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svelte

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  1. Young Voice, Old Soul Billy Johnson Jr - Launch.com Who would've thought the latest neo-soul sensation would be a golden-haired, 16-year-old lass from rural Devon, England? But that just happens to be the case. Joss Stone isn't your typical R&B diva. Besides the obvious factors that set her apart--her pale coloring, her Britishness, her unexpectedly funky slow-jam remake of the White Stripes' "Fell In Love With A Girl"--Joss's love of vintage soul music and her relationships with collaborators like '70s diva Betty Wright, Miami soul musician Latimore, and the Roots also separate her from similarly blonde pop tarts like Britney and Jessica. Joss emerged last year with The Soul Sessions, a collection of classic soul covers (Carla Thomas's "I've Fallen In Love With You," Aretha Franklin's "All The King's Horses," the Isley Brothers' "For The Love Of You") that immediately established her as a major mega-talent. A nomination for Britain's prestigious Mercury Music Prize and a coveted spot on a VH1 Divas Live special (both much-deserved) followed. Obviously, in a world of cookie-cutter pop stars like the aforementioned Britney, an original voice like Joss's is truly needed right now. Thank heavens Joss is about to release her first album of original material, Mind, Body & Soul--featuring the feisty kiss-off single, "You Had Me"--and is poised to become a bona fide superstar. Joss Stone recently came to LAUNCH's studios, when she and urban editor Billy Johnson Jr. chatted about her love of old soul, breaking the color barrier, and singing from the heart. A full transcript of their interview follows... LAUNCH: When you were first trying to get a record deal, was your age an issue? JOSS: It was a little difficult. Like, when we went to the record companies, I was like, 14. So there's a little 14-year-old white girl saying, "Yeah, I want to sing soul." And they're like, "All right, goodbye." [laughs] It was weird. Like, this one guy, he said something real racist, and I had never been involved in that. Where I live, nobody's racist. Like, I didn't even know what racism was. And then when you come out to London and then America, they go, "Why are you singing black music?" What music? I'm just singing music. So I went to this one guy--I'm like 14--and he said, "All right, the first thing I'm going to say is this: I would never sign a little white girl with a black girl's voice." Like, hmm, is that a compliment? I didn't know what to say, except, "OK, well, I'll see you later." Like, how weird is that? How can you even define that? It was weird, and I didn't know what to do. There are strange people, people who get kind of intimidated by change and they're not really good with that because, I mean, what's working [in the music industry] is what's working, you know? You just go with it until it runs real dry, and then somebody makes a big change because they're brave enough. LAUNCH: So were you discouraged by that? JOSS: No, I kind of brushed it off. I'm like, "OK, all right--next!" You know, I didn't think too much about it. LAUNCH: Was it your mom who exposed you to all this soul music? JOSS: It was kind of me--like, my parents listen to a lot of different types of music. There's a mixture of music in my house. But I would listen to my parents' music. Then when I got old enough to ask for it, I was watching a TV thing, an advert for Aretha Franklin's greatest hits. I had no idea who she was. I remember having to write down her name because I didn't know who she was. Now, how ridiculous is that? So, yeah, I got that. That was like my first CD because I asked for it for Christmas, and then I'm like, "Wow!" LAUNCH: Did you feel like an oddball with the other kids in the neighborhood because you were listening to this old soul music? JOSS: Um, you know what? Where I live there's lots of different types of music going on. But when I was younger, like very young--like 8, 9, 10--they were all into, like, whatever is in the charts. As they got older, they were into their own thing; a lot of my friends are into real old-school hip-hop, and my friend Lucy is into, like, '60s rock 'n' roll and stuff like that. And that's all the kind of stuff I like. So they did come into their own, but I guess when I was younger, it was a little weird. They're like, "Huh?" They come up to my house, and I'm like, "Listen to this, listen to this!"--and they're so bored, like, "Can we go out now?" LAUNCH: You mention old-school hip-hop. I love that. How does old-school hip-hop influence your work? JOSS: Well, I said to [collaborator and '70s soul veteran] Betty [Wright], because she sorted out my band for me and stuff, and she produces my vocals and we write songs together, "You know that 'Rapper's Delight' thing? Like, I would like to just sing that. I was singing along to it the other day, and it sounded kind of cool. I think we should do like a remake of it, but singing it." She was like, "Yeah, yeah. Sounds really cool!" But then when we were in rehearsals, she was just like, "What do we do in this song?" So then it's just like a little snippet, and I think it's better than doing the whole song. So we're just going to put it into a single, which is really cool. I wish that we recorded it like that, that we just play it live like that now. I like it. LAUNCH: Now, let's talk about Betty Wright. Did you know who she was before you started to work with her? JOSS: No. When I first heard of Betty Wright, I didn't know her name. I was like, "I don't know who that is." And then Steve Greenberg, who signed me, always played me her stuff all the time because he's trying to educate me in soul because I'm really not an expert. And he played me her singles. I'm like, "I know all of these tracks!" And then he said, "Yeah, you're going to write with her." Are you kidding me? I went to Miami, and [hit songwriter] Desmond Child is there because they're good friends, and me and her write a song. And yeah, it was weird, because I had never seen her on TV; I had heard her name, but I didn't know her because that was way before my time. But her songs are everywhere; people just don't know it. There's a lot of artists just like that--like, very popular songs, where you don't remember their name, but you know the track. I love her. She's great. LAUNCH: What did it do for you to work so closely with her, and how did she work with you in terms of vocal direction? JOSS: It was cool. It was a little scary working with her--like, basically if we're doing a track, she's vocally producing it. I'm in a booth singing down two or three times, like all the way, and then you just pick it up, put it together, and at the end of it, she'll probably comp that. And if there's any crap, it's like, "Let's just do it over again." She gives me ideas when I'm stuck on something; she'll be like, "Why don't you do it like this?" We work off of each other because she will sing something, and then I'll sing it and kind of change it a little bit because, you know, our voices are different. But you learn from each other, so it was really cool. LAUNCH: You've got an amazing ability to add your own stuff to a song. Where does that come from? JOSS: I have no idea. I don't really like to be like anybody else. People compare me to a lot of great people just because they can't think of anything else. [laughs] Like, they say Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin...I'm like, "Please, don't ever!" If somebody compares me to Aretha Franklin and someone reads it in a magazine and they haven't heard me--like, "Oh yeah, this girl sounds like Aretha, I have to get her album!"