Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Wildahead Portibeast - DEEPGOA's Electronic Sessions (Review)

Even after all this time... it's classic folks, just understand that.

REVIEW:
by Marvin
Anyone who has explored the electronic music albums on Free Albums Galore probably noticed I have a fondness for Trip-Hop. So it is interesting that my trip-hop preference doesn’t transfer to the most popular artists in the genre, Portishead. As much as I swoon over the vocals of Beth Gibbons, the over-all feel of Portishead’s efforts is antiseptic. Lots of atmosphere but little emotion.
So the unusual free and legal online experiment by hip-hop wonder Wildabeast titled Wildahead Portibeast is a bit of a revelation. Wildabeast takes the music of Portishead and turns it into a hip-hop smorgasbord of beats and rap lyrics. The tracks are re-mixed so the basic Portishead songs are transformed into trip-hop with soul. Perhaps the best example is “It’s True” which Wildabeast takes the popular “Sour Times”, keeps Gibbon’’s signature line “Nobody loves me, it’s true”, and wraps it in enough electronic and turntable effects to make it his own. In fact, Wildbeast’s rapping is a nice counter-point to Gibbons’ sexy vocals and often leads the listener into the emotional payoff I missed from the original tracks. Wildabeast’s own rap lyrics on tracks like “All for Nothing” and “Machine Gun” remains high quality. I think most Portishead fans will admire these remixes and hip-hop fans will appreciate the journey into new territories.

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