Listen to an excellent cover of ABBA’s “SOS” by Portishead. The cover is a single from the soundtrack for the film adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise directed by Ben Wheatley. Apparently there’s another cover version of “SOS” on the movie’s soundtrack and that’s an orchestral version by Clint Mansell. I couldn’t find that one online.

 
via Nerdcore

Einstürzende Neubauten’s ‘Jewels’ visualized in 3D.
 
Flavor Wire hipped me to the research and experimentation studio Realität. Their latest project is called Mircosonic Landscapes which is “An algorithmic exploration of the music we love. Each album_s soundwave proposes a new spatial and unique journey by transforming sound into matter/space: the hidden into something visible.”

According to Flavor Wire:

“Each piece was created with the open-source, three-dimensional data visualization programming language known as Processing, and then printed via a programmable machine that can print in plastic called MakerBot.”
 

Portishead’s ‘Third’ visualized in 3D.
 

Nick Drake’s ‘Pink Moon’ visualized in 3D.

Visit Flavor Wire to see 3D-printed visualizations of Antony and the Johnsons and the composition “Für Alina” by Arvo Pärt. I wonder how an album of music that is much more rhythmic and syncopated than any of these examples, say something where Tony Allen was drumming? A Phillip Glass piece? Bitches Brew? Sea santies? “Rapper’s Delight”?

 
Beth Gibbons, vocalist of both Portishead and Rustin Man, turns 46 today. Here’s to one of the best, most soulful, female voices English music has ever produced. After the jump a selection of her best clips, but let’s start with this haunting cover of the Velvet Underground:

Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man “Candy Says”
 

 
Thanks to Grizz Gom Jabbar Robinson.
 
After the Jump, videos for “L’Annulaire”, “The Rip” and “Glory Box” (live)...

 
Here’s a lovely mixtape curated by Portishead for the I’ll Be Your Mirror music festival taking place July 23rd and 24th at the Alexandra Palace, London. Everyone featured on the mixtape will be playing the festival.

00.00 “...They Don’t Sleep Anymore on the Beach…” / Monheim - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
13.19 We Carry On - Portishead
19.44 A Cold Freezin’ Night - The Books
23.04 Gazzillion Ear - Doom
27.15 You Fucking People Make Me Sick - Swans
32.20 Yang Yang - Anika
35.11 Real Love - Factory Floor
42.32 Infinity Skull Cube - DD/MM/YYYY
45.51 Untilted - Helen Money
51.42 “Four Spirits In A Room” Excerpt - Alan Moore & Stephen O’Malley
56.50 Plaster Casts Of Everything - Liars
60.43 8 Steps To Perfection - Company Flow
65.23 Written On The Forehead - PJ Harvey
68.49 Arabic Emotions - The London Snorkeling Team
71.27 Wulfstan - BEAK>
77.28 When My Baby Comes - Grinderman
84.09 Paris Signals - S.C.U.M.
88.30 Lovers With Iraqis - Foot Village
92.18 Gratitude - Acoustic Ladyland
96.29 Violence - The Telescopes
100.01 Hannibal - Caribou
106.15 Walk In The Park - Beach House
 

  
 
(via KMFW)