It's been seventeen whole years since Madchester and contemporary acid house pioneers, 808 State, released Outpost Transmission, their latest canonical LP which came out in 2002. The veteran act is back with Tokyo Tokyo, a new track that introduces their upcoming EP, Initial Granada Report, out July 12th, 2019.
The new EP was recorded in the former home of the broadcasting giant Granada, where The Beatles recorded a TV session in 1963, and also the place where 808 State first performed for Granada cameras in 1989. The same space the band used to record was still full of defunct technology and devices such as a teleprinter, teletext stuff and boxes of floppy discs. Initial Granada Report is composed of four new tracks, their first original material since the last album, marking Graham Massey and Andrew Barker's welcome reunion.
"We’re trying to make a future for other people to immerse themselves in," Graham Massey states. "It feels a bit like an imaginary landscape. That’s always been a big part of 808 State, when you go back through the music: these kind of landscapes of futurism."
Tokyo Tokyo reveals 808 State in robust mode, alive and well, and turns out to be a much satisfying and promising harbinger of the rest of the new music expected from the long serving band.
Video artwork by Ehquestionmark (Vaseem Bhatti) / Animation by Michael England
808 State Website | Spotify | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
ZR