May 11, 2015

Trip Hop has been described as a fusion of Hip Hop and Electronica. It's often called The Bristol Sound, as it was born in the UK, in the early 90's. It's downtempo electronic music mixed with jazz samples, pianos, strings, saxophone, trumpet and it often utilises vocals, to create atmospheric (sometimes even cinematic) listening experiences. Instead of the hard hitting lyrics that we hear in 90's rap, trip hop offered a mellow tone and melancholic sounds.

Some of the most important artists are Massive Attack, Portishead, DJ Shadow and Bjork.

Massive Attack's debut album, Blue Lines, was released in 1991 and is basically seen as the first trip hop album; the group are considered the originators of this new sound. They have released 5 albums: 3 in the 90's [Blue Lines, Protection, Mezzanine (which is considered their best)], 100th Window in 2003 and Heligoland in 2010. The term trip hop was born in 1994, but not because of Massive Attack's 2nd album, but because of DJ Shadow, a San Fransisco DJ (part of the group UNKLE) whose music gave the listeners the impression that they were tripping. Endtroducing..... which was released in 1996, is highly recommended.

In 1994, Portishead (a trio) released their debut album, Dummy. It featured a jazzy sound that accompanied Beth Gibbons' (the group's singer) vocals. It would be the most succesful trip hop album by that time, and it was followed by other 2 albums: Portishead and Third. All are highly recommended.

Tricky, who had began his career as an early collaborator of Massive Attack, would persuade a solo career by releasing his debut, Maxinquaye, in 1995, which would be followed by several others. Maxinquaye and his 2013 album False Idols are my favourite. Furthermore, Bjork (an Icelandic musician) would heavily feature trip hop elements in her work during the 90's: Homogenic (1997) is considered one of the genre's very best records.

After the genre's success during the early -> mid 90's, trip hop would start being incorporated into different genres like ambient, dubstep, dnb and would influence various artists, from Gorillaz to Radiohead. Burial, who's been active since 2001, is an electronic artist who's experimented in post trip hop territory and has made many important albums. He has also collaborated with Massive Attack, Four Tet and Radiohead's Thom Yorke. FKA twigs is an example of a modern trip hop artist.

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*** Feel free to post which trip hop albums you've listened to or ask for further recommendations either from the 90's or from later (artists like Burial). I can post some tracks if you don't want to check out full albums.

 

May 11, 2015

I'll give these a listen

 

May 11, 2015

I've heard the term trip hop several times before but didn't know what it was and I've never gone out of my way to look it up. Nice to finally know, I'll have to try some of this out.

 

May 12, 2015

I have Endtroducing in my iTunes... guess I should listen to it to see wassup.

 

May 12, 2015

You should start with Dummy, I think it'll be the best starting point for you man.

If I had guessed I'd say that you've already listened to some albums haha. I'm pretty sure you'll like some of these

You're gonna love it

 

May 12, 2015

Very nice beat.

 

May 12, 2015

just started listening to FKA twigs, so far so good

 

May 12, 2015

Should I be insulted?...

 

May 12, 2015

Twigs is awesome, LP1 and her 2 EP's are amazing. She's not actually a trip hop artist tbh (well traditional trip hop was alive until the mid-late 90's anyway) but many elements appear in her music consistently, so I thought to include her. There are many electronic artists who might fit better in the OP, so if someone has recommendations that'd be nice (looking at you @CharlieWork). It might be a good idea to make a separate post here with more details for ambient / electronic / dnb music, idk.

Lol no, I just think that it's the best debut album in the OP and that you'll like it more than the others. Mezzanine is also a good first choice, but it's MA's 3rd album and it came out later (1998), so it's better to start with Dummy

 

May 12, 2015

Been listening to Blockhead this week. Some of you might know him as Aesop Rock's main production head on his earlier work. The guy just has a mind for vivid and otherworldly sound design. He does this without too many bells and whistles. Just an understanding for retaining a clean and crisp sound no matter how grande his intentions. Lots of hip-hop influence.


I've posted this multiple times before and don't intend to stop. I first heard Emancipator and some of his beats from this record on Sadistik's debut The Balancing Act. While The Balancing Act serves as a footnote of my angsty-backpack stage, this record continues to be in my rotation for its mystique. One half of the duo is a violinist which helps their calming, ethereal signature sound.

 

May 12, 2015

Bonobo is fantastic.

 

May 12, 2015

Blockhead is great, I checked out his music after listening to Dour Candy. I have Soon It Will Be Cold Enough in my hard drive but I don't think that I've listened to it. I don't listen to Sadistik often either but The Balancing Act is getting frequent plays at random times during the year. It's like a habit for me, there's something that I really like about the album and for the right mood it's perfect, sometimes.

Bonobo's Black Sands (the whole album) is very good, I have to check out more by him.

 

May 12, 2015

Bonobo is awesome

 

May 12, 2015

isnt a song from massive attack in the House M.D. into? love Mezzanine bumped this s--- the last year nonstop and this year just afew times need to hear it again

 

May 12, 2015

@Peter Parker
This is kinda funny since I never heard about the term 'Trip-Hop', but this is one of my top 5 feel-good songs atm:



Do you guys have a few good suggestions to get into the genre?

 

May 12, 2015

Yep, it's Teardrop:



Their 2 previous albums are also great, I don't listen to their 00's work that much. They also collaborated with Burial on Four Walls / Paradise Circus. You need to check out Dummy man.

This song is dope man

You can start with Endtroducing...... since it's very close to rap, or with Tricky's False Idols which is a very recent one (2013) before moving to the early (original) trip hop stuff by him or Massive Attack. Or you can start with Dummy like I told Bleed, it's probably the best choice I think, but basically you can't go wrong with any of the albums mentioned imo.

Tbh I think that False Idols is top 10 across all genres for 2013. His debut is still better though lol. You can go either way, really.

 

May 12, 2015

nice song @able

gonna give Dummy a listen now on spotify

 

May 12, 2015

kinda reminds me of Phaeleh @able

 

May 12, 2015

Sure, I hope you find something that you'll like. Also, welcome, and find an avatar when you have time