Massive Attack and Jean-Michel Jarre are Watching You! Visit Mr. Jarre’s website.
EDIT: Since first publishing this post I've received word that the Glasgow and Dublin shows are NOT happening. I've removed all notice of them from the Upcoming Shows page. Apparently it was just a mistake on the part of Ticketmaster which originally listed the shows. Apologies for getting anyone's hopes up of a Massive Attack tour, but hopefully we can still count on one occurring when the next album drops...
Two pieces of news in one post. Here we go...
One of the pioneers of early electronic music Jean-Michel Jarre, has just announced a string of high profile collaborations destined for his new album due later this year. These musical collaborators range from the likes of M83, Tangerine Dream (didn't know they were still together!) and of course, Massive Attack, who in this instance are 3D and Euan Dickinson. I guess Daddy G is being kept busy DJ-ing around Europe in recent months...
Mr. Jarre has chosen his Massive Attack collaboration, called "Watching You", to be one of the three launch singles for his new record, and as such it is being given the Vinyl Factory treatment - an exclusive 12" vinyl edition limited to only 1,000 copies. At the time of writing this post, the vinyl is still available to buy, so if your in anyway a collector of Massive Attack or vinyl in general you should grab a copy now. It's only a tenner as well, so not too bad on the wallet. You can purchase the "Watching You" vinyl from this link.
You can also listen to 2 minute samples of the new track "Watching You" (Original mix + 2 remixes) from the embedded Soundcloud links directly below. Its definitely a bit more on the upbeat side of things compared to what Massive Attack have done lately.
In other news, Massive Attack fans might soon have to hopeful that a new tour and a possible new album will soon be on their way. None of this is technically confirmed but it appears that Massive Attack will be touring this November!
Massive Attack to go on tour this November? Ticketmaster listed Massive Attack as playing the O2 Academy in Glasgow earlier this week before removing details of the show.
Earlier this week, on Ticketmaster and a few other UK ticketing websites, details popped up of a Massive Attack live show in Glasgow (with support from Young Fathers) and another 2 shows in Dublin. These shows were only listed for about a day before being removed, however I would suspect they are for real and someone at Ticketmaster jumped the gun a bit early by putting them up too soon. Its happened before. I've listed these November shows on the Upcoming Touring page for now, and while they are not 100% confirmed, I guess its better to be hopeful than pessimistic.
Speculating here, but if Massive Attack are actually touring this Winter, then we can also be hopeful that a new album will soon be on the horizon. It would mirror when Massive Attack did a quick European tour at the end of 2009 before Heligoland came out in early 2010. We also know that they've been busy in the studio since January recording away, so a new album (or at the least some kind of EP) might be the fruits of that labour.
Following on from the first two EP's (Ritual Spirit and The Spoils) Massive Attack have released so far this year, we have two more brand new tracks on separate releases on the same day today. Both of these tracks can be previewed as one minute samples in this post.
Massive Attack's first (and hopefully not only) release of 2016, gets underway today with the release of a new 4 track EP entitled Ritual Spirit. The EP was mainly written and produced by 3D and Euan Dickinson. The press release for the EP also intriguingly states that there will be a second EP out shortly that is more Daddy G centric, and with that to be followed by a new album later this year.
Whilst eagerly waiting for next year's Massive Attack tour, 3D (along with Euan Dickinson) have scored the soundtracks to two distinct video projects which highlight the issue of climate change and fossil fuel lobbying.