Massive Attack has collaborated with artist and designer Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian for an art installation called Piccadilly Un:Plugged, which you can find if you head over to London’s West End. As a part of the project, the band has released an unreleased cover of “Everything is Going According to Plan” by Russian punk band Grob.
The installation draws inspiration from Piccadilly, and addresses environmental concerns about space. The exhibit features elements like neon cats, drawing from physics studies, extraterrestrial rocks, high-quality telescopes, and a “lunar-bounced soundscape,” which involved transmitting sound directly to the moon using Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) technology.
With Massive Attack contributing, they join other artists like Pussy Riot, The Avalanches, Moses Boyd, Ayse Hassan of Savages, Mirrored Fatality, and EOBIONT (Láwû Makuriye’nt) in sending music to the moon.
In a statement, Massive Attack noted:
“‘Everything is going according to plan’ was written by Yegor Letov in the 1980’s and was a withering critique of the Russian state. It was performed live in Russian language by Massive Attack in 2013 as part of a collaborative show with filmmaker Adam Curtis.”
Professor Simon Garrington from the University of Manchester discussed the technological challenges involved in the use of EME for sound transmission. He says that receiving music and spoken word via this method is quite a complex affair and relies on powerful radio telescopes like the Lovell Telescope.
Piccadilly Un:Plugged is being held in Piccadilly Square from March 6 to 8, part of Art of London’s Art After Dark initiative, and entry is free for visitors. Massive Attack recently denied a Coachella invite due to concerns over the festival's environmental impact, as they continue to stand on their principles when it comes to their environmental principles.
The track can be heard in the promotional video for the project on their Instagram.
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