Heligoland.

1. pray for rain

2. babel

3. splitting the atom

4. girl i love you

5. psyche

6. flat of the blade

7. paradise circus

8. rush minute

9. saturday come slow

10. atlas air

Seven years after Massive Attack released their fourth album, 100th Window, its follow-up,Heligoland is about to be released on Feb. 8 in the UK, and the following day here in The States.

Clocking in at far under an hour across 10 tracks, Heligoland is both concise and different. Featuring guest vocals by Tunde Adebimpe, Martina Topley-Bird, Guy Garvey, Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval and long-time MA collaborator Horace Andy, this guest-star list may only be topped by Gorillaz' third album, Plastic Beach, due March 8.

Sounding about 75% more organic than 100th Window, Heligoland is full of handclaps; smooth, mostly-untreated vocals; acoustic guitar; beautiful, clear drums; and, at one point, a full horn section. Of course MA's signature synths, delay pedals, reverberated seething vocals by 3D and crunchy drum machines make triumphant returns as well.

Rolling drums and moody noir piano set the tone in "Pray for Rain" even before TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe croons prophetic about aftermath, decay, and that which once was. A bizarre turn of events brings "Rain" from Sam Spade to a near-Gospel bridge of joyous singing and brighter tones before returning to its brooding glory. At first listen I didn't care for the change-up, but once you've given it a few chances, I decided it serves only to lift us up to the heavens before dragging us down to the gutter.

"Babel," sung by Tricky ex-wife and collaborator Martina Topley-Bird, opens with raging crunchbeats, lingering keyboards and muted plucked bass strings before Martina takes over. Any concern over how crowded by the instruments she sounds is set aside by its chorus, at which point more warm electronics rise up and accompany her perfectly.

I reviewed "Splitting the Atom" when I first heard an extended cut of it several months ago. All you need to know is it locks onto a jaw-dropping cool drumbeat and keyboard line and rides it in the entire song, through verses and choruses. 3D's vocals haunt in the background throughout Daddy G's verses and Horace Andy's always smooth choruses, which have just a bit of tremolo accenting. 3D finally takes center stage in the post-chorus/pre-verse, a tinny poltergeist echoing a select few of G's lyrics, and returns near the end for a verse of his own.

"Girl I Love You." If you hear this and don't buy this album, you should have to wear a t-shirt saying as much so I know who to kick in the crotch. The throbbing bass and weird, echoing guitars supplement Horace Andy's pitch-perfect lyrics about love and loss until the even weirder horns kick in between verses and at the end, carrying "Girl" to impossible heights. The crescendo at the end of the 2nd verse is the single highest point of this album, which is a difficult target to hit.

Martina sings again on "Psyche," amidst looped acoustic guitar string plucks and clean electronic percussion. This is a really different side of Massive Attack, though it showcases their ability to take fast-paced, deliberate electronica and seamlessly weave lovely, gliding vocals over it, a trademark of theirs for years.

Elbow's Guy Garvey sings on "Flat of the Blade," and the music behind him is chock full of distorted skittering beats and warbly synthesizers. It sounds like the stuff of bad dream sequences in movies or Aphex Twin ambient collections, at least until the brass section lurches out of the shadows, but comes together in an odd sort of pleasing way. As much as I hate comparisons, I can't help but think of the first couple times I heard "Kid A," Radiohead's title track from their 2000 LP. So, so strange, but altogether lovely.

"Paradise Circus" was semi-debuted to the world with an...interesting video on massiveattack.com a few weeks ago. Hope Sandoval sounds incredibly effortless and soft, arriving at a sobering-up, late-night catharsis about love and sin amidst piano, xylophone, and one of Massive Attack's catchiest drumbeats since "Five Man Army," which soon gives way to an entirely organic drumset-and-bass 2nd verse and back again. After a quieted 3rd verse and false ending, "Circus" settles into its original groove and adds tragic strings before ending.

I think I need more time to listen to "Rush Minute," 3D's only solo vocal effort besides "Atlas Air." I love its steady early-'90s drum machine mixed with drumstick taps and computer mouse clicks, but so far it's popped out less to me than some of the other tracks. The guitar and bass repeat very four-on-the-floor patterns through each chorus, but there's a beautiful, desperate honesty in the piano, the kind most bands with a set of ivory keys would give their soul for in a moment. Undoubtedly a very good song, it doesn't strike me as having the greatness that "Girl I Love You" and "Splitting the Atom" have in spades.

