Last month, Massive Attack surprised everyone with the release of a wonderful new four-track EP, Ritual Spirit. Their first new release since 2010’s Heligoland, each track was unique and stunning, and each had a different featured guest. The second video to accompany the release has now come out, for Voodoo In My Blood, featuring Mercury Prize-winning Scottish trio Young Fathers.
Starring actress Rosamund Pike, the spooky video begins with Pike alone in a long, brightly lit hall, checking around as though she can feel someone watching her. She soon reaches a point where a hovering ball begins to circle her head, with a fearful sense of suspense and uncertainly. As though hypnotised or perhaps drugged, she soon begins to laugh uncontrollably – with the laughter heard above the music.
The ball soon opens, stabs her eye (the ‘voodoo’ in her blood, we assume,) and she begins to convulse, fall, and writhe about, the ball commanding her every move.
It’s genuinely uncomfortable to watch – particularly when the film clip’s sound effects (such as smashing her head against the floor) can be heard above the music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElvLZMsYXlo
Considering we’ve now received two videos from Massive Attack’s four-track EP, they may just be gearing up to release two more yet. On top of this is the rumoured news that the trip-hop legends will be dropping a full new album later this year.
Image: Youtube
Scottish three-piece Young Fathers have returned with a incredible video for their recent single Old Rock N Roll.
The powerful song fits a LOT into three and a half minutes, focusing on racial identity (“I’m tired of playing the good black”) and black slave trade (“Congo square [in New Orleans] is open for business”), while helping to decipher the band’s provocative album title, White Men Are Black Men Too, which also happens to be the hook of this track.
There’s a really interesting back story to the video; Young Fathers visited Malawi to perform at Lake of Stars Festival, and filmed the video in a local village during their trip.
The clip itself depicts a Malawi village and its residents, perfectly fitting both the lyrics and tribal rhythms of the track. The trio needed to receive permission from the village chief before publishing or sharing the footage. She gave them her blessing, and the resultant video is now here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC5hXsyeork
White Men Are Black Men Too is out now on Big Dada via Inertia.
Young Fathers Australian tour dates
Tues January 5: Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Thurs January 7: Corner Hotel Melbourne
Young Fathers are also performing at Falls, Southbound and Field Day festivals.
Originally published on Indie Shuffle
Mercury Prize-winning trio Young Fathers have already been announced to perform at Field Day, Falls Festival and Southbound, and have now announced two East Coast headline shows as well.
The Scottish three piece have created a really special sound, one that caught our attention when they released their 2014 record Dead. Equally on-trend and nostalgic (though arguably, nostalgia is what’s on-trend), their music is unique in that it could seamlessly slip into a myriad eras and genres – or, similarly, none at all.
Blending experimental hip hop and soul with sparkling clean, yet emotional synth-savvy rhythms, there’s something for everyone in their sound; perhaps my favourite thing about Young Fathers is that they hit that rare spot where their music is both accessible to the masses, and still loved by those dedicated to the niche corners of the musical underground.
Young Fathers visited our shores last year for Listen Out Festival, and in April this year they released their second album, White Men Are Black Men Too.
Young Fathers tour dates:
Tues January 5: Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Thurs January 7: Corner Hotel Melbourne
Tickets here
Also appearing at Falls, Southbound and Field Day.
White Men Are Black Men Too is out now on Big Dada through Inertia.