Tricky is covering Porno For Pyros? What in the delicious hell is this? “Diving Away” was released today under the name Skilled Mechanics, the new collaborative project that will feature a rotating cast of contributors from project to project.The debut, self-titled Skilled Mechanics album will be released on January 22nd via Tricky’s own False Idols label.
For this first Skilled Mechanics album, Tricky has teamed up with the legendary DJ Milo and Luke Harris. The cover of Porno For Pyros’ “Porpoise Head” is a dreamy, reimagined music-box take that takes the song’s oceanic beauty to a totally different place.
“I toured with them in Australia in 1996,” Tricky explains of the cover’s origin. “My daughter Mazy, who was about four years of age, was with us and she had frontman Perry Farrell wrapped round her little finger. He took all of us to Sealand in Australia. So there was me and Porno For Pyros all trying to get her pram onto the Australian metro. But how many big artists would do something beautiful like that? I think it speaks volumes about him. So I’ve got a lot of love for Perry Farrell and I’ve always wanted to cover one of his songs.”
After moving to Berlin early this Spring, Tricky broke ground on a new musical project called Skilled Mechanics. In his gravel-ground voice, the Bristol born musician, producer and rapper explains where the name came from: “It’s from a documentary about espionage. There was an ex-C.I.A. agent on this programme speaking about assassins who were sent abroad by the US to start revolutions and topple governments. He called them ‘skilled mechanics’. I thought that was a great name for someone who was a killer basically. The name was so dark and cynical it just stuck with me.”
“I haven’t been alone at the front of the stage on my own since before I released my first album Maxinquaye 20 years ago,” Tricky confesses. “I needed to change. It is good to change and to keep on pushing yourself.”
So he formed Skilled Mechanics, a loose collaborative project that would allow him to work with many different artists, while at the same time pushing his unique vocal talents to the forefront. The most prominent of these collaborators on the new record is DJ Milo, who is not only one of his oldest friends, but also the first person he ever recorded with — not to mention his introduction to The Wild Bunch.
As well as guest appearances from firey Chinese rapper Ivy 艾菲; London based singer Renata Platon and Danish singer songwriter Oh Land, the album also contains the vocal talents of Tricky’s current creative foil, Francesca Belmonte, on the track ‘We Begin’.
Stay tuned for more.
