Portobella - Viva La Difference

Published Monday, May 23, 2005 by Abby | E-mail this post

“Slip on leather/ Stormy weather/ I’ll be taking you home/ Who’d have thought you’d be the one/ To be making me moan?”

Ah, the joys of sleazy electro pop! The grating basslines, the sweaty leer of layered chords and drawled insouciance, and oh, the itch they inspire in my bloodstream.

This is definitely a slow-burn writhe of a track; grinding synths and casual pounding beat, heavy chords and coiled tension. Verse vocals lazy, because then the building bridge rings with brash, pouting attitude and kicks back into that careless ‘oh, oh, oh’ refrain (an afterthought which you’ll soon find lifting the chorus repetition with such casual infection).

But really, it’s all about that bridge and middle segment. The layers dropping back to leave that petulant chord sequence, her voice soaring with harsh anger and blatant desire, dipping effortlessly down to growled seduction.

Because there’s nothing breezy and sweet about this kind of thing. Brick wall hard against your back, torn fishnet tights; mirrored walls and scarlet lipstick smudged across your face. Gorgeous.

Poptext Classic Picks of the Day:

The Faders. Girl rock the way it’s supposed to be: obnoxious and utterly commanding.

Savage Garden. Xenomania. Enough said.

2 Responses to “Portobella - Viva La Difference”

Anonymous on 12:57 AM

Did you notice the similarity of the baseline in this to that in the new Rachel? 'Lex sent it you, right?

Have you heard the rest of the Portobella promo? "Meet Me At The Y Bar" is ace.
nm on 4:37 PM

i absolutely adore portobella's "covered in punk." it really overshadows this song for me. but i'll have to go back and revisit "viva le difference."