When Massive Attack absolutely nails it

[@iximusic]

If you'd like to hear my take on Portishead's Dummy, there's a free listening party replay on my Patreon, which you can follow for free! www.patreon.com/posts/portishead-party-62816321 - I don't do sponsorships and most of my income is from my amazing Patreon community and the rest from private lessons, so that's the best way to help me keep the channel going and make requests!

[@Music-tg5is]

Portishead are one of the pioneers of Trip Hop, just like Massive Attack. Their first two albums are timeless classics. Their "Third's not too shabby either. But for me, the first two helped define the more melancholic downbeat trip-hop sound.

[@norwegianblue2017]

Basically, this whole album is fire.

[@iximusic]

Facts!

[@ledniknoj]

@@iximusic "Facts", an interestingly difficult word to speak out loud, amiright? Loved the video today thanks for posting this. I'd never heard this song before 🙂

[@aawillma]

​@@ledniknojFAX lol

[@DonatasNoreika]

*perfect!

[@nadcho]

Lava, if I may suggest.

[@erikdavies2572]

"The brilliance of Massive Attack lies in their ability to seamlessly blend club cool, symphonic bliss, and impending doom." (probably the best quote I've ever read in review of their sound)

[@miraysoley]

I try not to be hyperbolic but damn Massive Attack has a truly timeless sound. Unreal

[@The_Sonic_Ally]

The Bristol sound.

[@AKAtAGG]

What an album this is. In the UK this was released the same day as another brilliant album; Music Has the Right to Children by Boards of Canada. One of my best ever days, buying and listening to these two LPS one after the other and being blown away by every track.

[@MolloyPolloy]

100% agree. Top comment mate.

[@cloudtowerphotography815]

I never knew they came out at the same time. Reminds me of how Bitter Sweet Symphony and Paranoid Android were released on the same day.

[@KennethHCox]

The day I bought this, I also picked up Morcheeba "Big Calm" and Moby "Play". I was on a long road trip with a girl I had a massive crush on. One of the best days of my life.

[@gavinator354]

this is literally the first song i ever heard from Massive Attack because i was obsessed with The Matrix from the first time I saw it and I absolutely HAD to know what Neo he was listening to as he slept. This was in 1999 when searching for a random song meant scouring the internet for forums of people that just HAPPENED to know the answer to your question (because searching sucked back then). It took me a week to get an answer but the moment someone told me it was Dissolved Girl by Massive Attack I asked my mom to take me to Border's Books and Music. They had the Mezzanine album and they let me listen to the entire full hour for free before deciding if I wanted to purchase it or not. Of course I immediately did because the whole album absolutely floored me. From that day in 1999 Massive Attack became my favorite all time group, which still holds true to this day. 🖤💗💖

[@SHVRWK]

Man things were different back in early 2000s, shit required effort haha

[@gavinator354]

@@SHVRWK haha and dedication!

[@stuartafox]

The greatest metal riff in a non-metal song. And the way that riff fades out and then back in again, incredible.

[@xevious2501]

The 90's was sick in terms of music. every genre of music was killing it.

[@GrantValdes]

I believe people saw the year 2000 coming and took it as a challenge to make an important last statement before we all crossed over. Many late 90's records are particularly polished, ambitious, and weighty.

[@stealthspider9831]

dissolved girl was the song playing in neos ear when he was sleeping at his computer in the matrix

[@seventeendegree]

thats how I discovered the band and the genre

[@lotusglobe2671]

There's also an earlier, slightly altered version of it in The Jackal. Bruce Willis is sitting on his couch in silence and there's also a scene involving some car accident that Richard Gere drives past. And this was '97 which was less than a year before the album proper was released. But obviously The Matrix played the album version so that's how I came to discover Massive Attack too.

[@RayoAtra]

@@lotusglobe2671 Total Sprawl!

[@jadegecko]

Why they didn't include it on the soundtrack I'll never understand.

[@CrunkMiens]

wake up neo

[@LikeWhatever]

There's such an ominous yet sexy atmosphere throughout Mezzanine. Remarkable album.

[@davidbennett4286]

Big props to Window Jar, without whom there can be no breeze.

[@leaningtower73]

Superb track. Dissolved Girl, Angel and Rising Son are my favorites. But the whole Mezzanine album is a milestone of modern music

[@IanFarrell-nb6cy]

I've always thought that if this album was released right now it would still sound ahead of its time. But it was released in 1998! 26 years ago!

