Pitchfork

Photo by Grumpy Man DJs

Portishead's Geoff Barrow knows there's a web sheriff out there a-lurkin', and as such, he'd better abide by blogger law. So the most recent post on Portishead's blog follows those laws to the letter: there's some chat of a show he just saw, a dissection of all this Radiohead hubbub, and a brief update on what he's been up to.

Also, when he posted the link to the blog on MySpace, it was under the subject head "amy gets caught sober........ or some other shit news"

He began with Radiohead, and so shall we. Barrow writes "so then.......music for free is it? well fuking great. so if you get our album for nothing or very little , does that mean i can get my boiler fixed for free... --------i could tell the plumber that its all for the love of sharing and its to combat the evil money grabbing corperation that is zanussi. ...............im sure he will understand. also im not having a pop at radiohead they are fuking good and clever with it. anyways im sure it will all become clear at some point". Clearer than this paragraph, anyway.

As for that show, Geoff says "saw the coral the other night......was sound! as they would say." Do they say that?

On, and those personal deets? They just happen to concern the decade-in-the-making third Portishead LP: "as to the new album , we met the label the other day which was good , i dont think we scared them too much..well mabey a little. going to london to have a listen in a proper studio soon but until then were just mixing the stumps ,stems.whatever. ---------thinking about names ---------films looking really good".

Allow me to sum that up: the Portishead album is in the mixdown stage, ready to be listened to, and discussed with a label. They're so close, they're even coming up with titles. Also, film(s)? That one's new to us. You guys making a movie?

Portishead, as you know, have curated the heck out of the All Tomorrow's Parties-hosted Nightmare Before Christmas festival, going down December 7-9 in Minehead, England. They'll perform, too, along with Thurston, Boris, Black Mountain, Aphex Twin, Silver Apples, Sparklehorse, Oneida, and a mess of others. (Ladytron have unfortunately dropped out.)

And then they will release their album. Right?

As for Beth Gibbons, she can currently be heard on the new Annie Lennox song "Sing", as part of a choir that also includes Madonna, Isobel Campbell, Sugababes, Celine Dion, Fergie, Beth Orton, Gladys Knight, Bonnie Raitt, Dido, Pink, Shakira, and several other random women.