--they're going to get my album, and they're going to be like, "OK, whatever," and just chuck it in a bin. Please don't say that! Like, it's a huge compliment, but it's scary. I'm nothing like her, though I wish I was. But that's the thing: If you try and copy somebody--Aretha, for example--you're just going to go right down because you can't. You just can't do that. So you have to find something by yourself. You just have to be inspired by lots and lots of different people and make it into one, you know? That's kind of what I'm trying to do. I just sing. Like, there isn't really much to it! LAUNCH: Tell me who you worked with on your new album. JOSS: Betty Wright, Latimore, Timmy Thomas, Little Beaver. I love Little Beaver. He's so cute! He does, like, this little wiggle when he plays. He's so cute. And his people, they're really nice. They're really inspiring people. Like, you walk into a room, and they're just nice and not arrogant or bigheaded in any way. They're just a wicked [british slang for "excellent"] bunch of people. When I first met them, I must have been like 14, 15. So I'm like this little girl to them. And they kind of look after me. It's nice. Like they care. It's not just about like getting a check at the end of the day--which sometimes people do get a little bit like that, which is a shame. It's about music, and they know that, and they've lived that, you know? And they're just people at the end of the day. LAUNCH: The songs from Mind, Body & Soul have that kind of old-school throwback vibe. Was that your intention? JOSS: I guess, yeah. On this one I started to write my own album, and avoided those old sessions. Those old sessions were never meant to be my album. But I always wanted to do that old-school thing because I remember sitting in my kitchen with my mother listening to--I can't remember what it was exactly--but I, like, got real angry for a second, like, "Why the hell don't people make music like this? This is the best! People just don't understand!" It was stupid, but to me at that point, it was like the best sound I'd ever heard, and then I turn on MTV and there was some ridiculous thing on. I'm like, if you have a chance, if you have a record deal, if you have people that are going to play for you, if you can write songs, then do something like this and organize some people that have something else, like a different vibe. Like, I love all music, but at that point, I'm like, "You idiots!" [laughs] Just bring it back because R&B and reggae and stuff like that was kind of collecting dust. Like, it wasn't completely lost, but kind of collecting dust. I think we just should blow the dust off and bring it back. Like Outkast--they bring the old and the new and they mix it together. I just love that! So on my album, I was, to tell you the truth, just a little girl--I guess I still am in a way--but I was no writer. I just wanted to sing. I was just like, "I don't know what I'm doing. I want to sing this music. Help me out." My manager suggested to me that I should write, co-write with these guys Connor Reeve and Jonathan Shorten, and I was so nervous. But that's when I wrote "Jet Lag." I was just like, "Oh my God!" Like, I used to write poetry when I was like 9, in primary school, so I'm not really a songwriter, but I just kind of pretend to be and try. I'm making it up, throwing things in there. So you're going through that process and you learn. You just have to sit back and watch and learn. And those people, you take what you can from them, take what you can from people like Betty Wright, people like Aretha Franklin--just listening to her, you know--and then you mix it into one and hopefully you get a good record! LAUNCH: How does it feel to get so much respect and positive feedback from the established artists you've worked with? JOSS: It's scary! All these artists and labels. It's crazy, but really, really sweet. Maybe they just feel sorry for me and want to help me out. [laughs] I have no idea. I think it's really, really cute. Those people are people I've watched for a long time, so to record with the Roots--oh my God! Like when Steve suggested "Fell In Love With A Boy," I was like, "OK, it's kind of strange--like, how we going to make this into a soul song?" And Betty Wright and me, we're just laughing, like, "Are you serious?" He's like, "The Roots and Angie Stone will come in." And I'm like, "Oh my God! I'll do anything! I love them!" They're great, so it's a huge compliment. It's scary, but it's huge. LAUNCH: I understand you were in a talent show in high school. Did you do a song by Jackie Wilson? JOSS: Jackie Wilson? No, I did Donna Summer's "On The Radio." LAUNCH: Wasn't there a '50s-theme talent show that you did? JOSS: That was a school play. I sang "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" I hope no one ever filmed it! It was just a school play, At The Hop, with all this '50s music, and my drama teacher knew I could sing a little bit, so he was like, "You have to sing this song." So basically, I sang "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" and "He's So Fine." It was very, very funny. LAUNCH: At that point, did it feel like you had found what you wanted to do? JOSS: I don't know. You know, I was kind of shy in school. But when I got the chance to do stuff, I would take it. I would be scared of taking it. I hated school. I hated the academic side of things. It just exhausted me. I hated getting up at 7 o'clock in the morning. But when you get a chance to do something that you love, you go take it whether you're scared or not. But I was never like "that girl." Like in every school, there's that girl that's like the performer. That wasn't me. It was just, "All right, I'll sing a little bit," and then I went. LAUNCH: Would you like to work with Outkast or any other contemporary artists you haven't collaborated with yet? JOSS: Yeah, I'd love to work with Outkast! I really love them; they're really, really great. I love what they do. They're not scared of change. I hate when people are scared to do something different. And now they did do something different, and everyone is trying to be them! So I think they're great. And people like Lauryn Hill. I love Lauryn Hill. And India.Arie. I'd love to work with those kind of people. They're just great. And Erykah Badu. I love that kind of stuff. LAUNCH: Do you see yourself as a neo-soul performer? Do you fit in there? JOSS: I hope so. I'd like to fit in that. I try not to be pigeonholed into anything, but I know I'm going to be. And if I had to be, it would be in that kind of corner. But I just want to try and touch on everything as much as I can. I hope that I don't have, like, a certain type of audience. I hate that people just target a certain audience--like, they go to certain radio stations because that's for that audience. I'm like, go to all of them, you know? Music is for everybody to share. It doesn't belong to a certain type of people. It's just there. It's a God-given thing, you know. And everyone can hear, so everyone should have the chance. LAUNCH: Tell me about where you grew up. JOSS: I was born in Dover, and my whole family live in Dover. I was brought up there until I was, like, 8. I love Dover. And then I moved to Devon, which is the complete opposite of Dover. It's like, in the sticks. There's, like, three houses within two miles. But it's really nice; there were little villages and people were really cool there. And like I said, there's no fashions with their music. There's different groups of people, different types of music. There's not like one big thing that everyone has to like--like everyone has to like hip-hop, or everyone has to like pop. It's not like that. People are really into whatever sounds good. LAUNCH: So the radio stations don't just play a single format? JOSS: Yeah. You know what? There's a million, so many radio stations here [in America], it's ridiculous. But in England, it's pretty much Radio 1, Radio 2...do they have Radio 3? I don't even know. I don't think they do. Radio 4 is the news. And then there's Gemini and a couple of different things, but there's not too many stations. LAUNCH: What was it like recording The Soul Sessions in two days? JOSS: Two days? This is so funny. This always gets made, like, shorter and shorter and shorter. Firstly, people said it was six days, then four, and now it's two! No. This is what happened. I'll tell you the story: So for The Soul Sessions, we were in Miami. I can't remember if it took four days or six days. I think we did six songs. But we rehearsed, of course, before that. And then we went to New York, and I did the two acoustic tracks, like we did "Living For The Love Of You," "Dirty Man," and they were the last ones I did. And then we had two days with the Roots, and then they were, like, mixing and stuff. So I was kind of done within, like, eight to 10 days. So it was quick, but not two days! LAUNCH: I like how you don't over-sing... JOSS: I try not to. LAUNCH: So you don't feel like you have to prove anything about your voice? JOSS: Yeah, sometimes. I don't know...like, my personality kind of comes into it, because I'm a little shy when it comes to things like that. I'm scared of messing up. I might be able to do it, but I try not to because I might mess up, you know? So I'll try to just sing the song. People want to just listen to the song, so sing the song! I don't even think about running during these adlibs and stuff. I just sing it. Like, when you're singing and you're really feeling it, you're not thinking about anything except what the story is. Otherwise, it's soulless. I guess you just have to feel it. If I don't feel like doing a run, it doesn't come out. If I do, I just let it go. LAUNCH: You seem so strongly connected to your music, like you've lived it. Where does that come from? JOSS: I don't know. I guess I picked the songs that I sang on The Soul Sessions because I had a feeling about them. Like, I wouldn't sing anything that didn't mean anything to me, because that's just singing words and notes. And the songs that I write obviously have things that I can sing about. I think about certain people, think about certain things. I'm a very emotional person, so even if it is a song that somebody else wrote, well, I know that person and I knew what went on, and it will upset me or make me happy, you know? So I just kind of put that through. I try to.
  2. Entertainment Weekly The Natural
  3. i scanned the booklet from the soul sessions
  4. Vogue September 2004 People are Talking About or you can click here if you'd rather not wait for the large image to download
  5. Discography The Soul Sessions 01. The Chokin' Kind 02. Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin on Me?) 03. Fell in Love With a Boy 04. Victim of a Foolish Heart 05. Dirty Man 06. Some Kind of Wonderful 07. I've Fallen in Love With You 08. I Had a Dream 09. All the King's Horses 10. For the Love of You Pts. 1&2 Mind, Body & Soul 01. Right to be Wrong 02. Jet Lag 03. You Had Me 04. Spoiled 05. Don't Cha Wanna Ride 06. Less is More 07. Security 08. Young at Heart 09. Snakes and Ladders 10. Understand 11. Don't Know How 12. Torn and Tattered 13. Killing Time 14. Sleep like a Child 15. Daniel* *
  6. Biography from VH1.com English singer Joss Stone was just 16 when she emerged on the pop/rock scene in 2003. Ready to take on the pop domination of Britney and Christina with a sound wise beyond her teenage years, Stone positioned herself among the more established and credible artists (Norah Jones, Jill Scott, Nikka Costa) reigning adult alternative pop/rock. Born Joscelyn Eve Stoker in 1987, the sun-kissed blonde darling grew up listening to American soul and R&B. Aretha Franklin was a favorite and in time, Stone realized that she possessed an impressive throaty vocal style with both depth and emotion, much like her idols. In 2002, Stone took a chance. She left her family home in Devon, England (also home to Coldplay's Chris Martin) for an audition in New York City. Stone wowed S-Curve CEO Steve Greenberg with her rendition of Donna Summer's "On the Radio," and landed herself a deal. R&B/soul pioneer Betty Wright joined Stone for her first recording, becoming an instant mentor and friend to the impressionable girl with big dreams. Vocalist Angie Stone and the Roots also assisted Stone in the studio in 2003 for what became The Soul Sessions EP. A riveting set of 1970s classics by the likes of Laura Lee and Bettye Swann, as well as tracks by Wright and Franklin, The Soul Sessions EP was accentuated by fellow Miami soul musicians Benny Latimore, Timmy Thomas, and Little Beaver. S-Curve couldn't wait to tell the world about their one-of-a-kind starlet with an old soul, therefore Stone hurriedly crafted this neo-soul gem in just four days. In early 2004, Stone introduced herself to the MTV generation with the funky strut of "Fell in Love with a Boy," which was a rework of the White Stripes hit "Fell in Love with a Girl." The Soul Sessions was a huge success, selling over two million copies. Mind, Body & Soul was released in 2004, again from S-Curve Records, and its 14 tracks featured 12 that were written or co-written by Stone. Biography from RollingStone.com Growing up in England on a steady diet of classic American soul, it wasn't long before Joss Stone realized she had the same gutsy, impassioned vocal style as many of her idols. Leaving home at 16, she landed in New York and auditioned for S-Curve Records, which quickly signed her. The British teen headed into a Miami studio with Southern soul stalwart Betty Wright, who produced/mentored/cajoled Stone's sessions to fruition. Stone's debut, the aptly titled Soul Sessions, was released in late 2003 to much critical praise. Her breakthrough single, a stunning version of the White Stripes' "Fell in Love With a Girl" (except she called it "Fell in Love With a Boy") helped her cultivate an audience and broadened her fan base. Stone's sophomore album, Mind, Body & Soul, was released in September 2004.
