Maxinquaye

Here comes Tricky, former Massive Attack and Wild Bunch collaborator, straight from the hip-hop hedonism of "Blue Lines" and the soncially diverse "Protection." Armed with samples, ideas, angst and crooner Martine's whispy soulful voice, he gives you an album that refuses to leave you at the end.

Call it trip-hop or abstract electronica...it all seems undescribable by how many styles are weaved into this album; so seamless and flowing are they that you wonder how someone could have thought of it.

There's "Black Steel," a remake of Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," yet instead of using Chuck D's bullish activism, Martine makes the song sound so desperate until it feels that there can't be any escape from it. The slow rap of "Hell is Around the Corner" under the Isacc Hayes samples is downright eerie, while "Aftermath" feels like you're floating on air in the tropics; its hip-hop/blues fusion runs flawless.

But there's still blood on the tracks. "Brand New, Your Retro" is straight out hip-hop/electronic/industrial, angry and never ending. The final track, "Feed Me," leaves you at the end of the album just like how you entered it with a deep bass line and hard hitting beats, fading away slowy to leave you at the end of a rollercoaster, yet still intact and wanting to listen to it again.

Despite the few 'up' moments in this album and the constant dark feel of it all, it fails to isolate the listener, who's always anxious to hear more of what our tortured friend Tricky does next.


Trip-hop is not real, Tricky is!   November 9, 1999
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

as an owner of every album tricky has done i have to say "maxinquaye" is the best. some of the most hypnotic beats i've ever heard, tricky's voice combined with martina's is just a unique sound, and lyrically these are some of the most awsome words i've ever read, tricky here talks about such themes as sex, power and other usual issues but he doesn't do it in the usual way, not as explicit, but always clever. the best track here is definetely "Aftermath", i heard it and fell in love with it inmediatly, it has great beats, and martina at her best. the only track i don't like here is "stugglin", it just isn't at the same level as the rest of the album, it could have been in "angels with diry faces" (and still would have been one of the worst tracks) other favourites are: hell is..., you don't, ponderosa, black steel, well the whole album is great.


Essential Trip-Hop Album   September 17, 2001
Manny Ramirez
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

Former Massive Attack member, Tricky, strikes gold with his debut CD, Maxinquaye. This album has an almost surreal effect to it. The fact that the lyrics can be undistinguishable at times adds to that effect. Each track has its own mood to it and this is a CD that you will not get bored listening to. All the tracks are excellent but especially, Overcome, Black Steel, Abbaon Fat Track, and Strugglin'. If you are getting into trip-hop then you must buy this CD. Especially recommended for those who have all 3 Massive Attack CDs and Dummy by Portishead.


Number 1   March 23, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

After owning this album since 1996, I can safely say...This is the best album I own. Hands down.


Moonlight to the Beach   December 7, 2000
B. Eleveld (Corvallis, OR USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

The first time I heard this, my friends and i were driving in the dark. I was sitting in the backseat of the car, they had me stick the cd in on the potable boombox in the back. We had been talking, as we slipped around the winding roads and past the trees and scant houses.

The minute the CD went into the player, I was ovewhelmed....surpised. Conversation dropped off and the night seemed to come into the car from the outside, big and blue, the moon gaining pressure and pushing against my eyes. It was like I could have been another country and it would have still made me feel this way. The music made me go outwards and inwards all at once. We were driving through the forest to the beach. We arrived to Newport, The trees dropping behind us and the storefront taking their place. The beats and the soundscapes were so perfect. Since then i have listened to this CD several other times at night, in a car as well as at home.

That is when it struck me. I am a music freak, one who believes that a certain CD or a certain band will be perfect in a certain occasion. Usually i will have a seperate preferance for what music sound good driving through the forrest and what sounds good driving through a city. This, however, flowed through all of it. This CD seems to me to be greatest at night. I think it the sensualness, the implied tension and power, the rythm, the beautiful "oiliness" of the sound. It is the best driving music i have ever heard. It seems to pull you, and the car, with it, instead of the other way around.

So next time you get in your car and the sun is setting, pop this album into your player. Whether you live in the big city or in the boondocks, it manages to make sense in an abstract and beautiful way.