Trip Hop Music

Trip Hop music originated back in the mid-eighties, and it can be best described as down tempo electronic music. It began growing in England in scenes related to house and hip hop. Where it developed from a fusion of Electronica and Hip Hop into a brand new genre in which neither original genre was recognizable. The genre evolved from having a tendency to imitate American hip hop, to the substitution of vocals with complex and more abstract sounds, in a very clear reflection of what was said about the British hip hop lacking the vocal skills of the American version, but making up for it with their musical side and more knowledge of records. At moontheory.net we support this genre and encourage you to read more about it.

In terms of history, back in the mid-80's in England (Bristol), as hip hop was gaining popularity and dance and house scenes exploded, Trip Hop music was born greatly marked by the Jamaican influence of the British black population. An interesting phenomena in the way that British hip hop evolved differently from American hip hop, we can mention that in England, it was immediately influenced by R&B and dancehall. Having been Bristol a key port for slave trade in the Atlantic, it has been one of the most diverse multi racial cities, and that explains better that the influences of the Jamaican descendant subculture that was well versed in afro-influence rhythms.

A name that must be definitively mentioned when talking about Trip Hop bands, Trip Hop artists and Trip Hop music is The Wild Bunch as they gave that special spin and gave way to the birth of this gender. The Wild Bunch (Trip Hop Artists) later evolved into massive attack, and by the year 1994, the term Trip Hop music had been first coined to refer to all the music on the Massive Attack albums that was characterized by having electronic, jazzy, dubby textures.

If we want to define a peak of Trip Hop's popularity, it would have to be near 1995, when artists like Naked Funk and Howie B, made great contributions to the gender. A very popular band that contributed to this genre a lot was Portished composed by Beth Gibbons (singer), Adrian Utley and Geoff barrow (sonic manipulators). This band was all white and produced an album called Dummy that was later awarded the mercury Music Prize, being the best album of the year in England in 1995. A very interesting fact about this band is the way they helped the genre without even knowing they were doing it, as many Trip Hop bands began imitating their sound as Trip Hop music.

A band that should be mentioned in terms of this genre, even it was never really popular is the band known as the Moon Theory, and their self named album The Moon theory that will definitively be part of the books of history of the Trip Hop artists. Visit moontheory.net and get more information about them.