A
Guide To Trip Hop
Or how you too can
recognize music from car commercials before everyone else
by Bill on February 10th - 2004
Well, it's official. I've
become one of Those Guys. Most folks know at least one; the guy
who listens to countless bands you've never heard of from a genre
you've always ignored, and tells you how much better they are
than anything on MTV, which he cleverly writes out as eMpTyV.
They take several different forms, from the 1930s jazz enthusiast
to the hair metal fanatic to the God-knows-what afficionado.
WELL HE'S BIG IN GERMANY
With a guy I knew, it was ska, also known as "punk with trumpets." He'd ramble on about some new band playing local clubs the size of my bathroom, and I'd just nod and pretend I knew what he was talking about. Any attempt at actual conversation on the subject never went well.
Skarulz: Dude, the Mighty
Mighty Bosstones suck now.
Me: Who?
Skarulz: They've got a big single out, now it's like
everybody knows them.
Me: Who?
Skarulz: I know you've heard that song, The Impression
That I Get.
Me: What?
Skarulz: Anyway, I only listen to Save Ferris now.
Me: They named their band after a line in a movie?
Skarulz: Movie?
I lost touch with him some time ago, but I'm sure the combination
of ska bands showing up on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater soundtracks and
Gwen Stefani doing a Shang Tsung morph into Madonna probably
killed him.
With me, it's trip hop, the Bristol-born mix of hip hop, electronica, jazz, R&B, and the musical kitchen sink. I don't remember now how I got into it, though I know my big source for new music early on was a station on Live365.com, in the days before they realized they weren't making any money playing the same commercial once every 30 minutes. Especially since it was a commercial advertising their own service. The genre is known to some thanks to more popular acts like Portishead and Massive Attack, but to most people, trip hop is still the little thing you do when your foot snags on a tree root and you don't want to fall down. That joke comes to us courtesy of famed "clean comic" Mark Lowry.
The skew of those vowels indicate this man is clearly out of
control! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES
Now that I've established what a disaster trying to introduce new people to your personal taste is, hEreZ mi fav muSiCs~~!! big shout outz to all mi frends at phillip thomas high clas of 2008 baybee~~!!!
Let's head to the kitchen!
Trip Hop Souffle
One cup beats, preferably phat or fresh. For those on a low calorie diet, dope beats can be substituted when necessary. If beats begin to show signs of illin', dispose of properly.
3 tablespoons of depression. Be sure your depression is aged correctly; the overall theme should be "the world is a cold and lonely place and I'm too old and tired to do anything about it." If music becomes angry, you've used underripe ingredients and possibly created nu metal. Contact poison control.
One stick female vocals. Ideally mournful and middle-aged to help draw out the depression. Whip with production effects until voice sounds like a scratchy 70 year old blues album.
Heat up the oven, now we on a roll. Cheap cheap cheap's the name of my soul.
I'm using the term "trip hop" here for the sake of convenience, but in actuality it's not that simple. Like most recent styles to come out of clubs, the categorization isn't quite standardized. Trip hop is one term out of about 492, also being called chill, chillout, acid jazz, nu jazz, downtempo, progressive Bulgarian jungle eurohouse, ambient, lounge, lo-fi... *continues looking through Winamp's genre list* uh..
Well I have to see this. From AT's Christian Lyrics:
im posted outside the gates of
Hell, shhh
i got the Blood of Christ so they cant prevail
i hear em talkin, they dont know im stalkin
the thrill to leave more dead, slugs in they forehead
That was... creepy. As for the rest of that list, I don't know what Chanson is, but I think I bought one one of those Booty Bass things for my grandpa for Christmas. It sings "Don't Worry, Be Happy." My grandpa's dead now. Where was I?
All the labels have their problems; Acid Jazz sounds like a poor attempt at marketing NOW That's What I Call Ella Fitzgerald Dance Remix!, Chillout sounds like what some 19 year old deadhead picks up from Sam Goody's on the way home from his job at the new age crystal shop so he's got something to listen to while smoking a bag of hash bigger than his head, and Lounge just makes me think of Leisure Suit Larry. Downtempo is probably the most descriptive, but it's sorta dull.
There are two basic sides to the style. One has more traditional bands, with real instruments and singing or rapping, featuring more typical song structure. The other side focuses more on electronics, sounding closer to its free-flowing techno and electronica brethren. Some groups are very much one or the other, while some are right down the middle. And some sound nothing like my little recipe up there, thus rendering this all moot. See how fun new music can be?
Theft
Sampling
Sampling involves holding very still while the RIAA sniffs you, because it has really poor vision. When done successfully, it will leave to go eat someone on the john and you're left free to star in Merlin.
Not all trip hop groups sample, but those that do follow a simple rule: The more obscure, the better. Sampling a Britney Spears song would be about as edgy and hip as that time your friend Chrissy was dressed all in black so you said "sup trinity" and everyone laughed because they're dead inside. Artists dig through ancient records, old educational film strips and cult films to find just the right snippets of music or dialogue for just the right effect. Sorta like what we do here, except instead of building a song around an old blues riff, we build articles around that time Johnny 5 danced around and learned about life and love. Or how Boo's got someone straight trippin'.
So if you wanted to sample, say, a primetime cartoon, the Critic is the least you could get away with. The Simpsons would be out of the question. Family Dog would make you a fucking superstar.
Some examples:
Song: "Natural
Blues" by Moby.
Sampled: "Trouble So Hard" by Alan Lomax.
