The first time I heard Angel was in school in music class. The teacher put it on at the beginning of the lesson, played it through then went "that has nothing to do with your lesson today I just wanted to hear it on the schools big speakers"
Those were the days. Could teacher's still get away with that today?
Never heard this album before and would only know the songs if they charted but I'm going to check it out.
If you’ve seen the Matrix, track 6 (Dissolved Girl) is playing over Neo’s headphones as he is introduced.
If you’ve ever seen the intro sequence to House, you’ve heard an instrumental-only version of track 3 (Teardrop)
If you’ve seen the episode of the West Wing where Zoey gets kidnapped, track 1 (Angel) is what is playing at the club.
There was a movie back in the 90s called Go with Katie Holmes and Timothy Olyphant that had Angel, as well.
In fact, I feel like snippets of this song popped up in various movies and movie trailers throughout the late 90s and 00s.
I think my favorite use of Angel was in Guy Ritchie's classic Snatch. It plays when Brad Pitt's mom dies in a caravan fire after winning his boxing match.
I saw them in NC in the 90’s and never paid much mind but honestly thought Horace Andy’s singing was a female until I saw the show. Now I’m like sheesh I was dumb (I even knew who he was). But I was honestly shocked at that moment. Love his singing so much.
Mezz is certainly their masterpiece, but the first two albums are great too.
Anything they've done w Tracey Thorn, Horace Andy, or Elisabeth Fraser is truly excellent.
>Many still consider Blue Lines their masterpiece, but I agree it's Mezzanine 100%
I'd venture that's largely because Blue Lines has *Unfinished Sympathy,* probably one of the finest tracks on all-time greatest lists.
Blue lines is fantastic. Unfinished Sympathy is such a banger. I remember when it was basically playing 4 times an hour on MTV. It's a timeless song, so good.
>I don't know why, I just can't get into Blue Lines. It feels like a band trying to find their thing, and not finding it until Protection.
Protection is so godlike It sits perfectly as a cushion.
it’s not so much about them trying to find their thing as it was them taking [what had already been their thing](https://youtu.be/V_X1Mg0FMJM) and blending it all together a bit more intimately.
Blue Lines is a transitional album between their soundsystem days as part of The Wild Bunch crew (of which Tricky and Nellee Hooper were a part) and their days as Massive Attack. as a soundsystem, they performed and deejayed a number of different styles of music (hip-hop, reggae, r&b), and the tunes on Blue Lines showcase this confluence.
to take it back to Mezzanine, the influence of their soundsystem days can be heard in Man Next Door, their cover of [a classic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PItLZIU9PkM) by first-generation ska band The Paragons.
I went through a period in my early 20's where Massive Attack and UNKLE were 90% of my playlist rotation. Trip Hop was such a "cool as fuck" genre. I'm jealous of anyone who gets to venture down that rabbit hole for the first time.
[The video](https://youtu.be/52bAsZI9xm8) of Roads from this performance made me cry like a baby the first time I saw it. The way you can see Beth Gibbons almost break down after syncing the opening lyric sent me. Beautiful music
Bowery Electric is a true hidden gem! I was obsessed with them when I was in college in the late 2000's.
They have released 3 albums. Self titled, Beat, and Lushlife. Their first album is drony post-rock. The second is post-rock with trip-hop influences. The third is a trip-hop. Edit: Here's [a track](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5kRrLmGJho) from their 2nd album.
Highly recommend them to anyone looking for some deep cuts.
I’m going to date myself here, but in the days of Yahoo Launchcast, I was listening to a trip hop station. A song came on and I instantly recognized it as the song that is playing through Neo’s headphones as he’s sleeping in front of the computer in the first Matrix. I had no idea what the song was but I always wanted to find it, and here it was playing! I immediately checked out the rest of the album and was blown away. I’m so glad you found it. I would suggest checking out Bjork’s album Vespertine for another ethereal, atmospheric album.