[@chidenchi]

I only understand about 53% of the analysis and theory you cover in your videos but I learn something every time and your appreciation for each tune is contagious. 🙏

[@YodasPapa]

Damn bro I can only manage 52%

[@JAYDUBYAH29]

The thing that stands out is how every sound/instrument is a layer that tends to slowly emerge until they all coalesce in the climax-followed by the breakdown and rebuild.its all so organic. But only possible through the at that time emergent digital production techniques being used so tastefully. Also the VOCAL.

[@watchreadplayretro]

Neo listening to Dissolved Girl in his opening scene fallen asleep at his computer in The Matrix, I had already bought the single on (gasp) cassette tape but I was shocked that they didn't include this on The Matrix soundtrack album!!! Anyway, fantastic track, I love the pauses after her deep lines, like a moment to let her words sink in (as if she's thinking herself and wanting it to sink in about leaving... but she doesn't want to either). Thanks for this wonderful breakdown, sometimes less is more, and certain Massive Attack songs have that down to a T. Your deep dive taught me a lot more though, brilliant, thanks again! That gentle distortion adding body to the sound near the end, almost as if it would be cleaner and better without it, and yet with it there is depth and mystery! Wow

[@watchreadplayretro]

Oh and since this has taken me down memory lane for 98-99 I was waiting to buy this on tape and heard this incedible sensory overload of effects and beats yet beautifully gentle voiced singing, asked the cashier what was playing, and it was BT's Running Down The Way Up. At that point in time I had never heard Brian before, not even his more ambient early 90s stuff, so I bought that too! I cannot put into words how incredible that day was, getting home and playing these songs over and over hearing new layers each time, if [insert your fav food here] was made into music, that would be it lol

[@DustinHarms]

Only halfway through the video, but it's SO crazy to me that I hear that little "bell/piano" 3 note thing SO differently than you, or at least express it differently. I hear a lowest note, which jumps up to the high note, then ends on the middle note. Really unusual. And it seems like you're hearing the middle note first, then the low note, then ending on the high note. SO wild! So every time I hear you rephrase it your way you're hearing it it really throws me off, but in a kinda neat way. Music is just so cool. Whenever I need a happy break I watch your videos and they remind me why music is such a big thing to me and why I love it so much. Thanks for bringing your lovely self to share with the internet!

[@DustinHarms]

Haha, RIGHT after I left the comment and unpaused you're getting into exactly what I'm talking about. XD Oh well I'll leave the comment for posterity.

[@JulesStoop]

Me as well, I hear it just like you (and I was about to leave a comment) 😅

[@jaybee2530]

The amount of times i've listened to this album when i was young is insane. The album Protection from Massive Attack is just as much of a banger as Mezzanine i.m.o.

[@markpalmer932]

I love how much you love music.

[@knavoo]

I'm not much of a youtube commentor, but this video, like your others, is so inspiring to watch. Your musical ear is incredible, but I love how you go on the emotional journey of the songs. Mezzanine is by a stretch my favourite album. Neil Davidge deserves a lot of credit for his engineering of this album. It's pretty much flawless.

[@miracleofsound]

Great analysis! I LOVE that you brought up that sick drum groove after the heavy section, I've always loved the kind of record-scratchy, biomechanical feel to it. Bringing metal elements into trip hop was a stroke of genius, I really wish they had done it more often after Mezzanine. The dark, moody atmospherics of both genres match so well. Totally agree on the snares too... the Mezzanine snares all feel dirty, dark and grimy in the best way.

[@JAYDUBYAH29]

The production on this track is so perfect.

[@nikikovacs1923]

Back in 1998 this was the soundtrack to a great love story in my life here in South France. Still sends shivers down my spine after all those years.

[@abraxaseyes7]

This happened to me in Rome '03. Much romance with this one.

[@erikdavies2572]

Nice. It's a real powerful thing when there's one particular album that carries all the desire, longing, meaning and memories shared by both people in a love relationship and so indelibly holds a special place in both lives that, regardless of the passage of time, remains undiluted and unfading.

[@Aande40]

It took me a while to be able to get back to listening to it because of the same reason.

[@erikdavies2572]

@@Aande40 I hear you brother.

[@stecumo6459]

massive attack,absolute masters of impending doom/chaos,atmosphere,feel,power etc.think you'd appreciate "take it there" by them,i can relate to the video so much from a previous life

[@ameyasaraf8381]

Your channel is growing to be one of my favs on youtube, great work! Absolutely love Massive Attack!

[@victorthomas3500]

Love your videos on this album. I saw the 21st anniversary tour for this album. Phenomenal night.

