by BrooklynVegan Mike

A friend of mine played me some stuff and said "you're the father of dubstep."

Tricky (who kicks off a US tour at Irving Plaza in NYC Thurday night) is never at a loss for words or a strong opinion. His career has been defined as much by his viewpoints on artists and music past and present as it has his ever shifting sound pallette. He has been called "the king of trip-hop," a moniker that he never liked and never quite fit. Though his debut Maxinquaye helped forge and popularize, along with Portishead and Massive Attack, the "Bristol" sound, every album since has steadily moved away from simple categorization.

"It's coincidence. To be honest with you, Portishead and Massive Attack, I don't know anything about their music; last time I heard Massive Attack's music was when I was in it, and I've never listened to Portishead. Even if I hadn't been in Massive Attack, that's not something I would listen to, it's not my thing. I don't know much about these bands." [said Tricky recently to The Skinny]

The forty year old, who was worked with everyone, from Bjork and The Gravediggaz, to Tool and Live, is back with his first album in five years, Knowle West Boy, and many are calling it a return. When we spoke, he was in a relaxed mood. He speaks with a hyper active patter that is engaging and contagious.

We began our conversation by discussing his absence away from music. Despite being quite consistent with his releases (putting out eight albums in eight years), this is his first record since 2003's Back To Mine. When asked about the long break, he suggested that he started to break away mentally before 2003. "September 11th took me off my stride," he said. "I was in the cycle of tour, record, tour, record. I was in L.A doing some work. I was to leave on a European tour on the 11th and everything happened. I didn't want to travel for a long time. I moved to L.A. And that took a year of my life. I was also looking for another label, and that took another year of my life as well. So really, the 11th of September just changed everything for me."

He has since moved back to England, a decision that has certainly influenced the new record. But when asked why at this stage in his career he would make a concept album about his youth (as was written here, and here), he replied "That's not really true. It's not just about my youth. There are a couple of songs [including the first single, 'Council Estate'] that are about my childhood but there are other songs on there. I think people are thinking that because of those songs as well as the title. Knowle West is a place where nothing good is supposed to come out of. I named the album Knowle West Boy to say, "look at me. I'm still here." He also scoffed at the notion that the record, which has received some of his best reviews since Angels With Dirty Faces, was a return to form. "That's basically because it's more accessible then say Pre-Millenium Tension. I could have put this kind of record out then but chose not to."

This got us talking about the Tricky "sound" and if, in fact, there was one....

Continue reading "an interview with TRICKY (on his new album, dubstep, grime, Bernard Butler, Switch, M.I.A. & more) "