Re: Portishead as AJ

Marc Wright (mw@eis.net.au)
Sun, 3 Dec 1995 22:13:40 +1000


>
>On Fri, 1 Dec 1995, Lori Nowell wrote:
>
>> btw ii -- Never thought of Portishead as AJ. Put Dummy on and tried to
>> listen to it in a whole new way, but had to stretch a little to get an
>> AJ feel from it. Maybe it is the sound of Beth's voice, which I do
>> love, that makes me think of Portishead as more mainstream than AJ.
>> Can someone explain what I am overlookin' here? Lori
>
>It could be the samples used on the album (Weather Report, Isaac Hayes,
>lalo Schiffrin...) that make some people look at it in an AJ light.
>Similarily whi is Tricky AJ? (ie: Hell is Round The Corner). I guess it's
>more a matter of background than sound....

It seems to me that while Portishead (and Massive Attack, and Coldcut, and
anyone on Ninja Tune, and anyone on Wall of Sound, etc) may not be exactly
'Acid Jazz' , I think AJ is its closest relation. AJ, by it's nature,
continuously breaks musical boundaries, and these are examples of artists
who have done a fair bit of boundary-breaking - and created their own genres.

Marc.