Score: Gets 50 points for age and relative obscurity, but
loses 60 points for being a scrawny rich white guy using an old
slave song. But an extra 100 points for hitting the Christina
Ricci multiplier puts him back in the black. I mean the plus
side! Dammit!
Song:
"Metropolis" by Concorde Music Club
Sampled: Dialogue from Carnival of Souls, a 1962 movie
about a woman who thinks she's survived a car accident, only to
come to realize she didn't. Then she logs into IRC.
<maryhenry> omg
<maryhenry> im dead :(
<mnightshamalama> rly?
<mnightshamalama> hey can i use that?
<maryhenry> wtf
<mnightshamalama> cmon ur not using it ur dead
<mnightshamalama> wat do u care
<beetlejuice666> i was here first asshole
<beetlejuice666> get in line
<mnightshamalama> I AM INSANE WITH ANGER
<mnightshamalama> IT IS TIME FOR AN ASS WHOOPING
Score: I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass, so let's say.. 200. The album has been described as a soundtrack for a film that doesn't exist, so bizarre, out of context lines from old movies seem right at home. The bonus feature is that after a few listens, the lines become committed to memory, and one can pull them out at parties whenever the conversation gets dull.
"So, that's why I picked the
cheddar cheese for our crackers, which I think--"
"I have no desire for the close company of other people. I
don't seem capable of being very close to people. Well I know one
thing: My imagination is playing tricks on me. I can put a stop
to it, and the time to go out there is now. I can go alone."
"Oh."
Song: "Solitude's
Song" by Alif Tree
Sampled: Billie Holiday's "Solitude" and
dialogue from Leaving Las Vegas.
Score: Only 5 points for the Holiday song; taking sad old
music to make sad new music that's supposed to sound old is like
doing something equally circuitous that I can't think of at the
moment. Leaving Las Vegas isn't obscure, but gets 30 points
anyway because Nicholas Cage's lines make this song ten times as
depressing. Acting ability aside, his voice is the aural
equivolent of those donation jars shaped like droopy bloodhounds
with slots in their heads holding signs asking you to donate to
help kids with no toes.
Except for Con Air. Then his voice is just like being bludgeoned with a hammer.
Song: "Sad and
Lonely" by Daughter Darling
Sampled: A 1990 audio book reading of a 1967 Rod McKuen
poem.
Score: Who? +1,000,000 points.
Note that sampling is related to, but not the same as, the other popular practice in music known as "wholeheartedly raping." For examples of this, see Puff Daddy's "Come With Me." Or Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You." Or Puff Daddy's "Notorious B.I.G." Or Puff Daddy's "Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor."
I miss you so much dawg that I wrote a couple lines over a
song I heard on the radio
<maryhenry> so what do i do
now?
<mnightshamalama> swing away
Artists
The best way to be introduced to new artists outside the mainstream is Internet radio or digital cable/satellite music services. Our cable system uses DMX Music, which provides for a wide range of goofy tastes. These channels are often used for background music in stores, restaurants, etc; bars will keep on Alternative or Album Rock or Showtunes (depending on the establishment), a Christmas shop may use the Seasonal channel, and those nature stores that always sell rainsticks and telescopes and old Mind's Eye computer animation videos that used to be cool will turn on Environmental Sounds, thus more fully immersing you in the steamy jungle of their overpriced crap.
But if you turn on a station actually related to the subject at hand, one might hear:
Bjork - Known for epic, surreal soundscapes so powerful they require writers to employ the most cliched terms possible to describe them. She's the insert person/title/expletive here of our generation! Also known for wearing waterfowl and being attractive in an odd, non-mainstream kind of way. Just like her music.
Do I!
Moby - If you've ever seen an image displayed on a screen, you've heard Moby. Unless you're deaf, I guess. ..No, even then. His album Play sold over 10 million copies, though about 9.3 million of those were bought by companies who proceeded to use all 18 tracks in various ads, TV shows and movies. He's also a vegan and political activist who writes essays about both in the liner notes of his albums, because being the biggest sell-out in history didn't make enough people hate him.
Concorde Music Club - They've only got one album out so far (not counting one remix album), called Stereo Fictions. Luckily, it also happens to be great. Everyone should have this album, and if they don't like it, they should be lured in front of a humorously oversized slingshot by a sign that says "free birdseed" and then fired into the moon. This would both rid the world of bad taste in music and finally do away with protest groups determined to release convicted serial killer Seamus "Birdseed" McGee.
Crazy Penis - To be honest, I've only heard one of their songs. It's not bad, but that's not the point. What is the point? Crazy Penis.
It's time to make some CRAAAAAZZY herpes!
DJ Shadow - Became popular with his debut album Endtroducing in 1996, making him one of the earliest Americans to make it big in trip hop. Is scruffy and wears a knit cap.
DJ Muggs - Former member of Cypress Hill. Recently released an experimental album called Dust. Is scruffy and wears a knit cap.
DJ Krush - Japanese DJ inspired by American hip hop in the early 90s. Is scruffy and wears a baseball cap.
DJ Tanner - Oldest sister being raised by a dullard, a narcissist, and TV's Dave Coulier. Inability to be scruffy and lack of headgear have sent career into downward spiral.
Thus concludes my nerdy little essay. Hopefully someone found it a little informative, and was perhaps inspired to try out some new music. The rest can just enjoy one of the best pictures of Bjork ever. If you're honestly interested in the genre, I suggest checking out this site and sites like it for lists of bands that are also good but for whom I couldn't come up with a joke. Or visit your local library. Not that they'd have anything about this there, but you might find a book about chinchillas or something, and they're pretty cute.
