sound of the suburbs

Ever since the arrival of punk, Bristol has been a fertile source of new music, not always the most commercial of sounds though in general of artistic merit. Part of the logical fallout of the bastard rhythms of post punk was a new generation that openly embraced dance music. Massive Attack are probably are very good example of how a band can be inventive in musical terms and still be popular. For me their 1994 album, 'Protection' was a big eye opener into a whole new realm of music with their grooves managing to be both sophisticated and street level at the same time. one of their definite strengths lie in their ready acceptance to collaborate with other artists, a fine of example of this is Tracey Thorns vocals on the song 'Protection', Tracey was of as everyone knows the singing half of Everything But The Girl who has just released, 'Out Of The Woods', her first solo album in twenty years. Another collaborator on this album was Tricky who was also to taste fame under his own name particularly with his 1995 debut album 'Maxiquaye'. A larger than life personality who was verging on the edge of sanity, sadly a nervous breakdown left him a normal human being and his music a lot less interesting. 'Black Steel' was an inspired cover version of the Public Enemy song that can be found on his debut album, personally I prefer the 'Been Caught Stealing Mix' complete with it's loud guitars. Neneh Cherry first came to our attention as the energetic singer and dancer from the post Pop Group, Rip Rig And Panic, she went on to have a very successful solo career with music not the far removed from that of Massive Attack, she bravely took the decision to quit music while still a popular figure to raise her children. She has since resettled in Sweden, a country that one boasted her father Don Cherry as a citizen, her latest music venture, CirKus, is still groove based and their debut album 'Laylow' is well worth your time. I was lucky enough to catch them live last year and a very good gig it was with Neneh's vocal chords being as powerful as ever. One of the stand out moments was the lilting reggae/rap of 'Your Such An' that was introduced with an amusing dedication / put down of George Bush.