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Portishead Better with Age

More than dinner music, Third could 'utterly pulverize boredom'

By Clay Dillow, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 16, 2008 2:53 PM CDT

(Newser) – If Portishead’s new album comes off as cheesy, it’s only because it’s easily digestible, Sasha Frere-Jones writes in the New Yorker. While the album, Third, is “delightfully abrasive,” the Brits have “accepted that being soothing, despite their perverse streak, is part of what they do,” crafting tracks that will appeal to “young Radiohead fans” and “those who like some heft in their gloom.”

The trio’s languid music has indeed been co-opted by the dinner-party set, but Third “sounds like nothing else on offer now.” How a generation unfamiliar with Portishead’s 1990s catalog will receive the group in 2008 remains to be seen, but it’s “music by people starting from scratch and for people who want to utterly pulverize boredom. And, eventually, eat.”

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

Portishead in concert. ((c) GothEric)

14 years after their debut, Portishead has accepted that being brilliant sometimes means being soothing, despite the elevator-music stigma. ((c) José Goulão)

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Portishead Third - We Carry On (Live):New Song from Third Album, performed at Hammersmith Apollo in London in April 2008. Beth comes off stage at the end to give everyone a hug (aww!), I try to get a last minute glimpse of the camera man's bum (aww!), and everyone's a winner babe!You can see a performance of songs from Third at http://current.com/items/88899146_portishead_in_portishead (rayoliteuk)

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Portishead Better with Age