Trip Hop

September 16, 2004 8:44 AM

Trip Hop (or downtempo or whatever): I love Tricky, Massive Attack, Hooverphonic, Portishead, Laika, Lamb, Sneaker Pimps, Martina, etc. What other, new acts have a similar sort of dark, humid and metallic aftertaste?
posted by signal to media & arts (45 answers total)

i don't know about new, but i've got morcheeba and supreme beings of leisure in my portishead/sneaker pimps/massive attack play list.

i've also got miranda sex garden, amethystium, gropius, battery and ivoux in a similar group on my player.

the most recent blonde redhead album is in this vein, but i found it grating and unpleasant.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:51 AM on September 16, 2004

You might like some Kruder & Dorfmeister, Zero 7, Thievery Corporation, The Cinematic Orchestra, Herbaliser, Funkstörung, and my current favourite: Nils Petter Molvaer "Recoloured - The Remix Album" (it's technically the normally-evil "fusion jazz", but it's really trip-hop/downtempo) - his "Khmer" album is also fabulous.
posted by biscotti at 9:03 AM on September 16, 2004

scala (formed from the ashes of seefeel) is perfect for you. compass heart is their best album, but beauty nowhere and to you in alpha are also very good. and the lips and heaven ep is excellent too.
scorn's zander, gyral, and maybe even amnesis (maybe avoid their earlier stuff like vae solis and colossus - i love it, but it's very dark indeed - and noisy)
meat beat manifesto - possibly a bit obvious.
techno animal and related projects, like ice, the sidewinder, and if you're feeling really brave, god. possibly straying too far into the dark and frightening world of extreme noise with god, but still...
avrocar
bowery electric

none of these are really new, but they might be to you!
posted by nylon at 9:11 AM on September 16, 2004

land of the loops, solex, squarepusher
posted by milovoo at 9:17 AM on September 16, 2004

*sniff*... alas, seefeel... we hardly knew ye...
posted by squirrel at 9:18 AM on September 16, 2004

forgot to mention sneakster. classically trained female vocals over the top of spidery, baroque, scritchy scratchy electronica.
and SO - markus popp from oval's new project, which takes distorted japanese female vocals and buries them under sheets of sludgy, crackling electronic detritus. their one album so far is also called SO.
posted by nylon at 9:20 AM on September 16, 2004

Any of the albums by Laika.
posted by anathema at 9:24 AM on September 16, 2004

A caveat: my suggestions are really not metallic (must read questions more thoroughly in future). But I will strongly recommend any and all Sneaker Pimps remixes you can find, they're almost uniformly great. You might like Curve as well.
posted by biscotti at 9:24 AM on September 16, 2004

I'm not sure what you mean by "metallic aftertaste".

Blue States
Jute
The Dining Rooms
The Merkin Dream
Casino Vs. Japan
Tycho
posted by cmonkey at 9:28 AM on September 16, 2004

curve is one of my very favorite bands ever and they mix well with portishead, i think.

you might also look into finding remixes, generally. tricky's done some of bjork and garbage which are good.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:30 AM on September 16, 2004

You might get some ideas by listening to the "Beat Blender" stream at Soma FM.
posted by Otis at 9:32 AM on September 16, 2004

David Thomas and Two Pale Boys isn't really related to trip hop/downtempo at all (but really, Squarepusher?), but does have a kind of dark and humid sound—not metallic so much as a noir feel.

Also, they aren't new (though they do have a new album).
posted by kenko at 9:38 AM on September 16, 2004

curve is one of my very favorite bands ever and they mix well with portishead, i think.

Mine too. Nice and dark, but still groovy.

If you can find it, "Rebirth of Cool Phive" (on the 4th & Broadway label) is probably an ideal album for you, signal, it's a bunch of remixes and original tracks, all downtempo/trip-hop/electronica, and it might give you a "shopping list" of bands you might like. It's one of my favourite albums, but it can be difficult to find.
posted by biscotti at 9:38 AM on September 16, 2004

alpha and gus gus fall in that category (though neither are "new").

