Get on the Third Floor
Noise Floor Crew - Third Floor

If you haven’t already discovered Noise Floor Crew’s album-length homage, “Third Floor: Portishead Reimagined”, then you are in for a special treat. A Google search query yields ten pages of results for the controversial remix album and shout outs abound in Big Shot Magazine, Prefix Magazine, URBnet Magazine, and from several others. Mysteriously leaking onto the internet last month, this “love letter to Portishead” became an overnight global sensation among musicians, critics, and fans sparking interest, and of course, controversy.

Writers at the New York Magazine blog acclaimed that Noisefloor turned Portishead’s Machine Gun “into an actual, you know, song,” Benny Benassi loves it, Miss Kittin thinks it rocks, and Laurent Garnier agrees that it is “Excellent!” My personal favorites include Nylon Smile, Machine Gun, Plastic, and Deep Water. I suggest you head on over to the recently launched official Noise Floor Crew Blog for a listen and decide for yourself! Don’t forget to purchase the Portishead album as well!

Like its inspiration, “Third Floor” is uncompromising, surprising, and panoramic in its reach. The end result is less a bunch of ragtag remixes and more jazz variations on a standard. Think: John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” for the post-millenium techno doom set. As Portishead once reinterpreted elements of American hip hop through the moodly lens of Bristol downtempo, the eleven original tracks on “Third” are viewed through windows of fidget house, electro, dubstep, and soulful house.”

Who is Noise Floor Crew you ask? Noise Floor Crew is a Chicago-based collective with founding members  Angel Alanis (Tresor, Subliminal, Tronic, A-squared, Klientele Music), Marea Stamper AKA Lady Foursquare (Dust Traxx, Afro-Acid, A-squared, Klientele Music), and Local Hero (Trash Menagerie, War Games). Recently added members include Acid Girls, Monologic, and Harvard Bass (formerly Sleazy V). Satellite members include: Flufftronix (Iheartcomix), Infiltrata™ AKA 12th Planet (Cartel, Renegade Hardware, Tech Itch) and ASiH and ABlack.

Noise Floor Crew is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Starting this month, the collective is formally starting studio sessions with an official album slated for release later this year.  You can catch Noise Floor Crew at Underground Sound 4 on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at Shawnee Cave in Illinois.
 
Links:
Noise Floor Crew Official Blog
Noise Floor Crew Official Myspace