except they're actually good. The opportunity to serenade his girlfriend during "Exit Music (For A Film)" proved to be too much for one young gentleman. Juxtapose that with this really long-haired girl completely wigging out and bumping into everything during "Idioteque" – but hey, don't we all? I smelled plenty of the sticky during "Sail to the Moon" and the pit went nuts for Thom on the kit throughout "Bangers & Mash."

…which lead promptly into the highlight of the evening as the main set closed with an absolutely explosive "Bodysnatchers." I've been challenged to find the words and the best I've got is this: never before has the onslaught of sight and sound translated into my body moving the way it did. I'm white, getting older, and I'll be very pressed to recreate such an outcome. Others around me, notably Biggie C, were also appropriately affected.

The band, as well as I, got a much-needed break after that. However, the treats continued as they returned to the stage to perform back-to-back numbers not appearing on major albums with "Go Slowly" followed by "Talk Show Host."
Most of the crowd proceeded to wet themselves after the first chords of "Planet Telex" and it was actually here that I felt the band silenced all doubters wherever they might be found – getting everyone going on an oldie. The lights were synced perfectly and undeniably pained over for this one. They held this ace for long enough and were really just showing off at this point.

The show closed with the perennial favorite, "Paranoid Android" introduced in one of Thom's few addresses to the audience as, "This one's a naaass-tee lit-tle bas-tard" followed promptly by "Reckoner."
In all, everyone had the opportunity to laugh, cry, clap, sing, dance, hug, fist-pound, high-five, bob their head, hold a lighter (if you're into that), burn one down (cause I'm into that) and look at the people around them periodically with that holy-shit look on their face.

If they're coming to a city near you, bottom line: go to the show. If you have to, drop some bills on the dude about 1000 feet from the venue who looks like your dad. He'll be referring to the band as "Them Radioheads." You'll pay more than face value on the ticket, but this is pragmatically irrelevant. Get in.

You can download the Charlotte show here. Jonny took some pictures on the Radiohead blog, and here are a couple: