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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2001)
PULSE EDITOR: REBECCA WILSON Trip-hop’s British eccentric releases tricky EP ■ The trip-hop artist returns on ‘Mission Accomplished,' a four-song EP Tricky ‘Mission Accomplished’ Anti, Inc. ★★★☆☆ By Dave Depper For the Emerald Is Tricky crap? I assume that this question is at the forefront of any record reviewer’s thought process upon hearing any new release from the Bristol, England trip-hop pio neer. You see, Tricky rewrote the rules of music back in 1995 with his genre-shattering debut, “Maxin quaye.” It was a seamlessly cool record, with muted grooves, funky backing tracks, and soulful vocals from his then-chanteuse/paramour Martina Topley-Bird. The fact that Tricky’s voice simply sounded like his vocal cords had been ripped from his throat, scraped over a cheese grater, and then lit on fire merely added to the coolness factor of “Maxin quaye.” Critics drooled, “Maxin quaye” ended up near the top of just about every major music publica tion’s year-end best-of list, and a whole lot of bored college students suddenly had another album to smoke weed to. In the years that followed, howev er, Tricky soon fell from grace. In stead of releasing the equivalent of “Maxinquaye 2,” Tricky opted to put out “Pre-Millennium Tension,” an album that was almost complete ly unrelated to its predecessor in terms of its sonic coloring. Sudden ly there were live instruments to the fore, crashing drums wrapping themselves around distorted guitars, jangling along with mutated key boards. It all added up to a very dark sonic landscape, 180 degrees from the mellow mood of “Maxinquaye,” and it pretty much scared off every body that liked Tricky in the first place. For some reason, Tricky seemed encouraged by this, and each al bum that he has released since “Pre-Millennium Tension” is ar guably even harder to listen to than its predecessor (if you are ever faced with having a group of unwanted people in your home, simply play Tricky’s 1996 “Nearly God” album at a loud volume. You will clear the room). What is there to say about “Mis sion Accomplished?” First of all, it’s not a proper release — it’s merely an EP: four songs, to be ex act. What’s the big deal, then? Well, “Mission Accomplished” is Tricky’s first release since last year’s collaboration with DJ Muggs and Grease, “Juxtapose,” and his first solo release since 1998’s “An gels With Dirty Faces.” It’s also worth noting that despite the fact that Tricky hardly enjoys the huge fan base and critical favoritism that he once commanded, there is still a large group of people the world over that quivers in anticipation every time a Tricky album comes out. “Mission Accomplished” does not stray far from Tricky’s past ef forts stylistically. The first track on the CD is the title song, and it kicks off immediately with a frenetic drum track and barely discernible vocals. This is one of Tricky’s hard est-rocking tracks in years. One point of note is the fact that the main hook of the song is samples from Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time,” of all things. The second song on the disc is called “Crazy Claws,” and it is my personal favorite track. This is the only song on “Mission Ac complished” that sounds like new terrain for Tricky. An elastic bassline slides around on top of some skittering drums while Tricky raps at breakneck pace over the goings on. Up next is “Tricky versus Lynx (live),” which as far as I can tell is not live nor does it feature Tricky rapping. It’s a relatively straightfor ward hip-hop track, with live drums and swift wordplay by Lynx (at least, I assume that it is Lynx; the CD offers the bare minimum of liner notes). The final track is called “The Di vine Comedy” and is at once the most confusing and the most en lightening track on the album. The lyrics describe in detail an inci dent that occurred at Polygram Records (Tricky’s old label) involv ing racist remarks made by a high Courtesy Photo ranking employee there. Tricky’s rage is barely contained on this track and it’s thrilling to listen to. Strangely enough, the backing track for this song is entirely lifted from the first song on his “Angels With Dirty Faces” album. This convinces me that Tricky is lazy, and I can’t help but feel a little ripped off by the blatant recycling going on. Adding to the ripped-off feeling is the fact that I bought these four songs for $8.99 (and that was on sale). The EP is ridiculously over priced for its content. The music is undeniably good, but I can’t help but feel that Tricky is in need of a lit tle quick cash while we wait for his next full-length album (due later this year). I’m docking one star from this release because of its dubious value for the money, but the music contained within is classic Tricky. Is Tricky crap? You’ll have to decide for yourself. Modern context doesn’t work for 17th century play Matt Chorpenning (left), grimaces as Phillip Meyer gripes about how false the world can sometimes be in “The Misanthrope.” ■Though the message is clear, ‘The Misanthrope’ at the Pocket Playhouse is a bit difficult to sit through ^ ^ _ ., . REVIEW ‘The Misanthrope’ By Mason West Oregon Daily Emerald Question: Is 17th-century French comedy still pertinent to our society? Answer: You betcha. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere’s play “The Misanthrope” is a social commentary about conflict between the desire to be sincere and the occa sional need to lie. The test subject for Moliere’s study is Alceste, a man who has become disenchanted with the insincere pleasantries that hu mans display toward one another in the pursuit of being polite and so ciable. He has concluded that it is better to be honest to every man and woman and receive scorn for it than to be two-faced and loved by all. Moliere’s irony is that Adrienne, the woman Alceste loves, is more false to people than any other. Al though she loves Alceste, she will go to great lengths to win favor from people in powerful positions. The conflict of the play stems from Alceste’s desire to be true and Adrienne’s need to be false. As one could guess, it gets them both in a hefty amount of trouble. Maximillian McCal, director of this weekend’s Pocket Playhouse production, has taken Moliere’s commentary and set out to prove that society hasn’t changed much in the last four centuries. Instead of a French mansion, the action unfolds in a current-day sorority house. Some of the character names have been altered to have a more modern ring, but the script’s rhyme remains. One of the biggest problems when changing the setting of a script is dealing with the baggage that the script carries. The two options for working with the rhyme in a mod ern context are to blow it so out of proportion that it’s funny, or to make it so subtle that it is justified. McCal chose the latter, which was wise, but there are times when the actors stray from this goal. Although the theme of the show is wonderful, it is difficult to sit through. Moliere was a master of language and enjoyed using it to the point of excess. Jarvis, Alceste’s modem name, carries the bulk of the play’s dialogue and can become annoying in his many misan thropic rants. This is not the fault of the actor; rather, it is what Moliere wants to provoke in the audience. Many of his plays revolve around a de testable protagonist. It must be a French thing. Conclusion: Go see this play if you know Moliere and enjoy his work, or if you feel like hearing a different opinion on how it is best to live in society. But though the theme spreads over all areas of soci ety, the manner in which the play presents it doesn’t hold much gen eral appeal.
