of this, the buzz The
Trip-hop music surely
is some "Tricky" stuff
By Chris Tray
SPECIAL PROJECTS
Throughout the past f'ew
years, "trip-hop" and the arfists
that embody this platfbrm ol'
music have become undeniably
plentiful. For those musical
novices who are unaware of this
genre of music, I really cannot
give you a concrete description
of what the music generally
sounds like (because each "trip-
hop" artist is so invariably
different). However, it can
said that this music grew ouJ of
the English town of Bristol.
Trip-hop has been realized
by bands like Portishead,
Massive Attack, Hooverphonic,
Gus Gus and even Mono. It can
be said that most trip-hop
includes a soothing female
vocal, but the one trip-hop artist
that sounds nothing like the
aforementioned artists is Adrian
Thawes, aka Tricky.
Tricky has been a stalwart
in the promotion of the sound of
Bristol, England for nearly
seven years now.
He got his start in Massive
Attack as the Tricky Kid, has
remixed the works of musical
artists ranging liom Bush to The
Cravediggaz. to Angelique
Kidjo, and has released four
critically acclaimed albums --
thrcc under the Tricky moniker
and <lne under the collective
known as Nearly God.
Tricky, who was recently
named one of most important
artists in music today by Spin
Magaz.ine, burst onto the scene
with his major label debut in
1995 entitled Maxinquaye.
From this album spawned the
be anthemic "Overcome," which
was the theme to the 1997
Harvey Keitel film called The
Chy of Industry.
Besides breaking new ground
in regard Jo both hip-hop and
dance music, Tricky was
recognized by Spin Magaline as
its artist ofthe year in 1995.
In 1996, Tricky set up his
own independent label called
Durban Poison. Although the
label was considered an
independent entity, it still
possessed a distribution deal
through Island Records of
America.
In an effort to make a much that it drew new lines in
completely different sounding
album from Maxinquaye,
Tricky decided to form a proportions.
collective of unique and distinct
artists known as Nearly God.
Besides Martina Topley Bird,
who also appeared on Tricky's
debut album, Tricky enlisted the
help of Damon Alburn from
Blur, Terry Hall of the two-tone
ska band The Specials (who
Tricky lists as one of his biggest
influences), Alison Moyet,
Neneh Cherry, and the quirky
Bjork.
The collaborations with each
of these artists produced a dark,
often confused, form of music
that was appreciated by only a
mere few. The only song that
made a half-hearted attempt at
true Tricky trip-hop qas "Black
Coffee," a duet with the
mystical Topley-Bird.
Following the release of
Nearly God, few truly knew
what to expect from this
experimental, albeit cryptic.
artist known as Tricky.
While many found Nearly
God to be confusing musically,
critics still found the album to
he movingly experimental -- so
the burgeoning genre knowri as
trip-hop.
Because
surrounding Pre-Milleniunt
Tension was heard all over the
world. From people calling
Tricky's music "the future of
rap" to "the future of dance" to
"the future of music," the buzz
was quite obviously felt in large
The first single ofT of PMT
called "Christiansands" climbed
all the way to number #35 in the
Alternative Singles chart found
in Radio & Records Magazine.
Besides enjoying success on
the radio, "Christiansands" was
also added into regular heavy
rotation at MTV. Furthermore,
as a wdy to repay Tricky for his
remixing help on his song
entitled "Distorted Angel," Elvis
Costello remixed
"Christiansands" for the UK CD
single which is available in the
US only by import.
Other standouts on PMT
included "Tricky Kid," which
was also featured on the
Grassroots EP, and "Makes Me
Wanna Die."
To help promote PMT, 1-ricky
toured the entire sunlmer of
1997 on the lledging
Lollapalooza Tour that helped
to bring his music to the masses.
Following the release of
PMT, Tricky had people
mentioning him in the same
breath as the legendary Public
Enemy -- largely because of his
musical inventiveness as a
producer and a remixer.
3O-year-old from
Bristol, England is back again
with 'some more block rockin'
beats on his third full-length
album entitled Angels With
Dirty Faces.
The first single ofT of the
record is a duet with Polly Jean
Harvey called "Broken Homes."
The two toured together nearly
two years ago in support of their
newest albums, both of which
were released on
Island .
Records.
Tricky was quoted as saying
that recording "Broken Homes"
with PJ Harvey was easy
because he was a fan of hers
and they were friends.
The song's vocalizations can
be best likened to the croonines
of Portsihead's Beth Gibbons
and her sonq entitled
"Cowbovs." Harvei's vocals are
richer and more thorough than
Gibbon's "whiny" rasp, yet the
similarities between the two are
unq uestionably profound.
For stations that take chances
on records like Toronto's
CFNY, this song is a gem.
However. for many American
alternative stations like
Pittsburgh's "The X" or
Cleveland's "The End" don't
expect to hear this song anytime
soon.
Regardless of America's lack
of commercial adventurism, the
track should be hailed as trip
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