3 posts tagged “tricky”
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09/04/08 The Filmore At Irving Plaza New York
09/05/08 The Trocadero Philadelphia 09/06/08 9:30 Club WA 09/08/08 House Of Blues Chicago, IL 09/09/08 Phoenix Toronto, Ontario 09/11/08 House Of Blues Anaheim, CA 09/12/08 Henry Fonda Theatre Los Angeles, CA 09/14/08 The Independent San Francisco, CA
See Also
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Tricky (MySpace) is all over the place. Originally from the UK, he's lived in London, New York City, Los Angeles. After prettymuch singlehandedly creating the hip-hop genre through his pioneering work with Massive Attack and his debut solo album Maxinquaye, he's written music with everyone from Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs to Björk, Tha Gravediggaz to Goldie. He's worked in film with Jerry Bruckheimer, Luc Besson, and John Woo, and god only knows how many soundtracks his music has graced in one form or another. He's been described as everything from a thug to a genius and has had record deals with more major labels than Prince. Hell, he even founded his own label, Brown Punk, with friend Chris Blackwell--and directed a related film helpfully Brown Punk - The Movie.
Throughout all this activity, the only constant in Tricky's life has been music--but even his musical art is infused with chaos, as it incorporates elements of all manner of different styles: hip-hop, gangsta rap, blues, rock, electronica, R&B, IDM, folk, and reggae (to name only the most prominent allusions).
But chaos does not necessarily equal diversity. Whereas I loved the wide range of songs on Maxinquaye, Tricky's second official LP Pre-Milennial Tension left me severely unimpressed: it sounded more like a compilation album of various artists rather than the production of one musically-adventurous soul. Hell, Tricky's pompously-titled Nearly God, an assemblage of collaborations with a wide range of artists like Terry Hall, Björk, Alison Moyet, and Neneh Cherry, was a thousand times more cohesive than his second album! But that's what can happen when you're suddenly thrown into the spotlight and declared to be the Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread. Tricky freely admits he'd lost his focus. Fame and fortune can be quite a distraction.
On September 9th, the US release of Tricky's latest album, Knowle West Boy, will hit the shelves courtesy of Domino Records, though it's been out since July in the UK and the lead single, "Council Estate," has been out even longer. After years of doing this and trying that, Tricky has decided to settle down and devote his full attention to producing a very diverse, but tight and consistent, record inspired by the experiences of his youth. Here's what Tricky himself has to say about the album and what it's title and content means to him:
Knowle West is where I was born. It's a white ghetto. I didn't know what racism was until I left. My family's mixed race, so we don't see colour. I grew up on a council estate more as a white kid, but with Jamaican roots. But all of us there had something in common...we were poor.
I realised that I'd never written anything for these kind of people. I met a guy in Notting Hill who told me his songs had got him through being in prison. That's amazing...but I'd never deliberately written anything for people like him, and me, and the people I grew up with. Like "School Gates" [the final track on the album]...that's the true story of my girlfriend getting pregnant when she was 16. And that's something every kid can relate to. Everything on that song is true. "Council Estate"...that song is the upbringing me and friends had. That's why the album's called Knowle West Boy....I wanted lyrics like The Specials and Blondie and Banshees songs I loved as a kid, that someone like me can relate to.
And true to his word, that experience is exactly what the album delivers. Much as many a council estate in the UK is a melting pot full of people, sounds, languages, and cultures from all around the world, so is Tricky's Knowle West Boy, which collects all the influences and memories of Tricky's youth together and synthesizes a seriously groovy portrait of the earthy life of the estate.
Every song on this album is distinct in style, but all are clearly related to one another not only by their lyrical content but by the palette of sounds that Tricky uses to paint each track. "Puppy Toy" is a straight-up rockin' blues number with a slinky beat and a crashing chorus, a smoky piano loop and buzzing guitars. "Veronika" is a skeletal, malevolent number consisting of nothing but a distorted beat and scalding vocals. "Council Estate" is a jumpy post-punk number with a Gang of Four bassline and Buzzcocks guitars. "Past Mistake" is a straight-up triphop number that recalls Tricky's early work. "Coalition" is a grinding combination of overdriven bass, hip-hop vocals, and unsteady violin melodies. "Slow" is a cover of the sexy Kylie Minogue club banger that turns that song's 8-bit synthpop groove into a headbanging guitar jam with sputtery oldskool synths and double-layered vocals. "Baligaga" is a reggae song constructed atop a bassline that could've come from the latest Klaxons album and "School Gates" is a mostly-acoustic folk number with some deliciously offkilter slide-guitar moments and deathly synth strings that complement the doom-laden tone of the sound perfectly. And all of it is held together by the album's common production values and arrangements: layers of clean and distorted instruments piled up beneath Tricky's characteristic vocal performances.
Tricky doesn't consider himself a vocalist, although I think his dark drawl, whether singing or rapping, is very distinctive and naturally lends his lyrics a much more personal touch. But this album is full of other vocalists, as well: Alex Mills, who complements Tricky's own voice with sultry female vox on "Puppy Toy"; a fellow named Rodigan, one of Tricky's friends from The Bronx, delivers the delightfully stanky reggae lyrics on "Bacative" and "Baligaga"; and Tricky's own ex-girlfriend, Lubna, who sings on "Past Mistake" and "School Gates"...which gives those songs such a brutal, personal punch, considering that things were going bad between her and Mr. Trick at the time the songs were being recorded. The vocalist on one of the tracks, "Joseph," is just some guy who Tricky met busking outside a food shop in LA--the track's named "Joseph" because Tricky has since completely lost contact with the guy, and hopes that he will hear the track and get back into contact! Talk about chaos!
