Ambient and J***y Trip-Hop Groove

Where did I get them from? Most of them are recommendations and demonstrations from Kevin Scott of Living Voice loudspeakers and the Definitive Audio store, a sound bloke with one of the most eclectic and fun tastes in music.

Trawling through the Internet also helps. The "similar artists" facility on record sites such as cdnow.com and Amazon.co.uk also prove interesting. Recently found some experimental music sites, but most of the stuff tends to be randomised garbage.

I'm wondering if anyone also has Rinocerose or Ian Pooley in their collections...?

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

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BTW--I wouldn't really call Air's Moon Safari trip hop.

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Vuk,

Neither would I, although it does fit with the Ambient Groove side of things.

Kevin Yost, José Padilla and St. Germain are new names to me and will look forward to trying them out. Thanks

Another name for you to try is Alex Gopher.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

Blue States - Nothing Changes Under the Sun
Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin (you have to get this!)
Waldeck - Balance of the Force
Bob Marley - Dreams of Freedom
Thievery Corp - The Mirror Conspiracy
Faithless - Back to Mine, Sunday 8pm

Try those on for size. Jay

Other favourite vaguely recent trip-hop / chilled grooves are:

Goldfrapp 'Felt mountain' - covers the whole range from cheesy film music with beats, right across to cheesy film music with beats and a Randle and Hopkirk dulcimer thrown in. I love it.

Alpha 'Come from heaven' - Excellent chunk of chilled trip-hop, very lush and full sound, again with a hint of 60s film music in places. This one is a real grower.

Nittin Sawhney 'Beyond skin' - Not trip-hop, in fact it is so varied it pretty much defies being flung into any category. Has elements of D&B trip-hop, R&B (but good) along with much traditional Asian influence. Strong reflection of Nittin's upbringing in the UK Asian community. Probably a landmark album in its own right.

Morcheeba 'Who can you trust' - The first, and most stripped down of their three albums, and IMHO definitely the best. Later albums started filling up the gaps, which was a real shame, as the spaces really make the first one.

And I can't not mention the one that started it all for me Portishead 'Dummy' - Stripped down grooves, cut & shut sampling, plus 1950s sci-fi Theremin sounds and fabulous Billy Holiday like vocal. A really atmospheric album that has truly stood the test of time. The live album 'PNYC' is also stunning, possibly even better than 'Dummy', though I hate the way they have faded the audience between tracks - Live albums should be unbroken.

Tony.

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Faithless - Back to Mine

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Absolutely brilliant compilation album and probably the best of the Back to Mine series. Others worht checking out from this series are Danny Tenaglia and Groove Armarda.

You seem to have most of the Aphex twin bases covered. You don't mention but I assume you have the SAW vol 1. The other album to get is 'Polygon Window' very good. After that it is a matter of hunting down a long list of singles, 12"s and other odd stuff.

On the subject of Portishead I really rate the second album, really in yer face and tense. Love the vicious EQ on the vocal on many tracks, and that when they fade out the surface noise my vinyl copy goes totaly silent.

Kevin.

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I've got Aphex Twin in his ...hmm.. THIRDanalogue bubble bath (Rephlex / AFX in his 3rd analogue bubblebath) - has anyone got a CD of 1,2 or 4? Are these on CD, or am I going to have to get that TT a bit sooner than I thought?

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Is Vol 3 the one in a brown paper bag and a map of 'Things to do in Cornwall'? If so it’s the one I have, and its really good. Its got a track mixed so there is a different song out of each speaker, and various locked grooves if I remember correctly.

I second the recommendation for 'Selected ambient works Vol 1', I rate it to be his best work to date, it is very different to 'SAW Vol 2', though I do like that as well. 'SAW Vol 1' is a lot more similar to the more chilled parts of 'Analogue Bubblebath'. The Polygon Window album is as stated excellent, and I also have the 12" single in clear vinyl somewhere.

On a similar note, have you checked out much of the competition from the time? I really rate:

Black Dog Productions 'Bytes' - Now available mid priced, this is IMHO a landmark piece of electronica, weird beats, weird time signatures, and just bizarrely beautiful. Plaid were two thirds of them. This is a classic chunk of the early nineties Warp Artificial Intelligence series. Any BDP or Plaid album is IMHO essential.

Speedy J 'Ginger' - Another great piece of Warp Artificial Intelligence, chilled soundscapes with great beats and riffs, just creates the right atmosphere. I played it to death when it came out. I rate just about all of the Warp Artificial Intelligence series, there are also great albums by B12, Fuse (Richie Hawtin before he discovered drugs!), Autechere etc.

Plastikman 'Sheet one' - Richie Hawtin at exactly the point he discovered Class As! Fabulously sparse, minimal, and trippy album. Little more than a 303, 909 and a few effects, but stunning.

Tony.

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My third analogue bubblebath came on a "clean" CD in a CD single case with a sticky lable on the front saying what it was.

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Aha, that explains it, mine is one of those quaint old record things. I suspect the CD may actually have more tracks.

Tony.

SAW vol 1 is the Aphex album, very special indeed. The other analogue bubble bath CDs are availbale if you look hard, there are still some I need to get.

I second Tony's Plastikman and Black Dog suggestions, I also suggest Plaid who are half of Black Dog. I don't have any Speedy J but think I will soon.

Kevin, or is it Keith?

There are 4 CDs (there's a single CD sampler called "Deception of the Thrush" culled from the full box) with one each from 4 different sub-lineups of the full KC band playing improvised music at club dates. It's all good stuff, but the P3 and P4 entries are particularly good, with Pat Mastelotto combining played and programmed percussion particulary effectively and Fripp and Gunn changing between searing lines and spacey grooves easily. Tony Levin is on P4 and adds some bass that'll make your speakers walk around the room if you're not careful.

Pete.

Hi!

If you like the mediterranean - seeing the sun set
over the sea in a total relaxed atmosphere:
Café del mar - volume seis
Cafè del mar - volume siete
number six has more vocals, both by various artists. Really gives me back my life in these days
or
lemongrass - windows
although it's raining and the stock market goes down again: you just don't care any longer
another one:
Yonderboi - shallow and profound
substitute for psychoactive substances, err, kind of...
comfortZone - compiled Living Resource vol 3
although some of the sources of the mixes are doubtful/nasty the record itself: very loungy
ok - already relaxed? Try this
Hi:Fidelity Lounge - vol one: subterranean soundtracks
Minus 8 - Elysian fields
groovy and relaxed
As Morcheeba, Portishead and Massive Attack have been mentioned before, what about Tricky or Goldie? Lamb have made a fine album, too.
On one of the Kruder & Dormeister remixes, I think it was DJ kicks there's a trip hop band from vienna called sofa surfers, have heard them in a concsért in berlin, although they don't rock, they rock!!!
There are still some on the pile in on the cd player, but: already late.
Perhaps you try and comment.
There should be sound samples at amazon if you want to check out
Guido