I'm not getting old. Phew! (Knowle West Boy by Tricky)

Over the last months, a horrible thought kept creeping into my mind: Am I getting too old to enjoy fresh music? Am I finally turning into one of the oh-so-many people who can go on for hours about how good music was in the (insert time when the respective person was in his teens or twens), and how stale today's music is by comparison, and that there is not even a single good song anymore, well, except for a few... If you are above, say, 35, you should know this kind of discussion. And I always felt happy that somehow I still manage to keep contact with music even though I'm past 40.

But then cam 2007/2008 and brought me a few albums that are supposedly very good and groundbreaking and oozing today's lifestyle. And I didn't get them.

Let's take Burial's Untrue, for example. This album is averagely rated 90% at metacritic.com, the best album of 2007 there. "Untrue is complex, stark, tender, blurred and breathtaking. Burial has managed the impossible and improved on his faultless debut." they said. I bought it. And still, apart from a strong memory of horribly (horribly horribly) cheesy vocals, this album has not left any trace in my memory after the three times I endured the whole album.

Then came The Field: From Here We Go Sublime; exactly the same story. 90% at metacritic, BBC writes "This is one of those rare albums that makes you wonder how you ever got by without it.", being electronic music it should be exactly my piece of cake, and I simply don't like it. At least I do have some memories left (my memories are somewhere between "sounds like Philip Glass sounded a few decades ago" and "does this ever get different").

Actually, while writing this I'm briefly listening to The Field's "Silent". I had to endure the same beat with nearly zero variation for over two minutes; only then it added a couple more samples. Guys, in the good old Punk days entire tracks lasted 2 minutes! Currently I'm at 5:18, and it seems the song has used up all its samples. I expect to endure more repetition with minimal variation for another 3 minutes. Don't get me wrong - the sounds that The Field are using in this albums are great and interesting. There's just way too few of them.

(and I tried to like Portishead's Third for a few minutes, but listening to this Album in Summer just doesn't work... Maybe I'll get it in November :-) ).

(turning my trusty iTunes back to good music...) But then came Tricky, released Knowle West Boy, and restored my trust in my music memory again. I listened to this album only once now, and I still remember most of the songs! Yes! What a feeling :-). For me this album shows that complex layers of sound and strange samples in electronic music and interesting (dare I write catchy) music doesn't contradict each other. Blues, rap, punk, Trip Hop, harmonicas and trumpets, harps, reggae rap, long pauses and wild drums, cheesy Jean-Michel-Jarre synths, cellos, quite everything our musical universe has to offer can be found in this album, and they fit so well together as if they were designed for precisely this music.

So if you're also desperate for some fresh music, then don't hesitate and get Tricky's best album since Maxinquaye, and, in my personal count the best album of 2008 so far.