I was originally going to write about Portishead, and somehow I mentioned Massive Attack, and then I started thinking about them, and I guess I'd much rather write about Mezzanine than Dummy. Now if that sentence just confused you, those respectively are the landmark albums of Trip Hop, a style of music that emerged out of the UK in the early to mid nineties. Instead of being influenced by the contemporary style of britpop, trip hop essentially took hip hop beats and slowed them down. It's kind of like Houston style Chopped and Screwed rap, except the vocals aren't slowed down with the music, and the whole result isn't as murky. Both genres are influenced by dub music, with sampling being essential. Somehow trip hop later became a subgenre of techno, which makes sense, considering that the UK at the time had a less vibrant rap scene than it does now.
So what do people think of when they hear Trip Hop? I first think of dark, and maybe slow songs. Uncompromising beats. This is, of course, not the way every song goes. There's some pretty vibrant stuff on Portishead's Dummy, like their song Sour Times, for instance. It's not a very happy song, but it is dynamic. And on Mezzanine, Liz Fraser of the Cocteau Twins contributes very pretty vocals. But the result with Liz is more eerie than upbeat, (in a good way!) and with the song Teardrop, I'm confused because it seems a little out of place and I can't help but not like it. I'm probably just odd, because that song is very popular. But anyway, I can't shake this stereotype I have of Trip Hop, probably because I first got into the genre through Portishead's second eponymous album, which is a bleak affair, and Massive Attack's Mezzanine.
When I think of Trip Hop, I think of Man Next Door. There's that dark loop of the beat and the break, that lighter sample that keeps popping up, like headlights on a dark road, and Horace Andy crooning paranoia and fear. Then there's the interlude, like day breaking, and while it's back to the same grind, the song carries it's finish like the sun slowly rising over a hopeless, shelled out tenement sqaure. You might hear other songs like this, but this isn't one that's easily forgotten. Maybe that's why I have to remind myself that there are lighter, silkier cuts on the record, and not all trip hop is morose and soulful.
 ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY
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