Whether with Massive Attack or on his own albums, Tricky’s raw and rasping voice helped define trip-hop in the ‘90s. Now up to his ninth long-player, 2010’s Mixed Race, the man otherwise known as Adrian Thaws has still got plenty to say.

This month, the Bristol legend is bringing his visceral live show back to Australia. With Tricky proving an elusive character to track down for a one-on-one, inthemix decided to take matters into our own hands and present a rough guide to the enigma that is Tricky, from the music to the movies.

TRICKY THE VOCALIST

That gravelly vocal style of Tricky’s is known as ‘sprechgesang’. The German term translates as ‘spoken-song’, referring to “an expressionist vocal technique between singing and speaking”. We’re pretty sure Tricky himself wouldn’t refer to it as that.

TRICKY THE GREEN-THUMB

Tricky and weed go way back. An avid toker since he was 15, his first forays into writing music happened in a shroud of smoke. The hazy, blunted production and vein of paranoia on debut album Maxinquaye left little doubt of his favourite pastime. Lighting up almost got him kicked off stage at V Festival in the UK, but you imagine the show wouldn’t go on without it.

In September 2010, though, Tricky told The Guardian that he hadn’t smoked a joint in three weeks – his longest-ever dry spell. “I don’t really want to smoke,” he said. “Or maybe just one in the evening. Since I was a kid, from when I wake up in the morning I smoke until I go to bed and I’m never, you know, present. I’m always not there. So I just thought: it needs to stop.”

Published on TUE 8TH FEB, 2011 on www.inthemix.com.au

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