Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury

Q&A: Portishead producer Geoff Barrow on hip hop, krautrock, and film scores

DROKKGeoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury: Drokk: Music Inspired by Mega-City One (Invada, 5/1/12)

“Lawmaster Pursuit”

Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury: “Lawmaster Pursuit”

If there’s one band that pulled off the long, mysterious hiatus with mystique intact, it’s Bristol, England’s Portishead. Yet when the ’90s trip-hop act resurfaced in 2006, it had substantially changed — gone were the down-tempo beats and much of the melancholy, replaced with a new sound and sparse, driving rhythms that owed more to krautrock than Def Jam.

Beatsmith/songwriter Geoff Barrow was guiding it that way. Since the reunion, he’s been on fire, issuing music in a variety of guises with Beak> (a rock band), Quakers (a sprawling hip-hop project), and as Drokk (a soundtracking duo). That’s not including the records that Barrow has produced for others and released on his label, Invada.

With no shortage of topics in tow, we caught up with Barrow to talk about drum sounds, film scores, and writing music for Judge Dredd.

Lloyd Eugene Winter: Finn Riggins vs. Wilderness

Posters & Packaging: Lloyd Eugene Winter IV

“Getting a Walkman changed my life,” begins poster artist Lloyd Eugene Winter IV. “I had to have music with me everywhere I went.” Winter’s affair with music only heightened as the years went on. After entering college to study fine arts, Winter performed in approximately three music collaborations or bands per semester. It was during this time period, surrounded by a constant array of sound, that Winter discovered his love for screen printing and began to develop his personal aesthetic.

Currently residing in Portland, Oregon, Winter works as a graphic designer — a medium in which he is primarily self-taught — creating product packaging, logos, and various designs for Internet and print publications. His eccentric visual taste and musical passion are visible through his highly detailed band posters, albums, and T-shirt designs.
 

Lloyd Eugene Winter: Silver Apples poster
Lloyd Eugene Winter: Silver Apples poster