I'm a bit late to the game here (pun intended), as by now its been reported by just about every major gaming publication on the planet but, the final tracklisting and release date for the Halo 4 soundtrack was announced yesterday.
Bombin' was directed by documentary filmmaker Dick Fontaine and was a sequel to his earlier 1984 documentary "Beat This!", once again taking a look at how American hip-hop culture was making its way over the pond to the UK, this time using the lens of the graffiti and tagging subcultures. The documentary offers a fascinating look at 1980's UK hip-hop and graffiti culture and for Massive Attack fans, there is of course the appearance of 3D (at the ripe old age of 21) tagging it up with Goldie in Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
You may have heard of this little sporting event going on at the minute called the Olympics. I'm sure any Londoner would be able to fill you in on the whole thing, but I have heard one small story from it, that I thought would be nice to share with other Massive Attack fans.
They say the physical single is dying out. I suppose in this iTunes era, were music can be consumed at the click of a button, that that is probably true. And that is even more truer for bands such as Massive Attack, who for a long time now, have been a self-proclaimed "albums" band.
While waiting for the new Tricky/MA collaboration to leak, we have something unexpected but decidedly welcome to tide us over until then. What we have is a new remix of "The Don" by Massive Attack in its current incarnation (that being 3D and Tim Goldsworthy), of the upcoming single from the rapper known as Nas. It got its first play on the Annie Mac show on BBC Radio 1 last Friday with little notice, but that is about to change now that the Massive Attack Facebook page has posted the link to it on Soundcloud.
Well it actually appears as if the prodigal son is actually returning to the Massive fold after all. Posted earlier today on the Massive Attack Facebook by 3D was a picture of Tricky in his studio in Paris. This reunion has been coming it seems for quite awhile and its nice to have some sort of photographic evidence, its really happening.
Every band's got em'. Those songs that are not on any of their albums or singles. Songs that for whatever reason have'nt got any kind of release. Fans may have heard them from the band in question experimenting with it live or having it featured on the soundtrack to whatever. Massive Attack ain't no different. They've got some pretty listenable tunes, if I do say so, that are'nt anyway to found anywhere in record stores or on iTunes. I've picked out ten of them for this poll along with a quick background to the track and what I think is the best sounding audio we have of it to date.
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.