[@SpyderTracks]

Killer tune, it’s the muted snare I love and adds so much atmosphere for opening and that snare noise gets broader and broader through each level, so clever

[@py_a_thon]

22:45++ The so called "physics" of "ghost notes" are probably most relevant in regards to the signal analysis theories regarding "constructive and destructive interference". (Or the combinatorics of time slices overlapping with patterns? Idk) Your example is on point.

[@Alan_Duval]

10:06 It's weird how just that keyboard sound, playing the A flat, immediately makes me think of Kruder and Dorfmeister.

[@Perceptes]

There's not much better than an ixi video on my favorite band of all time.

[@S2D01]

Hours and hours for RDN & C. trying THE ART of samples combo mixing is the KEY of this wonderful group of persons forming MASSIVE ATTACK! Cheers for the pick! One of my favorite song of the Band!!

[@mwill110]

Thank you, I love this channel. The part where she fully vocalizes name in "say my name" always gives goosebumps. Whenever I first heard this song decades ago I became a huge massive attack fan.

[@iximusic]

right? glad I'm not the only one gettin' the shivas right there!

[@fazylo2054]

The way you convey your feelings about music is brilliant. I'm also passionate about music and I'd love to have you as a friend to listen to music and exchange feelings.

[@antdujar]

One of my fave albums of all time, one of my fave songs to play on bass, and one of my fave songs of all time. I’m so glad you covered this track and took time to dissect it to display how brilliant this track is. Been my favorite as a kid since the first matrix film when Neo is waking up to his computer screen.

[@shaharm2898]

Every song on this album is like a story, making you feel different emotions at different times and simultaneously. Even the album’s track list takes you on a journey, providing comfort at one point, and then plunging you into the dark right after. Would love to hear your take on more mezzanine songs! (Specifically the titular song mezzanine), and massive attack in general. Thank you so much.

[@alastairwinner]

Love the way this layers up at the start, the bass line and how the song transitions to and from the guitar break.

[@jonstapp6179]

Therrrrrrrrrrrrrre it is. What an absolute banger of a tune. Such an emotional roller coaster. I LOVE how things build in intensity and then just stop - except for that pulsating electronic sound - after that first guitar riff. So glad to see you analyze this one, Ixi.

[@thevoid99]

this is my favorite album by massive attack. it's dark and filled with lots of post-punk textures and even more haunting elements.

[@Quarker]

Sarah Jay is an excellent vocalist and the perfect choice for this song. She's actually active on KZbin and has uploaded some previously unreleased stuff she did with Massive Attack back in the day

[@visualdrone]

I can imagine driving around Bristol during a rainy night in 1998 listening to this. Must have been an amazing time

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

It was, it still is.

[@LudvikM]

I looooove her delivery on "passion's overrated anyway"...

[@zughoytim]

So much fun to see you analyse Massive Attack! Their music really carried me from Uni in the nineties all the way to yesterday on the train. It transports me far away, while at the same time rooting me solidly on the ground.

[@sullenpuffin]

Thanks for reminding me how great this album is! Time for another listen

[@wicky4473]

Such an amazing album. In my top ten of all time. Brilliant First time discovering your channel. On the basis of this, I have now subscribed. Postscript-I’m mesmerised by the spread of your fingers.

[@BRUXXUS]

The rhythmic stuff in this tune are what really get me going! It's impossible for me to *not* move listening to this one. :D

[@Lysdexia]

This is wonderful - I'm a musician and ixi is talking to, and for us. She get's it.

[@rafaeladrian1510]

i feel this song so deep I can smell the cigarettes alcohol and THC when I listen to it

[@FramesGone]

Only 3 weeks till I finally get to see them live, I am so excited 😁

[@iximusic]

Ah sweet, hope you have a great time!

[@FramesGone]

Can confirm, had a great time. Probably one of the best concerts I've ever been to. They had Horace Andy, Deborah Miller, Young Fathers and Elizabeth Fraser with them. Totally wild experience with a massive visual aspect to it as well. It was like they kept people in a state of trance throughout the show with this giant screen playing very politically charged videos and effects, while the band was basically faded into the backlight. Lizz even performed a very beautiful version of Song To The Siren just accompanied by the guitar part. And they played basically all my favourite songs (sadly no dissolved girl tho)

[@AndrewDBrown2020]

It took me a little while to get over the first two albums (for me they were pretty much perfect). So, I didn't love this one immediately, but...boy did it grow on me. Absolutely amazing.

[@ImTheDudeMan471]

In some color art, complexity is called "sparkle", the use of the entire color wheel but you don't notice it right away. Think simple cross connect but with the full color wheel.

