Portishead

Infobox musical artist
Name = Portishead

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Img_capt = Portishead playing live at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 13 April 2008
Background = group_or_band
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born =
Died =
Origin = Bristol, England
Instrument =
Genre = Downtempo Art rock Electronic Experimental Psychedelic Alternative rock Trip hop
Occupation =
Years_active = 1991–present
Label = Island Records
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.portishead.co.uk/ Official Site]
Current_members = Geoff Barrow Beth Gibbons Adrian Utley
Past_members =

Portishead (IPA2|pɔːtɪsˈhɛd) IS an English musical group from Bristol. The band is named after the nearby town of the same name, convert|13|km|mi|0|abbr=on west of Bristol. [ [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.46513,-2.684784&spn=0.096249,0.251999&z=12 Portishead and Bristol] on Google Maps]

History

The band was formed in Bristol in 1991, by Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons and Adrian Utley. Previously, Barrow had been working as a tape operator (including work with Massive Attack and Tricky) [ [http://kotinetti.suomi.net/heikki.hietala/geoff.htm Geoff Barrow bio] [P] fansite, Retrieved on 2008-03-09] , Gibbons was singing in pubs, and Utley had played jazz guitar for Big John Patton and The Jazz Messengers. [ [http://music.yahoo.com/ar-260850-bio--Portishead Portishead bio] Yahoo! Music, Retrieved on 2008-03-09] The trio created the short film "To Kill a Dead Man", which was heavily inspired by espionage films, and its accompanying soundtrack persuaded Go! Beat Records to sign the band. [http://wm10.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gxfwxqr5ldje~T1 Biography] All Music Guide, Retrieved on 2007-12-28] [cite book
last=Reynolds
first=Simon
authorlink=Simon Reynolds
title=Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture
publisher=Little, Brown and Co.
date=1998
pages=320]

"Dummy" (1994)

Portishead's first album, "Dummy", was released in 1994 and the first single was "Numb." Despite the band's aversion to press coverage, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States (where it sold more than 150,000 copies even before the band toured there)."Dummy" spawned three singles, "Numb", "Glory Box" (which was used in the 1996 film "When the Cat's Away") and "Sour Times", and went on to win the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 1995. [The song "Roads," was also made a showing for both the Tank Girl movie and it's soundtrack album, which was released on March 28, 1995 on Warner Bros./Elektra Records.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/456975/html/nn1page5.stm Mercury Music Prize Winners] BBC Online, Retrieved on 2007-12-28]

"Portishead" (1997)

After their initial success, Portishead withdrew from the spotlight for three years until their self-titled second album, "Portishead", was released in 1997. The album's sound differed from "Dummy", the main differences being that much of the music was composed and recorded by the band, then pressed to vinyl.Fact|date=July 2008 This created a grainy, harsher sound. Three singles, "All Mine", "Over" and "Only You" were released, the first one achieving a Top 10 placing in the UK.

"Roseland NYC Live" (1998)

In 1997, the band performed a one-off show with strings by the New York Philharmonic orchestra [cite web|url=http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/dvd/portishead/roseland_new_york/index.html|title=Review of "PNYC"|work=Ultimate Guitar|accessdate=2008-01-05] at Roseland Ballroom in New York. A live album primarily featuring these new orchestral arrangements of the group's songs was released in 1998. There was also a long-form VHS video of the performance, and a DVD followed in 2002, with substantial extra material including many early videos.

Hiatus (1999–2005)

For the next few years, the band members concentrated on solo and other pursuits. In February 2005, the band appeared live for the first time in seven years at the Tsunami Benefit Concert in Bristol. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2005/02/18/tsunami_views_feature.shtml Tsunami benefit concert review] BBC Music, Retrieved on 2008-01-05] Around that time Barrow revealed that the band was in the process of writing its third album. In August 2006, the band posted two new tracks on its MySpace page--described by Barrow as "doodles". [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1859997,00.html Quote from Geoff Barrow] "The Guardian" 29 August 2006, Retrieved on 2007-12-28] Around the same time, Portishead covered Serge Gainsbourg's "Un Jour Comme un Autre (Requiem for Anna)" on the tribute album "Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited".

"Third" (2008)

On October 2, 2007, Portishead stated that the new album, titled "Third", had been mixed and was nearly complete, and was due for release in early April 2008. The release date was later pushed back to April 28. On December 8-9, 2007, the band curated the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England. The festival featured their first full live sets in nearly 10 years. [ [http://strangeglue.com/news/atp-the-nightmare-before-xmas-portishead-review/990 Review of December 2007 ATP shows] StrangeGlue.com, Retrieved on 2007-12-27] They premiered five tracks from the new album; "Silence", "Hunter", "The Rip", "We Carry On" and "Machine Gun". On January 21, 2008, a European tour to support the album was announced, [ [http://www.nme.com/news/portishead/33772 Portishead announce 2008 tour] NME.com, Retrieved on 2008-01-27] together with a headline spot at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 26, 2008. [cite web|url=http://www.coachella.com/updates/news |title=Coachella lineup|work=Coachella.com|accessdate=2008-01-22]

Portishead's newest 11-track album "Third" went live on last.fm the week before release, attracting 327,000 listeners in just under 24 hours. [ [http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=31271_0_2_0_C Portishead fans flock together for early album stream] ] It was the first time Last.fm has made an album available before its official release date. The site estimates that a quarter of a million people have visited their site expressly to listen to the Portishead tracks. The album was released on April 29, 2008 to coincide with band's appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. [ [http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Portishead/ SuicideGirls > Interviews > Portishead ] ] On May 29, 2008 Portishead's Geoff Barrow realized a "boyhood fantasy" when Chuck D of Public Enemy joined the band onstage at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona. He contributed a freestyle rap over Portishead's single 'Machine Gun'. [ [http://www.thequietus.com/2008/06/portishead-on-public-enemy/ Portishead on Public Enemy] TheQuietus.com, Retrieved on 2008-06-11]

On May 18, 2008, Barrow expressed the band's enthusiasm for recording new material on their official website's blog, stating that he "can't wait to write some new tunes." [ [http://www.portishead.co.uk/blog.php back home] ]

Discography

Portishead have released four albums:
*1994 "Dummy"
*1997 "Portishead"
*1998 "Roseland NYC Live"
*2008 "Third"As well as their main recorded output, Portishead have been involved in a large number of remixes and collaborations with other artists.

References

External links

* [http://www.portishead.co.uk/ Portishead Official site]
*myspace|PORTISHEADALBUM3|Portishead
* [http://www.pheadweb.com Unofficial Portishead site]
*Discogs artist|artist=Portishead|name=Portishead
*amg|id=11:gxfwxqr5ldje
*lastfm
* [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/49555-interview-portishead "Pitchfork" interview: Portishead] , April 7, 2008
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/04/12/sm_portishead.xml Portishead: back on the beat] , "Telegraph", April 12, 2008
* [http://www.birmingham-alive.com/reviewpage.asp?reviewid=69 Review of Wolverhampton Civic Hall show] April 13, 2008
* [http://music.aol.ca/article/trip-hop-portishead/544/ Portishead feature on AOL Music Canada]
* [http://webinfront.net/?p=202/ Podcast of Portishead's entire 2008 Coachella performance]