TRICKY



I really don't know anything about this dude's music. I know his name/face, seen him in The Fifth Element & on Girlfriends

BUT the Tricky/Tool remix of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" comes across my ITunes the other day, which I've liked for a while, & I got to wondering what Tricky's music is like when he's doing his own thing. Plus I could swear someone mentioned a Triky-like vibe in association with one of MeShell's new tracks, that's probably what put him in my mind in the first place.

So for those who dig him, advise me on where to start - I know he's been out a while.

And who/what is "Tool"?

& no Jerome in UTCM jokes

& yes, I could just go to ITunes & hear some snippets, but I wanna know what you fuckers think & as long as he's been out I'm not gonna have the patience to listen to tons of snips. So help a bitch out. THANKS!

"tool" weren they some rock group. they had some unique videos that were kind of morbid that involved claymation..it was pretty cool

so NOBODY can make a case for Tricky??

Eh, Calhoun, there are a lot of Tricky fans on the .org. He's European, so American adiences aren't that femiliar with him. Basically he was the one artist who was most frequently called "genius" in the 90s in the press. You wouldn't see an article without the words "Tricky" and "genius" printed together.

Personally he changed my musical tastes drastically in the late 90s. Finally there was a brand of extremely dark music that wasn't an offshoot of heavy metal guitar music that I could finally enjoy. His best records are very claustrophic, drug-fuelled, full of avant-gardist elements with some "easier" medolic songs. And furthermore - his best music was always depressing, but he changed the lives of many. He didn't make immature shit like Nine Inch Nails or the Prodigy during the same ear, he was on a completely different level - however, Tricky started getting a bit boring in the 2000s and just began recycling his old ideas without the same level of intensity, artistic vision and insanity.

Just Youtube his stuff - it's very different from what you've probably heard so far:

"Christiansands"
"Overcome"
"Hell Is Around The Corner"
"Broken Homes"

A few keywords.

novabrkr said:

THANK YOU for taking the time to explain this dude! I'll check YouTube, better than any snips that might be on ITunes. He sounds like someone I might dig.

Oh man, what a huge amount of typos right there:

femiliar = familiar
medolic = melodic
ear = era

... and so on.

They're almost Freudian, and I think I really do need glasses.

Tricky was a founding member of Massive Attack and his influence can be heard very strongly on their album "Blue Lines" (what many consider the best British album of the 90s). His first album, "Maxinquaye" is the most accessible one, altough his REALLY innovative phase starts at his masterpiece "Pre-millennium Tension", then for a while he got "too difficult" for most. He named Prince as his favourite artist also.

Be warned though, after I got into Tricky myself I turnt into a really weird creep for a while. Gone were the designer jeans and the perfectly groomed hair - in came the 2nd hand anoraks, messy hair and all kinds of weird shit. Just listening to his stuff on the headphones while I was in High School, and since he uses elements like distorted drums people started giving me really weird looks. Many others have similar stories.

Yeah, thank you Adrian for turning me into the asocial, weird freak I am still today. You played a huge role in it.
[Edited 10/28/07 4:08am]

Maxinquaye is the beginning and end of Tricky for me..after and before that, his stuff was garbage IMO

I love it when people dismiss someone's whole artistic output with a very derogatory expression and then politely add "IMHO" or "IMO" at the end of it.

It's a very popular thing on the internet these days. I find Canadians do it the most, for some odd reason.
[Edited 10/28/07 9:01am]

novabrkr said:

novabrkr said:

Awesome input, thanks Nova I already have to make a wrekka stow run for some old Esthero (used on the web is $3 shipping EACH, fuck that!) so I'm gonna add Tricky to that list & grab the first 2 albums. Fortunately I'm a little "grown" to let some dark music turn me weird thanks for the warning!

He has a compilation out called Ruff Guide if you want a sample of his stuff.


The songs are good for starters.....nothing too off the wall....still a little dark & moody though.

AnckSuNamun said:

LMAO at your hotlink!

Anyways, yeah, Tricky's sound is wicked!

i was like, wtf? can't stop laughing.

sosgemini said:

I was shocked as hell to see him on Girlfriends too. He played an asshole.....how dare he toy with Lynn's emotions.

AnckSuNamun said:

uhh...i was talking about the "i am gay" image above.

CalhounSq said:

He had a unique sound on first couple Cds that was very cool.
I'll add though some of his stuff starts sounding very redundant after repeated listenings. I liked his involvment with Massive Attack. Classic.
Try a compilation CD and then go from there. You'll know then if you want to proceed further.
Maxinquaye and Pre-Millenium Tension are the highlights.

novabrkr said:

Whats it to you...?

prettymansson said:

Should I alert the others that we have another John Mayer thread on our hands?

Group hug, y'all