[@matteightytwo]

This is what my mental health sounded like for most of my life

[@munoz_nitrous_rs]

One of my all time favourite Massive Attack tracks...second only to Unfinished Sympathy. Mezzanine is an example of a 'Grade A' album

[@1967AJB]

I’m fairly new to your channel, but I adore listening to your enthusiasm for the music you admire and the way you communicate your nuanced appreciation demonstrates your incredible talents, without you even noticing. I was introduced to the music of Massive Attack by their lighting director, who occasionally used to work for me too, his favourite band, and now one of mine.. Magnificent channel!

[@foxVII]

oh this is another fav from this album. Well done breaking it down.

[@ryann6067]

They are going on tour in the US in October! Cant wait!!!!

[@mbunkus]

Thank you so much. I LOVED how you picked up on & explained the short sequence feeling ternary/shuffly there near the end. It's one of the many details about this song that I've always found fascinating.

[@Datokah]

Great tune from a great album by a great band.

[@toslinked]

so good, when it came out it was revolutionary. still is, when you think of the simplicity in music that is around today.

[@NicHills]

Thank you for bringing this track alive again - loved it since it came out but now i'm hungry to hear it again....

[@dirkster42]

Bought this album years ago, listened to it once. Great reminder to revisit it!!!

[@getthoseskills4451]

Amazing breakdown of a stunning song. I love Massive Attack and also other darker trip hop acts like Portishead, Tricky, UNKLE, HTDA, ALLFLAWS

[@OIP_1]

strong contender for best album of all time

[@MrMMochizuki]

This is my go to for Massive Attack. Absolute favorite.

[@mRGuitarShow1]

Eloquent, I love it. Please keep reviewing Massive Attack tunes - "Shot Away" is from another superb album of theirs, "100th window". "Midnight walker" by Bohern & Der is perfect dark jazz, maybe worth a shot, albeit not sure if it's video material.

[@trent69marc]

love to watch you listening to the whole song, you often react very similiar to certain passages. MA, for me, will always be one of the most important bands in my life. I saw them from the end 90´s 6 times live and every concert was special. Thx!

[@OutOfMySystem]

I mean I understand that every song can be worked out on a piano but it's so impressive to watch it play out in real time.

[@MykeLewisMusic]

These recent Massive Attack videos you put out got me inspired to cover the entire Mezzanine album. I just finished filming it this week, but it doesn't come out on my channel till August.

[@jonhouse7962]

Even the obscure Massive Attack songs tend to be great to me, only a couple were hard to listen to still on second listen I get it, this song is just pure heaven on this earth.

[@lotusglobe2671]

I'm so happy I found you. You are the only girl that I've ever met who has the same soulful, sensual passion for Mezzanine as I do. It's my #1 favorite album of all time that I consider to be my personal Rosetta Stone of music. The fine wine that only tastes richer with the passage of time. I'm currently working on a review for this album on my other channel and I'll send you the link when I'm done. Thank you so much

[@siluxtotenkopf]

Dissolved Girl was the first song from Massive Attack I've ever heard. It is on the Jackal's Soundtrack. Pretty awesome soundtrack btw

[@Lwize]

That dark groove must have committed a crime. Call the police.

[@theshakyproject2971]

I first heard this in The Matrix (1999). Based on just this and hearing "Angel" in the End of Days (1999) trailer, I bought the album. I was excited to find "Teardrop" was also in there. Not a single track is skippable. It's consistent the whole way through. Regardless of if you call it Trip-hop or Downtempo or Bristol (which is where the sound originated), this is a sound I never get tired of, though the electric guitar in this album still maintains a bit of a rock vibe.

[@py_a_thon]

Massive Attack definitely got some residual payments in post-capital business mode. That isn't really their music tho. That is people giving them money for artistic "ownership" and usage. In other words: they accepted money for people who wanted to meme them...?

[@py_a_thon]

iirc, aphex twin got payed some absurd amounts of money and then bought a bank vault that he used as a reverb chamber lol. Such a true madlad lol. Musique Concrete.

[@nononosfe]

SONGS OF THE MASSIVE!!!! IM SO HAPPY YOU'RE COVERING THEM MORE🖤🖤🖤

[@nikolai7521]

I think "Angel" and "Dissolved Girl" are both songs about passionate and destructive relationships from a man's and a woman's perspective

[@iximusic]

They have a similar "arc" too, starting so soft and non-threatening and then growing into something bigger than itself, then retreating.

[@daffakhairy3346]

Crazy that both song is the starting point of side a and side b, i can see the parallel

[@mikelastname2645]

Hanging out and enjoying good music. Thanks

[@petrichor649]

Thanks, that was excellent, a 26 year old album and it's still on the money. Art is art

[@iximusic]

It really feels timeless.

