What is Trip Hop? Overview/History/Links

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What is Trip Hop?
by SifuBeats a.k.a. Mizer Supreme

Trip Hop is obviously inspired by Hip Hop music. The beat usually sounds like it belongs in a Rza song, but slowed to about 80bpm. Trip Hop's tempo range is between 60-80BPM but can reach down to 55 and up to 110. Trip Hop is Hip Hop's mute, genious cousin who has a dark side.

Trip Hop's roots lie on the Island of England, Founded by Massive Attack in a Bristol club. They created hip hop with a heavy influence of Electronica. One of the founding memebers of Massive Attack, Tricky, broke away and formed what I find to be a darker version of Massive Attack tracks.

There are many sub-genres of Trip Hop:

Minimalism-very simple melodies and semi-complex beats
Vocal- as the name implies, includes a vocalist, usually female
Abstract-very cereberal, atmospheric
Jazzfudge- A term DJ Vadim coined for jazzy sounding Trip Hop
Lounge-A 4/4 House beat slowed to about 80bpm, more ambient
Soundscape-lacking a predominant beat, more focus on synths
IDM- A branch of electronica, but has roots in Trip Hop thanks to Prefuse 73

There is a type of Trip Hop for every taste. From those who want what mimics a Hip Hop beat, but has more variation and complexities. To those who want somethin' to listen to after a rave. Hip Hop even adopts Trip Hop feel to it sometimes, ex. El-P.

ARTISTS:
Dj Shadow
NitinSawnhey
Dj Krush
KidLoco
Dj Cam
Dynamic Syncopation
Dj Vadim
WagonChrist
Massive Attack
MrScruff
Tricky
Handsome Boy Modeling School
Prefuse 73
Zero7
Bonobo
AtticaBlues
Skalpel
Dan The Automator
Badmarsh & Shri
Coldcut
Portis Head
Boards of Canada
Bomb the Bass
Kruder & Dorfmeister
Nightmares on Wax
DJ Mark Farina
Blockhead
jazzanova
king kooba
koop
minus 8
domu
bugz in the attic
sharpshooters
beat demons
Morcheeba
Hooverphonic
Lamb
Mono
Sneaker Pimps
Halou
Morcheeba


LINKS:
www.ninjatune.com
www.tripnotic.de
www.massiveattack.com
 
Last edited by a moderator:
lol...beat me to it...i added portis head and boards of canada
 
I draw blanks when I'm under the gun to come up with names. I even forget what to look for at the Music store when I'm picking up records...lol
 
Boards of Canada

Wow...what a group. So talented in their producing and composition of songs. Love their stuff.
 
lol..havent even heard them...just saw you mention them and compare me to then so i added it (thanks for the comparison by the way you are praising them)
 
what about someone like theivery corperation. A lot of their stuff sounds like downtempo hip-hop.

Peace
 
Interesting forum. Trip Hop is kind of a misinterpreted term, and SifuBeats' post is well explanatory.

I'd add Bomb the Bass to the roll of artists, since he helped this style with proto Trip Hop tracks like "Winter in July", "Love So True" and "Tidal Waves", in early 90's.
 
are those all trip hop?

to me Bomb the Bass was house, along with the "Rhythm Kings" artists (remember?) ... Boards of Canada sounds more IDM-ish to me (with an ounce of JArre/Vangelis influence)

You know its funny I never realized Trip Hop was confusing a lot of people like that :)
 
lol...ill get sifu to go over em and ill change what isnt trip hop....yea its a dahm confusing genre
 
See that's why I think Boards of Canada could be considered trip hop. There sound shifts back and forth. Some tracks are just ambient sounds...but others have a great slowed down and glitchy hip hop feel to them. I think that's why I put their name out there.

It annoys me at times to sit and nit pick about what is and what isn't in a certain genre.

The thing is....if your having a hard time figuring out who belongs to "x" genre...is it really a solidified genre?

Trip hop reminds me of this. :)
 
it was said best about the defenition of ^($)$* (what was it again) .... I dont know how to describe it but i know it when i see it... or in this case hear it
 
I can't belive I forgot Nightmares on Wax...

I gave myself a firm kick in the ass for that one.
 
mano 1 said:
are those all trip hop?

to me Bomb the Bass was house, along with the "Rhythm Kings" artists (remember?)
Click to expand...

Your're right, mano 1! Bomb the Bass was House, at his first album ("Beat Dis", "Don't Make me Wait" and "Megablast" comes to mind :)) However, in his second album "Unknown Territory" he used more of his hip hop and downtempo passion, in order to create a new sound. The results can be found on the mentioned album and his 1995 effort "Clear". A really great moment of this album is "Tidal Wave". It worths a listen. But I don't know if BtB can be considered an "all Trip Hop" act, though.

A great forum was born!
 
Kruder and Dorfmeister...Awesome Downtempo/Trip Hop producers
 
sifu...do me a favor...when people list things just edit your post...if its to late for that ill do it>>>.thanks...

and to all of you who added names thank you and well add em to the master list.

p.s. i always thought nightmare on wax was mushroom jazz...but that just goes to show how undefined the gengre is
 
also

jazzanova
king kooba
koop
minus 8
domu
bugz in the attic
sharpshooters(definetly!)
beat demons

plenty more to add.
 
who r the best trip-hop artists......?.........i dunno one ting on trip-hop so im trying to research and learn from tha greats.......help!!
 
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