Still in their early ’20s, Portico Quartet live together and describe their ethos as like an indie-band that plays post-jazz, rather than as a traditional jazz outfit. In just a few years their music has taken them from busking on London’s South Bank to a Mercury Prize nomination, to recording at Abbey Road Studio 2 with producer and famed nurturer of young bands John Leckie. (Radiohead, Stone Roses, Muse among them).
Pearl Jam / Do The Evolution
Lines like ‘I’m at peace, with my lust, I can kill cause in God I trust … it’s evolution baby!’ ironically sums up the distaste of western society. Eddie Vedder’s singing sounds more visceral and angry as ever and Stone Gossard’s riffs are so catchy they should be remixed into a 70s disco tune. This piece has such energy and momentum, it doesn’t waste a beat or hang onto any note it doesn’t need. Like western civilization, it’s in a rush and it’s hungry.
Jonny Greenwood / The Prospectors Arrive
This track, first of all, made me feel slightly uneasy, then queasy, then I thought it was just thoroughly beautiful, much like the film it accompanies. The combination of the slow waltzing piano, uneven bars, and the undefinable sound of the Mellotron (sounding like a cross between a trumpet and cello) gives the timbre a lonely, alien quality. It pushes you to fall in love with the ugly.
E.S.T. / Premonition: II: Contorted
This track really captures the band’s communication at its apex. Beginning with Dan Berglund’s sparse, searching yet strong bass groove, glazed with ever-haunting, ghostly, electronic swoops and distorted high end piano. The seamless build drags you deep down without noticing until your surrounded by a frenzy of violent bass growls, heavy rock back beat and desperate wailing piano solos. Only at the end, when the attack of the jilted drum rolls like dying white noise, do you realize that you’ve been in a trance. It’s deep, and it’s intense.
Jono McCleery / Alive Again
McCleery’s voice falls somewhere in between Nick Drake and Terry Callier, and he has a clear knowledge of arranging. There are some beautiful string sections near the end of this piece, which sound like echoes of Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians in between the intricate finger-picked guitar. He’s supported us live and the reaction is always of absolute praise.
Kode 9 and The Space Ape / Nine
Lusty and dark, this tears you between the feeling of being deeply intimate and intimidated. The spoken word of Space Ape has such a deep, sticky texture it is vividly evocative of this very sexual picture. The musical interludes, which decorates this poem, are like scratchy flashbacks and unhinge the flow throughout to create quite an unnerving but compelling spell.
The Invisible / Constant
We were on the same bill as these guys when we were both starting out in a small café in Dalston, East London. It was a triple bill: the first band played, then us, and then them. Every time they came to the end of their track, we were so inspired and stoked to take our next turn. Pumping drums from Leo Taylor (Hot Chip) funky bass from Tome Herbert (Polarbear), and out of this world, sci-fi, Prince-like guitar from the massive Dave Okumo. Amazing band. They deserved to win the Mercury Music Prize.
Band of Skulls / Light of the Morning
Good friends of ours from Southampton. Amazing to see their rise and rise in the US, even on the new Twilight film New Moon. Most people say they sound like the White Stripes, but I hear more Led Zeppelin (especially with the authority Matt Hayward plays the drums). Emma Richardson’s vocals have the crispy husk of Martha Wainwright and Russle Marsden’s bluesy guitar and frontman gusto makes the band a must-see live.
Thom York / The Eraser
I love all the sounds in this album. It kind of sounds like what Kid A would have given birth to if they kept going down the electronic route. The melodies are so rich and the arrangements very interesting. I always want the end outro sequence to lift-off into a trance dance, four to the floor beat. But I love it even more when it doesn’t.
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