Though we've only heard the name Tricky for the past five years, it feels as if he's been amongst us forever. Like Sly Stone, Lee Perry, James Brown, Sun Ra, Isaac Hayes or Prince before him, he builds upon existing history and culture to explode his sound. He's also changed the way we think of African-American music with deceptively simple, almost negligible flickers of nuance and groove.

Like the twiddled knobs and rhythms of Massive Attack, his music pulses with the sound and energy of electricity crackling on one solid line then suddenly and violently jumping off.You can hear it on his two records with singing partner Martine (Maxinquaye and his new release Pre-Millennium Tension [Island]), in the cold-cuttin' rap of Presents Grass Roots, and on the many-vocalist project Nearly God.

Trip-hop, ambient and dub are the musical start points. That mix is then tossed through a blender with raw chunks of found noise, orchestrations and human error to make a mossy stew. Vocally, Tricky boxes poetically while Miss Martine soulfully soars over an insistently minimalist rhythm.

As the title infers, Pre-Millennium Tension is a nerve-wracking pricking of all your pleasure points.

For his part, opening act Jeru the Damaja is an edgy, meticulous rapper with a stately, analytical elegance akin to Gang Starr — the outfit who discovered him. With Gang Starr's DJ Premiere behind him, Jeru's newest effort, Wrath of the Math (Payday), is an eerie sonic excursion. While Jeru ruminates on the future of black culture, Premiere functions as he does with Gang Starr's post-bop rap scholar Guru, presenting a cushion of informed sound.

Also along for the Tricky ride is the DJ extravaganza known as A Guy Called Gerald. A legend in his own right, A Guy Called Gerald is known for practically starting house music with his pounding, sweaty insistent electronic mantra "Voodoo Ray." This ain't no party, this ain't no disco — this is a fucking lab experiment.

Tricky w/ Jeru the Damaja and A Guy Called Gerald, Fri., Jan. 10, T.L.A., 334 South St., 922-1011.

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