Tricky, aka Adrian Thaws, was a key figure in the Bristol trip-hop scene that burned brightly in the early-to-mid 90s before quickly fading away into the shadows of the underground.
After initally garnering a following by whispering vocals with Massive Attack (on the track Karma Coma for instance), Tricky shot to fame with the release of his debut solo album Maxinquaye in 1995. But like his contemporaries Portishead, Tricky was ill at ease in the limelight and despite releasing a steady flow of albums, he seemed to deliberately eschew mainstream popularity by pursuing a darker and less accessible sound.
Last year however, after spending many years in relative obscurity, Tricky reared his head again with the release of Knowles West – an unusually upbeat offering hailed by many critics as his finest work since Maxinquaye. Now his name has been further thrust into the spotlight with the release of Tricky Meets South Rakkas Crew, out on Domino Recording.
Billed as a ‘re-imagining’ of Knowles West, Tricky Meets South Rakkas Crew is nearly unrecognisable next to its original incarnation. Indeed it often seems purely incidental that Tricky’s beats provided the starting points for the tracks, with the Florida-based electro-dancehall production team South Rakkas Crew forging entirely new songs around only occasional fragments of Tricky’s melodies or vocals.
However this is not a slight against the album. Meets South Rakkas Crew is a high-octane pop extravaganza that throws everything but the kitchen sink at your eardrums while traversing virtually every genre of modern dance music.
Starting with bashment, there’s the opening track Bacative – with its juicy bassline and tasty toasting (and even some Steven Hawkings-esque computer vocals thrown in for good measure) – and the futuristic dancehall vibes of C’mon Bay which features a propulsive marching drumbeat augmented by obligatory auto-tuned vocals.
Electro and house are covered with the four-to-floor beats of Joseph – ironically one of the more subtle tracks on the album (and the only track where Tricky’s vocals dominates the mix) – and Numb – a track which probably lies somewhere between the sound of Daft Punk and Lilly Allen.
Then there’s dubstep – albeit of the club-happy Rusko and Caspa persuasion – with Coalition and Cross to Bear. With their machine gun beats and hard-hitting bass lines – and my soft spot for this genre – these stand out as my favourite tracks.
Drum and bass, breaks, booty bass and dirty south-style hip-hop are also deftly explored on the album – but there’s probably no need to elaborate on those tracks because I’m sure by know you get the picture: these guys are really good at mashing up dance music.
In summary: It’s certainly not an album suitable for chin-stroking trip hop purists who favour Trickys traditionally dark, subtly-textured beats. But if you’re a looking for a diversity of highly-polished club bangers underpinned by fairly strong bashment sensibilities (eg if your a fan of Major Lazer or Buraka Som Sistema) Tricky Meets South Rakkas Crew will be right up your ally.
Three and a half stars.
Naram