  7. svelte

    The Roots

    Amazing site, tons of live Roots shows.
  8. svelte

    The Roots

    Discography Do You Want More?!!!??! [] Release Date: 1/17/1995 UPC: 720642470824 01. Intro/There's Something Goin' On 02. Proceed 03. Distortion To Static 04. Mellow My Man 05. I Remain Calm 06. Datskat 07. Lazy Afternoon 08. ? Vs. Rahzel 09. Do You Want More?!!!??! 10. What Goes On Pt. 7 11. Essaywhuman?!!!??! 12. Swept Away 13. You Ain't Fly 14. Silent Treatment 15. The Lesson Pt. 1 16. The Unlocking 17. Intro / There's Something Goin' On 18. What Goes On, Pt. 7 Illadelph Halflife[] Release Date: 9/24/1996 UPC: 720642497227 01. Intro 02. Respond/React 03. Section 04. Panic!!!!!! 05. It Just Don't Stop 06. Episodes 07. Push up Ya Lighter 08. What They Do 09. ? Vs. Scratch (The Token DJ Cut) 10. Concerto of Desparado 11. Clones 12. Universe at War 13. No Alibi 14. Dave Vs. Us 15. No Great Pretender 16. Hypnotic 17. Ital (The Universal Side) 18. One Shine 19. Adventures in Wonderland 20. Outro Things Fall Apart [] Release Date: 2/23/1999 UPC: 008811194840 01. Act Won...Things Fall Apart 02. Table of Contents, Pts. 1 & 2 03. The Next Movement (ft. DJ Jazzy Jeff) 04. Step Into The Realm 05. Spark 06. Dynamite! 07. Without a Doubt 08. Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New 09. Double Trouble 10. Act Too...The Love Of My Life 11. 100% Dundee 12. Diedre Vs. Dice 13. Adrenaline 14. 3rd Act: ? Vs. Scratch 2...Electric Boogaloo 15. You Got Me 16. You Don't See Us 17. Return To Innocence Lost 18. Act Fore...The End? The Roots Come Alive [] Release Date: 11/2/1999 UPC: 008811205928 01. Live at the T-Connection 02. Next Movement 03. Step into the Realm 04. Proceed 05. Mellow My Man 06. Love of My Life - Common 07. Ultimate 08. Don't See Us 09. 100% Dundee 10. Adrenaline! - Dice Raw 11. Essaywhuman?!!!??! 12. Silent Treatment 13. Notice 14. You Got Me 15. Encore Phrenology [] Release Date: 11/26/2002 UPC: 008811299620 01. Phrentrow 02. Rock You 03. Sacrifice (feat. Nelly Furtado) 04. Rolling With Heat (feat. Talib Kweli) 05. WAOK Roll Call 06. Thought At Work 07. The Seed 2.0 (feat. Cody Chestnutt) 08. Break You Off (feat. Musiq) 09. Water 10. Quills 11. Pussy Galore 12. Complexity (feat. Jill Scott) 13. Something In The Way Of Things [in Town] (feat. Amiri Baraka) The Tipping Point [] Release Date: 7/13/2004 UPC: 602498623763 01. Star/Pointro 02. I Don't Care 03. Don't Say Nuthin' 04. Guns Are Drawn 05. Stay Cool 06. Web 07. Boom! 08. Somebody's Gotta Do It 09. Duck Down! 10. Why (What's Goin On?)
