Unblunted

Tricky's Blowback

by Hua Hsu

It's been six years since Adrian Thaws, a lanky black kid from the mean streets of Knowle West, boldly introduced himself to the world beyond Bristol as Tricky, the mercurial presence behind the lethargic grooves and dark techno-organic textures of Maxinquaye (Island, 1995). And in that time, it's become easy to forget how universally regarded Maxinquaye was as a groundbreaking artistic statement. For starters, it marked Tricky as the most unconventional and adventurous creative force in the brooding new realm of trip-hop, a sound that had grown up around Bristol's Massive Attack collective and come to encompass everything from that group's reggae-tinged rhythms to the cinematic sweep of Portishead to Tricky's own dystopic dreamscapes. But Maxinquaye also set Tricky apart from his trip-hop peers by raising the tantalizing possibility that in Adrian Thawes, Bristol might have unwittingly produced a uniquely British hip-hop auteur who had more to offer than just a paler imitation of American rap.

Unfortunately, the spacious vibe that gave trip-hop the illusion of limitless sonic possibilities turned out to be a narrow dead-end street and, worse yet, an excuse for draining the race out of hip-hop. Although trip-hop couldn't have existed without rap's blunted beat science and its cut-and-paste sampling æsthetic, trip-hoppers replaced the defiant MC with either a detached, apolitical female voice or nothing at all. Even Tricky, whose warm passages of dub were suffused with a stoned, devoted understanding of hip-hop's textured riddims, often employed the young, supple-voiced Martine (and a number of other female singers) as a foil for his own gruff, asthmatic tones.

But what has become increasingly clear over the past five years -- especially in light of the surprisingly upbeat and accessible nature of his new Hollywood CD, Blowback -- is that Tricky was never a trip-hopper at heart. He was an aspiring hip-hop artist who just happened to miss his mark wildly, in ways that made Maxinquaye one of the more brilliant happy accidents of the mid '90s. The unfortunate result, though, was that Tricky seemed to get caught up in his own hype -- he turned inward and cultivated a paranoid, "fuck everyone" persona that made his live shows a bore and gave a bitter undercurrent to most of his recordings, particularly the more heavily rap-inspired releases like the 1996 Grassroots EP (Payday/ffrr). The closer he got to straightforward rap, the less convincing he sounded. Through it all, he never gained direct entry into the decidedly American culture of beats and rhymes that is hip-hop.

On Blowback, Tricky, who headlines Avalon this Friday, sounds as if he'd finally come to terms with all that. He may privately rue the limitations of contemporary hip-hop, but he also seems to have realized that a funny-sounding Brit from Bristol will never pierce the keep-it-realism of hip-hop's inner sanctum. And so he sheds the forced b-boy badges and requisite ghetto navigations and replaced them with a happier mix of funk-rock guitars and ragga vibes -- that's Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante whipping out the riffs as Tricky trades verses with Anthony Kiedis on the muscular jam "Girls," and Flea lending some of his hyperactive bass stylings to the brisk, caffeinated groove of "#1 Da Woman." Elsewhere, Tricky takes a big left turn down the road to alterna-rock nostalgia by delivering an eerie, unsettling, deconstructed cover of the Nirvana rumination "Something in the Way" that suggests he's searching for new sources of musical inspiration. As he writes on his Web site, "I want to be on MTV and VH1. My life's changed for the better. The paranoia has gone. I've got my energy back and this album is about opening up and communicating with people again."

Whether it's the clarity of vision that defined Kurt Cobain's best rock moments that Tricky now covets or just the success Nirvana enjoyed at their height is anybody's guess. But given his past penchant for abrasive artistic statements, one thing that does seem clear is that he's now willing to build a bridge from his troubled hip-hop past to the American alterna-rock mainstream, even if that means inviting Alanis Morissette (whose vocals adorn Blowback's opening track, "Excess"), Live singer Ed Kowalczyk (who overemotes the refrain of the hopeful "Evolution Revolution Love"), and the Chili Peppers along for the ride. And that's a welcome development in what has been a frustrating career.

Tricky headlines Avalon in Boston this Friday, July 20. Call (617) 423-NEXT.