/ 28 July 2008

The Bristol Sound is back

In the mid-Nineties it used to be flippantly said that Massive Attack invented trip-hop, Tricky perfected it and Portishead popularised it. Although a statement like this might be over-simplifying the matter, there is no debate about how critical all three were to the spacey, down-tempo genre that will go down as the Bristol scene’s finest hour.

It’s fitting, then, that all three are returning in 2008 with long-awaited new albums.

Portishead were the first to hit the shelves, after a 10-year hiatus, with their aptly titled album Third (Universal Music).

It is a dark, menacing album that takes them away from the unfortunate pigeonholing that saw them branded as music-to-eat-dinner-to and into an edgy, haunting, post-industrial film noir world. Spooky dub beats and distorted guitar flourishes combine to create a netherworld sci-fi soundtrack through which Beth Gibbon’s bluesy voice runs riot.

Despite serious doubts that Portishead could top their previous output, Third makes it quite clear that there is life in the old dog yet. It should rack up a number of album-of-the-year accolades in 2008.

Next to the party was the comeback of Tricky whose new album, Knowle West Boy (Domino), has been described as a comeback of sorts. It sees Tricky documenting the neighbourhood and conditions that Bristol’s enfant terrible grew up in and is probably his best album since 1998’s Angels with Dirty Faces (and his first in five years).

Tricky’s musical partner, Martina Topley-Bird, who last worked with him on Angels with Dirty Faces, has also released a new album, titled The Blue God (Independiente). It is her second solo release since Tricky refused to work with her any more after the media began portraying him as an Ike Turner character to Martina’s Tina.

Produced by it-boy Danger Mouse, The Blue God sees Topley-Bird putting forward a fuller sound that some critics argue detracts from her beautiful soulful voice. Lilting beats, rolling synths and a number of blips and beeps courtesy of Danger Mouse create the uptempo feel of the album, which sounds like a Motown record of the future.

Last, but not least, are Massive Attack, whose new album, provisionally titled Weather Underground, is set for release later this year or early 2009. It is believed to feature a host of guest artists such as TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, reggae icon Horace Andy, Tom Waits, Damon Albarn and Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval.

Meanwhile, Massive Attack have kept themselves busy by curating the recent Meltdown festival at London’s Southbank Centre, which featured leftfield hip-hop artists such as Flying Lotus and dubstep artists such as Kode 9 and Digital Mystick, who all owe a huge debt to the innovators of the Bristol Sound.