at a glance...

Hometown: Bristol, England
First Recordings: 1993

Personnel:
Tricky -vocals, keyboards
Other vocals by Martina Topley-Bird, Polly Jean Harvey, Sisters-N-Brothers Choir
Marc Ribot, Patrice Seripiglia, Jack Hersca, Scott Ian -guitars
Doug Wieselman -flute
Lorenza Ponce -violin
Jane Scarpantoni -cello
Jack Hersca, Pete Briquette -bass
Greg Cohen -standup bass
Gene Lake, Perry Melius, Calvin Weston -drums

Related Artists :
Massive Attack, the Wild Bunch, Neneh Cherry, Smith and Mighty, Björk

Notes:
Tricky first recorded in 1991 when he contributed three tracks to Massive Attack's Blue Lines. He subsequently left them to pursue a solo career, usually recording with vocalist Martina Topley-Bird. His first album Maxinquaye is one of the discs that defined triphop. He has also worked on a series of high-profile production gigs (Björk, Neneh Cherry).

Links:
Tricky Mothership
Tricky Photo Gallery
We Love Tricky

Whatever else you say about Tricky, you can't say that he stands still. He has been dubbed the architect of trip-hop, but you'll find no fern bar fare amongst shards of blues, gospel, rock, and hip-hop that color this disc's fractured stylistic mosaics. This CD throbs with the beat of real drums, seethes with multi-tracked strings, and crackles with jagged guitars.

Even his much-vaunted darkness comes into question. On a cursory listen Angels With Dirty Faces sounds pretty spooky, pulsing with twin currents of desire and violence, but a close listen to Tricky's asthmatic rasps and Topley-Bird's quivering moans reveals his rejection of the gangster ethos that's so much a part of his beloved hip-hop. Nowhere is this clearer than on the single "Broken Homes," on which guest vocalist Polly Harvey turns in an uncharacteristically gentle performance. Draped over a gospel choir and a distantly screaming Public Enemy sample, her vocal turn is a grieving sigh that condemns both ghetto triggermen and the record companies that profit from dead rappers but never lapses into predictable threats of revenge.

This isn't a perfect album; their are too many anti-music biz rants, and the title track is a too-obvious (and therefore unsuccessful) attempt to be creepy. But Tricky's doing stuff that no one else is doing at a commercial level that usually precludes anything of interest, and for that, I tip my hat to the guy.

If you like Tricky, check out:
Tricky Juxtapose
Tricky Nearly God
Tricky Pre-Millennium Tension
Tricky Maxinquaye
Massive Attack v. Mad Professor No Protection
Portishead Dummy