The British trio Portishead is one of those groups that built up so much goodwill with their debut that I would still follow them to the ends of the Earth even though their subsequent work hasn’t been anywhere near as good. I daresay this album marked the beginning of my obsession with sad-sounding British female vocalists.

After seeing this video, however, I might go back and give 2008’s “Third” another chance. It was one of those albums that didn’t grab me on first or second listen, so I just kinda put it away.

Anyway, “Third” arrived after an eleven year absence, and the rumor is that Portishead will be taking a lot less time to come up with their fourth studio album. The band’s main spokesperson, Geoff Barrow, has confirmed that a new album will be recorded and possibly released in 2011. Since you can never get enough sad-bastard British pop, that’s music to my ears. It’s also worth noting that Portishead (which also includes Adrian Utley and Beth Gibbons) has already confirmed appearances at several 2011 music festivals. Next year is shaping up to be quite the interesting year for music. Time will tell if it’s as good a year for music as this year was (and I say that unironically…there was a lot of good music made in 2010), but things are looking good.

I have fond memories of seeing this video on MTV 24/7 (during the very brief period during which I not only had MTV, but the station played videos regularly).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-TqR7ZzaZQ