As a decorated, semi-underground British trip-hop legend, Adrian Thaws–known by his stage name Tricky–immortalizes the agony of his youth in his unruly experimentalist endeavors. Raised in the poor English district of Knowle West, Bristol, Tricky–then four–lived through the tragic suicide of his mother, Maxine Quaye, whose name he would later use for his first solo album in 1995, when he was first introduced to the British music industry. Along with Martina Topley-Bird, his musical other, Tricky resentfully rose to indie infamy with the production of his second album, Pre-Millenium Tension, and in doing so established the musical principles upon which he would operate: obscurity and irreverence.
PMT and Tricky’s third album, Angels With Dirty Faces, are glimpses into Tricky’s penumbral intentions. They are bleary-eyed, disheveled, and at time nightmarish, grinding into the brain like a grim but glittering prayer. Tricky gasps and croons; his voice, filled with barbs, slips in and out of shadow, volatile and untouchable. Christiansands, Tricky’s first hit from PMT, probably best exemplifies this energy. Like Tricky himself, it is both horrifying and captivating, with eerie rhymes and rhythms that lift Topley-Bird’s pure, echoing voice and Tricky’s growling poetry. However, where Christiansands is melodic and congruous, Mellow and Money Greedy—from AWDF—are filled with distortion, empty schisms and violent rattles. Tricky compensates for such formlessness with nothing—but in this he does no wrong. Most of AWDF is inaccessible and racous but it is also inexplicably exhilarating–the melodies that remain are emphasized, and become even more poignant. Also, perhaps unintentionally, it leaves several tracks to glitter in the rough. Hell is Around the Corner ft. Portishead, is mournful but also tender, with a soft, eclectic feel; Tricky speaks normally, voice light and ringing among Topley-Bird’s angelic calls. Aftermath is a mesmerizing blend of hooks, drumbeats, and in one section, a flute. These tracks, while still tinged in malaise, are smooth, almost beautiful–at least for Tricky. Tricky polarizes the noises and melodies he makes, but in the end produces a strange compilation that is congruous due to its incongruous elements.
Here’s Christiansands by Tricky
Here’s KarmaComa by Massive Attack ft. Tricky (a personal favorite)
