New Massive Attack EP in October

Anybody heading to see Massive Attack in the Olympia (October 6/7) will have some new material to look forward to. A new EP, Splitting the Atom, will be released on October 5th, and features a stellar line-up of guest vocalists: along with regular collaborator Horace Andy, the EP will also include contributions from Martina Topley-Bird, TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe and Elbow’s Guy Garvey. Two of the tracks will be remixed versions. Sounds like exciting stuff.

And for anyone in two minds about whether or not those Olympia gigs are worth the steep asking price (49 euro), Massive Attack’s performance at Electric Picnic 2006 remains one of this writer’s favourite live shows.

Track-listing from the EP:
01 Splitting the Atom [ft. The 3D, Daddy G, and Horace Andy]
02 Pray for Rain [ft. Tunde Adebimpe]
03 Psyche [remix] [ft. Martina Topley Bird]
04 Bulletproof Love [remix] [ft. Guy Garvey]

R.E.M. to release 'Live at the Olympia' set

They’re quite fond of Ireland, R.E.M.. Having already released the R.E.M. Live set (recorded at the Point Theatre) back in 2007, they’re now set to release a 2CD document of their five-night ‘working rehearsals’ stand in the Olympia in the same year. Now I tend to give live albums a wide berth generally, but just check out the tracklisting:

01 Living Well Is the Best Revenge
02 Second Guessing
03 Letter Never Sent
04 Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance
05 Disturbance at the Heron House
06 Mr. Richards
07 Houston
08 New Test Leper
09 Cuyahoga
10 Electrolite
11 Man-Sized Wreath
12 So. Central Rain
13 On the Fly
14 Maps and Legends
15 Sitting Still
16 Driver 8
17 Horse to Water
18 I'm Gonna DJ
19 Circus Envy
20 These Days
21 Drive
22 Feeling Gravity's Pull
23 Until the Day Is Done
24 Accelerate
25 Auctioneer
26 Little America
27 1,000,000
28 Disguised
29 The Worst Joke Ever
30 Welcome to the Occupation
31 Carnival of Sorts
32 Harborcoat
33 Wolves, Lower
34 I've Been High
35 Kohoutek
36 West of the Fields
37 Pretty Persuasion
38 Romance
39 Gardening at Night

‘Harborcoat’? ‘Disturbance at the Heron House’? ‘Gardening at Night’? ‘Kohouek’?!? I’ll have some of that! As well as that, of course, you’ll get the chance to hear songs from last year’s Accelerate at their early stages of development.

A special edition will add a DVD featuring recorded footage of the gigs and behind-the-scenes action. R.E.M. Live at the Olympia will be released on October 27th.