Bristol, UK · trip-hop

Tricky

4 upcoming festivals

Trip-hop's shadow king — the whispered menace of 'Maxinquaye' live, Bristol paranoia thickened by three decades.

Adrian Thaws, who records as Tricky, emerged from Bristol's Wild Bunch and Massive Attack circles, guesting on the latter's early records before releasing his own debut, Maxinquaye, in 1995. That album, built around his hoarse, half-spoken murmur set against Martina Topley-Bird's clearer vocals, became one of the defining works of what was labelled trip-hop, though Tricky has generally rejected the term.

His music runs on slow, heavy drum programming, smeared samples and dub-derived space, with lyrics delivered close to the microphone and often doubled by a female voice. He has continued to record prolifically across several decades, working with a rotating cast of singers and moving between electronic, rock and dub-influenced material. Live, the sound tends to be darker and louder than on record, with Tricky often performing at the edge of the stage in low light.

trip-hop