Damon Albarn graces Heligoland with his vocals on "Saturday Come Slow," and he steals the show. "Saturday" could almost be on the next Gorillaz album, as it makes use of his oft-used quaint-and-quirky production, subdued drums and seemingly-perfect random acoustic guitar. Very pretty, but it feels a bit short.

Finally, the closer, "Atlas Air." The organ loop is brilliant and catchy, and 3D's vocals return with a vengeance. "It took all the man in me to be the dog you wanted me to be," he hisses, and I know exactly where he's coming from. Clocking in at nearly eight minutes, over a half-dozen instruments enter and drop out at practically random times throughout - and again, it all sounds so purposeful and never at all unwise or jarring. Nearly six minutes in, a furious synthesizer kicks in to carry us to the end of the album.

Man, what an album. Like a lot of my favorite bands with album releases in the last couple years, Massive Attack have churned out a set of songs that has a comfortable familiarity with SOME of my favorite elements of their work but approaches them from a very different angle, or vice versa. While it won't uproot MA's fanbase majority who declare Mezzanine their best album, it definitely has a lot of great, memorable songs across its 50+ minutes. Just cross your fingers with me that the bonus disc on the much-rumored deluxe edition will contain even more of their new material when it's supposedly released in May, and that their long-term rift with Tricky is starting to mend.

Music Awards 2009.

Employee of the Month

(Song of the Year)

Winner: 12 Rounds – “Shine On”

For a band that hasn’t properly released an album since the world thought Bill Clinton was a good husband, 12 Rounds has maintained a cult following like few other groups in Western civilization. The now-married duo of Claudia Sarne and Atticus Ross make dark trip-hop to give Portishead a run for its money and “Shine On” is their first new song since their contribution of “Just Another Day” to 2001’s The Princess and the Warrior soundtrack. It’s haunting and beautiful and everything 12 Rounds should be and more.

Runner-up: Massive Attack – “Splitting the Atom”

First new Massive Attack in seven years? Sweet, sweet ass. “Atom” rides one straight groove for the better part of five minutes while all three of Massive Attack’s masterminds creep and croon over it. It is constant, groove-happy and full of a drunken haze.

2^nd Runner-up: Thom Yorke – “Hearing Damage”

Following his solo debut The Eraser in 2006, Thom Yorke released the Spitting Feathers EP, containing several b-sides and an extended version of a track or two. Then came Radiohead’sIn Rainbows and utter silence for over a year. This year, Thom resurfaced with the 45 of “Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses” and “The Hollow Earth” and a song for the New Moonsoundtrack, “Hearing Damage.” It sticks with his trend of cold electronics and pedestrian phrases-turned-lyrics and, as always, amazes.

Back from the Dead: The Zombie Award

(Don't Call it a Comeback)

Winner: Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue

Yes yes, there’s no Layne – get over it. The more-than-able Jerry Cantrell has always written great music and BGWtB proves that he’s not stopping. Back with the rest of the AiC team and a newcomer to sing lead, tracks like “A Looking in View” and “All Secrets Known” are worthy additions to the Alice catalog. Sure, it’ll never be the same without Layne Stayley on vocals, but this is about the best we could hope for without him.

Runner-up: Green Day – 21^st Century Breakdown

I know I’m a sucker for conept albums, but the songwriting and production on Green Day’s post-Dubya romance record are undoubtedly cool, as is the psychobilly and old Western influence. Taking a cue perhaps from Koffin Kats or Captain Clegg, tracks like “Peacemaker” and “Little Girl” raise a tattered, burnt flag claiming the boys from Oakland still know how to pen a record – even if it means a radical departure from anything they’ve ever done.

Licensed to Ill

(Soundtrack of the Year)

Winner: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Effeminate sparkly vampires?! Have I lost my standing in Team Blade/Castlevania/Dracula (read: good vampire entertainment)?! Even though my indie-cred ex-friends are reading this and laughing their asses off, all I can say is this: Thom Yorke; Black Rebel Motorcycle Club; Muse; OK Go and Death Cab for Cutie are strewn across an hour of aural goodness and sutured together by Lykke Li, Sea Wolf, Bon Iver & St. Vincent and The Editors. Even the people I’d never heard of I loved; I think the only borderline-weak link in the album is The Killers, which is still decent at its worst, and Alexandre Desplat’s one-off from the score is a touching piano piece. Thumbs up, Twilight people – now let’s just get that damn glitter off the characters.

