As Los Angeles is socked in with rain, today seemed like a good day to delve in to Massive Attack’s latest, Heligoland, out today. Certain artists are most conducive to listen to during different times of the year- for instance, Dr Dre’s The Chronic is best enjoyed on a hot summer day, with the top down and a shortie riding shotgun. I suggest Diane Birch’s Bible Belt should be listened to with the leaves turning colors and and a nice warm latte in one’s hand. Throw on Bob Dylan’s Together Through Life while cracking open a Dixie Beer, sparking up the BBQ and a spring baseball game on in the background. But save a cold rainy day for Massive Attack. Hell, the first track off their new album is entitled “Pray For Rain”, appropriately enough. That track features Tunde Adebimpe from TV On The Radio on vocals, while most of the rest of the album features two Massive mainstays, trip-hop queen Martina Topley-Bird and reggae legend Horace Andy. Blur/Gorillaz vocalist Damon Albarn appears on “Saturday Come Slow” and former Mazzy Star frontwoman Hope Sandoval performs on “Paradise Circus”, which may be my favorite track so far. “Babel” buzzes with an analog drum backbeat and guitar soundscapes, while “Splitting The Atom” takes on a trippy Leonard Cohen vibe. Throughout the album, electronic/synthetic sounds are eschewed in favor of traditional instruments for the most part. It’s never really about the lyrics on a Massive Attack album; the vocalists tend to provide color to the band’s distinctive soundscapes. And while it’s safe to say that Massive has developed a formula- create cool, dreamy trip-hop (for lack of a better term), add hipster vocalist, commission abstract artist Tom Hingston to create album artwork, stir, and voila’!- it’s a formula that works. Heligoland is no exception, but this is a good thing. I’m just relieved Heligoland isn’t an amusement park I need to take my kids to.

Buy the deluxe version of Heligoland here. Or if you are of the more visually oriented sort, check out the album’s “Tweatre” (twitter) site here where you can watch accompanying videos. “Paradise City” is compelling and very NSFW (bonus!).