MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD
Computer Music|March 2022
Martina Topley-Bird has a three-decade career during which she has worked with Tricky, Massive Attack and The Prodigy, but her fifth album, Forever I Wait, sees her embracing a new-found confidence
MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD
“I remember being, like, 13 or 14 and really struggling to work out who I was,” explains a thoughtful Martina Topley-Bird. “My mum was Afro-American and my dad was white. I was keenly aware that most of the black people I knew were either African or West Indian so, culturally, I felt like my family didn’t fit in. I was busy looking for my tribe, but it was obvious that I didn’t come from the same mould as all my peers.

“Looking back, I think that was the point at which music really started to matter to me. My parents loved music and it was always playing around the house – everything from opera to 80s R&B like DeBarge – but music suddenly seemed even more important. It gave me an emotional identity.”

Most of us first heard Martina Topley-Bird on Tricky’s 1995 debut album, Maxinquaye, her seductive yet lonely voice flitting across the cranky, disjointed musical backdrop like some sweet bird of truth. The success of the album thrust Topley-Bird – then barely out of her teens – into a harsh spotlight that seemed to spend as much time focusing on her personal life as it did the music. It’s left lasting scars and, these days, Topley-Bird doesn’t particularly like talking about the work she did on Tricky’s first three albums.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 2022 من Computer Music.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 2022 من Computer Music.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من COMPUTER MUSIC مشاهدة الكل
Sonuscore The Score $399 PC MAC
Computer Music

Sonuscore The Score $399 PC MAC

The Score comes up with a film soundtrack based on your stylistic choices, but that’s just the start of it. Andy Jones scores The Score

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2024
Baby Audio Humanoid $129 PC MAC
Computer Music

Baby Audio Humanoid $129 PC MAC

Humanoid brings the ‘extreme’ and ‘radical’ to the world of vocals, but is also one of the easiest plugins to use and abuse, says Andy Jones

time-read
4 mins  |
November 2024
The Synth Factory Horizen $129 PC MAC
Computer Music

The Synth Factory Horizen $129 PC MAC

A synth/sampler that packs in a lot of power at an almost silly price - despite its low profile, Andy Jones gazes at Horizen...

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2024
Flow Mastering Suite $15/month PC MAC
Computer Music

Flow Mastering Suite $15/month PC MAC

Mastering your music just got as easy or as complex as you want. But, Andy Jones asks, is it worth yet another monthly subscription?

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2024
Universal Audio LA-6176 $299 PC MAC
Computer Music

Universal Audio LA-6176 $299 PC MAC

UA has bundled three of its classic emulations into one channel strip. Is this analogue dream your ideal plugin team? Andy Jones finds out

time-read
4 mins  |
November 2024
Rack'em up...
Computer Music

Rack'em up...

IK Multimedia has announced a comprehensive update to its mixing and mastering software, T-RackS, that brings some smart mastering additions

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
FX Collection 5 €499
Computer Music

FX Collection 5 €499

Arturia's huge bundle of effects gets its regular update and it's still easily as essential as the company's V Collection

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2024
Make a pulsing bass with GForce Axxess
Computer Music

Make a pulsing bass with GForce Axxess

Get mechanical, with a garage-inspired bass patch, which gets right to the pulsing heart of the Axxess synthesiser

time-read
4 mins  |
November 2024
The software that shaped us
Computer Music

The software that shaped us

Computer Music has had a 25-year history, and over the life of this magazine, the technology behind music production has changed beyond recognition. Here are the products that set the stage for the modern world…

time-read
5 mins  |
November 2024
PERFECT VIRTUAL GUITAR!
Computer Music

PERFECT VIRTUAL GUITAR!

Need a great guitar sound, but lacking any guitar-playing contacts, or the skills to play it yourself? Have no fear, your computer is here! With a few pointers, buying advice and hands-on tips, you and your PC or Mac can emulate the greatest guitarists in the world…

time-read
6 mins  |
November 2024