  9. Biography from RollingStone.com Originally formed in 1989, this Philadelphia supergroup is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Pioneers of the live-rap movement, the Roots use traditional instrumentation in lieu of samples and drum machines. Their distinctly jazzy sound is the direct result of highly skilled musicianship, as demonstrated on their high-quality albums and always impressive live performances. In addition to their signature, organic sound, they are also known for their positive and conscious lyricism. Emcees Black Thought and Malik B always give you something to think about, dropping verses on such heavy topics as politics, equality and respect for fellow man. The Roots have opened the door for a new breed of artist, stressing the importance of original music and intelligent content, a refreshing contrast to hip-hop's glut of party-thug rappers. They are without a doubt one of the most important bands around, not just as emcees, but as musicians and role models. Biography from ShoreFire.com 1987. Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, second day of school. A student named Ahmir Thompson walks into the principal's office seeking a lunch pass. At the same time, a freshman named Tariq Trotter stumbles in, gripped by school guards who caught him engaging in "extracurricular" activities with a ballerina in the ladies bathroom...[more]
  10. svelte

    Tricky

    Game over, start again London is a meeting place, a bizarre and disparate collage of high art, pop culture, fashion and fads. Within this network of styles sit pop icons with credibility, the Damon Albarns and Damien Hirsts of this world, who somehow manage to blend a rock-star lifestyle with artistic aims. And among this set one places Tricky, the solo artist, former member of Massive Attack, ex-beau of Bjork. But what's surprising is that Tricky is neither from London, nor has he lived there for 10 years. For the past decade, Tricky has found stead on the opposite side of the Atlantic, in New York. "London's boring," he proclaims on the phone - from London, ironically. "London's just full of people who think they know what's going on. It's a crap music culture. It's become so terrible that all you gotta do is sound weird and no one will slag you off." Indeed, Tricky should know. He was at the centre of the British music press's circle of praise in 1995 with his debut album, Maxinquaye; he's lapped up their compliments and ridden their waves of fame. But he's also turned his back on it. Despite his humble beginnings with influential sound system the Wild Bunch and UK hip-hop outfit Fresh 4, Tricky - christened Adrian Thaws - has had a rough-and-tumble relationship with music that has seen staggering highs. But for the past few years, Thaws has avoided the press, released a string of mediocre albums and gradually disappeared from the gossip columns. All these things are for Tricky part of the same problem: the game called the music industry. "I didn't want to play the game any more," he says. "I've never played the game too hard, but I thought it was getting too much." His unwillingness to play the game isn't just a matter of apathy or laziness; it's also a critical perspective that takes on the role of the celebrity in general. "It seems to me that we've started to move into an icon age," he says. "You don't have to have a craft, you don't have to have a talent or do anything except be famous. It's the Justin Timberlake age. People say Justin Timberlake is the white Michael Jackson. Don't be silly. There's no way he's in the same league as Michael Jackson. Then I see him on the cover of a magazine saying, 'I've got a dark side'. The guy doesn't know he's gay yet. Come on!" Thaws's diatribes aren't angry, they're just honest. In a world of inoffensive pop personalities, it's an honesty that's refreshing. At the same time, no one is safe. Not even Thaws. He's as critical of his own pop status as he is of the industry in general, and acutely aware of his level of fame that verged upon the "hypercool". There was even talk at one stage of Thaws writing an autobiography, but he clearly remembers the moment when that idea was nipped in the bud. "I chickened out," he says, almost with a hint of pride in his voice. "I've never chickened out of anything. But just as I was going to do it, I'd left London to go to the airport. As I walked in, I was looking around and I saw a book by Naomi Campbell. I thought, 'Who does she think she is?'. And then I have to put that on myself as well. Who wants to read my book? Who gives a f---?" Nonetheless, people were, and still are, interested in Thaws. They were interested enough to give him an unforgettable role in Luc Besson's sci-fi film, The Fifth Element, an experience he doesn't recall fondly. "If someone offers you a movie, you say yes," he says bluntly. "You wanna see what it's like. But it was hard work, I didn't like the director, and I didn't enjoy the time. So I decided from that moment that I would only ever do it again if I liked the director, and if it was organic." It's this willingness to walk away from fame and accolades that saw Thaws take a two-year hiatus from music, in between his Juxtapose and Blowback albums. Still, stepping out of the spotlight wasn't easy, and it ended up a serendipitous period. "It was a little bit weird," he says. "I thought I was walking away from fame and all that bollocks, but I wasn't really doing that. I was researching my history again. What I ended up doing for nearly two years was going around to people's houses, getting on the microphone, not recording anything, going to clubs with my boys, doing vocals in the clubs, sitting in the corner smoking weed, and I realised that that was how I started, before the money, before the magazines. So I did that for two years until I was broke, and then I realised I needed money, and that's the other reason I do what I do - for money." Thaws's remarkable honesty doesn't leave his music untainted. He's highly critical of the albums that bookend his sabbatical, and for the reasons they were recorded. "I got out of my record deal with Juxtapose, I hung out for a year-and-a-half doing f---k-all, and then I needed the money. So I did Blowback - really quickly - to get some money. They're shit albums." This week sees the release of Vulnerable, Thaws's seventh album. With a new record label - Epitaph Records - he feels as though the dirt from the past few years has been washed away and he has a clean musical slate to work with. "I'm kinda like at the beginning of my career again," he says optimistically. "It's almost like Vulnerable is Maxinquaye. And now I can have fun again, because I don't have to worry about the business. Epitaph Records ain't worried about my album sales. That makes me realise I'm in the right place." Indeed, not having to worry about album sales means the parts of the music industry Thaws hates - for example, image - won't concern him. "You see people with images bigger than their music!" he exclaims. "How many videos do you see where the video's great and the music is shit? Like Coldplay - they're so pretentious. I f---king hate that band. But it's a very good time for bands like Coldplay, and that's another reason I stepped off. Just as long as I can do my thing."
