The fight for diverse and conscious voices

A bit of preamble first... I've only seen Tricky one other time, with Massive Attack at the Orpheum way the hell long ago (I want to say 1994). Haven't seen him since he went solo. I liked his first couple solo albums, was meh on the rest but this one (with Skilled Mechanics) sounded good and he finally got his visa issues sorted out so there was a US tour and sure, let's go.

The opening act was an entirely too-loud lesbian punk-thrash trio. Yay earplugs. We hung out at the bar in the back and drank a very nice cider. Conversation was impossible - we "talked" by typing on our phones and showing each other what we'd written. Kind of surreal but OK. As far as I can tell the last good opening act I've seen was Nephrok before George Clinton and the first new-to-me really good opening act was And One before a VNV show some years ago. I keep hoping.

Then there was Tricky. I've struggled to characterize what exactly was wrong, so let me give you a few details: he moved in a jerky, knees-locked fashion; he stared at the ceiling most of the time; he grabbed at two mics on stands and tried using both as (variously) microphones to sing into, batons to wave, and percussion instruments to bang against his chest. He flailed about in a way that gave the impression of someone strung out badly on something. He constantly grabbed and pulled at his clothing with one hand as though he was going to rip off his shirt or just hold it bunched in his fist (with the mic) as if he didn't want it touching his skin.

If you closed your eyes and just listened it wasn't all that bad. The guitarist for Skilled Mechanics is pretty good and despite Tricky's physical antics he had the lyrics and timing of a lucid and not-strung-out performer. But watching him method-act a heroin withdrawal on stage was intensely awkward. The complete lack of interaction with the audience, including not looking at the people, just made it weirder.

The act consisted of Tricky, the guitarist, and one drummer. All the electronics and the extra vocal tracks were played from somewhere off-stage. Tricky's songs are usually complex and multi-layered. I expected at least a synth player and a couple back-up singers. Maybe they weren't in the budget this time? However it came to pass, having some of the most interesting parts of the music appearing out of nowhere just added to the surreal.

After 45 mostly painful minutes of this, Tricky announced "Good night" and the band left the stage. We were all checking our watches... yes, it really was only 45 minutes since they'd come on. After a short break they reappeared and the bizarre just continued as if they hadn't said good night a few minutes ago. We decided that we could still get ice cream and salvage some of the evening before catching the shuttle bus back to Alewife and getting our car.

JP Licks is open until late and their ice cream is tasty.

If there's a unifying theme in this group, it's "interesting vocals".

http://rcrdlbl.com/2013/02/26/stream_psychic_twin_dream_state?utm_source=RCRDs+of+the+Week
Psychic Twin (http://psychictwin.bandcamp.com/) are on the lighter side of electro-pop, with a little twist of odd thrown in. It has something of a dark vibe, which makes for a strange contrast with the vocal harmonies.

http://www.noisetrade.com/propaganda/excellent
There aren't a lot of city-core rap/hip-hop artists who are doing lyrically interesting that aren't laden with profanity, n*, b*, and such. Allow me to present you Propaganda, whose politically infused rap is clearly rooted in gospel and soul (though Noisetrade calls it "backwoods blues" which might not be entirely wrong). It's an interesting blend of rap and spoken word with original instrumental parts underneath.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/02/tricky-nothings-changed.html
Tricky (http://www.trickysite.com/) is back, doing what Tricky does best. Trippy, emotionally laden electronica with breathy close voices that seem to be whispering in your ear as they touch your heart. This track, Nothing's Changed, is his first from his new album on his own label. Very much on my to-buy list. The vocalist on this track is a French chanteuse Francesca Belmonte (https://www.facebook.com/francescabelmontemusic) who is new to me but lists herself as "Tricky's Singer".

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/02/yelle-lamour-parfait.html
Speaking of French chanteuses, Yelle (http://www.yelle.fr/) here presents an interesting contrast. Her contribution is pretty conventional lightweight French pop singing, but it's over some serious fuzzed electronica. It's an interesting effort and makes me think she's worth paying more attention to, though I think this particular track isn't especially stellar.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/02/little-boots-motorway.html
This is not the Kinks' "Motorway" but a composition of the same name by Little Boots, whose voice I enjoy even though the auto-tuning here is pretty heavy-handed. This is another first-single-off-upcoming-album so I'm hoping we'll get to hear more and maybe a remix or two.

https://soundcloud.com/late-night-radio/peter-tosh-johnny-b-goode-lnr
This is a bit of nostalgia reworked for me. Although Tosh is known for his unique and voluminous reggae sounds, his cover of "Johnny B Goode" was the first song of his I ever heard and I remember it in part because his voice was so different from Jerry Lee's and yet it had the same sort of feel. Here LNR (Late Night Radio) adds unique electro stylings - and yes a little wub - to the remix. But don't worry, it's still got that epic guitar wail.