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For women in Iraq, the terrorist could be the guy working beside you
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How do you pass No Child Left Behind . . . when you don’t speak English?
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The Kickdrums may be hip-hop’s next big beatmakers. And they work out of a closet in Avon
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A mystical shaman, returning bandmates, and grinding riffs renew thrash kings Testament
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Feist has sung with a lot of Canadians. Unfortunately, she missed out on these classics.
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While Trent Reznor broods, Saul Williams celebrates a musical experiment
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Ministry calls it quits. But it has one more tour to get through first
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Singer-songwriter Chris Allen grows up on new CD by turning up the volume
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Slide Show: The Black Keys at the Beachland Tavern
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Recent Articles By Dan LeRoy
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Billy Bragg
Mr. Love & Justice (Anti-)
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Gnarls Barkley
The Odd Couple (Atlantic)
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Kev Blaze
Smoke 'N Blaze (Imperial/EMI)
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Wyclef Jean
Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant (Columbia)
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The Ghost of Christmas Past
History haunts the Wu and Pretty Toney this holiday season.
National Features
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The Pitch
We (Heart) Matt
The Shawnee Mission East class of '08 loves its gay homecoming king.
By Jen Chen -
Village Voice
The Cro-Mag Diaries
Remembering the brutal life and times of John "Bloodclot" Joseph, New York hardcore icon.
By Rob Harvilla -
Seattle Weekly
Being Gary Busey
Everybody thinks Jeff Swanson is somebody famous. And he does nothing to dissuade them of the notion.
By Aimee Curl
Subject(s): krautrock, trip-hop, Portishead
Much of Portishead's third album comes down to what it is not. Geoff Barrow, the mastermind behind the British trio, acidly observed that in the wake of trip-hop's mid-'90s ascendance, Portishead's scratchy, introverted anthems were turned "into a fondue set," their late-night ambience appropriated by advertisers. Easy as it might have been to turn in another Dummy (nearly 15 years after its canonization as a seminal trip-hop text), Barrow, guitarist Adrian Utley, and singer Beth Gibbons fashion a new sound on Third. The results are mixed and most likely won't be used to sell fondue sets — or anything else, for that matter. The record took a decade to make, and it takes more than a few listens to absorb its new appropriations: clanging krautrock guitars, surprisingly aggressive beats, catchy electropop. And even though some of the new songs stretch Gibbons' delicate voice to its brink, Third offers a throughline to Portishead's spooky roots, as do the spectral, minor-key melodies. The album's closing cuts reconcile the group's new sound with its classic one. Over a muscular groove enhanced by cowbell (!) and free-jazz sax, "Magic Doors" includes an irresistibly gloomy chorus and some familiar lyrical sour times. The even bleaker "Threads" queasily builds to a roiling rock chorus while Gibbons wails, "I'm always so unsure." You don't get much more '90s than that.
