
This mixtape is the first in a series spread out over the course of the next year on artists, styles and tracks that shaped my musical palate (and palette). Without going too far into the past (jazz, classical, classic r&b, soul, rock, etc.), I thought I’d start from the period of music not directly influenced by my parents, and go from there. Sadly, there isn’t going to be much in the way of late-80′s or 90′s hip-hop/rap. MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice do not quite live up to the standard I’ve come to present for these mixtapes.
Trip-Hop
The tracks in this first collection date from about 1993-94 to present, although it reached mainstream popularity from about 1996-2001. Trip-Hop incorporates a lot of electronic production, live instruments, tasteful sampling, jazzy aesthetics, vocal experimentation, and percussive beat tracks, all layered on top of each other like a tasty lasagna of musical bliss. Add to that, deep, rich, moody, atmospheric soundscapes, and you end up with a sub-genre with the greatest degree of musicality –sonically and lyrically– in the last 20 years.
The mainstream breakout of trip-hop can be traced back to a musical collective in Bristol, UK called the Wild Bunch. From this crew evolved artist Tricky, and Massive Attack, both featured on the mixtape. Massive Attack later collaborated with Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl, a group whose sound also started to evolve from their early smooth jazz, adult-contemporary days in the early to mid 80′s into House, Chill, Downtempo and Trip Hop production styles after 1994. Simultaneously in Bristol, another group called Portishead formed, and in 1994 released their first album, “Dummy.” The critical mass of these records, along with DJ Shadow’s work in the US producing instrumental hip hop gave trip-hop a huge boost and subsequent following, paving the way for acts such as Esthero, Hooverphonic, Bjork, Morcheeba, Cibo Matto, Lamb and a number of other artists influenced by the genre.
The tracks featured in this mixtape represent the most mainstream offerings of the trip-hop genre. These provide a sort of musical benchmark for the genre, and help demonstrate the sonic quality at its peak. They are in no particular order, other than what makes sense from a listening perspective. In fact, the first track on the mix is the most recent release which –to my mind– most exemplifies the trip-hop genre.
- All Yours – Submotion Orchestra | Released in May of 2011, this one had been sitting around in my collection without exposure until I had the opportunity to re-listen to Portishead’s “Dummy” on vinyl as I was sorting through my record collection. It was because of that Portishead album that I decided to make a mixtape about trip-hop, and in compiling the material for it, I went straight for this track. Right around the 1:27 mark, I guarantee you will nod your head with a big “YES” of approval.
- Lounge – Esthero | One of my most-favorite female vocalists in the whole of humanity’s timeline. Esthero’s sound is so signature, the only vague comparison I can draw is to popular 80′s adult-contemp artist, Sade –although it has more to do with the style of the compositions, rather than her voice. Esthero’s producer, Martin “Doc” McKinney later went on to work with a number artists I’ve featured here including, Santigold, The Weeknd and Drake.
- Aletheuo (Truthspeaking) feat. Angelina Esparza – DJ Krush | Vocalist Angelina Esparza’s possibly most well-known track –she worked on only two collaborations, and released only one album in Japan, before she decided to call it quits with the record industry. Her collaboration with Japanese hip-hop pioneer and former Yakuza member, DJ Krush was released in 2002 on his “Shinso: The Message At The Depth.” A representative of trip-hop through it’s moody, intense delivery and instrumentation.
- Single – Everything But The Girl | Tracey Thorn is my other super-favorite female vocalist, and along with Ben Watt (who went from folks guitarist to amazing electronic producer after EBTG’s contract with WEA ended), make this track another great representation of trip-hop/downtempo/chill-out, again through mood and instrumentation.
- Sun + Moon = Tomorrow – Ivana Santilli | Very jazzy, great breakbeats throughout and a thick bass line. The first time I heard this was on Canada’s Much Music channel –a station whose programming runs completely counter to MTV’s in that they actually play music.
- Unemployed In Summertime – Emiliana Torrini | Geeks will recognize her as the voice of “Gollum’s Song”, while others should recognize her either for “Jungle Drum”, or as a member of Gus Gus. She also hails from Bjork’s home of Iceland.
- Aftermath – Tricky | This is trip hop. This is like, defining material. Legendary stuff.
- 2wicky – Hooverphonic | Hooverphonic reminds me a lot of Portishead.
- Protection – Massive Attack feat. Tracey Thorn | Ah, Tracey Thorn.
- The End (Hepop Mix) – Llorca | Llorca’s material tends to be toward the jazzy end of things, but their style makes it more trip hop than public radio station.
- Neanderthal – Fila Brazilia | One of my favorites.
- Roads – Portishead | CLASSIC. Listen to/watch their “Roseland NYC Live.” It’s on DVD, and it’s great.
- Climbing Up the Walls (Fila Brazilia Mix) – Radiohead | I always thought some of Radiohead’s stuff felt a little trip-hoppy.
- There’s More to Life Than This – Bjork | Ok so this isn’t trip hop, but it was released around the same era. It was in there with the rest of the stuff I was wading through, and I loved it so much, I had to put it in. Listen closely. It’s not your typical recording.
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