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Everything about Beak> is a cohesive, ambitious and thoughtfully-executed murky delight. A godsend of a record in these times of landfill indie.
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MojoThe mood is meditative, a West Coast dope-smoker's take on Neu!'s unvarying grooves; the songs are mostly named after ancient villages dotted around Somerset. [Dec 2009, p. 93]
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The ingredients, and the musical personalities, combine to make a very intriguing and invigorating listen.
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Submissive this is not.
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Beak> is as full of odd, compulsive energy as you'd expect from something cranked out in two weeks, made by a guy who probably had creative fuel to burn, considering that his day job took 11 years between their second and third albums.
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Beak> can at times be a frustrating listen, but a frustrating listen that is certainly not without its fruits, and these fruits can far outweigh the frustration.
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Q MagazineAnyone familiar with Portishead's magisterial Third and Barrow's production on The Horrors' Primary Colours knows the terrain-metronomic rhythms stretched like elastic; percussion as precise as surgery; disembodied keyboards and vocals. [Dec 2009, p.11]
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UncutCreated under vows of artistic chastity (one room, no overdubs), yet played with the rambling freedom of an afternoon jam, Recordings...feels like a necessary reaction to Portishead, but seems unlikely as yet to usurp his day job. [Dec 2009, p. 85]
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Overall, this material seems like it would kill if used as a soundtrack to a movie or TV show.... But sometimes, the experimental nature of the album goes too far.
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It’s far from perfect, sloppy and trance-like, but feels suffused with a blast of inspiration the musicians simply had to get out.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 7 out of 8
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Mixed: 0 out of 8
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Negative: 1 out of 8
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Jan 26, 2014
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Oct 2, 2011BEAK> is Geoff Barrow of Portishead plus two friends from Bristol. Itâ