But it all comes together so well, because this time, Tricky's not working with a mess of other folks trying to pull together an album out of a hundred different performances and lyrics. This record is all about him, and as such, it holds together very well despite the wild swings in style and tone from one track to the next. No matter how diverse the arrangements and the songs' contents are, they are clearly the creation of one man's vision--and nothing can hold together an album like the need to find your center and revitalize your art once more by revisiting your roots.
As Tricky himself says, "Now I'm feeling like a kid again. That's why the album's called Knowle West Boy. This is where I'm from."
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07/13/08 Eboli (Salerno/Naples), Italy
Discography
07/18/08 Arezzo Wave - Livorno, Italy 08/09/08 Carpi/Modena, Italy 08/29/08 Burning Man - Black Rock City, Nevada
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Costanza Francavilla, or simply known as Costanza is an Italian singer, has a full length album out on July 8th called Sonic Diary. After putting the album in to listen, I instantly think of electronica and trip hop, but with a dreampop quality, as her singing style is often breathy, sexy, and deamlike.
Looking at the very impressive/see-through press material, it looks like her music's been licensed out to a variety of television shows (CSI, L Word) and movies (.45, starring everyone's favorite Milla Jovovich). It doesn't surprise me, as this type of electronica music (think Moby) works well as background music.
However, I think the one thing people might know her from is her collaboration with British electronic artist, Tricky (and, sure, you might know him from another Jovovich film, The Fifth Element).
Apparently, Costanza who was a fan at one of his show gave Tricky's drummer a three-track demo CD and that was passed onto Tricky, who absolutely loved it. So all the songs on his Vulnerable album in 2003 featured Costanza's vocals with two songs co-written by her ("Stay" and "What is Wrong").
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One of the most bizarre and interesting song from their collaboration is their cover of XTC's "Dear God". I wouldn't go so far as to pronounce their version equal or better than the original grand epic song in three and a half minutes, but I will have to admit that it's "different". I think if I didn't know about XTC, I would really love Tricky and Costanza's version. (Side note: their cover of The Cure's "Love Cats" is better).
Now, if you thought "Dear God" was weird, the very original electronica take on Fugazi's "Promises" and Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" must be heard to be believed. The way she sings "promises are shit", with her Italian accent, it doesn't sound bad or naughty at all.
Other songs I thought were interesting is the opening song, "Just Another Alien". Not so much a song, but a series of questions that she was probably asked when she was applying to live and work in the USA. The Italian song, "I Tuoi Occhi Sono Pieni Di Sale" (featuring Riccardo Sinigallia) was also interesting, it made me want to learn Italian. I did use babelfish and it tells me that the title translate to something like "Your Eyes Are Full Of [knowledge?]", so I'm assuming it's a personal/love song?
The one song that I think everyone will really enjoy is "Silence". This is such a dreamtronica song, full of child-like and innocent singing on a very lush music background. I feel like the song belongs to a soundtrack to a movie.
Fans of electronica lounge music, made famous by such compilations such as OM: Chilled and Lounge Experience series, should really enjoy this. These songs are perfect for either laying around the house or at a small party, really good for any occasion.
It looks like she'll be playing a few dates in Italy with Marco Messina. If you aren't lucky enough to live in Italy, her album Sonic Diary is out this Tuesday. For convience, you can actually get high quality MP3 from Amazon right now.
PS, Usually we just have one or two releases on Tuesday that I need to do coverage on. So I normally check on Sunday and work on the review that very day or, at the latest, on that Tuesday. I thought I was sitting pretty as I've already taken care of two releases already that was meant for July 7th (Connected) and 8th (Matt Keating), but we still have these that's being release this week: Wire's Object 47, The Coke Dares' Feelin' Up, Son Ambulance's Someone Else's Deja Vu, Patti Smith/Kevin Shield's The Coral Sea, and Costanza's Sonic Diary. If I have missed anything, please accept my apologies and contact me right away.
The Volume CD series is probably best described as a magazine with a CD soundtrack. They were published from September 1991 to January 1997, ending at a special 2-disc Volume 17. Since they are published in the UK, it was generally really expensive to get them on import (it's not uncommon to find them new at $20 to $30). What makes them special (besides the cool booklet feature), is that the tracks are usually demos, alternate version, or remixes, exclusively on Volume.
Although the series started off as mostly British indie rock, it was clear that music in England had started to branch off to two distinctive sounds: Britpop and Trance/Techno dance. So Trance Europe Express was made in September 1993. It was so successful, it was followed up by three sequels, plus Trance Atlantic, TEXTure (remixes compilation), and Wasted.
I was surprised to find Wasted at Amoeba for $2.95. This is a two-disc (30 songs) that was kind of the techno answer to their Britpop compilation, Sharks Patrol These Waters.
This song I have chosen is Tricky's "You Don't" (sung by Martine). It originally appeared in Volume 10.
Trivia: Tricky appeared as a henchman to Gary Oldman's character in the movie "The Fifth Element" (1997).
