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Posts Tagged Portishead

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February 22, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

The Weather Station: Ignorance

The Weather Station Ignorance Fat Possum You can make a serious album about serious issues that has groove, that has soul, that has not only heart but has actual art to it. It’s been done. Many times – and it always feels like a subtle magic trick. A few years ago Tracey Thorn did so […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Annie Lennox, Ignorance, Paul Buchanan, Portishead, Talk Talk, Tamara Lindeman, The Blue Nile, The Weather Station, The Weather Station: Ignorance, Tracey Thorn, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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April 9, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

RNZ Feature: Album Openers

This was just my second feature on RNZ for 2020 – well, there’s been a bit of other stuff going on of late… Still, I got the call, was asked to put together a thing about best Album Openers. So I did. Jesse was away, so I chatted to Anna Thomas on the day. On the phone. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Afternoons, Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan, Album Openers, Anna Thomas, Bob Marley, Feature, Jesse Mulligan, Led Zeppelin, Portishead, Prince, Radio, Radio New Zealand, Radio NZ, RNZ, RNZ Feature: Album Openers, Side 1, The Rolling Stones, The XX, Track 1, Van Halen, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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June 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast: Episode 118 – Chris Tse

Welcome to episode 118 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and Le Petite Chocolat. I had a conversation with Chris Tse. He’s a Wellington poet. He’s done some acting and music-making too but it’s for his books How To Be Dead In A Year of Snakes and the very recently released He’s So […]
Posted in Blog, Podcasts · Tagged Acting, Book, Books, Chat, Chris Tse, Conversation, Drama, ep.118, Episode One Hundred And Eighteen, Family, Films, He's So MASC, Heather Nova, How To Be Dead In A Year of Snakes, https://christse.co.nz/, https://soundcloud.com/off-the-tracks/sweetman-podcast-episode-118-chris-tse, Identity, Interview, iTunes, Le Petite Chocolat, Liz Phair, Movies, Music, Plays, Podcast, Poem, Poems, Poet, Poetry, Portishead, Simon Sweetman, Soundcloud, Sweetman, Sweetman Podcast, Sweetman Podcast: Episode 118, Sweetman Podcast: Episode 118 – Chris Tse, T Leaf T, Theatre, Tori Amos, Wellington, Writer, Writing, Yeastie Boys ·

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August 19, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Get The Blessing: Astronautilus

Get The Blessing Astronautilus Naim Music By my count  it’s the fifth-full-lengther for this British jazz-meets-rock-fucks-anything group (formed around the dynamic duo at the helm of Portishead’s rhythm section) and in a sense it’s business as usual, Get The Blessing have everything lined up and ready to mow down as usual – big sweeps of […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Astronautilus, Get The Blessing, Jazz, Portishead ·

Archive

March 25, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Adrian Utley’s Guitar Orchestra: In C

Adrian Utley’s Guitar Orchestra In C Invada There are some flexible rules around performing/recording Terry Riley’s famed minimalist composition, In C, it’s all about the group of instrumentalists sitting on the same sound, creating a groove through the exploration of 53 short musical phrases being played consecutively. The piece was debuted 50 years ago – […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Adrian Utley, Adrian Utley's Guitar Orchestra, Album Review, In C, Portishead, Terry Riley ·

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March 3, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Get The Blessing: Lope And Antilope

Get The Blessing Lope And Antilope Naim Jazz Here we have the fourth  full-lengther from British jazz quartet Get The Blessing. Formed around the rhythm section of Portishead, theirs is a probing, searching version of jazz – it makes me think of the recent Sons of Kemet album (which I loved). We start with the […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Adrian Utley, Album Review, Clive Deamer, Get The Blessing, Jake McMurchie, Jazz, Jim Burr, John Zorn, Lope And Antilope, Pete Judge, Portishead, Sons of Kemet ·

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March 1, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1176

Portishead, Dummy (1994) I still remember – in my first year of university – hearing this album was a revelation, it was all its own thing, it wasn’t at all like anything in my collection of music up to that point. I heard just a snippet of the opening track in a friend’s room in […]
Posted in The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 1994, 1995, Dummy, LP, Mysterons, Portishead, The Vinyl Countdown, Vinyl ·

Archive

June 26, 2013 by Simon Sweetman

The Knife: Shaking The Habitual

The Knife Shaking The Habitual Mute US Corporation Swedish brother/sister synth-pop/electronic duo The Knife releases a belated follow-up to the fan-winning Silent Shout. It’s fair to say, surely, that a lot of people found The Knife on the back of the Jose Gonzales cover of Heartbeats. Anyone still hoping they’ll write another song for Jose […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Bish Bosch, Bjork, Fever Ray, Jose Gonzales, Portishead, Scott Walker, Shaking The Habitual, Silent Shout, The Knife ·

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January 20, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1658

Beth Orton, Trailer Park (1996) In the mid/late 1990s a lot of people thought Beth Orton was the “Beth” from Portishead. There were a lot of people checking out Trailer Park, figuring it was some folkie sidestep from their new favourite downbeat/trip-hop singer. Seriously. I know this to be true because I was working in […]
Posted in The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 1996, Beth Gibbons, Beth Orton, Central Reservation, I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine, LP, Portishead, The Chemical Brothers, Trailer Park, Vinyl, William Orbit ·

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November 14, 2011 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1761

The XX, XX (2009) I wasn’t that much of a fan at first – well, I just didn’t get the buzz. To me The XX sounded okay, but nothing special. But I bought the vinyl because a) my wife was really digging the album and b) I liked the LP packaging. It also made me […]
Posted in The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged Dummy, Intro, Jamie xx, Portishead, The XX, Vinyl, XX ·

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September 16, 2011 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1848

Portishead, Third (2008) I liked Portishead as soon as I heard the debut album. I guess timing was crucial: at university, interested in hearing about (and hearing) the music that drove other people from (potentially) different backgrounds; finding common interests. I just know that I heard a sound I liked instantly. It was – and […]
Posted in The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged Adrian Utley, Dummy, Portishead, Silence, The Rip, Third, Vinyl ·

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