Ununiform

Last updated

Ununiform
Ununiform cover.jpg
Studio album by
Tricky
Released22 September 2017 (2017-09-22)
Recorded Berlin, Germany
Length41:23
Label False Idols
Tricky chronology
Skilled Mechanics
(2016)		Ununiform
(2017)		 Fall to Pieces
(2020)

Ununiform [a] is the thirteenth studio album by English trip hop artist Tricky. It was released by False Idols on 22 September 2017. [2] [3] Three singles were taken from this album, 'The Only Way', 'When We Die' and 'Running Wild', all of them released before the album. [4] And alternative version of 'The Only Way' was uploaded on Tricky personal Soundcloud account a few weeks after the original, and later released as a single in 2018, this version was also included in the physical releases of the album, but unlisted in the back cover. The album features a variety of guest vocalists, including Russian rappers, American vocalists, his usual collaborator Francesca Belmonte, and Tricky's frequent-collaborator and former girlfriend Martina Topley-Bird. [5] [6]

Contents

Recording

Tricky conceived the album while in Moscow, Russia; it consequently features vocal contributions from Russian rapper Smoky Mo. [1] The album was recorded in Berlin, Germany. [7] The album features a mixture of trip hop-inspired tracks as well as guitar-based tracks, [1] including a cover version of "Doll Parts" by Hole, featuring vocals from Los Angeles-based artist Avalon Lurks. [8] American hip hop artist Jay-Z co-engineered the album. [9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?6.3/10 [10]
Metacritic 71/100 [11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Exclaim! 5/10 [12]
The Irish Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [13]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]
The Observer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Pitchfork 5.1/10 [1]
PopMatters 6/10 [16]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
Rolling Stone Russia Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [18]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [19]

Ununiform received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 12 reviews. [11] Kitty Empire of The Observer gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, stating that "Tricky creates a claustrophobic world full of stark bass lines, pop digressions and slinky Bristol moments; his duet with Francesca Belmonte, New Stole, is particularly moreish." [15] Ben Cardew of Pitchfork gave the album 5.1 out of 10 stars, summarising: "ununiform may come nowhere near to the jaw-dropping impact of those early Tricky albums. But buried deep in his 13th studio release, Tricky may just have sown the seeds of a new musical contentment." [1] The album was compared to Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971) and The xx's Coexist (2012). [20]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tricky, unless noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Obia Intro" 1:56
2."Same as It Ever Was" (featuring Scriptonite) 3:46
3."New Stole" (featuring Francesca Belmonte) 3:06
4."Wait for Signal" (featuring Asia Argento) 3:08
5."It's Your Day" (featuring Scriptonite) 2:03
6."Blood of My Blood" (featuring Scriptonite) 3:13
7."Dark Days" (featuring Mina Rose) 2:49
8."The Only Way" 4:51
9."Armor" (featuring Terra Lopez) 2:25
10."Doll" (featuring Avalon Lurks [1] ) Courtney Love 3:06
11."Bang Boogie" (featuring Smoky Mo and Scriptonite) 1:18
12."Running Wild" (featuring Mina Rose [2] ) 3:37
13."When We Die" (featuring Martina Topley-Bird) 3:43
Total length:41:23
Physical edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
14."The Only Way" (Stripped Down Tricky Mix)4:07

Note

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2017)Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [22] 114
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [23] 52
French Albums (SNEP) [24] 74
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [25] 47

Notes

  1. ↑ Pitchfork stylises the title with a lowercase "u", as does Tricky's official Facebook page. [1]

Related Research Articles

Trip hop is a musical genre that originated in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound, often incorporating elements of jazz, soul, funk, reggae, dub, R&B, and other genres, typically of electronic music, as well as sampling from movie soundtracks and other eclectic sources.

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Martina Gillian Topley-Bird is an English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who first gained fame as the featured female vocalist on trip hop pioneer Tricky's debut album, Maxinquaye (1995). She also worked with him on his subsequent albums, Nearly God and Pre-Millennium Tension. In 2003, Topley-Bird released her debut solo album, Quixotic, which was critically praised and earned her a Mercury Prize nomination.

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Maxinquaye is the debut album by English rapper and producer Tricky, released on 20 February 1995 by 4th & B'way Records, a subsidiary of Island Records. In the years leading up to the album, Tricky had grown frustrated with his limited role in the musical group Massive Attack and wanted to pursue an independent project. Shortly after, he met with vocalist Martina Topley-Bird, who he felt would offer a wider vision to his music, and signed a solo contract with 4th & B'way in 1993. Tricky recorded Maxinquaye the following year primarily at his home studio in London, with Topley-Bird serving as the album's main vocalist, while Alison Goldfrapp, Ragga and Mark Stewart performed additional vocals.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cardew, Ben (20 September 2017). "Tricky: ununiform". Pitchfork . Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  2. ↑ ""Ununiform" by Tricky". iTunes . Apple. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "Tricky - Ununiform review: Don't be tricked into complacency". Irish Times. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  4. ↑ Roberts, Christopher. "Tricky Announces New Album, Shares "When We Die" (feat. Martina Topley-Bird) | Under the Radar - Music Magazine". Undertheradarmag.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  5. ↑ AFP. "Tricky goes clean and gets darker » Manila Bulletin Entertainment". Entertainment.mb.com.ph. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "Tricky - Ununiform | BeatRoute Magazine". Beatroute.ca. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  7. ↑ Arcand, Rob (22 September 2017). "Stream Tricky's New Album ununiform". Spin. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  8. ↑ Kaye, Ben (12 July 2017). "Tricky announces new album, ununiform, shares "When We Die" feat. Martina Topley-Bird: Stream". Consequences of Sound. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 "Ununiform - Tricky - Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  10. ↑ "ununiform by Tricky reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  11. 1 2 "ununiform by Tricky Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic . Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  12. ↑ Sylvester, Daniel (20 September 2017). "Tricky Ununiform". Exclaim! . Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  13. ↑ Bruton, Louise (21 September 2017). "Tricky - Ununiform review: Don't be tricked into complacency". The Irish Times . Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  14. ↑ Anon. (October 2017). "Review". Mojo . p. 94.
  15. 1 2 Empire, Kitty (24 September 2017). "Tricky: Ununiform review – stark and slinky". The Observer . Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  16. ↑ Schiller, Mike (4 October 2017). "Tricky: ununiform". PopMatters . Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  17. ↑ Anon. (October 2017). "Review". Q . p. 104.
  18. ↑ Даль, Борис (2 October 2017). "Tricky — "Ununiform"". Rolling Stone Russia (in Russian). Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  19. ↑ Anon. (November 2017). "Review". Mojo . p. 36.
  20. ↑ Sawatzki, Frank (21 September 2017). "Review: Tricky - Ununiform". Musikexpress. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  21. ↑ "ununiform / Tricky TIDAL". Tidal . Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  22. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Tricky – Ununiform" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  23. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Tricky – Ununiform" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  24. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Tricky – Ununiform". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  25. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Tricky – Ununiform". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
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