Radiohead covers Portishead, debuts new song

To further cement Radiohead's standing as the best band around (aren't they the best?), they've gone ahead and covered a song from the best album released this year: "The Rip" from Portishead's Third. They soundchecked this track before a couple U.S. shows in May but never actually played it live. But loverly them, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood recently recorded the song in a backstage green room, and Colin Greenwood kindly posted it on Waste Central for us Webheads. And oh, it's a strawberry ice cream sundae: The band --well, Thom Yorke on solo piano -- also debuted a new new track, which fans are dubbing "Super Collider," at the Dublin show last week. Raw footage, yum:

New Portishead is the shiznit.

I decided to drop in on the right place at the right time last Friday - that is, Rasputin's in Berkeley during an in-store preview of Portishead's new album Third. Is it too early to deem it the best album of 2008? Well, I'll tack on a "so far" for now, but I'm pretty sure my premature prediction will still ring true Dec. 31. How long has Portishead been working on Third again? Who cares. Awesomeness is always worth the wait (unless your name is Chinese Democracy). To tide us over just a couple more weeks until the official April 29 release, Portishead performed seven songs off the record last week in their namesake hometown studio. The full set, aka 40 minutes that'll make you kill yourself because you're not going to Coachella, is posted at Current TV. Here's a snippet of "Silence"