Tricky - ununiform (2017) [Official Digital Download]

On Skilled Mechanics which came out in 2016, Adrian Thaws (a.k.a. Tricky) never emerged from the darkness. The same is true for Ununiform, his thirteenth album that he published a year later. Disc after disc, the British artists reminds us that he is without a doubt the most gifted painter/singer in terms of exploring the darkness of the human soul. He is familiar with the obscure side of the force, having been made an orphan at a young age and convicted not much later… A few months shy of 50 years of age, Tricky (who’s lived in Berlin since 2015) offers a new beautiful and disturbing collage of his various phobias, passions and nightmares. Incidentally, the German capital has made an impact on this work. Just like the Russian capital. "I like Berlin because I don’t know anyone. I eat well, I go on walks, I have a bike… I try to take care of myself. I don’t drink here. Some people might find this boring, but I wake up at 9 in the morning and I’m in bed by 11 at night. I take care of myself… As for Moscow, that’s my favorite city in the whole world! I never want to celebrate Christmas at home, so in December 2016 I spent 3 weeks there, recording while eating Russian food." As a result, Tricky invited several Russian rappers onto the tracks to join his descent into hell. Among them we find Scriptonite, MC on Blood Of My Blood and Same As It Ever Was, as well as Vasily Vakulenko, one of the most popular rappers in the country who composed the beat for The Only Way. The rapper Smoky Mo makes an appearance on Bang Boogie, a track composed by Gazgolder, the owner of one of the biggest Russian rap labels. Tricky clearly doesn’t speak russian. "I don’t need to understand what they rap. I feel it. They live each day like it’s their last, and I like that." All this hardly stops the ex-member of Massive Attack from bringing back some past collaborators, from Francesca Belamonte to Asia Argento and even his ex Martina Topley-Bird… Between dark new wave, subdued trip-hop, avant-garde rap and numbed rock, Ununiform is an MRI scan into the complex brain of a musician who’s never stuck for ideas.



Tracklist:
1. Obia Intro 01:56
2. Same As It Ever Was 03:46
3. New Stole (ft. Francesca Belmonte) 03:06
4. Wait For Signal (ft. Asia Argento) 03:06
5. It's Your Day (ft. Scriptonite) 02:04
6. Blood Of My Blood (feat. Scriptonite) 03:13
7. Dark Days (ft. Mina Rose) 02:46
8. The Only Way 04:51
9. Armor (ft. Terra Lopez) 02:25
10. Doll (ft. Avalon Lurks) 03:07
11. Bang Boogie (ft. Smoky Mo) 01:18
12. Running Wild (ft. Mina Rose) 03:38
13. When We Die (ft. Martina Topley-Bird) 03:44