MUSIC ARCHIVES

SURROUND SOUND

by

Earplugs will be furnished at the door for Massive Attack v Adam Curtis, a post-apocalyptic multimedia supercollider of bass-heavy trip-hop beats provided by the Bristol band and resonant archival imagery electronically quilted to ideology-undermining perfection by Curtis, the BBC’s most brilliant documentarian (The Century of the Self, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace). The message may be depressingly familiar—we are oblivious consuming machines duped by the most insidious velvet-glove manipulations capitalism can conjure—but the medium is a thriller: Ten screens surround the audience on three sides, with Massive Attack drifting in and out of focus while performing their own material along with Burt Bacharach, Shirelles, and Siberian punk-rock covers sung by former Cocteau Twins siren Liz Fraser.

Sat., Sept. 28, 8 p.m.; Sun., Sept. 29, 8 p.m.; Wed., Oct. 2, 8 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 4, 8 p.m., 2013

Highlights