That scene from the matrix made a huge impression on me too.
The matrix in general really captures late 90s big beat / trip hop in a way no other movie did.
It's 1997. A young Stoopid Stoner is working at Camelot Records (now FYE). Every week we got in sample records (cds) to play in the store to promote new releases, some get played (I fucking hate Hole because of how much my manager played it) some doesn't and gets put in a box for us to take from.
Now most of these albums are marked so you know who it is. Except this lone orange CD sitting in a plastic sleeve. I wonder what this is I says to my self and ask to take it. Go ahead. I take it home and kinda forget about it till me and a buddy take a road trip up to Orlando to check out Full Sail (rip off btw) we dig checking out new stuff so I pop the CD in.
Our minds where blown. We listened to that album on repeate all the way up and all the way back (3 to 4 hour drive each way) it was then and there my love for Trip Hop was discovered.
Amazing fucking album.
I am amazed to meet someone in the wild who listened to Yahoo Launchcast! When I got my first laptop in 2004 I discovered Launchcast Plus and immediately went to their trip-hop stations. Prior, I never heard any of that stuff anywhere else sans a fated european trip in 2003, and desparately wanted more. Launch cast was *the* reason I found so many bands I absolutely loved in high school that I would not have found otherwise.
Haha there was just a post this afternoon in the cyberpunk sub of a picture of the scene with neo asleep at his desk and we were saying how we can't see that without also hearing the massive attack track in our head. So of course I had to throw on some headphones and spend the rest of my day at work listening to all of Mezzanine.
Yes, it's amazing. Massive Attack absolutely dominated my late 90s/early 00 stoner experience. I also suggest Tricky, Portishead, and Underworld. (once you run out of Massive Attack)
Every song you mentioned I was introduced to by 94.9 FM here in San Diego during their nightly "Big Sonic Chill" block hosted by Midori. It was *so* good until they were bought out and Midori was terminated.
~~I have an old playlist around here somewhere. I'll make a Spotify version when I have a moment and link it here.~~
Update: [Here is the playlist!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/221aDvW1VhXxnToMdBecwO) It is 266 songs. There are quite a few that I couldn't find on Spotify like Curve's Doppleganger album. I think the [YouTube playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRhoenc8JG0v3hPe3TZsk1mKz-pqMXE8U) is a bit more complete, but I think I lost like... ~60 songs due to copyright and/or privating videos.
> Here is the playlist!
Made an [Apple Music version](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/big-sonic-chill/pl.u-Ymb0922cxDEAzL) with all the songs that I could find.
[DJ Shadow's Midnight in a Perfect World is just so good](https://youtu.be/KH5He9TW0mE)
[And Hooverphonic's 2 Wicky is funkmaxadelic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dppcuKJrqbE)
I worked at the WB at the time, and edited a video pitching Angel to advertisers at the big upfront presentation. They hadn’t shot anything yet, so it was cobbled together from Buffy clips and B-roll from movies. I dropped 2wicky uncut into the music tracks and cut the entire presentation to it.
Oooo Underworld. I feel that band hasn’t been brought up as much when it comes to 90s nostalgia. Born Slippy is such a fucking great song. We would listen to that as the ecstasy kicked in. Then some Fatboy Slim and Chemical Bros.
I used to love Halycon and On and On... discovered as a 5 year old because it was the end of at the end of mortal kombat movie and on the soundtrack lol... well still love it.
Finally saw chemical brothers last year and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
Coachella is not my scene, but being able to see chemical brothers, underworld, and a couple other of the electronic greats was very tempting…
Don't forget Sneaker Pimps and Poe.
*Edit: Here's a whole bunch more:*
Some artists to check out, especially their early work:
* Dzihan & Kamien
* Everything but the Girl (especially the *Walking Wounded* album, which I think is a classic but often gets overlooked because people just associate EBTG with "Missing")
* Hooverphonic (first two albums more than later stuff)
* Kruder & Dorfmeister
* Lamb (mainly *Lamb* and *Fear of Fours*)
* Peace Orchestra
* Thievery Corporation
* Tosca
* Tricky
* U.N.K.L.E.
