With rolling hills, snowy mountain peaks, and deep caves, the world includes seven climates and is designed to evolve over time to reflect the album’s themes of environmental restoration. Players are encouraged to explore the landscape and do some virtual crate-digging to uncover 13 records of Disclosure’s biggest tracks reworked in an 8-bit, retro gaming style.

Three underground clubs have also been created in the world. Two of these are inspired by acclaimed real-world venues – Printworks in London and DC10 in Ibiza – while the other is a recreation of the kitchen where the duo has performed their ‘Kitchen Mix’ DJ streams throughout lockdown.

Fans can jump into the world when the album releases on August 28. A multiplayer server will be live for a week, after which the world will be available for download.

Disclosure are by no means the first to use Minecraft for their virtual gigging needs. Back in April, 100 Gecs held their ‘Square Garden’ digital music festival in the popular block-building game, with Charli XCX, Benny Blanco, and Cashmere Cat on the line-up. American Football also headlined Minecraft festival ‘Nether Meant’ around a similar time, attracting over 110,000 viewers. With 126 million people playing Minecraft each month (as of May this year), its little surprise artists are using the game as a concert platform.

Following their EP ‘Ecstasy’ released back in February, ‘Energy’ is the band’s third studio album and will feature a host of collaborations, including, Eric Thomas, Kelis, Common, Blick Bassy, and more. Find its tracklist below:

1. Watch Your Step
2. Lavender
3. My High
4. Who Knew?
5. Douha (Mali Mali)
6. Fractal (Interlude)
7. Ce n’est pas
8. ENERGY
9. Thinking ‘Bout You (Interlude)
10. Birthday
11. Reverie

Elsewhere, Cannibal Kids, Dangerboy, Against The Current, and Los Shadows were scheduled for performances at the gig.

So, everything was going swimmingly until the servers crashed, and it forced the video game festival’s postponement. As a result, the event has been rescheduled for May 16. In the beginning, there were 30,000 online. This rose to 100,000 after the first hour. Plus, the target of $5,000 was raised for the CDC charity.

A post was released on the Block By Blockwest website, reading:  “On a lighter note… We reached our VIP donation goal of $5,000. Thank you to all who contributed.”

They added: “We look forward to sharing the true vision of the event with you all on May 16th.”

Recently, Massive Attack donated £10,000 to a crowdfunding campaign. The aim of the campaign is to provide free meals to NHS staff, as well as frontline workers during the pandemic.

An announcement was made by The Bristol Food Union. A Twitter post, (seen below), reads that the ‘Paradise Circus’ hitmakers have “extremely generously boosted the #FeedTheFrontLine campaign with a mega £10k – so much love!”

Massive Attack announced their European tour would be completed by train, as a way to tackle the effect of climate change. Robert Del Naja, one half of MA, discussed the plan with the BBC. He said:

“[As musicians] we have enjoyed a high-carbon lifestyle. But as a society we’ve all existed in a fossil-fuel economy for a long time and had very little choice in that.”

Developed by Mojang, Minecraft was released in 2009 to critical acclaim. As of May 2019, according to IGN, Minecraft had shifted more than 175 million copies.

Massive Attack will be performing a set, featuring songs from their Massive Attack vs Adam Curtis show. It’ll further include vocals by 3D and Elizabeth Fraser. So, for those ready to tune in, Massive Attack will perform at 8:30 pm GMT.

Support for the Minecraft Festival will come from Russian punk group Pussy Riot, as well as the Bristol-based band IDLES. American rockers Fever 333 and Sports Team are also billed, with Nothing,Nowhere, HEALTH, Cherry Glazerr, and Sir Sly further included. Check out the Block By Blockwest website for the full line up.

Recently, Massive Attack donated £10,000 to a crowdfunding campaign. The aim of the campaign is to provide free meals to NHS staff, as well as frontline workers during the pandemic.

An announcement was made by The Bristol Food Union. A Twitter post, (seen below), reads that the ‘Paradise Circus’ hitmakers have “extremely generously boosted the #FeedTheFrontLine campaign with a mega £10k – so much love!”

Recently, Massive Attack announced their European tour would be completed by train, as a way to tackle the effect of climate change. Robert Del Naja, one half of MA, discussed the plan with the BBC. He said:

“[As musicians] we have enjoyed a high-carbon lifestyle. But as a society we’ve all existed in a fossil-fuel economy for a long time and had very little choice in that.”

Check out the Massive Attack official website for their 2020 tour dates. The ‘Psyche’ duo will be performing in France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Greece and Japan.

Hot off the success of last Saturday’s ‘Nether Meant’ (which raised over $8,000 for Good360’s COVID-19 relief efforts), virtual event masterminds Open Pit have made good on their promise that “more [was] to come soon”. ‘Square Garden’ – which will take place at 11pm BST on 24th April – will be their second Minecraft-based festival in under a fortnight, this time in support of the charity Feeding America. 

The event is fittingly being co-hosted by post-genre (hell, maybe even post-music???) duo 100 gecs, who legend has it played their very first ‘live’ gig at the Minecraft festival ‘Coalchella’ back in September 2018. The group are also headlining alongside Charli XCX, Cashmere Cat & Benny Blanco. The rammed setlist dwarfs ‘Nether Meant’ in both scale and scope, boasting electropop outfit Kero Kero Bonito, as well as PC Music staples A.G. Cook, GFOTY, Danny L Harle, and umru. ‘Square Garden’ looks to cement Open Pit as the kings of this year’s inevitable online festival circuit. I, for one, welcome our new cyberspace overlords.

For those who don’t own a copy of Minecraft, you can stream the event via 100 gec’s YouTube channel and website. 

In an event that brought very literal credence to the idea we’re living in a simulation, virtual space gurus Open Pit teamed up with Anamanaguchi to deliver ‘Nether Meant’, a six hour online concert in aid of Good360’s COVID-19 relief efforts. Taking place entirely in Minecraft’s subterranean ‘nether’ realm, the concert surpassed its fundraising goal raising a total of over $8,000. As a result, Open Pit have promised a follow-up event in the near future. The concert’s name is also a play on “Never Meant“, the cult emo anthem by headlining act American Football.

Hundreds of digital avatars swarmed beneath the dancefloor, hit the bar, and wandered around the cloakroom and toilets replicated from the real-life Brooklyn nightclub Elsewhere.

#NetherMeant is this Saturday!

Join us at the @americfootball house on stage at https://t.co/NtZ5emWDCj,
a 1:1 scale virtual recreation of @elsewherespace.

Admission is free but donations will benefit the @Good360 Covid-19 Relief Fund.

Who are you most excited for? pic.twitter.com/AK8nGkYeVF

— Open Pit (@OpenPitPresents) April 6, 2020

Whilst the lineup was predominantly American, without the constraints of geographical convenience, the multinational roster included artists from France, Argentina, and Finland. UK Bass supergroup Gloo also provided a heady back-to-back set, with the British trio Kai Whiston, Iglooghost, and Babii melding together deranged art pop with deconstructed club.

The night culminated with cuboid figurines of the band American Football taking to the stage in a performance that blended studio recordings, live instrumentation and in keeping with the pixelated surroundings, bizarre 8-bit renditions of the songs “Never Meant” and the fittingly-titled “Stay Home“.

Watch the Twitch stream of the event below:

Watch #NetherMeant: April 11th, 5:30pm EST from OpenPit on www.twitch.tv