From Paradise Rains To Paradise Circus

Some Massive Attack...kind of.

After yesterday's Paradise Rains by Eartheater, I'm dusting off Paradise Circus, specifically the link to the version used in The Fallen Sun, the Netflix film version of Luther from 2023. The link - not the film - has been languishing in my "must write a post about this one" file for a few weeks and now seemed to be the right time.

A brief diverson/rant before I carry on: Mrs. K and I really enjoyed Luther when it debuted on BBC1 in 2010. Idris Elba and Ruth Wilson were compelling leads, the supporting cast were excellent and Neil Cross' writing was top notch. 

Although the successive series stretched credulity to near breaking point, Luther continued to be 'must watch' viewing right up to the conclusion of series 5 in 2019.

That seemed about the right time to call it a day, but the subsequent announcement that there would be a feature film version of Luther nevertheless was something to look forward to. Except that it was being made by Netflix.

The proliferation of pay-to-view channels has been inversely proportionate to our disposable income and, frankly, whether we can be arsed to spend even more time in front of the gogglebox (as opposed to Gogglebox). So, apart from the occasional 30-day free trial that pops up, Netflix is pretty much out of our reach, and we didn't make it to any of the 'select cinemas' that screened The Fallen Sun in February 2023.

So, I also had no idea that Paradise Circus by Massive Attack had featured in the soundtrack.

Except... this is a different version, credited to Post ft. Ghostpoet. 

Post, as it transpires, is Daddy G aka Grant Marshall, founder member of Massive Attack, and Stew Jackson, who has also worked with Daddy G as Robot Club and been part of the Massive Attack collective since at least 2016.

It's a great version, and Ghostpoet is a spot on pick to provide vocals that provide the necessary grit and gravitas.

However... it's a very hard act to follow, when Massive Attack's version of Paradise Circus was co-written with and featured the incomparable voice of Hope Sandoval (sigh).

So, to reward those of you who stuck with this post to the end, here's the original version from 2010, plus a twelve-and-a-half minute reworking by Massive Attack vs. Burial the following year. 

 

Swallow It Up

In case you missed it, Lee 'Scratch' Perry's final album - and last recorded performance in his lifetime - was released earlier this year.

 

King Perry was issued on Tricky's False Idols label and the album represents Perry's desire “to do something new, something different but still with a dub framework”.  Working with producer Daniel Boyle, the 12-track album includes guest appearances from Greentea Peng, Fifi Rong, Marta Zlakowska, Rose Waite and a memorable performance from Shaun Ryder on Green Banana.

There are a bunch of remixes available separately too, from Dubkasm, No. 1 Special, Daddy G v Robot Club and Tricky himself. Tricky also co-produces a couple of tracks and appears with Marta on the penultimate song Future Of My Music.

In a sad irony, King Perry's final song Goodbye features the last vocals that Scratch recorded before he passed away in August 2021. It's all the more touching in this context.

 

King Perry is available on vinyl, CD and digital formats and one to add to the list for Bandcamp Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get Your Hand Out Your Mouth

Staying put in Bristol with noisenik four-piece SCALPING. Comprised of Nick Berthoud (guitar), James Rushforth (bass), Alex Hill (electronics) and Isaac Jones (drums), the band have been around since 2017 and released their debut album Void at the tail end of April 2022.

 

The band's biography and music press reviews variously describes SCALPING as "heavy metal in 4D", "a modern, metal twist on Bristolian trip-hop" and "a corrosive river of noise that thrills and terrifies in equal measure".

 

My search for the Daddy G vs Robot Club remix of Emily Breeze, posted yesterday, led me down this particular rabbit hole as Grant Marshall and Stew Jackson also remixed Tether, track three on the album and released as a single to coincide. 

The original version sounds in parts like a slowed down track by The Prodigy, with a menacing rap from Oakland, California-based artist DÆMON aka Jahsiri Asabi-Shakir. The remix strips the music right back and heightens the menace and wouldn't sound out of place on a latter-day Massive Attack album.

Tether was the first song that SCALPING ever recorded to feature vocals (a second closes the album) and it absolutely works.

 

The other track on the Void Remixes EP is a remix of Flashforward by Anton Pearson of Brighton band Squid. The track comes on like a breakbeat Mogwai (who previously remixed a song from 2021 EP Flood), with relentless synth waves and snatches of guitar.

 

The Void Remixes EP is available on Bandcamp along with the original album and SCALPING's back catalogue. All worth a deeper dive.

 

SCALPING are playing live at the cross-city Ritual Union festival in Bristol on 25th March and various other locations in the UK throughout 2023.

Nothing Glitters When You're Gone

Rapture, the third album from Bristol-based Emily Breeze, was released last month and I've been listening to it lots over the past few weeks. 

 

It's a great album and deserving of a more detailed post in it's own right later on. In the meantime, last Friday saw the release of a new remix of album track (and 2020 single), Confessions Of An Ageing Party Girl.

 

What makes this particular release even more special is that it features a rare remix from Massive Attack's Daddy G, in partnership with fellow Bristol legend Stew Jackson aka Robot Club.

 

Confessions Of An Ageing Party Girl (Daddy G vs Robot Club Remix) is a pulsing, throbbing beast of a song which kicks into full dancefloor filler halfway through. It's a radio-friendly remix, coming in at just over four minutes, which will have you putting it on a loop to hear it again and again. 

 

There's not a video for the remix (you can find the original via my post last July) though you can listen to it on YouTube and other streaming platforms. The remix isn't available as a physical release or via Bandcamp, but you can buy it from the usual outlets such as Juno and Apple.

Rapture is available on vinyl, CD and digital formats via Sugar Shack Records and other retail outlets. Emily is coming the end of her tour to promote the album and I'm sadly going to miss her sold out homecoming gig in Bristol on Friday. By all accounts, it's going to be tremendous.

Confessions Of An Ageing Party Girl

 

Some fell at the first sign of trouble
Haircuts and interviews followed
How we laughed as they retreated into their salaries
There but for the grace of god
They can have my hands for a few pounds an hour I said
But they'll never take my mind
We danced and drank and talked and danced and drank
And I threw my alarm clock out of the window
Just to prove I truly the last of the great bohemians
I was showing off

 

Nothing glitters when you're gone

 

Your shirt and tie looked liked fancy dress
You were so feral, we couldn't believe you'd fooled them
But I was secretly impressed you'd got a proper job
Besides, it wasn't real, you were a spy
And we'd use the money to buy motorbikes and run away
Forever and ever and ever

My dancing feet are weary
My steps are twisted out of time
Eternity under a strobe light
As I drift through the dry ice
Do you remember
When we were running wild

 

Nothing glitters when you're gone

 

The party's over baby
But I'm never going home
Wrap my arms around a stranger 

Nothing glitters when you're gone

 

The party's over baby
The house lights have come on
Wrap my arms around a stranger 

Nothing glitters when you're gone