Portishead-like sound
January 29, 2007 4:07 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for any relatively new bands/artists that sound like Portishead. Signed or unsigned - any recommendations?
posted by phaedon to Media & Arts (35 answers total) 33 users marked this as a favorite
 
Atomica sounds a lot like Portishead. They have a self-titled album out on Positron! Records.
posted by infinitywaltz at 4:13 PM on January 29, 2007


Yossy Little Noise Weaver
 is in that realm with maybe a little touch of Bjork
posted by subtle_squid at 4:17 PM on January 29, 2007


Switchblade Symphony, Rasputina, and Sunshine Blind all sound like Portishead.
posted by iamkimiam at 4:19 PM on January 29, 2007


You probably already know about Massive Attack, Tricky, Lamb, DJ Shadow, and Thievery Corporation, right? They all sound kind of like Portishead IMO but they are all well known. I can't name any less well known bands who sound like Portishead off the top of my head. If any spring to mind I'll be sure to come back and add them.
posted by sveskemus at 4:26 PM on January 29, 2007


Martina Topley-Bird, Trickey's ex girlfriend also has a similar vibe. First learned of her when her song Sandpaper Kisses was featured in Indigo Prophecy.
posted by subtle_squid at 4:26 PM on January 29, 2007


Ah. Relatively new. Missed that. Sorry.
posted by sveskemus at 4:27 PM on January 29, 2007


There are a zillion bands that sound like portishead. One good way to find them is to listen to DJ mixes of trip hop/downtempo music. Two suggestions:

(1) Check out the mixes (available for free download!) at thetastates, especially those that feature portishead in the mix (Head In The Clouds; No Ones Around, There's No Need To Fake It; and Chinchillin').

(2) Listen to the "Groove Salad" stream at somafm.
posted by googly at 4:29 PM on January 29, 2007


Ilya is pretty close... they are never mentioned without the "Portishead" comparison.
posted by afx114 at 4:45 PM on January 29, 2007


Zero 7.
posted by emelenjr at 4:58 PM on January 29, 2007


Tricky, Morcheeba, Beth Orton, some CocoRosie and Massive Attack...
posted by skywhite at 5:17 PM on January 29, 2007


Sorry, those aren't relatively new...
posted by skywhite at 5:18 PM on January 29, 2007




The Receivers features the former guitarist for The Dears and are all very good friends of mine. They just finished their album and are shopping it around. I'm a big fan of the Petrograd song myself, but they haven't put up the best ones yet on myspace.
posted by furtive at 6:03 PM on January 29, 2007


check out bitter:sweet and mandalay, i also really like psapp, but they are a bit different.

the last.fm similar page might be of some use, although looking through it it's not too many new artists.
posted by christy at 6:14 PM on January 29, 2007


Music-Map can be handy for these kinds of questions. Enter an artist and it presents a cloud of similar sounding performers.

Portishead results.
posted by JaredSeth at 6:44 PM on January 29, 2007


The Dining Rooms
Troublemakers
posted by dobbs at 7:31 PM on January 29, 2007


Response by poster: Every answer is better than the next. Thanks.
posted by phaedon at 7:33 PM on January 29, 2007


Well, we don't use trip-hoppy breakbeats, exactly, we're more of a minimal-electronica-with-vocals sort of unit, but I've been told, on more than one occasion, that we sound something like Portishead. Or we remind people of Portishead. Whatever. Anyway, you can see if you agree...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:45 PM on January 29, 2007


I just made a Mix CD for someone based around Portishead and Portishead-like bands:

Nightmares On Wax
Bitter:Sweet
Zero 7
Massive Attack
Frou Frou
Thievery Corporation
Air
Olive
Sneaker Pimps
Everything But The Girl
Flunk
Morcheeba
Tosca

And a couple of others that's aren't leaping to mind at the moment ...
posted by Shadowkeeper at 7:49 PM on January 29, 2007


I haven't seen Baxter mentioned. They're not new though.
posted by mikshir at 8:05 PM on January 29, 2007


Kristin Mainhart.
posted by aclevername at 8:59 PM on January 29, 2007


Hmm... members of Portishead have been in Rustin Man, The Jimi Entley Sound, and The I Dig according to my contraption / MusicBrainz. (yeah, self-link) Not sure about the sound, since I can't play music right now.
posted by tmcw at 9:08 PM on January 29, 2007


Check out Gotye (pronounced like Gaultier the designer) he's an up and coming aussie artist, a little like portishead, but really very good... his song "Hearts a mess" has a great new filmclip too.

myspace: www.myspace.com/gotye
posted by jonathanstrange at 9:11 PM on January 29, 2007 [1 favorite]


My sounds like Portishead mix includes a lot of those mentioned plus Lamb, Dabrye, Coach Said Not Too, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Teflon Tel Aviv, and Ruby.

I can't guarantee that every song by them sounds like Portishead of course, but some do.
posted by sevenless at 9:21 PM on January 29, 2007


Crap, most of those aren't really even close to relatively new. Sorry.

Well, the Coach Said Not Too song I have is from the 2006 SXSW site, so I suppose that one's relatively new.
posted by sevenless at 9:24 PM on January 29, 2007


Halou
posted by aneel at 9:51 PM on January 29, 2007


The album Beth Gibbons did with Rustin' Man (not sure if Paul Webb was in Portishead), Out of Season, sounds Portishead-ish, mainly because she's singing it ... It came out in 2002, so not brand new - but very pretty.
posted by thossum at 1:30 AM on January 30, 2007


Lovage is another one that's been compared to Portishead.
posted by srs at 7:03 AM on January 30, 2007


If you're not in a hurry, you can look forward to Portishead's third album.
posted by lukemeister at 7:07 AM on January 30, 2007


Check out CocoRosie. Not quite the same thing, but I get a really similar vibe from them.
posted by freudenschade at 11:28 AM on January 30, 2007


You could always try creating a portishead station on pandora.com to see what you get...
posted by thejanna at 12:10 PM on January 30, 2007


I love you all.
UNKLE.
posted by boo_radley at 7:22 PM on February 19, 2007


Oh, and Smoke City. Thirding Lamb, too.
posted by boo_radley at 7:29 PM on February 19, 2007


Xploding Plastics. Maybe the Cranes, moreso if you count their remix disks.
posted by boo_radley at 7:30 PM on February 19, 2007


way late on this, but My Brightest Diamond.
posted by cashman at 11:25 AM on May 3, 2007


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