  11. svelte

    Tricky

    Tricky customer Once the enfant terrible of trip hop, Tricky has a reputation as a holy terror. Fiona Sturges finds that, while his relocationto Los Angeles may not have mellowed him, he's not all bad. In the echoing back room of his publicist's office in leafy Chiswick, west London, Tricky is setting the world to rights. He's barely through the door before he's giving me his unprompted views on Lenny Kravitz ("There's nothing he's done in his life that could interest me"), Eminem ("He doesn't even exist in my world") and Justin Timberlake ("As much aura as a goldfish"). He has a fuming hatred for the music industry. "It's all about finding the next Beatles or the next Strokes. Who wants to be the next anything? When people hear my music, I want them to think, 'I've never heard anything like that before'." He also thinks current rock stars are a waste of space. "We're basically in the icon age," he complains. "You can pretend to be punk-rock just by getting drunk. These kids are supposed to be bad-boy rock stars because they shout at a stewardess on a plane. They don't even know how to fight." The word on Tricky is not good. He can, it is said, be unpleasant, irrational and confrontational. His relationship with the press is famously antagonistic. Several years ago, following the release of 1995's Maxinquaye, the ground-breaking album that unintentionally gave rise to trip hop, Tricky was interviewed by a monthly style magazine. The journalist in question brought up his working relationship with Martina Topley-Bird, the vocalist on Maxinquaye who was also Tricky's partner. "The guy didn't like me," he recalls darkly. "Or perhaps he just wanted to make a sensationalist story but he started off by attacking me. He tried to make me look like I was holding Martina back. He was asking me 'Why doesn't Martina do interviews?' He was trying to make me into this Ike Turner figure. I wasn't going to mess around with his stupid games. He ended up getting knocked out by one of my friends." Was that really a justified reaction? "Look, I'm a very easy-going guy," he claims unconvincingly. "The people I don't get on with are unintelligent people. If someone says something bad in print and I'm gonna find them, I'm gonna be around their offices and I want them to say to my face what they've written on paper." This isn't delivered so much as a threat as a statement of fact. I try not to look alarmed. Tricky's invective isn't levelled exclusively at journalists. "Anyone here into trip hop?" he asked the crowd at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in 1995. When the crowd responded positively, their host replied: "Well fuck off home then." That same year, I attended a show in Oxford that was played in pitch blackness despite pleas from the audience to turn the lights up. When a friend asked Tricky afterwards why he didn't heed the crowd's requests, he replied: "What do you know? If you were reincarnated 20 times, you'd still be a plank of wood compared with me." When I mention this to Tricky he almost chokes with laughter. "That sounds like me, doesn't it? Ha ha ha. I can imagine me saying that, yeah." So why does he play gigs in the dark? "I can't perform for a crowd," he says. "I can only get into it myself. I went to Lollapalooza recently and saw this band called Korn. Every night the guitarist would pretend to fall over during a certain song. Then he would get up limping and it would be like 'Can he carry on?'. I don't want to be that obvious. There's an A-to-Z of what you can do to get the crowd going, whether it's playing with the lights or playing guitar with your teeth. I'm not going to do theobvious thing to get you going." In these cynical, PR-mediated times, Tricky's predilection for putting people so forcefully in their place might seem like a strategy to create a reputation for himself, to be seen as dangerous and therefore interesting. I doubt this is the case though. Right from the start of our interview he seems defensive, already on the counter-attack before I've got a word in. In one instance he tells me that because people think he's going to be difficult they'reimmediately aggressive towards him. I would suggest – though not to his face, of course – that it's the other way around. Once you get beyond the macho blustering, he can be good company. He can be charming and funny, but only once he's decided that you're not out to get him. Astonishingly, Tricky claims to have calmed down of late due to the discovery two years ago that he was suffering from candida, a yeast allergy. Before then, both his manager and girlfriend had tried to persuade him to see a psychiatrist on account of his temper. "It got to a point where I couldn't control my body," he explains. "I'd be smashing up a room and my mind would be saying 'What are you doing?' but my body couldn't control itself. Eventually a friend recommended that I see a dietician. Now I know what the problem is. Now, if I break my diet and I get angry, I'll know that I shouldn't have been eating certain foods. It's not like I'm more chilled out. I'll still look at someone and think 'You're an idiot,' but I'll not be so angry about it." Tricky – aka 35-year-old Adrian Thaws – first entered public consciousness in 1991 as Tricky Kid on Massive Attack's much-praised Blue Lines. After appearing on their subsequent LP Protection, he finally went solo and released 1995's Maxinquaye, named after his mother Maxine Quaye who killed herself when he was a child. Almost overnight Tricky was hailed as a musical genius and the album ranked by critics as among the best of all time. Nauseated by Maxinquaye's sudden appeal, Tricky has since seemed engaged in a campaign to kill off his career. Pre-Millennium Tension (1996) and Angels With Dirty Faces (1998) were sparse and soulless while Juxtapose and Blowback, though marginally more upbeat, fell far short of the ghostly atmospherics of his debut. Tricky's forthcoming album Vulnerable, though flawed, is his most accessible piece of work in years. Even if song titles like "Car Crash", "Ice Pick" and "Moody" point to an underlying gloominess – well what else could we expect? – musically it's a more melodic affair. "My music has to change, it has to evolve," insists Tricky. "A lot of my fans aren't going to like this album straight away. But they've got to understand that I need to move on." Perhaps Tricky's biggest coup here is the introduction of Constanza Francavilla, an Italian singer whose smoky vocals are the perfect foil to his guttural rumbling. "She gave my drummer a CD at a gig to pass on to me," he recalls. "I called her almost as soon as I heard it. There was something about her broken English that I liked and her vocals sounded pure. You could tell she wasn't a songwriter, there was nothing technical there. The sound was too pure." Nowadays Tricky has a studio in his house in Los Angeles and he can make music whenever and however he pleases. His idea of success, he insists, has less to do with record sales than how individuals react to his music. "This woman came up to me at a gig about seven years ago and she said 'You're in my house and in my children'. It turned out she'd been playing my music to her kids – one was four, the other six. That was really touching. I've never forgotten that." In between albums he works on re-mixes, film soundtracks ("The last one was for Bad Company. Shit movie") and other projects. He also runs a record label, Durban Poison, where the acts include his protégés the Baby Namboos. Alas, the very mention of their name sends Tricky into another rant about a journalist, a "yuppie" who dared suggest that the band weren't "real". "Now, one boy had been in prison for eight years, another went to prison when he was 17 for manslaughter. And [the writer] said this band is not real. These are some scary people you're dealing with." And with that, our interview seems to be over. Tricky gets up out of his chair, shakes me by the hand and smiles broadly. "See?" he says with a wink. "I'm not so bad, am I?"
