Well, it looks like I got my drone at exactly the right time. The US Government banned all new foreign-made drones in the U.S., essentially shutting DJI out of the domestic market as of yesterday.
Massive Attack just announced the release of new music in 2026, available digitally. Their last full album release was 2010.
The show was awesome. It was more than I expected, and sounded fantastic. My ears are still ringing.
Update: A quick interview with 3D about the ideas behind the tour and the album at 20. I have a lot of respect for him and for the questions he’s asking through his music.
Jen and I got a text from our friend Pete, who informed us that Massive Attack has postponed their tour due to illness. No idea yet on when the new shows will be, but they’re going to let us know on the 14th.
I got a Facebook notfication that Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation are on tour together, which is basically a concert full of WIN. unfortunately they are only playing at select small venues, none of which are within a 5-hour driving radius of our house.
Uh-oh. The Onion AV Club gives the latest Massive Attack album a C+, which is pretty underwhelming, and Pitchfork gives it a 5 out of 10. I’ll buy it regardless, but I was hoping for a better critical reception. (Pitchfork gave 100th Window a 5.1 and I love that album, so this is all relative.)
Update: Meh. A few good tracks, and a few filler tracks. I’d say a 5 of 10 is deserved. seems to be getting better as it goes, though.
I finished ripping the entire contents of one of Rob’s disc changers this afternoon. As of this point, there are 396 albums digitized, for around 117 GB of data. About halfway through I gave up on trying to get the discs back in to the player in the exact order they came out—it was just too difficult to do, and because of the way the carousel is made, I wouldn’t be able to get all the discs out unless they came out in batches. So they’re now stacked on two spindles I made with some dowel from the basement, and I’ll find someplace safe to store them until I can get the cases from Karean. 
Because he stopped buying CD’s in the early 2000’s, as we all did, the collection is an excellent cross-section of music from the 90’s, plus a sizable chunk of classic jazz, a score of classical discs, and more than a dozen CD’s with my handwriting that I’d ripped for him—Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack, Supreme Beings of Leisure, and other downtempo and trip-hop albums.
W00t. Tickets have been purchased for the Massive Attack show at the Anthem on March 20, and our friend Pete is coming with us!
Jen and I are going to the Gilah Press open house this evening to look at pretty pretty letterpress, drink some drinks, and meet people. Then we will go out and have a drink together at a bar like two adults! I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT THIS FEELS LIKE.
Elsewhere in the world, shit is burning down, people are being shot, and politicians are still lying. Maybe I’ll have more than one drink and call us an Uber to get home.
File this under HELL YES I MUST GET TICKETS: Massive Attack announced a 20 year anniversary tour of Mezzanine, with Liz Fraser (of the Cocteau Twins, a band I ordinarily can’t stand) who sang vocals on Teardrop, Black Milk, and Group Four. US dates haven’t been announced yet, but when they do I have to see this.
I’m happy to see Boards of Canada and Massive Attack in the top 10 of Pitchfork’s 50 Best Albums of 1998 list. There are a bunch of other good ones in there too.