What is trip-hop music?

Trip-hop is a genre of atmospheric, downtempo music influenced by movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz, typically created using samples. The term, coined by the British magazine Mixmag , originated in Bristol, England. Massive Attack's 1990 album Blue Lines is widely considered the first trip-hop album. Other artists, such as Tricky and Portishead, helped to popularize the genre in the mid-1990s. Though globally popular, trip-hop has remained a largely British genre. An exception is the American DJ Shadow, who developed his version of trip-hop in northern California.

Where and when did trip-hop originate?

Trip-hop emerged from the postpunk scene of Bristol, England. The British dance magazine Mixmag coined the term, though many artists rejected it. Massive Attack's 1990 album, Blue Lines , is widely considered the first trip-hop album. The term gained traction around 1994–95, thanks to other Bristol artists like Tricky and Portishead. Trip-hop has remained a largely British genre, though American DJ Shadow is a notable exception. The first known use of the term was in 1989.

What are the main musical elements or instruments used in trip-hop?

Trip-hop is a genre of downtempo music that incorporates elements from movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz, often created using samples. It is a type of electronic dance music that typically uses a slow hip-hop beat and integrates hypnotic synthesized and prerecorded sounds.

How does trip-hop sound different from other types of electronic music?

Trip-hop distinguishes itself from other electronic music genres through its atmospheric, downtempo sound, often incorporating elements from movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz. It is characterized by a slow hip-hop beat, hypnotic synthesized sounds, and prerecorded samples. Originating in Bristol, England, in the early 1990s, trip-hop is designed more for "chilling out" than dancing, setting it apart from the more energetic rhythms typically found in house, techno, and other electronic dance music genres.

Who are some famous trip-hop artists or groups?

Trip-hop is a genre of atmospheric, downtempo music influenced by movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz, typically created using samples. Originating in Bristol, England, key artists include Massive Attack, who created Blue Lines (1990), considered the first trip-hop album. Other prominent Bristolians are Tricky, known for his album Maxinquaye (1995), and Portishead, noted for their album Dummy (1994). Though globally popular, trip-hop remains a largely British genre. Top artists include Funky Porcini, DJ Vadim, Wagon Christ, DJ Food, and U.N.K.L.E. A notable exception is American DJ Shadow, who honed his version of trip-hop in northern California.

How has trip-hop influenced other types of music or popular culture?

Trip-hop is a genre of downtempo music that incorporates elements from movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz, often created using samples. Emerging from Bristol, England, in the early 1990s, trip-hop gained popularity through artists like Massive Attack, Tricky, and Portishead. Though globally popular, trip-hop has largely remained a British genre. DJ Shadow, an American artist, is a notable exception. Trip-hop's emphasis on sampling and creating atmospheric soundscapes has influenced various electronic and hip-hop artists, contributing to the evolution of these genres.

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What is trip-hop music?
Trip-hop is a genre of atmospheric, downtempo music influenced by movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz, typically created using samples. The term, coined by the British magazine Mixmag, originated in Bristol, England.

Massive Attack's 1990 album Blue Lines is widely considered the first trip-hop album. Other artists, such as Tricky and Portishead, helped to popularize the genre in the mid-1990s. Though globally popular, trip-hop has remained a largely British genre. An exception is the American DJ Shadow, who developed his version of trip-hop in northern California.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Definition of trip-hop
2. trip-hop
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Where and when did trip-hop originate?
Trip-hop emerged from the postpunk scene of Bristol, England. The British dance magazine Mixmag coined the term, though many artists rejected it. Massive Attack's 1990 album, Blue Lines, is widely considered the first trip-hop album.

The term gained traction around 1994–95, thanks to other Bristol artists like Tricky and Portishead. Trip-hop has remained a largely British genre, though American DJ Shadow is a notable exception. The first known use of the term was in 1989.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Definition of trip-hop
2. trip-hop
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What are the main musical elements or instruments used in trip-hop?
Trip-hop is a genre of downtempo music that incorporates elements from movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz, often created using samples. It is a type of electronic dance music that typically uses a slow hip-hop beat and integrates hypnotic synthesized and prerecorded sounds.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Definition of trip-hop
2. trip-hop
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How does trip-hop sound different from other types of electronic music?
Trip-hop distinguishes itself from other electronic music genres through its atmospheric, downtempo sound, often incorporating elements from movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz. It is characterized by a slow hip-hop beat, hypnotic synthesized sounds, and prerecorded samples.

Originating in Bristol, England, in the early 1990s, trip-hop is designed more for "chilling out" than dancing, setting it apart from the more energetic rhythms typically found in house, techno, and other electronic dance music genres.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Definition of trip-hop
2. trip-hop
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Who are some famous trip-hop artists or groups?
Trip-hop is a genre of atmospheric, downtempo music influenced by movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz, typically created using samples.

