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23-24 Oct 2023 Evry-Courcouronnes (France)
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Home Massive Attack and Bristol's Trip Hop SceneInternational Conference, University of Evry Paris-SaclayOctober 23-24, 2023Amphi audioCall for papersConsidered as the inventor of trip-hop, Massive Attack also embodies the leading role of the Bristol scene located in the southwest of England. Formerly a major port city in the triangular trade route, in the 1980s it became a hotbed of young artists (MCs, DJs, dancers and graffiti artists) growing up at the crossroads of African- American electronic music (Chicago house and New York rap) and Jamaican reggae. Named after the eponymous western by Sam Peckinpah, the Bristol sound system The Wild Bunch was formed in 1982 around two DJs, soon joined by graffiti artists and MCs. Until 1989, the multifaceted collective provided DJ sets in clubs and warehouses before disbanding and giving way to Massive Attack, a new project by Grant Marshall (DJ and co-founder), and Robert Del Naja – known as 3D (rapper and graffiti artist). Two other musicians gravitating around The Wild Bunch joined the group in 1988: Adrian Thaws – known as Tricky –, and Andrew Vowles – known as Mushroom. Continuing the mixity/intermingling that characterized The Wild Bunch and the influence of The Clash, Public Enemy and Lee "Scratch" Perry, Massive Attack produces a music mixing electronic programming (drum machine, synthesizers), samples of Afro-American music (jazz, soul, funk) and rhythms inherited from hip-hop, reggae and its psychedelic evolution, dub. Its four members approach musical creation in the manner of beatmakers and artistic directors using machines, keyboards, guitars and bass while inviting a varied circle of singers and instrumentalists from rap, soul, reggae or rock, among them the soul singers Shara Nelson and Neneh Cherry, or the reggae singer Horace Andy. Their first album, Blue Lines, was released in 1991 on Virgin and established itself as the trip-hop manifesto with one million copies sold. Its ten songs (supported by several outstanding singles, in particular "Unfinished Sympathy" and "Safe From Harm") testify to the meeting of sometimes contrary timbres (turntable scratches, electric guitars and basses, acoustic and electric piano, acoustic and sampled drums, real and sampled orchestra, psychedelic effects, etc.), just like the fifteen or so musicians present in the studio (women, men, black and white). Associated with the consumption of cannabis, trip-hop revives the psychedelia of the Sixties and continues that of the Second summer of love (1988-1989) in a dreamy melancholy. The title of the genre thus links hip-hop culture (and its postmodern mix of influences and timbres due to the use of samples) to the notion of a psychedelic trip. Massive Attack perfected its style during the 1990s with two other major albums, Protection in 1995 and Mezzanine in 1998. Now supported by other artists and bands from the Bristol scene, notably Portishead and Tricky, the band developed its love for film music (John Barry, Lalo Schifrin or Ennio Morricone) and for post-punk (Public Image Ltd, Siouxsie & The Banshees and Cocteau Twins). The orchestral arrangements often support dark atmospheres and fit into long forms. Praised by their contemporaries, from Björk to Madonna, and including Radiohead, Massive Attack goes beyond the mere musical sphere through the use of increasingly sophisticated light shows and a politicized discourse, in particular following the fourth album 100th Window released in 2003, opposed to war and supporting human rights and the environment. His musical influence spans thirty years of recorded music, from the rap of Roots Manuva and Shabazz Palaces to the electronic music of DJ Shadow and Burial, via the rock of PJ Harvey and Deftones, and the alternative R&B of FKA Twigs and Sevdaliza; while his network of collaborators includes prominent figures in music (Craig Armstrong, Shara Nelson, Tracey Thorn, Madonna, Liz Fraser, Tunde Adebimpe, Damon Albarn, Sinéad O'Connor, and Horace Andy) and image (Michel Gondry, Jonathan Glazer, Jean- Baptiste Mondino, and Nick Knight, not to mention the persistent rumors linking street art master Banksy to 3D). This conference intends to study Bristol’s trip-hop scene from the broad perspective of the musicology of popular music. The perspective, which may be historical, analytical, aesthetic, sociological, etc., may fall within the following non-exhaustive areas of study:
Proposals including a title and a 300 to 500 word abstract, along with a short biography of the author(s) should be sent to the conference organizers, Grégoire Tosser before June 30, 2023. The conference committee will assess the abstracts anonymously and give their answers in July, 2023. Abstracts and papers can be in English or in French. The duration of each presentation is 30 minutes (including audio and/or audiovisual excerpts), followed by a Q&A period. Selected References
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