Tricky - Knowle West Boy

With Tricky you learn to expect the unexpected. With the “Bristol Sound” making a significant comeback throughout 2008, ‘Knowle West Boy’, named after the deprived suburb where he grew up, represents something of a homecoming for the nomadic sonic adventurer after half a decade spent in New York and LA. Instead of the dank romanticism of Portishead's ‘Third’, to which this will no doubt be compared, or the gloomy political forecasting of Massive Attack, Tricky delivers a fiercely upbeat fusing of his past musical life, referencing everything from 2-Tone to The Cure, via reggae and hip-hop, from the DIY shout garage punk of opening single ‘Council Estate’ to the Doug Wimbish style seismic bass on ‘Coalition’ whilst only the moody string-laden shuffle of ‘Past Mistake’ harks back to his breakthrough album ‘Maxinquaye’. A grungy cover of Kylie Minogue's ‘Slow’ substitutes shimmering sensuality for simmering menace, and with MIA / Santogold producer Switch onboard too, it somehow manages to cover all bases of a complex, if sometimes misunderstood, personality. In all, it's an intriguing, if somewhat schizophrenic, statement of intent, and, the odd duffer aside (‘C'mon Baby’) it's Tricky's best record since ‘Juxtapose’.

FOR FANS OF: Martina Topley-Bird, Specials, Dizzee Rascal
Neil Gardner

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