Runner-up: Where the Wild Things Are

I don’t know much about Karen O, besides she likes using simple and repeated lyrics in The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which usually comes out pretty cool. When I sat through Where the Wild Things Are and heard her score throughout, I thought it was brilliant. So full of life and youth, joy and pain, I can’t help but feel like a kid again with all the handclaps and shouting.

Annual Employee Pot-Luck

(Collaboration of the Year)

Winner: The Dead Weather – Horehound

I haven’t been this impressed with Jack White since De Stijl. Working with Allison Mosshart of The Kills, they put out a completely badass, take-no-prisoners rock and blues album. From the old Hendrix-style riffs of “60 Feet Tall” to the minimal trudging of “Will There Be Enough Water?” and from the big ‘70s-era keyboards on “I Cut Like a Buffalo” to the relentless Zeppelin-influenced “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” Horehound doesn’t fuck around – pun intended.

Runner-up: Them Crooked Vultures – S/T

Dave Grohl back on the skins? Check. John Paul Jones on bass? Check. A little too much Josh Homme? Check. These three ingredients give the world a near-perfect pick for collaboration 2009. Damn fine songs, 90% of them, but “Mind Eraser No Chaser” and “Dead End Friends” sound like QotSA b-sides. Let’s hope album 2 comes with more Jones/Grohl flair.

Honorable Mentions

(Honorable Mentions)

Before I dole out my pick for Juiciest Brains of 2009, I’d like to give extra thumbs-up and nods to N.A.S.A.’s Call of Apollo for having the Handsome Boy Modeling School-esque balls of teaming up Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Fatlip, Karen O, Tom Waits, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Cool Kids and George Clinton on the same record. Also to The XX’s XX / Self-Titled for being an amazing breakthrough and experiment in near-minimalist badassery, to Psyclon Nine’s We the Fallen for proving that old-school industrial isn’t dead, to Metal Blade’s re-issue of The Ocean’s 2004 debut LP Fluxion for pushing the boundaries in fusing post-rock and metal, and to Saxon Shore’s It Doesn’t Matter for their constant excellence in the field of post-rock. They all definitely deserve a listen.

Juiciest Brains

(Album of the Year)

Winner: The Horrors – Primary Colours

Holy crap, how good is this album?! The old-school Britrock and sheer M83-like productionalone propelled it to the top of my list this year and the songwriting and utter fun of it cemented it in the top spot. What a catch, what a play, what a game.

Runner-up: The Mars Volta – Octahedron

Despite the endless compost heaps of shit Cedric and Omar take from critics around the globe for their machine-gun epileptic sound, self-indulgent experimentation and near-Dadaist lyrics, the boys managed to turn out an all-killer, no-filler album this year. Perhaps learning a lesson from the mixed reviews they received for sophomore release Frances the Mute’s extended sound captures and live album Scab Dates’s fifteen-minute noise jams, Octahedronis just eight songs, 50 minutes. It’s as concise and catchy as anything they’ve done in recent memory and may be their best album since their 2003 debut, De-Loused in the Comatorium. Here’s hoping a follow-up comes soon and similar.

Bratville von Cheeseburgeren.

Y'know, usually I think my dreams are completely useless. I go to sleep next to my wife, I dream of chasing puppies through the house or being in the mafia. I wake up and I think "Well that was fun; time to go to work."

Then, last night, all that changed.

Last night I dreamt I was a regular at a busy greasy spoon in a rural town. I would go in and eat various breakfast foods (this, a by-product of Kristy's excitement that I've recently been risking eating breakfast, which usually doesn't agree with me), then leave, then be back in the diner for more. Suddenly, one trip I saw something I really didn't recognize.

"Hmm. Sausage/Egg Biscuit, Super Deluxe Breakfast, Steak and Eggs...wait a minute...what the hell?"

I blinked.

"'Bratville von Cheeseburgeren' with 'Bacon or Mushrooms'? Can I get it with both?"

Moments later, as time so quickly happens in dreams, I was served.

It looked like two sausage patties, but bratwurst, with three kinds of cheese, two slices of bacon and sauteed mushrooms on a hamburger bun. Or maybe it was on a biscuit. I don't remember. Either way, best food idea ever.

