Fucked Up, Tricky, Vijay Iyer

MUSIC

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jul. 30, 2008

Fucked Up
Year of the Pig (Matador)

Rating: Solid, like the Liberty Bell.

Three little piggies and one monstrous she-sow wallow recklessly on this appetite-whetting EP from the Canadian hard cases newly signed to Matador. Centered around the ground-shaking, epic "Year of the Pig," the disc collects three different edits of the 18-minute single, one each for the U.S., U.K. and Japan. Each balances soft female waltz-lullabies with teeth-rattling aggression, though none quite matches the force and complexity of the original. New cuts, a B-side and one very un-twee cover of Another Sunny Day's "Anorak City" top off the disc, but this time it's the pig that blows the house down. (Jennifer Kelly)

Tricky
Knowle West Boy (Domino)

Rating: Excellent, like John Oates' mustache.

In a year that's seen Portishead deliver their strongest album since their celebrated debut, it seems only fitting that Tricky should return with easily his best work since 1995's inimitable Maxinquaye. Knowle West Boy isn't Maxinquaye's equal--what could be? But praise the Lord, after years of relentlessly pursuing the laws of diminishing returns and rapidly disappearing up his own arse, Tricky comes damn close. Less dense and claustrophobic than previous releases, it's a diverse yet cohesive collection of roughneck Jamaican dancehall inflections and distant echoes of '80s post-punk, specifically PiL, Mark Stewart and the Specials. (Neil Ferguson)

Vijay Iyer
Tragicomic (Sunnyside)

Rating: Excellent, like John Oates' mustache.

The pianist starts his fourth quartet CD forebodingly, then launches into "Macaca Please," a full-blast encapsulation of his concerns: diaspora politics and racism, post-postindustrial life and rhythmic innovation on a seemingly impossible level. Steeped in jazz tradition and the new millennial avant-garde, Iyer's works also hint at the groove-instability of underground hip-hop, buried deep inside a matrix of dissonance and dark lyricism. Backed by longtime mates Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto sax, Stephan Crump on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums. (David R. Adler)