trip-hop
A genre blending downtempo electronic beats with hip-hop sampling, atmospheric textures, and often melancholic vocals, originating in early-1990s Bristol, England.
In Depth
Trip-hop emerged from the Bristol music scene in the early 1990s, combining the breakbeats and sampling techniques of hip-hop with ambient atmospherics, dub reggae bass, and soul or jazz vocals. The term was coined by the music press and initially resisted by the artists themselves. Massive Attack's Blue Lines (1991) is widely considered the genre's founding album, blending rap, reggae, and soul over moody, cinematic beats.
Portishead's Dummy (1994) and Tricky's Maxinquaye (1995) completed Bristol's holy trinity of trip-hop. The genre quickly influenced artists worldwide — Björk, Morcheeba, Hooverphonic, and Sneaker Pimps all incorporated its aesthetics. Trip-hop's dark, cinematic quality made it a favorite of film and television music supervisors. Though the genre's commercial peak passed by the early 2000s, its influence persists in downtempo electronic music, and Massive Attack and Portishead remain critically revered.
Portishead's Beth Gibbons sang all of Dummy in one continuous vocal take for most tracks — her raw emotional delivery was considered so perfect that producer Geoff Barrow rarely asked for a second attempt.