Trip hop: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Trip hop (also known as the Bristol Sound) is a term coined by United Kingdom dance magazine Mixmag, to describe a musical trend in the mid-1990s; trip hop is downtempo electronic music that grew out of England's hip hop and house scenes. Characterized by a reliance on breakbeats and a sample-heavy sound pioneered by Coldcut's remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full", trip hop gained notice via popular artists such as Portishead, Massive Attack, Tricky, and rock-influenced sound groups such as Ruby, California's DJ Shadow, and the UK's Howie B.

Trip largely started in Bristol (hence the Bristol Sound -- many Bristolian artists do not like the term "trip hop" and prefer not to distinguish it from hip-hop). It's characterised by a slow, spaced-out sound that a number of artists in the early and mid 1990s made synonymous with the city. These artists can include the aforementioned original Bristolians Way Out West, Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky and Smith and Mighty. Londoners Morcheeba and Glideascope are also often associated with this sound.

The trip-hop sound

The trip-hop sound is deeply reliant upon jazz samples, usually taken from old vinyl jazz records. This kind of reliance on sampling has changed the way record labels deal with clearing samples for use in other people's tracks. Trip-hop tracks often sample Rhodes pianos, saxophones, trumpets, and flutes, and develops in parallel to hip hop, each inspiring the other.

Trip-hop production is historically lo-fi, relying on analog recording equipment and instrumentation for an ambience. Portishead, for example, record their material to old tape from real instruments, and then sample their recordings rather than recording their instruments directly to a track. They also tend to put their drums through considerable compression.

Later, artists such as Glideascope have taken inspiration from many additional sources including world and orchestral influences.

• Air
• Archive
• Beta Band
• Emiliana Torrini
• Future Sound Of London
• GusGus
• Glideascope
• Hooverphonic
• Kruder & Dorfmeister
• Lemon Jelly
• Massive Attack
• Morcheeba
• Portishead
• Roudoudou
• Sneaker Pimps
• Solution Coma
• Thievery Corporation
• Tricky
• U.N.K.L.E.