Juxtapose

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

It's 3 a.m., and you're in a downtown club, sleepy, music throbbing, your third drink drained. A stranger starts whispering gruff poetry into your ear. That's Tricky, the prince of trip-hop, and a dues-paying member of the musical avant-garde. In his mesmerizing new album he collaborates with hip-hoppers DJ Muggs (of Cypress Hill) and Grease. They help bring his almost perversely abstract compositions back down to the street, grounding them with raw raps and blunt beats. Tricky remains endearingly elusive, delivering almost all his vocals sotto voce, winding his way through the shadows of his songs.

--By Christopher John Farley