What do you think? So far, I think the music is all great but I'm having trouble getting used to his new singer Costanza. I'm starting to really miss Martina. I can't wait for Nearly Goddess later this year.

TRON said:

There's a new tricky ablum out!!??!! How did this get past me? I look forward to his releases although I hated the Jamaican rap crap on blowback. I miss Martina too. She added such a distinct flavor to the music. Her voice is righteous.

London is a meeting place, a bizarre and disparate collage of high art, pop culture, fashion and fads. Within this network of styles sit pop icons with credibility, the Damon Albarns and Damien Hirsts of this world, who somehow manage to blend a rock-star lifestyle with artistic aims. And among this set one places Tricky, the solo artist, former member of Massive Attack, ex-beau of Bjork. But what's surprising is that Tricky is neither from London, nor has he lived there for 10 years. For the past decade, Tricky has found stead on the opposite side of the Atlantic, in New York.

"London's boring," he proclaims on the phone - from London, ironically. "London's just full of people who think they know what's going on. It's a crap music culture. It's become so terrible that all you gotta do is sound weird and no one will slag you off."

Indeed, Tricky should know. He was at the centre of the British music press's circle of praise in 1995 with his debut album, Maxinquaye; he's lapped up their compliments and ridden their waves of fame.

But he's also turned his back on it.

Despite his humble beginnings with influential sound system the Wild Bunch and UK hip-hop outfit Fresh 4, Tricky - christened Adrian Thaws - has had a rough-and-tumble relationship with music that has seen staggering highs. But for the past few years, Thaws has avoided the press, released a string of mediocre albums and gradually disappeared from the gossip columns. All these things are for Tricky part of the same problem: the game called the music industry.

"I didn't want to play the game any more," he says. "I've never played the game too hard, but I thought it was getting too much."

His unwillingness to play the game isn't just a matter of apathy or laziness; it's also a critical perspective that takes on the role of the celebrity in general.

"It seems to me that we've started to move into an icon age," he says. "You don't have to have a craft, you don't have to have a talent or do anything except be famous. It's the Justin Timberlake age. People say Justin Timberlake is the white Michael Jackson. Don't be silly. There's no way he's in the same league as Michael Jackson. Then I see him on the cover of a magazine saying, 'I've got a dark side'. The guy doesn't know he's gay yet. Come on!"

Thaws's diatribes aren't angry, they're just honest. In a world of inoffensive pop personalities, it's an honesty that's refreshing. At the same time, no one is safe. Not even Thaws. He's as critical of his own pop status as he is of the industry in general, and acutely aware of his level of fame that verged upon the "hypercool". There was even talk at one stage of Thaws writing an autobiography, but he clearly remembers the moment when that idea was nipped in the bud.

"I chickened out," he says, almost with a hint of pride in his voice. "I've never chickened out of anything. But just as I was going to do it, I'd left London to go to the airport. As I walked in, I was looking around and I saw a book by Naomi Campbell. I thought, 'Who does she think she is?'. And then I have to put that on myself as well. Who wants to read my book? Who gives a f---?"

Nonetheless, people were, and still are, interested in Thaws. They were interested enough to give him an unforgettable role in Luc Besson's sci-fi film, The Fifth Element, an experience he doesn't recall fondly.

"If someone offers you a movie, you say yes," he says bluntly. "You wanna see what it's like. But it was hard work, I didn't like the director, and I didn't enjoy the time. So I decided from that moment that I would only ever do it again if I liked the director, and if it was organic."

It's this willingness to walk away from fame and accolades that saw Thaws take a two-year hiatus from music, in between his Juxtapose and Blowback albums. Still, stepping out of the spotlight wasn't easy, and it ended up a serendipitous period.

"It was a little bit weird," he says. "I thought I was walking away from fame and all that bollocks, but I wasn't really doing that. I was researching my history again. What I ended up doing for nearly two years was going around to people's houses, getting on the microphone, not recording anything, going to clubs with my boys, doing vocals in the clubs, sitting in the corner smoking weed, and I realised that that was how I started, before the money, before the magazines. So I did that for two years until I was broke, and then I realised I needed money, and that's the other reason I do what I do - for money."

Thaws's remarkable honesty doesn't leave his music untainted. He's highly critical of the albums that bookend his sabbatical, and for the reasons they were recorded.

"I got out of my record deal with Juxtapose, I hung out for a year-and-a-half doing f---k-all, and then I needed the money. So I did Blowback - really quickly - to get some money. They're @#%$ albums."

This week sees the release of Vulnerable, Thaws's seventh album. With a new record label - Epitaph Records - he feels as though the dirt from the past few years has been washed away and he has a clean musical slate to work with.

"I'm kinda like at the beginning of my career again," he says optimistically. "It's almost like Vulnerable is Maxinquaye. And now I can have fun again, because I don't have to worry about the business. Epitaph Records ain't worried about my album sales. That makes me realise I'm in the right place."

Indeed, not having to worry about album sales means the parts of the music industry Thaws hates - for example, image - won't concern him.

"You see people with images bigger than their music!" he exclaims. "How many videos do you see where the video's great and the music is @#%$? Like Coldplay - they're so pretentious. I f---king hate that band. But it's a very good time for bands like Coldplay, and that's another reason I stepped off. Just as long as I can do my thing."

Vulnerable is out this week through Shock

I absolutely love Maxinquaye. Overcome and Black Steel...those are killer songs.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I agree about Blowback. It was awful. And I thought Tricky could never make a mistake up to that point. A lot of people seemed to hate Angels and Juxtapose but I thought those were both fantastic albums. Juxtapose proved that he could make it without a female lead and still create interesting, sexy music. But Blowback feels like a mixtape compiled by Tricky. He's hardly even on it. Which is my main complaint with the new one. His voice is on most tracks, but it's more that kind of coaching of the female lead that we're used to. Not many lead raps. And I love his voice. This feels like Costanza feat. Tricky. Oh well. I'm gonna keep playing it until I break it in.

TRON said:

I loved Angels! And even though it took me a while, I like Juxtapose too, especially the lead track. I'm gonna try to keep an open mind on this cuz Blowback nearly blew my respect for the man.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:[quote]

TRON said:

There's a new tricky ablum out!!??!! How did this get past me? I look forward to his releases although I hated the Jamaican rap crap on blowback. I miss Martina too. She added such a distinct flavor to the music. Her voice is righteous


Martina's debut album is out on July 14th.

Martina was on Jools Holland a few wakes ago. Radiohead were
in that same show.

She only did one song to my knowledge, altho I did tune into
the program about 7 mins in, so I might have missed a tune..

Radiohead fcuz were the star trip of that show, but Martina
managed to make a distinct impression. It was nice to see
her onstage again and on tv. The song was pretty cool altho
it did drag on a bit at the end.

She has one of my fav voices in music right now.