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Portishead – 3 (Remixes)

03Jul

Categories: Music, Trip Hop Comments: 0

I’ve been a Portishead fan for quite a few years. So I was excited when they released a new album. I even obtained an advanced-release version several months ahead of the actual in-store date. And I was somewhat disappointed. Sure, it was the same brooding emotions as before, but gone were the dusty breaks and loops… gone was the scratching.

This subject has been argued over repeatedly in message-boards and elsewhere on the internet, but I have yet to see an explanation as to why they abandoned a sound that had garnered them so much success. Sure, the new album has been successful and many fans like it more than their previous work, and I don’t want to take that away from people, but at the same time… I miss that stuff.

So what am I to do?

I did the only thing I know how. I scrambled to remix the entire album laying down breakbeats and loops and scratching myself. I had hatched a plot with fellow Portishead fan, Sir Mildred Pierce, that I would remix the entire album, then he would craft slightly altered artwork, then we would place the whole thing all over the place online as if it were the real album. Confusion would set in, further arguments would rage… it was a brilliant idea.

And then the date came and went before I could complete the project, so I stopped.

But in the mean time, here I am, sitting on my finished remixes. And I have to say, with the exception of “Deep Water,” which in retrospect sounds forced and phony, the rest really compliment what was already there. Which makes me wonder why they didn’t do what I did.

So, add these to your collection, put them in rotation, and keep hope alive. Maybe a real remix album will come out (like they used to do with all those singles).