posted 10/24/2008 (Fri) @ 08:00 am
>>> Music Reviews
Porcupine Tree - We Lost the Skyline (2008) [LIVE] and Nil Recurring (2007) [EP]
Prog-Rock / Hard Rock / Acoustic / Experimental
We Lost the Skyline
- The Sky Moves Sideways
- Even Less
- Stars Die
- Waiting
- Normal
- Drown With Me
- Lazarus
- Trains
The cleverest element of We Lost the Skyline—a limited edition recording of an in-store live performance—might be its cover: a pulled amplifier tube, signifying the recording’s (mostly) acoustic nature. The set hears Porcupine Tree tunes from as far back as the ’90s, including the lilting strummer “Stars Die” and a beautiful rendition of “Waiting” (from 1996’s Signify). Performances of other past PT glories make no illusion about plugging guitars back in, without the full band backing them up. In some cases, as with the originally flanger- and distortion-drenched “Even Less,” the songs suffer from a conspicuous lack of atmosphere when stripped down.
The set finishes off with Johnny-come-lately favorites “Lazarus” and “Trains.” The former’s slow-to-start, threadbare anthem quality is perhaps among the best Electric-to-Acoustic translations here, second only to the gorgeous vocal harmony and difficult instrumentation of “Normal.” Serial killer memoir “Trains,” a clear standout from In Absentia, could’ve been a mind-blowing closer, but the version here is merely satisfactory. Lack of a banjo for live performances, while understandable, has been off-set in the past by a more enthusiastic audience supplying the hand claps for the song’s head-nodding bridge.
An interesting trek into the acoustic for Porcupine Tree, but their top notch back catalog already rubs elbows with the best electric and acoustic moments of Pink Floyd. While We Lost the Skyline has some fine moments, its songs are fairly miss-or-hit in the “eclipses the original” department. Completists only need apply.
Nil Recurring
- Nil Recurring
- Normal
- Cheating The Polygraph
- What Happens Now?
A solid EP comprised of songs written/recorded during the same sessions as 2007’s somewhat out-of-character Fear of a Blank Planet, Nil Recurring proves that Porcupine Tree haven’t lost their touch. After two albums that met success in the mainstream, they’ve changed directions yet again.
Alternating between hypnotic, smeary bass grooves and coughing up bits of reheated A Perfect Circle leftovers, the spacey title track begins the album with an entirely instrumental bang. Think “Blue.” At the other end, the closing jam of “What Happens Now?” assumes a near pure-bred Nine Inch Nails electronic patina, with filtered string bends and a clan of noisily robotic samples lending propulsion to the song’s vamp.
In between, an electrified “Normal” holds out ’til the end on the gorgeous vocal harmonization witnessed on We Lost the Skyline. The shimmery acoustic lines also survive, but are augmented in-studio. “Normal”’s romp through the professional recording studio piles on Sabbath overdrive and more atmospherics. But it’s the laid-back, staring at the sky splendor of the surging, sinister “Cheating the Polygraph” which wins “best track” here: the quieter, jazzier moments (2:08 and on) are off-set by piles of “Blackest Eyes” caliber Sabbath riffwork that doesn’t hurt the brain.
You can’t go wrong with Porcupine Tree. Though they’ve had eighteen records in which to do so, they haven’t put out an absolute dud yet. Nil Recurring should be indicative of the next waters on the horizon for these prog-rock torch bearers.
Links
Download (Albums of the Day) (support art, pay the musicians if you like it)
Myspace
Official site
Tags: experimental, hard rock, mhz tv performance, nil recurring, pink floyd, porcupine tree, prog, stoner rock, trains, we lost the skyline
