Portishead – Dummy
Electronic – Released August 22, 1994 – 11 songs, 49 mins
Average Rating: 6.6
LUNDI’s album drop:
Alright boys so this one comes from a weird source but I was talking to this chick on Tinder and we were chatting music. She had excellent taste in music and in particular mentioned that based on my interests I had to check out Portishead. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a song by them (maybe you guys have) but she highly recommended the album Dummy. So there it is… Portishead – Dummy. Enjoy!
REID
This. Album. Is. A. Mood. Holy…
Tinder girl must’ve really thought Lundi was an astronaut. Mysterons reminds me of the Simpsons when the aliens visit. My other notes went a little like this: ‘cool-ish vibes’, ‘groovy’, ‘vibe-y’, ‘funky’, ‘Did Link find Princess Zelda?’, ‘so alien-like’, etc. I just couldn’t get into this one at all. The woman’s voice (Beth Gibbons) really annoyed me after a while and I skipped most songs on the repetitive listens. I think the biggest thing is I liked certain parts of songs but very little of the songs as a whole.
Took a look at Pitchfork for fun and they applauded its niche sound and gave it a 9.5. I do appreciate the creativity and for that reason, I wanted to give it an ‘Adluri mercy pass’. But for the sake of this activity moving forward, I couldn’t give out sympathy votes. Just not for me. Deleted album, unmatched tinderella. Moving along.
Overall Rating – 3.5/10
Favourite Song – It Could Be Sweet
ROZ
Overall Takeaways: haunting atmosphere, mesmerizing vocals, great drum breaks, thumping 808's.
Mysterons:
Haunting - vocals, melody and guitar. Love the hip hop styled drum breaks which may or may not be sampled. Quite an interesting sound!
Sour Times:
GIRLTALK! This brings me back to my university days for sure, when the aforementioned DJ released a mashup consisting of this song mixed with Shutterbug by Big Boi. It's nice to finally hear the original, and it does not disappoint. This really reminds me of something I might hear in a James Bond film or opening theme - it definitely has an exotic vibe to it, specifically the percussion and guitar effects which is drenched in reverb and delay. Also, I've 100% heard bits of this in GTA 4 loading screens.
Strangers:
Big drum breaks, a little less haunting and more lo-fi with this one, and I'm a sucker for a good ukulele.
It Could Be Sweet:
Damn those 808's thump. Ultimately when it comes to this song her vocals just didn't do it for me. It's almost as if she sings intentionally off-time and off-key.
Wandering Star:
Much the same as It Could Be Sweet in the sense that I liked the production but I just didn't really enjoy her voice in this.
It's a Fire:
The music nerd in me knows this organ sound well, the Korg M1. That keyboard was a hit in the 90s and made a hell of a lot of jams in that decade. Overall I enjoyed this track a lot more than the previous 2 - it really seemed to convey a lot of strong emotions.
Numb:
This song is the shit. It took my favorite bits of all the previous songs and put them together! The DJ scratching really had me going too.
Roads, Pedestal, Biscuit:
Everything is really coming together now, and I really love these psychedelic production effects. This album is really finishing strong for me.
Glory Box:
More James Bond vibes here. It makes me feel like I'm in a blues bar drinking a dry martini and I'm here for it. What better way to finish it off than with a wicked guitar solo? This is definitely my favorite song on the album, what a closer.
Final word: After listening to the album a few times, I did a little deep dive on the makings of it and the production methods used were awesome (for example to get a grainy, worn-out sound, they'd press their recordings onto vinyl and then ride said vinyl around the studio like a skateboard). Other than a few questionable vocal choices on some of the tracks, I dig these guys a lot.
Overall Rating – 8.3/10
Favourite Song – Glory Box
LUNDI
I will tell you guys one thing, this one was easily the most confused I have been in putting together a review. If I did my review one listen ago or one listen more I think the thoughts would change.
The slow melodic trip hop consistently gave me a feeling of not knowing song transitions have happened and generally I don’t like when an album sounds the same the whole way through.... yet soon as the album ended I wanted to listen again. Then I’d listen again and get the same feelings. As I said confused.
I know for certain I love the opening song. Mysterons is creepy to the point that I can’t get enough. That drum roll beat is the perfect compliment. Sour Times sounds like we just started a bond movie which is a compliment in its own. Her voice kinda just gets stuck in my head “nobody loves me it’s true, not like you”.
Strangers and It Could be Sweet do not resonate with me much. The beat are a little more simplistic and I don’t love her higher pitched voice.
Right back on track with Wandering Star. Maybe it’s because its off two down songs but this song stands out for. I wish I had more understanding of electronic music to describe these songs but I love whatever is going on here.
It’s a Fire doesn’t so much for me but we come back with two solid, enjoyable tunes in Numb and Roads. Her voice is on the higher end in Roads but the beat allows here to get there, where before it seemed like she was trying to overpower the music.
This is the point where I kinda think to myself “have I heard these songs before?” I gave Numb, Roads, Pedestal and Biscuit individual listens to try and differentiate and they certainly are different individually but as an album they sound repetitive.
The album closer Glory Box fits in the top half of album. I think it’s one of the limited songs on the back half that really offers something different.
Overall I loved about half the songs and enjoyed it all despite the repetition. I also think this album deserves credit for coming out in 1994. It may fit right in with stuff that’s coming out today, but I bet it was a very rare bird back then.
Overall Rating – 7.9/10
Favourite Song – Mysterons