One of my best entrees came to me after staring blankly at a bottle of peanut sauce in a Wal-Mart for 15 minutes. It included seared ahi, paper-thin slices of watermelon, shrimp, fried shrimp tails, and a side of rice and mushrooms. Another, a sausage-and-peppers dish with provolone and Roma tomatoes (and tequila) was born from watching GoodFellas.

At the end of the day, whether your cooking delicacies are epiphanies whose geneses were mobster movies, dreams or random innovation, I plan on starting a family cookbook one of these days and I now have my first breakfast item.

Track Review: Massive Attack - "Splitting the Atom."

This is fun. I like new song reviews.

So it's been how many years since Massive Attack's 100th Window came out? Five? Six? Too many, that's how many. It was met with mixed reviews, never quite reaching the level of praise and worship as their third album, Mezzanine. Even still, these trip-hop masters have soldiered on and in 2006 released Collected, a two-disc a- and b-sides collection, featuring two new songs, "Live with Me" and "False Flags."

However, rumblings of a new album have been heard for years - in fact it was first thought that "Live with Me" and "False Flags" were the first two singles for this fifth release. After multiple delays, it seems the Heinz ketchup people were right and the best things do in fact come to those who wait.

Yesterday on Radio 1, Zane Lowe debuted "Splitting the Atom," from Massive Attack's upcoming EP, set for release this fall. "Atom" is a work of pure genius. The simple four-on-the-floor drumbeat alternates between a kick (or double-kick, depending on the bar) and a hand-clap and snare. Deeper swells rise from the abyss and spectral background vocals by Robert "3D" Del Naja accent the seething verses by Daddy G and smooth, if dismal, choruses by Horace Andy.

The real star of this show, however, is the keyboard. It sounds incredibly old, like old Dracula movie old, but it's heavy on the upbeat and almost dub-like. It lends so much texture and soul to "Splitting the Atom" it would be impossible without it. The song rocks for nearly six minutes, and rides a slow, unchanging groove like "Protection," though it slowly, gradually picks up the background instruments to impose on the earlier steady groove fiercely and in a way only Massive Attack can.

If this is on the EP (I think due Oct) that didn't quite make the full album (due Feb 2010), Massive Attack's 2010 release could be the best album of next year. Find "Splitting the Atom" online and stream or download it as soon as you can; it's one of the best songs I've heard this year.

For fans of Gorillaz, Portishead, Tricky.

Track Review: Radiohead - "These Are My Twisted Words."

England's arguably second biggest band, Radiohead, are most lately known for pioneering the "tip jar" method of paying for an .mp3 download of their latest LP, In Rainbows in October 2007. It's said to have been a great success, and not to be estranged of the ever-(d)evolving music distribution system brought on by high-speed internet and crumbling record labels, a brand new song by the quintet from Oxford eaked onto the internet a couple days ago, just a week following "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)," their stringy tribute to England's last surviving World War I veteran, who passed away very recently.

The first new Radiohead song in nigh on two years starts with a lurching final part of a guitar chord and slow, sexy drums...at least for about four seconds before the song kicks into its 120bpm+ groove.

Phil Selway's quick, riding high-hat-and-snare drumline will sound right at home to fans of "Twisted Words"'s closest comparable relative, 2007's "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi." If you're running in the morning, or driving along a forgiving highway on a warm, bright day, Phil has your mood captured and this track should be first on your iPod playlist. Lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood meanders between a handful of chords he picks a string at a time after some early strumming, leaving the listener with a feeling of anxiety and unease as his brother Colin plucks a fuzzy, jerky progression that complements the other instruments nicely. Sometimes it drives, sometimes it rides passenger, but it always stakes its claim in the production.

This bizarre jam plods along to varying emotive effect for over two and a half minutes before Thom Yorke gently broods "These are my twisted words" and a few other despondent, satirically-pedestrian lines that have become his trademark since 1995, with enough reverb backing them to make any indie fanboy happy.

"When are you coming back? I just can't handle it," Yorke shudders out as the brothers Greenwood back him with a steady tenacity, Selway's metronome percussion providing a welcome backbone to the new piece.

It ends as abruptly as it begins, without ever reaching a crescendo, a finale, a point, or whatever you're looking for. Much like their Amnesiac b-side "Cuttooth," "These Are my Twisted Words" manages to ride a pleasing, solid groove for over five minutes and leave you with the kind of satisfied feeling you'd expect after eating a modest dinner you've prepared yourself. It doesn't climax and explode like "How to Disappear Completely" or "Life in a Glasshouse," but one of the most intriguing things to me about 2007's In Rainbows (and this new track) was how simply enjoyable and pleasant the whole album was without Kid A's minimalism or OK Computer's utter portending apocalypse.