I'll also second checking out Kruder and Dorfmeister, especially The K&D Sessions, one of my desert island albums.
posted by freshgroundpepper at 9:46 AM on September 16, 2004

Some of these have already been mentioned:

Air, Moon Safari (Can't believe no one's mentioned it yet!!)
Morcheeba, Big Calm
Thievery Corporation, Mirror Conspiracy
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:12 AM on September 16, 2004

I'll second The Dining Rooms.
posted by dobbs at 10:22 AM on September 16, 2004

I'd suggest "Tempermental" by Everything But the Girl. The lead singer on EBTG is the vocalist on "protection" by Massive Attack, and after the success of that track they tried to move in that direction. Tempermental is more slick and less dark than Protection, but you might like it.

You might also check out DJ Krush, maybe "Zen". I think it's kind of in the same vein.

Both of these albums are old. I haven't found new stuff in the same vein as what you describe.
posted by gd779 at 10:27 AM on September 16, 2004

Hey, you know what? I do know a good, new trip-hop album. Sweet Shadows by Daughter Darling.
posted by gd779 at 10:31 AM on September 16, 2004

I might also suggest Rae & Christian, Smith & Mighty, Soma, Emma's Mini, Jazzanova, Kyoto Jazz Massive, United Future Organization, St. Germain and just about anything on the K7! and Ninjatune labels.
posted by black8 at 10:53 AM on September 16, 2004

Madredeus's "Electronico" album.

Goldfrapp.
posted by kindall at 11:06 AM on September 16, 2004

Underworld: Second Toughest in the Infants
posted by jpoulos at 11:46 AM on September 16, 2004

Cirrus

Moloko
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 12:04 PM on September 16, 2004

Frou Frou - they only have one album, called "Details," but it's quite good.
posted by thewittyname at 12:14 PM on September 16, 2004

Hard to find because they're from Portland, they're unsigned, and they're very, very local, but see if you can get a Dahlia CD from cdbaby or somewhere. Both of the CDs they have out (Vases is the newer, Emotion Cycles is a few years old) are awesome.

For those who live in Portland or nearby, they're playing for the first time in ages at the Ohm this Friday night. Jen and Keith will go on at about 11. They're playing at Tonic Lounge in Seattle, IIRC, on Saturday night. I realize that doesn't help you, Signal, but it might introduce a PNW'er to my favorite duo...!
posted by SpecialK at 1:00 PM on September 16, 2004

You say you love Hooverphonic, but make sure you get all of their albums. There's not a weak one in the pile (some fans didn't like Jackie Cane to start with, granted). Their latest album, Sit Down And Listen To Hooverphonic, a live album, is just amazing, and you get to hear those old trip hop tunes redone in a weird jazzy downtempo way. It's great to hear Geike singing 2Wicky rather than the dull singer they had for their first (though most trip-hoppy) album.

Anyway, Red Snapper are another good band to try out in a similar genre. They're not too obscure, so you should be able to find some of their stuff easily enough. It might be a bit uptempo for your tastes, though I'd still lump it as trip-hop. They're a bit like the more cheerful bits of Lamb. Some tracks worth checking out would be.. Crease, Image of You, and Heavy Petting (which was a hit, and the most uptempo of their stuff).

Also, Mono are another band in the trip-hop genre to check out. They're probably more famous than Red Snapper even. Try 'Life of Mono', it's been used in a bunch of car commercials.. and 'Slimcea Girl' is nice if you wanna hear what Bert Baccarach Does Trip Hop sounds like.
posted by wackybrit at 1:28 PM on September 16, 2004

Oh, and I'll second crush's Supreme Beings of Leisure recommendation too while I'm at it. Also consider.. The Gotan Project, which moves into the realms of tango, Zero 7 (also mentioned above), and, well, you might eventually end up drifting onto things like The Cinematic Orchestra and Amon Tobin. I did.
posted by wackybrit at 1:30 PM on September 16, 2004

I second Mono, the Supreme beings of leisure, Goldfrapp (particularly "Black Cherry") and might add Mum and Mandalay.

Also track down "Music to make love to your lady by" by Lovage, something of a supergroup for a one-off album.

