Trip hop
[3] It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound,[4][5][6] often incorporating elements of jazz, soul, funk, reggae, dub, R&B, and other genres, typically of electronic music, as well as sampling from movie soundtracks and other eclectic sources.
[7] The style emerged as a more experimental variant of breakbeat from the Bristol sound scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s,[8] incorporating influences from jazz, soul, funk, dub, and rap music.
[8] Common musical aesthetics include a bass-heavy drumbeat,[12] often providing the slowed down breakbeat samples similar to standard 1990s hip hop beats, giving the genre a more psychedelic and mainstream feel.
[11] Andy Pemberton, a music journalist writing for Mixmag, used it to describe "In/Flux", a single by American producer DJ Shadow and UK act RPM, with the latter signed to Mo' Wax Records.
[26] Like the pioneering Bronx crews of DJs Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, the soundsystems provided party music for public spaces, often in the economically deprived council estates from which some of their members originated.
[26] The Wild Bunch and its associates included at various times in its existence, DJ Milo (Milo Johnson, aka DJ Nature) founding member of the Wild Bunch and the person generally accepted as the creator of the Bristol sound and therefore, trip-hop; MC Adrian "Tricky Kid" Thaws, the graffiti artist and lyricist Robert "3D" Del Naja, producer Jonny Dollar and the DJs Nellee Hooper, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall.
As the hip hop scene matured in Bristol and musical trends evolved further toward acid jazz and house in the late 1980s,[27] the golden era of the soundsystem began to end.
Co-produced by Jonny Dollar, the orchestral "Unfinished" featured R&B singer Shara Nelson, and Jamaican dance hall star Horace Andy provided vocals on several other tracks, as he would throughout Massive Attack's career.
Although Tricky stayed on in a lesser role and Hooper again produced, the fertile dance music scene of the early 1990s had informed the record, and it was seen as an even more significant shift away from the Wild Bunch era.
"In/Flux", with its mixed up bpms, spoken word samples, strings, melodies, bizarre noises, prominent bass, and slow beats, gave the listener the impression they were on a musical trip, according to Pemberton.
[34] Soon, however, Massive Attack's dubby, jazzy, psychedelic, electronic textures, rooted in hip hop sampling technique but taking flight into many styles, were described by journalists as the template of the eponymous genre.
Ninja Tune, the independent record label founded by the duo Coldcut, significantly influenced the trip-hop sound in London and beyond with breakthrough artists DJ Food, 9 Lazy 9, Up, Bustle & Out, Funki Porcini and The Herbaliser, among others.
[39] Nevertheless, Portishead shared the scratchy, jazz-sample-based aesthetic of early Massive Attack (whom Barrow had briefly worked with during the recording of Blue Lines), and the sullen, fragile vocals of Gibbons also brought them wide acclaim.
[44] After the initial success of trip hop in the mid-1990s, the artists who made their own interpretations of the genre include Archive, Baby Fox, Bowery Electric, Esthero, Morcheeba, Sneaker Pimps, Anomie Belle,[48] Alpha, Jaianto, Mudville and Cibo Matto and Lamb.
These artists incorporated trip hop into other genres, including ambient, soul, IDM, industrial, dubstep, breakbeat, drum and bass, acid jazz, and new-age.
[49] Trip hop has also influenced artists in other genres, including Gorillaz, Emancipator, Nine Inch Nails, Travis, PJ Harvey,[50] How to Destroy Angels,[51] Beth Orton, The Flaming Lips, Bitter:Sweet, Beck, Alanis Morissette, The xx and Deftones.
2001 saw the release of his side project, Lovage and the album Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By,[70] with special guests Mike Patton, Prince Paul, Maseo, Damon Albarn, and Afrika Bambaataa.
Another heavily trip-hop influenced band, Elsiane, published their first album Hybrid in 2007, creating a "mellow, hypnotic atmosphere utilized in the ’90s by big names like Massive Attack, Portishead, etc.
[73][74] DJ Shadow's The Less You Know, the Better was released in 2011 after a highly publicised unveiling of songs, including appearances on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show and previews at a performance in Antwerp in August 2010.
[77] The album topped the charts in eleven countries, including Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom; it has sold 3.4 million copies worldwide as of 2013 according to International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