Originating in Bristol, England, key artists include Massive Attack, who created Blue Lines (1990), considered the first trip-hop album. Other prominent Bristolians are Tricky, known for his album Maxinquaye (1995), and Portishead, noted for their album Dummy (1994). Though globally popular, trip-hop remains a largely British genre. Top artists include Funky Porcini, DJ Vadim, Wagon Christ, DJ Food, and U.N.K.L.E. A notable exception is American DJ Shadow, who honed his version of trip-hop in northern California.
1 Britannica Source
1. trip-hop
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How has trip-hop influenced other types of music or popular culture?
Trip-hop is a genre of downtempo music that incorporates elements from movie soundtracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz, often created using samples. Emerging from Bristol, England, in the early 1990s, trip-hop gained popularity through artists like Massive Attack, Tricky, and Portishead.

Though globally popular, trip-hop has largely remained a British genre. DJ Shadow, an American artist, is a notable exception. Trip-hop's emphasis on sampling and creating atmospheric soundscapes has influenced various electronic and hip-hop artists, contributing to the evolution of these genres.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Definition of trip-hop
2. trip-hop
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

trip-hop, genre of atmospheric down-tempo music, influenced by movie sound tracks, 1970s funk, and cool jazz and usually created using samples.

Coined by the British dance magazine Mixmag but rejected by many of its purported practitioners, trip-hop originated in Bristol, Eng., a West Country port known for its leisurely pace of life (see Creative Centres map: Bristol overview 1990). Spawned from the town’s postpunk bohemia, Massive Attack—a multiracial collective of deejays, singers, and rappers including Daddy G. (byname of Grant Marshall; b. Dec. 18, 1959, Bristol, Eng.), 3-D (byname of Robert Del Naja; b. Jan. 21, 1965, Brighton, Eng.), and Mushroom (byname of Andrew Vowles; b. c. 1968)—created Blue Lines (1990), widely regarded as the first trip-hop album. Citing influences from Isaac Hayes’s orchestral soul and the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s jazz-rock (see also John McLaughlin) to the dub reggae of Studio One, Massive Attack talked of making music for “chilling out” at home rather than for dancing—hence the torrid tempos of trip-hop.

Trip-hop as a term really achieved currency in 1994–95 thanks to other Bristolians, former Massive Attack rapper Tricky (byname of Adrian Thaws; b. Jan. 27, 1968, Bristol) and Portishead, a group formed by Massive protégé Geoff Barrow (b. Dec. 9, 1971, Southmead, Eng). Featuring the forlorn vocals of Martina Topley-Bird alongside Tricky’s croaky, mumbled rhymes, Tricky’s debut album, Maxinquaye (1995), is a masterpiece of paranoid ambience. Songs such as “Aftermath” and “Ponderosa” drew inspiration from the slough of despondency into which Tricky slid with help from alcohol and marijuana, but they also serve as stark visions of mid-1990s Britain: politically deadlocked, culturally stagnant, and with many young people using drugs to numb the pain of their blocked idealism. Portishead’s Dummy (1994) was similarly desolate-sounding thanks to the torch-singer persona of vocalist Beth Gibbons (b. Jan. 4, 1965, Keynsham, Eng.), but Barrow’s attractive film-score-influenced arrangements made the album a cult success and nearly ubiquitous as background music at trendy cafés and dinner parties. Portishead’s eponymous second album, released in 1997, covered much the same ground but lacked some of the cachet of its predecessor. Massive Attack remained active into the 2000s, though by the release of the group’s fourth album, 100th Window (2003), only 3-D remained from the original lineup.

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Although globally popular, trip-hop has remained a largely British genre. Its leading labels (Ninja Tune, Jazz Fudge, and Mo’ Wax—whose founder, James Lavelle, cited Blue Lines as the inspiration for his pursuit of a career in music) are based in the United Kingdom, as are the genre’s top artists, some of whom first made their mark in trip-hop but moved on to other musical pursuits, including Funky Porcini, DJ Vadim, Wagon Christ (Luke Francis Vibert), DJ Food, and U.N.K.L.E. The notable exception is DJ Shadow (byname of Josh Davis; b. Jan. 1, 1973, Hayward, Calif., U.S.), an American, who honed his version of trip-hop in northern California. A hip-hop fan disillusioned by rap’s commercialization, Shadow created emotionally evocative song suites such as “In/Flux” (1993), “Lost and Found” (1994), and “Midnight in the Perfect World” (1997), which, although artfully woven out of samples from movie sound tracks and vintage funk records, were essentially brand-new compositions. Shunning rappers and singers, Shadow preferred to use sound bites from spoken-word albums whenever his abstract music required emotional focus. The sleeve art of his 1996 debut, Endtroducing, depicts the teeming rack of a used vinyl (record) store. It is a celebration of hip-hop’s culture of ‘‘digging in the crates,” the hunter-gatherer approach to salvaging obscure samples from unlikely sources. Like Tricky and Massive Attack, Shadow proved that this is a valid modern aesthetic, which at its best can alchemize stale cheese into soulful gold. In 2006 he surprised trip-hop fans with his album The Outsider, on which he embraced “hyphy” (from hyper and fly), the mixture of old-school hip-hop beats and more-contemporary rapping styles that had emerged in the Oakland–San Franciso Bay Area.

Simon C.W. Reynolds

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