Nobody knows for sure what this song is leading up to, if anything. Radiohead have toyed at the idea of releasing three or four songs together physically and/or online as little EP releases lately in interviews, and it's been said that Thom Yorke will be contributing a song to the newTwilight movie, not to mention the cryptic message and August 17 release date mentioned in a .nfo file accompanying the leaked .mp3 that brought this song to the world, but I for one am thrilled to have it to listen to, sing along with and casually throw onto future mixtapes.

Grammar School (Lesson Two).

I feel good about combining two lessons of contraction/possessive mix-ups into one blog today, so let's do it.

Your is what we say when we imply that something belongs to you. "Now I wanna be your dog." This is one of the simplest words in the English language, and is in a singular AND plural third-person possessive pronoun form. You may ask me "Is this your blog?" or exclaim to my fiance and I, "We're looking forward to your wedding." Sadly, this latter form is giving way to the Midwestern "your guys's" and the Southern variation, "y'all's."

The other spelling, you're, is how we shorten you are. If we wish to say, "You're one to talk," it's never spelled your.

Other examples include "What is it you think you're doing?" and "Is this yours?"

"You're the worst boss I've ever had."

"I've kidnapped your Dunny and I demand the ransom."

"What are your thoughts on The Virgin Suicides?"

"You're the worst phone company I've ever seen."

The other jumbling is its vs. it's.

If you hadn't noticed the pattern of you're and they're, you may by now have guessed how the contraction of "it is" will play out. It's is used with an apostrophe only when shortening "it is" or "it has," and never when a genderless person or object owns something else. "It's gonna be a hot one today." "It's been a hard day's night."

On the other hand, if an inanimate or genderless object is in possession of something, the singular third-person possessive pronoun is its - WITHOUT an apostrophe. "Remember my blue shirt? Its third button fell off." "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."

"It's a joke. It's all a joke."

"That snowblower is on its last legs."

Grammar School (Lesson One).

I read my share of e-mails, blogs, letters, posted notices and the like, and just between us, the grammar in this country is beginning to resemble something cavemen would use, or pick out of their shower drain if, in fact, they'd discovered how to irrigate water or run pipeline.

So, while I'm researching new topics about which to write, I'm just going to trot along here and help the entirety of my readership function more aptly as communicative human beings. I think I'll just take grammatical errors I see in my everyday life and point out their errors, explain how they err, illustrate the proper method and correct it. It's my little part in helping the human race get a little smarter instead of a little dumber.

The first lesson is to learn how to differentiate between "there," "their" and "they're." It may sound easy to you, but you have no idea how many people confuse them.

There is an adverb (a word that describes an action) usually implying a destination away from oneself, among other things. For example, in its most common definition, one might say "I think the napalm is over there" or "There aren't enough bottles of whiskey in this town for the both of us."

It is ONLY used to describe a physical destination, even if a vague one. One never writes "This is there problem" or "There going to kill us all!"

Their is a pronoun (a word that describes a person, place or thing) implying multiple parties' ownership of an object. "Is this their zombie?" "Yes, this zombie belongs to both of them - it is theirs."

It is absolutely NOT used as a substitute when one wishes to avoid the effort of saying "his or her." For example, "Jonny Lupsha has just updated their Facebook status!" This is wrong. It's just...bloody...wrong. There aren't two of me, and if there were we surely wouldn't share a Facebook status, as one of me would be in playing video games and the other would be at work cursing losing that video game / work coin toss. So we instead say "Jonny Lupsha has just updated his or her Facebook status!' or "his/her Facebook status!" If you like, you can say "her or his," but I find "his or her" rolls off the tongue more fluidly.

Finally, they're. When spelled "they're," they're is a contraction (shortened word) meaning "they are." This is most commonly mistaken with their, and I cannot stress enough how important their separation is. "They're" means "they are," and "their" indicates what group of people something belongs to. One writes, "They're the worst '60s revivalist group I've ever heard!" or "I don't care what they're doing; get them off my horse!"

We never, EVER write "This is they're lightsaber," or "What's they're phone number?" Every time you mix "their" and "they're," your favorite messiah cries.

More to come with every grievance I feel like filing.