[@andrinicole04]

My favourite song on this album! Was hoping you'd do a video on it 💖

[@markfrancis8978]

Love this track, was my number one track played on Spotify last year. Video is excellent too.

[@bdhaliwal24]

This album was my sound-track living in West Village in 98 to 99. I actually find it hard to listen to without the pain of nostalgia coming on.

[@eat_pray_porg8450]

Hi Ixi. Love the channel! As a fellow piano/keyboard player (nowhere close to your skill level!), I appreciate the active listening approach you take to analyzing songs. I think the different snare drum sounds are either standard patches on drum modules/stand alone machines, or they phased the levels when they were laying down tracks. That's what I hear at least, but I had never considered what you said: that they processed an actual human vocal for snare patches. Which is very old school sampling. Any ways, thanks for your content. I really like your playing style, too (I tend to go with more minimal melodies and chord inversions myself). Take care! ✌🏾😊

[@kuyper]

It must really suck to be you - every time you listen to a cool song it suddenly turns into deep analysis work 🤣Meanwhile, a schmuck like me, who doesn't have anything close to perfect pitch, just sits back an enjoys the ride :) Love all your insights! I've been fortunate enough to see Massive Attack live in concert twice

[@iximusic]

haha. I am very grateful that it's a switch I turn on intentionally!

[@gonesavage]

I have a lot of great memories attached to this album. Thanks for analyzing this song.

[@w.geoffreyspaulding6588]

I first heard this a few years ago…..I was totally captured….LOVE the hypnotic vibe..

[@seb.kochanski]

Massive Attack are pure class. I'd love so much you analyze 'The Spoils' some day.

[@TonyParkin67]

I think the high pitched sequence parts were played on a Tenori-On, a new sequencer used by Massive Attack at the time.

[@BomageMinimart]

@9:16 - that's Earth People!

[@Softlymad]

Uuuff, adore massive attack. This is such a treat. 😭 Risingson, Live with me, Safe from harm, Protection, Atlas Air, this whole album. 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

[@KennethHCox]

Yes! Atlas Air! No ever comments on that song and it is incredible.

[@thechillpillcorner]

That beat is so filthy I need to wear gloves before pressing play...Absolutely unreal sound!!

[@arghjayem]

If you loved this check out Portishead. Dummy is my favourite album of theirs but all are great! They emerged from the same place as Massive Attack- Bristol- around the same time too. The city was pretty much the centre for Trip-Hop in the nineties!

[@iximusic]

Here! It's free www.patreon.com/posts/portishead-party-62816321

[@geob3963]

I knew I liked what they were doing, but I didn’t know what to call it or how the patterns interplay with each other. The ease of your articulation is from years of study and work, but you’ve got a natural ability as well. Thanks

[@CenkerCanCNKY]

get always goosebumps when listening masssiivvee, all these years 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[@engladtur]

This album is just one of the greatest of the greatest man

[@yellstr]

I love to watch how much you love the things I love.

[@retrovertigocl]

Im a metal fan since always, but there is something hipnotíc with MA. I loved this álbum.

[@py_a_thon]

UK triphop is often fire, and Massive Attack is one of the best. aphex and squarepusher have dabbled in triphop...yet they never really used vocal chops or live vocals in this form. They was and are more like bach and mozart tbh. The industrial noise wall sound is iconic. Autechre is an often forgotten musical act. They are more influential than I think some people realize. I am partial to DJ Shadow, yet perhaps that is just an opinion that results when one is across "the pond". (Triphop feels incomplete without poetry. Akala? Leen? etc) RTJ + DJ Shadow is kinda most excellent. "Nobody Speak" is a crazy song and incredibly trollish towards UK parliament(or the UN) lol ...

[@py_a_thon]

Proof of concept: Avril 14th is EASILY a UK style triphop jam if played in that form. Ballads as jams mode. This is odd to say...because I usually dislike ballads.

[@py_a_thon]

Massive Attack loved a good remixed ballad tho lol. Without vocals, the composers "Clint Mansell" and "John Murphy" definitely fuxxed with some congruent ideas.

[@ltandrepants]

Top 10 albums of mine

[@benshafer5198]

The production on the LP is nuts. 60 yo & only started getting into MA about 5 yrs. ago. Might be counter intuitive, but great gym playlist material! 🔥

[@AlmerosMusicCode]

Can't wait for 'man next door'!

[@luismarquez4417]

Thank you for doing this :)

[@neobscura]

As someone else said it on the previous MA video: this is liquid velvet for your ears.