Beak> - Beak>
  • Band Name: Beak>
  • Record Label: Ipecac
  • Release Date: Nov 17, 2009
Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 10
  2. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Everything about Beak> is a cohesive, ambitious and thoughtfully-executed murky delight. A godsend of a record in these times of landfill indie.
  2. 80
    It's far from perfect, sloppy and trance-like, but feels suffused with a blast of inspiration the musicians simply had to get out.
  3. Anyone 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]
  4. The ingredients, and the musical personalities, combine to make a very intriguing and invigorating listen.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 60
    The 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]
  8. 60
    Created 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]
  9. 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.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. BEAK> is Geoff Barrow of Portishead plus two friends from Bristol. It’s not that far from Portishead’s latest album, the acclaimed Third. Actually, it should have been named BLEAK> for the atmosphere is very gloomy. Stylistically, goth, krautrock and metal dominate. Vocals are vestigial and come from some obscure place like in Joy Division-esque The Cornubia. The biggest difference between Third and Recordings is that it didn’t take 11 years to make it but merely 12 days. Full Review »