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    Tricky

    My Music: Tricky Tricky has covered songs by The Cure and XTC on his new album Genre-defying musician Tricky, who helped define modern urban music, releases his seventh studio album, Vulnerable, on Monday. He told BBC News Online about his album, his favourite artists - and Christina Aguilera. What are you trying to do with this album? I've always wanted to change music - I've always had that urge. I want to make something that hasn't been heard before. Even if this album sells nothing and everybody hates it, if there's one song on here that can touch someone's soul, then I'll be happy. Why have you chosen to cover The Cure's Love Cats and XTC's Dear God? Love Cats is a wicked, wicked love song - modern day Shakespeare. Robert Smith is a genius. I love the Cure and I've loved them for a long, long time. Dear God is a real clever song. It's a kid writing a letter to God going "what's happening? I've been told to believe in you, but how can there be so much pain and suffering out there?" I like to concept of the kid writing the letter. Do you ever read your own reviews? Only the English ones because that's where a couple of people hate me. I've read seven reviews and four were good and three were totally negative. I've got a lot of enemies. But I've got time on my side and I will bump into these people. Which is the best city to make music in - Bristol, London, New York or LA? Anywhere that's got a good set-up and the right people around you. I don't like working in commercial studios. I made this one in LA because of the weather. It's sunny 90% of the time and for a kid from England, that's rather nice. Do you keep in touch with any of the Bristol musicians you started out with? No, I don't keep in touch with anybody. I don't even bump into them on tour if I'm touring Europe and they might be two days behind us or I'm two days behind them. It's not a deliberate thing from me. I don't know if it's deliberate from them. What has been your most creatively rewarding collaboration? Elvis Costello. He wanted me to do a remix of one of his songs and I said 'I don't want any money but you do a remix of one of my songs in exchange.' He took my track Christiansands and produced it, and that was the best collaboration I've ever had. Who would you like to work with in the future? I'd like to approach Elvis Costello or Lee Scratch Perry as producers. What was the first record you ever bought? The Specials - Too Much Too Young. Which song or album changed your life? The Specials' first album completely changed my life. It changed everything. I grew up in a white ghetto, then I moved to a black ghetto and both kids couldn't understand who I was. Then I saw The Specials on TV and I thought "Ah, it all makes sense. Black and white kids together." How big is your record collection? Huge. But it's all over the place so it doesn't really exist. Which current song do you think is likely to become a classic? I don't really like the girl, I hate her. But someone wrote a song for her - Christina Aguilera, Beautiful. There was no way that girl wrote that song. But it is a classic song, whether you like her or not. I don't like her. Plus anything off Coldplay's new album and anything off Blur's new album. Who should be locked up for crimes against music? That guy who started off Pop Idol. Simon Fuller. I think he should get about 20 years. That is the devil, that man. I'd like to smack him around.
  13. svelte

    Tricky

    Tricky To Release Autobiography [Tue. April 18.2000] Trip-hop pioneer Tricky has finished writing an autobiography that will be released later this year. "All I Hear Is Words," Tricky's first book, includes poetry, lyrics and artwork written and drawn during the wordsmith's decade-long musical career. A spokesperson for Epitaph, Tricky's new record label, said the book would be packaged with a CD that may include new music. The release date of the book has not been confirmed. Bristol, England-bred Tricky (born Adrian Thaws), an original member of Massive Attack, launched his solo career with several singles before the release of 1995's Maxinquaye, a classic trip-hop album featuring "Overcome" and "Black Steel." In 1998, Tricky contributed a poem to "The Fire People," a collection of black British poetry. A new Tricky EP is expected in June, followed by a full-length album in the fall, his spokesperson said.
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    Tricky

    Discography - Records Pre-Millennium Tension 01. Vent 02. Christiansands 03. Tricky Kid 04. Bad Dream 05. Makes Me Wanna Die 06. Ghetto Youth 07. Sex Drive 08. Bad Things 09. Lyrics of Fury 10. My Evil Is Strong 11. Piano Nearly God 01. Tattoo 02. Poems 03. Together Now 04. Keep Your Mouth Shut 05. I Be the Prophet 06. Make a Change 07. Black Coffee 08. Bubbles 09. I Sing for You 10. Yoga 11. Judas 12. Children's Story Maxinquaye 01. Overcome 02. Ponderosa 03. Black Steel 04. Hell Is Around the Corner 05. Pumpkin 06. Aftermath 07. Abbaon Fat Track 08. Brand New You're Retro 09. Suffocated Love 10. You Don't 11. Strugglin' 12. Feed Me Tricky Presents Grassroots 01. Heaven, Youth Hell 02. Tricky Kid 03. Devils Helper 04. Live w/ Yo Self 05. Grass Roots Angels With Dirty Faces 01. Money Greedy 02. Mellow 03. Singin' the Blues 04. Broken Homes 05. 