To go out on a long limb, check out Fluke's "Risotto".
posted by codger at 1:36 PM on September 16, 2004

Ok, great stuff everybody, you made my day (and screwed my workday at the same time).
DLed a bunch of stuff. Loving Seefeel and Rebirth of Cool Phive, so far. Supreme Beings is a bit too soulful for me, I like my music a little drier, more cerebral.
Keep 'em coming, this is definitely going in my bookmarks.
posted by signal at 2:03 PM on September 16, 2004

that lovage album is spectacular. jennifer charles, who sang for it, also sings for elysian fields (and is a total babe) which while not at all trip-hoppy is definitely dark and humid (particularly queen of the meadow).
posted by crush-onastick at 2:05 PM on September 16, 2004

You might also like Wasted, which also isn't new, but is good (also a compilation).
posted by biscotti at 2:47 PM on September 16, 2004

Ditto on Curve... I love 'em. Also, on the fringes of that, but shading more into shoegaze, you might want to check out Slowdive.
posted by psmealey at 2:59 PM on September 16, 2004

The Kid Loco 'DJ Kicks' album is pretty much in this vein. (And pretty good, besides.)
posted by Sonny Jim at 4:37 PM on September 16, 2004

if you find yourself digging the ninjatune nu jazz vibe, check out skalpel who have a self-titled out.
posted by juv3nal at 9:35 PM on September 16, 2004

For instrumental stuff: DJ Shadow, Kruder & Dorfmeister (specifically their G-Stoned EP, which is their only non-remix CD), and Tosca's first two albums.
posted by abcde at 12:13 AM on September 17, 2004

Incidentally as long as we're talking about Mono and Hooverphonic in the same breath - Silicon by Mono and 2Wicky by Hooverphonic use the same sample of the beat from Isaac Hayes' version of "Walk on By." Just saying.
posted by abcde at 12:15 AM on September 17, 2004

Oh, and I still can't emphasize Tosca enough - their Suzuki album IMO should be regarded as one of the classics of history, alongside Sgt. Pepper's, OK Computer etc. Download DJ Shadow's "Midnight in a Perfect World" too, it's not that trip-hoppy but it's very downbeat/spacey and it's definitely in that area.
posted by abcde at 12:17 AM on September 17, 2004

Oh, oh, oh, and listen to Poe (specifically the song Fingertips for a start) for a surprisingly natural mainstream poppy but not tacky version of trip-hop. She's guy who wrote House of Leaves' sister, whatever his name is.

This is getting to be a lot of posts.
posted by abcde at 12:21 AM on September 17, 2004

Actually, Morcheeba has been doing that too for some time, so nevermind.

I swear I'm done ;)
posted by abcde at 12:23 AM on September 17, 2004

Oooh, someone just mentioned Amon Tobin. I'll second it before the post runs off the 'Green'. The first song I ever heard of Amon Tobins was Bridge, off of Permutation. Got me hooked. It's not really trip-hop, however he's a damned genius and needs to be mentioned. (er, again.)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:20 AM on September 17, 2004

Damned, one more just came to mind. Bent: Programmed to Love has some nice tunes on it (Invisible Pedestrian gets some play, but the singing on Private Road is lovely, as well).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:24 AM on September 17, 2004

Iuno is pretty good ... and so is Loquat.
posted by jasonspaceman at 10:41 AM on September 17, 2004

Puracane
posted by terrortubby at 1:33 PM on September 17, 2004

Pollyanna Frank, Karni Postel if you're interested in music in another language (Hebrew)
posted by terrortubby at 1:36 PM on September 17, 2004

anyone still watching this thread? if you're in chicago, jute (one of the recommendations in this thread) is playing at the abbey pub this sunday (the 26th), $10 at the door. i know it doesn't help the original poster, but i thought someone might be interested.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:03 AM on September 22, 2004

oh, and also, you might try collide. particularly chasing the ghost. they get termed "industrial dance" in most record stores, but chasing the ghost is much slower than that.
posted by crush-onastick at 2:44 PM on September 23, 2004