Tricky - Juxtapose

(Island)

****

Review: Russell Baillie

By the murky and largely impenetrable swamp that was his last album, Angels with Dirty Faces, Tricky had alienated most who had followed him from his microphone duties with Massive Attack to his arresting 1994 debut Maxinquaye.

The news here is that on Juxtapose Tricky seems to stuck his head a little above the paranoid fog of his previous efforts and given himself, and us, a little breathing space.

His collaboration with both DJ Muggs (of Cypress Hill, an outfit with their own career powered by stoned paranoia) and DMX producer Grease makes for a lopsided hip-hop which isn't jostling with Will Smith for chart position.

But it does sound equally engaging and unnerving, and balances dread-fuelled mumbling with melody across an economical 10 tracks and 36 minutes.

Much of the sound relies on a fractured blend of buzzing acoustic guitars, beats that are less trad hip-hop rhythms than Tom Waits tinkering with a beatbox in a tin shed, and a rotating door of guest voices.

Notable among those ring-ins is Brit rapper Mad Dog, whose hyper ragga-chant helps make Bo Bom Diggy, Hot Like a Sauna and I Like The Girls sound wonderfully mad, even if on the latter he's spouting some amusingly filthy porno fantasy. Singer D'Na helps to turn Call Me inside out and quite otherworldly.

The man himself has a go at hip-hop gangsta posturing and his record company all in one track (For Real). He's getting worryingly sinister over the percolating rhythms and twisted bassline of She Said. And he's generally prowling about the place pondering why we're all still out to get him.

But at least this time he and his helpers have made all that sound entrancing. Bad mood, good music.