2004
James Lavelle from UNKLE releases a new mix CD recorded from a DJ set he played in Bucharest, Romania last year. The title of the CD is “Global Underground 26: James Lavelle in Romania” and it contains an new remix (called the Medway VS Eva Coast To Coast mix) of the UNKLE track Invasion which was a collaboration with 3D which had originally came out on Unkle’s album “Never Never Land” last year.
Details are announced on the official Massive Attack website of a new tour for 2004 following on from the success of the 100th Window tour last year. The initial tour dates were T in the Park - Scotland, Oxegen - Ireland and the V Festival - England. More dates were announced a few weeks after this date.
Massive Attack announced a one-off date at Brixton Academy for 8th July. This was the only date Massive Attack would play on the 2004 tour that was not a festival show.
information about a new artistic project that 3D and his partner (when it comes to painting and art design), Tom Hingston were involved in came out on this date. The project itself was called “Lyric” and was been organised by Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio website. What “Lyric” was, was twelve leading creatives from the fields of fashion, music and image-making coming together to produce eight distinct projects under the mantle of ‘Lyric’, an umbrella project that pioneers creative ground using the latest ‘third generation’ mobile-imaging technologies. Each contributor, or creative pairing was issued with a ‘Motorola’ handset with video call facility on ‘3’s video mobile network, and asked to make a series of short films or ‘motion clips’ that visually interpret the song lyrics of their choice - producing one clip for each lyric line. The contributors produced a clip for each lyric line, and each lyric and clip were released one by one over a month-long period, gradually revealing the visual interpretations of each maker in numerous audacious, provocative outcomes. On completion, each song sequence imparts a sense of the personality of the practitioners.
The project was among the first to initiate the creative use of the latest video mobile technology, and this was enabled by the support of 3 and Motorola networks in partnership with SHOWstudio
The eight short films were broadcast live from Tuesday 27th April on SHOWstudio, where the visuals were gradually unfolded over the following four weeks. Songs that inspired the film makers include tracks by John Cale, Barry Manilow, The Cramps, Donna Summer and Massive Attack. The lyrics that Massive Attack used were taken from Antistar. Since then, the lyric website has been removed offline but you can still watch the twenty or so short clips by clicking here to visit their entry in the videography section.
Massive Attack announced an extra date to their one-off Brixton Academy show on 8th July for the following date, 9th July, due to the first date selling out rapidly.
Massive Attack kicked off their 2004 tour on this date at the Creamfields Festival in Mexico City, Mexico. This also marked their first show in South America since the 1998 tour were they played in Brazil on the 17th October 1998.
Starting on this date, a four part radio programme entitled “Way Out West - The Bristol Underground” was a documentary on the music scene that came from inner-city Bristol to make such a huge impact on the world, from Mark Stewart’s angular, jagged The Pop Group to the city’s mid-1990s trip-hop heyday with Tricky’s Maxinquaye, Massive Attack’s Protection and Portishead’s Dummy. There were interviews with all the above, plus the organisers of the legendary blues parties and Nellee Hooper, former DJ with the Wild Bunch and now a producer to the stars. Presented by David Quantick, this was the raw story of how, for a brief flash, a gang of musical mavericks and misfits came together in inner city Bristol for a unique period in British musical history, tracing the musical and cultural roots of these seminal bands. The series re-examined Pigbag, Rip, Rig and Panic, Maximum Joy and of course The Pop Group. It also visited key venues; The Dug Out, Foster’s, The Granary, all haunts of the infamous Avon Soul Army, and talks to DJs Dennis Richard and Superfly, tracking down original blues party organizers. Mark Stewart of The Pop Group reflected on his memories of the lively Bristol music scene of the late eighties, and Smith and Mighty, Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky discuss their careers. Nellee Hooper, who went on to produce Bjork and Madonna, spills the beans on those early days with The Wild Bunch. As the series progresses and the story of each band is told, the programme tries to determine what it was that made the Bristol sound. What is the essential Bristolness of it? The series is as eclectic as it is deep: expect to hear everything from Bacharach and David through roots reggae and into hip hop.
Formal news is released stating that Neil Davidge will be involved in the soundtrack to British film about inner city related gun crime called Bullet Boy. It is only later on in the same year, that the Massive Attack fan community would discover that this Bullet Boy soundtrack would also involve 3D, effectively making this a Massive Attack production in all but name.
Announced on this date, was the news that The Cure’s Robert Smith, Josh Homme and 3D from Massive Attack would be amongst the names who would decide this year’s Shortlist Music Prize. Though the winner was be announced until November 11, organisers had already unveiled the full judging panel – their ‘listmakers’. The rest of the names were: Dixie Chicks, John Mayer, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Perry Farrell, Jim Jarmusch, Black Eyed Peas’ William, Norah Jones, Roots member ?uestlove, and Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba.
The voting procedure throwed up quite a list of possible winners. Each of the listmakers submited up to seven albums – any full-length release that appeared between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2004 that has not been certified gold in the US. They then received a list of all judges submissions and raned their 10 favourites. The 10 finalists would be announced at the end of September.
Past Massive Attack collaborator and arranger, Craig Armstrong released his new album “Piano Works” on this date. This is of importance to Massive Attack fans for its inclusion of two new arrangements of Heat Miser and Weather Storm
The 2004 tour comes to an end at the V Festival in Chelmsford, UK, on this date. They would not return to a worldwide touring schedule until 2006 to promote Collected.
A press release made public today, makes it clear that 3D would also be involved in the Bullet Boy soundtrack along with Neil Davidge. Wishing to keep a low profile for this soundtrack, the pair would go under their own names and not under the Massive Attack banner as they had already done for the Danny The Dog soundtrack.
Danny The Dog, the first complete soundtrack score undertaken by Massive Attack is released today in the UK and certain other European territories. It would be Massive Attack’s only release and new material this year.
As part of the ongoing DJ Kicks series from the K7 record label, which has been described by Mixmag in the past as being “the most important DJ-mix series ever”, Daddy G’s own contribution to the DJ Kicks series was released in the UK and certain other European territories. For more discography information on this release, click here to visit it’s relevant section in the Collector section.
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