* Wax Tailor
* Zero 7
Some one-off tracks:
* "Angel's Landing (José Padilla Mix)" – Salt Tank
* "Autumn Tactics" – Chicane
* "Bad Stone" – Crystal Method
* "Breathe" – Télépopmusik
* "Clubbed to Death" – Rob Dougan
* "Colour Me" – Dot Allison
* "Days Go By" – Dirty Vegas
* "Fading" – Baxter (also "Oh My Love")
* "Hayling" – FC Kahuna
* "Life in Mono" – Mono
* "Lost Vagueness" – Utah Saints
* "Milk" – Garbage
* "Mindcircus" – Way Out West
* "You're Not Alone" – Olive
* "The Box Pt. 1 & 2" – Orbital
There was something magical in the air at that time.
I’m on par with all those. Was going to add Hooverphonic, Sneaker Pimps and Morcheeba to that list. I miss working in a record store and suggesting my favorite music to people and this genre was my jam. Another band a lot if people haven’t heard of and I think they only did one album but start to finish is awesome. Self titled album Baxter (1998 but iTunes shows’73, has song titled Television). I would always sell it to people and told them even though store policy didn’t allow a return I would buy it back from them so I could have my own copy. No one returned it.
Edit: apparently they have a couple other albums. Time to go down that rabbit hole.
Blue Lines, Protection, and 100th Window are all also excellent MA albums worth checking out.
If you like sultry, sensual, and a little dark, Portishead’s debut “Dummy” is great (if you’ve never heard it).
Ulver have a great (mostly) instrumental Trip Hop album, which has loads of great examples of that “walking through a rainy city centre at 2am” vibe, called “Perdition City”. Ignore the rest of their albums though as they aren’t similar they are (in rough order) Metal, folk, weird ass electronica , goth, and 80s synth pop!
And if you like the more hip hop end of Trip Hop then Tricky’s debut, “Maxinquaye” is great. Very dark, very sexy, shares some of the same beats and melodies as MA of which Tricky is also a member.
> And if you like the more hip hop end of Trip Hop then Tricky’s debut, “Maxinquaye” is great. Very dark, very sexy, shares some of the same beats and melodies as MA of which Tricky is also a member.
*Pre-Millennium Tension* is also fantastic.
Pre-Millennium Tension is amazing and chaotic and dark and works as a perfect compliment to Mezzanine.
Tricky can be hit-and-miss as a whole but his work with Martina Topley-Bird are generally great.
Yeah I actually found my way to Portishead through Massive Attack and Dummy is a fantastic album as well. The lead singers voice is enchanting.
Will check out Perdition City - I’ve heard good things about it
Tricky's last few albums have been pretty solid too.
And while I can understand in the context of recommending trip hop to ignore Ulver's other albums, don't ignore Ulver's other albums (Bergtatt is a fantastic and influential one)!
You sound like you would have been a great friend in the years just after high school when I got into exactly these three albums, haha. Ulver rules, especially Shadows of the Sun.
Listen to the rest of their catalog too. Protection was my turn on in the early 90s as well as Mad Professor vs Massive Attack (no protection).
Heligoland and 100th Window are just as amazing.
they celebrated 20 years of Mezzanine in 2019. i caught a show in Philly and it was one of the most incredible/thoughtful Audio/video productions i have ever scene. Bonus: i got to see/get Liz Fraser sing her part for ‘Teardrop’, ‘Black Milk’, and others. They also covered Bela Lugosis Dead by Bauhaus and a Sex Pistols song. I’ve seen recordings of the live show on youtube. check ‘em out!
