This week must be when all the 90's electronic heavyweights make their return to the music scene. First Bomb the Bass unleashes their first new material in...well, forever, and now comes the first new Portishead song in nearly a decade! All we need is for Leftfield to make a new album and the week will really feel like I've stepped into a time warp.
Luckily the nostalgia trip doesn't extend to the sound of the music, which is markedly different than Portishead's previous output. "Machine Gun" shows Portishead embracing industrial noise more than ever before as Geoff Barrow blends metallic-sounding drum machines with Kraftwerk-esque synthesizer loops to create something that sounds like a soundtrack to a robotic death march. Of course, the mere presence of Beth Gibbons' dark angelic voice is enough to get me on board with the direction Portishead is going for here.
While it may not be as rhythmic as classics like "All Mine" or "Glory Box", the aim of the appropriately titled "Machine Gun" is seemingly to plaster the bands' 'trip hop' past full of bullets. Since they've made no secret about their disdain for that term, don't be surprised if this song is indicative of things to come throughout their long overdue album Third (out April 26). I, for one, cannot wait!
Portishead - "Machine Gun" (From the forthcoming album, Third)
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