Portishead - Third

Thank God they didn't forget about writing tunes for this one. Generally a vast improvement over the eponymous sophomore, although it doesn't really have the same spookiness as "Dummy". Some nice jazzy singing in "Nylon Smile" and "Hunter". The banjo on "Deep Water" is a welcome break from all the digitaliness. "We Carry On" is just thrash metal played on synths, and "Machine Gun" is semi-industrial. I do have a bit of a gripe with "Small", which is just unending torture, and never stops when you want it to. Otherwise, I enjoyed this a whole lot barring "Small".

Calexico - The Black Light

Concise and textured music, veering towards mariachi. The instrumentals are superb and evocative, even if some tracks just scream for vocals. Other instrumentals are not so suitable for vocals, with dramatic shifts in tempo and rhythm. Otherwise, excellent for what is essentially an Americana album. The vocal tracks also seem like an afterthought, with not much of a melody. The mariachi songs sound a lot like they belong in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy.

Calexico - Hot Rail

I didn't like this as much as the above, as the arrangements are more complex and the genres are broader, going beyond Spanish folk music, country and blues-rock and into jazz. The production is also denser, unlike "Black Light"'s stark bare-boned sound. There is at least one meandering listless instrumental - "Untitled II". "Untitled III" is alright, though, sounding like something from the Final Fantasy 8 game soundtrack. The vocal tracks also don't work so well here, with Miles Davis-ish "Fade" given a vocal melody which it hardly benefits from. I guess only "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" or "Drenched" are really that great vocal tracks, being more straightforward country rock. Generally not as good as the above, even if I'm intrigued and will get "Feast of Wire" if I see it.