*strobe warning!* full show in 4k. https://youtu.be/5B76isuGZPs
That was such an incredible show!! Saw them here in LA. Loved how they covered the songs that they sampled and the imagery that was created for that show has really stuck with me.
At the Hollywood Palladium ! It will never get better than hearing Liz Fraser singing Teardrop live.
I took a friend of mine to that show. It was the last concert we attended together. She died a few months later.
One of the most mind blowing concerts I’ve ever been to. It felt like an art exhibit. There have been rumors that Robert Del Naja may be Banksy and who knows, but that show felt like something Banksy would produce. The audience was told to get there on time only for Massive Attack to go on an hour late while we listened to late nineties pop songs. Once the show started we were already in an agitated state and then berated with some of the most intense production I’ve ever experienced. It included mothers crying over their dead children in Afghanistan, footage of the El Paso shooting, bizarre paparazzi scenes of Britney Spears trying to find her cameras memory card while paparazzo just stood around taking pictures, Middle East bombings, video game re-enactments of 9/11, and so on. It was truly a one of kind experience. I’ve seen a lot of incredible shows in my life but nothing quite like that
Angel- Snatch soundtrack.
When Brad Pitt’s character is watching his mothers caravan get burned.
One of the best uses of music to any scene ever created.
I still get chills every time I listen to it.
CMJ New Music Monthly introduced me to Massive Attack with Safe From Harm, along with so much other great music. Early '90s CMJ NMM and Alternative Press were great rags for expanding the universe of a lonely young man.
Since you brought up House: remember that little theme they would play in between scene transitions? Well it's from this song:
https://youtu.be/amApevghpQc
I randomly stumbled upon it a few years back without expecting it, and the whole album is really awesome. Definitely has more of a depressing vibe in contrast to the sexiness of Massive Attack.
It’s a masterpiece. I was on 2 hits of incredible acid with some friends and we went to a Borders Books & Music store to just put on new music through their headphones and maybe buy some shit. I’ll never forget putting Mezzanine on and as Angel started up looking around at the melting people it was…perfect. Showed it to my one friend who also became obsessed. Bought that album and tripped the rest of the evening to it. This was maybe a week after it released too.
I bloody miss Borders man. They got bought out in my country and got replaced by crappy retail stationary / supply stores. Borders was such a vibe and so cosy.
Even though it was overpriced for cds, I miss Borders. My bro and I would always smoke a joint and look at the music magazines and possibly purchase one or if we had extra cash a cd.
Its one of those things that was great back then that younger generations will never experience. Now there’s leaks and albums just pop up on spotify. I remember listening to Beck Sea Change at CD Exchange and thinking wtf, this sound’s nothing like his other albums, but damn its so good. It was an adventure finding music. Especially hard to find cds.
That’s why having gatekeeper friends were cool back then, because they knew the good shit. Now theres not really a need to gatekeep since you have millions of albums to listen to and algorithms that tell you what they think you will like.
>That’s why having gatekeeper friends were cool back then, because they knew the good shit.
Didn't have gatekeeper friends but ended up getting into so much good music in the late 90s and very early 00s after finding peoples' collections on small Hotline servers. Back before Napster was a thing, even.
I think "tastemaker" is more the word you're looking for, and I'd say the thing that's great about music streaming is everyone gets to be one. I'm constantly sharing music with friends and listening to what they share with me because the investment is all time and not money.
Eh, you just give the melty man a piece of paper and he gives you some paper and metal back. You just do that while praying that there will be no further questions in my experience.
Lol, I tripped balls at Borders too. The 90’s were fun. I saw Ken Kesey and the magical lsd bus from Electric Koolaid Acid Test/Merry Prankster fame there, *not* on purpose either. I love acid serendipity.
Naw he's right
Toy-like people make me boy-like
Toy-like people make me boy-like
They're invisible, when the trip it flips
They get physical, way below my lips
And everything you got hoi-poloi like
Now you're lost and you're lethal
And now's about the time you gotta leave all
These good people, dream on
Agreed but I have to put Portishead - Dummy right up there with it. Same dark roiling vibes with completely different approach. Both defined an era for me.