6 Minutes 06. Analyze Me 07. The Moment I Feared 08. Talk to Me (Angels With Dirty Faces) 09. Carriage for Two 10. Demise 11. Tear Out My Eyes 12. Record Companies Juxtapose 01. For Real 02. Bom Bom Diggy 03. Contradictive 04. She Said 05. I Like the Girls 06. Hot Like a Sauna 07. Call Me 08. Wash My Soul 09. Hot Like a Sauna [Metal Mix] 10. Scrappy Love Mission Accomplished 01. Mission Accomplished 02. Crazy Claws 03. Tricky Versus Lynx [Live] 04. Divine Comedy BlowBack 01. Excess 02. Evolution Revolution Love 03. Over Me 04. Girls 05. You Don't Wanna 06. #1 da Woman 07. Your Name 08. Diss Never (Dig Up We History) 09. Bury the Evidence 10. Something in the Way 11. Five Days 12. Give It to 'Em 13. A Song for Yukiko A Ruff Guide 01. Aftermath [Version One] 02. Poems [Edit] 03. For Real 04. Black Steel [Radio Edit] 05. Pumpkin [Edit] 06. Broken Homes 07. Wash My Soul 08. I Be the Prophet [With Drums] 09. Makes Me Wanna Die 10. Tricky Kid 11. Scrappy Love 12. Ponderosa [Original 7"][Edit] 13. Christiansands 14. Hell Is Around the Corner 15. Singing the Blues 16. Bubbles 17. Overcome Vulnerable 01. Stay 02. Antimatter 03. Ice Pick 04. Car Crash 05. Dear God 06. How High 07. What Is Wrong 08. Hollow 09. Moody 10. Wait for God 11. Where I'm From 12. The Love Cats 13. Search, Search, Survive 14. Antimatter [CD Rom Track] [Hip Hop Mix][Multimedia Track] 15. Receive Us [CD Rom Track] [Enhanced Track] Back to Mine 01. Lullaby 02. How We Ride 03. My Melody 04. Mirror in the Bathroom 05. Loop Garoo 06. Receive Us 07. Potion 08. You Tear Me Up 09. Much Finer 10. Night Nurse 11. Symphony for Irony 12. Eat the Music 13. Desire 14. My Funny Valentine 15. Just a Little Bit 16. Days Like This Discography - EPs Aftermath EP 01. Aftermath [Version 1 Edit] 02. Aftermath [Hip Hop Blues] 03. Aftermath [i Could Be Looking for People Remix] 04. Aftermath [Version 1] The Hell EP 01. Hell Is Round the Corner [Original Mix] 02. Hell Is Around the Corner [The Hell & Water Mix] 03. Psychosis 04. Tonite Is a Special Nite [Kaos Mass Confusion Mix]
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    Tricky

    Biography from VH1.com Originally, Tricky was a member of the Wild Bunch, a Bristol-based rap troupe that eventually metamorphosed into Massive Attack during the early '90s. Tricky provided pivotal raps on Massive Attack's groundbreaking 1992 album, Blue Lines. The following year, he released his debut single, "Aftermath." Before he recorded "Aftermath," he met a teenage vocalist named Martina, who would become his full-time musical collaborator; all albums released under Tricky's name feature her contributions. Tricky signed a contract with 4th & Broadway in 1994. The contract contained a clause which allowed him to release side projects under different names, in addition to regular Tricky releases. "Ponderosa" and "Overcome" were released over the course of 1994; that same year, he made a cameo on Massive Attack's second album, Protection. Tricky's debut album, Maxinquaye, appeared in the spring of 1995. Not only did the album receive overwhelmingly positive reviews when it was released, but it entered the U.K. charts at number two, despite the total lack of daytime radio airplay. Throughout 1995, Tricky was omnipresent in the U.K., collaborating with and remixing for a wide variety of artists, including Björk, Luscious Jackson, and Whale. In the fall of 1995, he released Tricky Vs. the Gravediggaz, a collaboration with the American hardcore rap group, as well as a single called "I Be the Prophet," which was released under the name Starving Souls. At the end of the year, Maxinquaye topped many year-end polls in Britain, including Melody Maker and NME. In February of 1996, Nearly God -- an album featuring Tricky's collaborations with artists as diverse as Terry Hall, Björk, Alison Moyet, and Neneh Cherry -- was released, again to strong reviews; the album was released in the U.S. six months later. After completing the second full-fledged Tricky album, he relocated to New York City early in 1996, where he began working with underground rappers. An EP called Grassroots was released in the U.S. in September. Two months later, Tricky's official second album, Pre-Millenium Tension, was released. Again, Tricky received positive reviews, though there were a few dissenting opinions. In addition to his three releases of 1996, he remixed artists as diverse as Elvis Costello, Garbage, Yoko Ono, and Bush. Tricky's next full-length solo effort, Angels With Dirty Faces, appeared in 1998, followed a year later by Juxtapose, a collaboration with Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs and DMX's Grease. In 2001, Tricky returned with the Mission Accomplished EP, which was released by Epitaph's subsidiary label Anti. Blowback, his first for Hollywood Records, appeared later that June and included various collaborations with Hawkman, Live's Ed Kowalczyk, and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante.
  16. Massive Attack Put 'Angel' To Good Use [Fri. April 21.2000] Massive Attack have licensed their song "Angel" to be featured in commercials for Emporio Armani's HE/SHE fragrance and will donate their fee to charity. The band will contribute $250,000 to the British Red Cross and the Bristol, England-based Beira Fund, which will rebuild schools damaged by recent floods in Beira, a port city in Mozambique. "The music that's used in ads is becoming increasingly homogenized, and the agencies are resorting to cheap rip-offs of other peoples' styles," the band said in a statement. "This is not something we want to be part of, but if we can redirect money to people that need it, then it's worth it." Massive Attack has invited Armani to match their donation. A spokesperson for the fragrance company did not return phone calls. "Angel" is from the group's 1998 album, Mezzanine, which garnered critical acclaim and sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide. Massive Attack emerged from the 1990 breakup of the UK production crew the Wild Bunch. The trio of 3D (born Robert Del Naja), Daddy G (born Grant Marshall) and Mushroom (born Andrew Vowles) released their seminal debut, Blue Lines, the following year. Although Mushroom reportedly left the group in 1999, Massive Attack are recording a follow-up, set for release in 2001.
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