I Miss Trip Hop

I’ve been going through my music vault recently, listening to some old favorites. And in doing so it occurred to me that I really miss Trip Hop. You don’t hear very many releases featuring the classic Trip Hop sound anymore: Laid back hip hop beats, throbbing bass, acid-washed atmospherics topped with soulful, moody vocals. I wonder what happened. Maybe the artists themselves got tired of the sound. Maybe the audience was small enough and the artists few enough that everyone decided the sound had become derivative.

It’s too bad, because I think more could have been done with the Trip Hop formula. But at any rate, the whole genre seems to have relegated to the status of a fad, and fans of the genre, like me, will have to be satisfied with revisiting old favorites. Which brings up another point. Since Stereo Subversion is dedicated to meaningful music, and with it, the idea that there is a lot of excellent music that flies under the radar, I’d like to point out a couple of releases that escape notice when Trip Hop’s greatest hits are mentioned.

Critics’ lists invariably include Massive Attack’s stellar catalogue, along with Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Morcheeba, Tricky’s solo releases, Moloko, DJ Shadow, Unkle, and Zero 7. All great acts, for sure. But a couple of fabulous records that Trip Hop fans may not have encountered are Waldeck’s “The Night Garden” and “Striplight” by a.p.e.

“The Night Garden” has a lot in common with Massive Attack’s “Mezzanine,” although a little less ominous. Waldeck injects the album with all of the familiar Trip Hop elements, but like all great artists, does so without sounding borrowed or rehashed. His bass grooves are particularly stout, most of the time needing only sparse high hat and percussion lines to help propel the tunes. And his roster of vocalists is outstanding, both in terms of their individual skills and the breadth of styles they bring to the table. (He’s also got another Trip Hop release worth checking out, “Balance of the Force,” but “The Night Garden” is the real gem.)

“Striplight’s” obscurity is a real crime. How this album by Adrian Corker and Paul Conboy, AKA a.p.e., escaped notice is beyond me. “Striplight” contains some of the most imaginative drum programming ever achieved by a Trip Hop act. The familiar groove is there, but jazz and blues variations are thrown in that separate the tunes from the rest of the pack. Plus, the songwriting is more adventurous than most, incorporating more complex chord progressions than most of their cohorts. No vocals here, just lovely instrumental magic.

Good luck finding CD or vinyl versions of these albums, but I’ve seen “Striplight” on iTunes and occasionally see “In the Garden” on other online download sites. There may not be much new happening for fans of classic Trip Hop, but maybe you can achieve the same buzz by checking out these overlooked artists who made some truly meaningful music back in the day.

Tagged as: Trip Hop

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.