Anyone who was lucky to attend one of the 2003 shows on the 100th Window tour knows how awesome they were. I suppose it was a combination of Massive Attack’s absence from touring in the four years previous to it, along with the amazing L.E.D screen provided by the UVA guys (still the best visuals on any of their tours since IMO).

Just a quick update to the bootlegs area of the site. I’ve uploaded a lossless audio rip of the Four Walls EP. Not that I don’t expect anyone to be unaware of it but, that’s the recent Burial remix crossover thing that came and went last year. Only released on limited edition vinyl, (not even a official digital release), and now being flogged without remorse at an online auction site near you.

This will be fairly oldish news to some, but forgive me as I’m still in a state of catch-up with my new blog and it would be remiss not to mention this little morsel.

Hooverphonic have done a cover version of Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy and it really is rather lovely in my opinion.

News broke yesterday morning, via HaloWaypoint, that Neil Davidge is scoring the next installment in the Halo series of video games. Not altogether unexpected, as he composed the music featured in the teaser trailer for Halo 4 that came out last summer.

Well first off, two things. One, the new Massive Attack track “Summertime” featuring Scarlett Johansson (needs no introduction) is out digitally from Amazon.com and Itunes as of today on the soundtrack for the Mexican thriller, “Days Of Grace”. Secondly, it is’nt really what you might think i.e. a collaboration.

We all like a good read now and again, so they say, so here’s some Massive Attack press clippings I’m just after scanning in and uploading into the media gallery.

Out today is the new Mark Stewart album, “The Politics Of Envy”.

That’s great and all, but why am I blogging about it. Well, apart from being Mark’s first album since 2008′s Edit (which was a great return to form for him) it also has on one track, a collaboration between himself and Massive’s Daddy G. The track’s called “Apocalypse Hotel” and you can hear a preview of it (and all the other tracks on the album from 7Digital or ITunes. Outside the online samples, I have yet to hear the album, but will probably be picking it up in a few weeks and will offer my opinion of the G track then.

On news-shelves this month is a nice 3 page article in Q Magazine, about the tense recording sessions Massive Attack underwent when recording Mezzanine and how it ultimately led to fracturing the band irreconcilably. I’ve already scanned and added it to the gallery archive for anyone who would like to download it in glorious 300dpi.

So for this inaugural playlist of the month, I’m focusing on the old 100th Window samples that used to be played repeatedly on the old MA.COM, circa 2003. They’re an interesting representation of the album broken down into its most basic elementary forms. After listening to these, I think you may have an even further appreciation for the intricacies and depth of sound offered by the 100th Window album.

This is the first in a series of posts were I’ll be looking back at previous Massive Attack releases and giving my own opinion on them along with a rating out of 5. You know, like a real reviewer would. In terms of what I’ll be reviewing it could be anything from the albums, to singles, to obscure b-sides or remixes.