I’m not sure why this is, but Dissolved Girl was never listed in the music credits of the first Matrix movie. Took me freaking forever to figure out what song Neo was listening to through his headphones.
If you like that album listen to Tricky's album Maxinequaye.
Tricky was originally in massive attack but left them early on (is featured in a few of their tracks) His debut album is the album where the phrase trip hop was first used to describe genre. It's a very sensual album with influence from soul, hip hop and Ethiopian jazz with the majority of the songs around the theme of a couple who are terrible for eachother but amazing in the bedroom, they want to be together but they don't want to be tied down despite emotions being so high between them.... It's honestly phenomenal
Make sure you listen to The Spoils, a Massive Attack single released in 2016 with Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star on vocals. I think it's one of their most beautiful songs.
Also, Take It There with Tricky on vocals is amazing.
Both have mesmerizing music videos to accompany them.
Its a good entry point to Trip Hop as a genre. I haven't had the urge to revisit it in a while as I played it to death in highschool but I might after reading this.
Portishead's self titled (better than Dummy imo), Sounds of the Satellites by Laika, Maxinquaye by Tricky (who was in Massive Attack early on) and Becomming X by Sneaker Pimps all sit higher in a hypothetical Trip Hop top 5 for me.
I want to make a pilgrimage to bristol because of their 80-90s music scene. I even have a playlist for Bristol musicians.
There is a record label called !K7 that used to release dj compilations. One of them is done by Daddy G, who is a founding member of massive attack.
It’s amazing.
It is rumored that Banksy is Robert Del Naja from the band. Massive Attack has done some work with my favorite documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv\_S8GdylEA
Becoming X by the Sneaker Pimps, the original edit with the circuit board artwork and not the butchered version that came out the following year with the band on the cover, is also incredible
it brings me a lot of joy to know that people are able to freshly experience an album that i've loved for 25 years now. it's a god damn masterpiece.
ps: grab burial's untrue while on this mission
Here are some trip hop albums I don’t see mentioned frequently
The cardigans - gran tourismo
Goldfrapp - goldfrapp
Jay jay Johansson - poison
Handsome boy modeling school - so how’s your girl
Soulstice - illusion
Blue foundation - 33
Unkle- psyence fiction
Mezzanine was my gateway drug to Massive Attack. Somebody on SA recommended it as the best album to have sex on and I had to hear it after reading that. Truth.
Since, I've acquired all of their other albums and wish they would come out with some new content. I even bought tickets to see them live in Chicago last year (where I'm from, but not where I live now), but had to bail on that due to work considerations.
I'd include Exchange with the first four songs on the album in the best-song-arc competition with the You Never Give Me Your Money song cycle on Abbey Road. Having said that, What Your Soul Sings from 100th Window is my absolute favorite song of theirs. Man, Dolores kills that one.
Different album but in the movie high fidelity when John Cusack names his top 5 track one side ones and includes radiation ruling the nation off no protection….i was like ok bold rad choice and not wrong.
Have you seen the video to Teardrop? You see kids back in the day they used to make these things called music videos… ;)
So it’s late 90’s. I’m in high school with my own “apartment” in the basement of my mom’s house. I snuck outside to smoke some weed and came back in around 2am. On MTV they had this weird set of shows called Liquid TV and part of it was “weird” music videos you wouldn’t normally see on MTV. I get settled in with a snack all high and that video comes on. Holy shit.
I prefer the album "Blue Lines"" but that is largely because I am a big fan of Tricky and he was still in Massive Attack for that one. "Mezzanine" is still a phenomenal album.
They did an anniversary tour for this album a few years back that was pretty cool to see live.
They played 90s pop hits in the theatre before and after the show (I was told that it was to set the context for what kind of music was coming out the same year as this album). They finished their whole set of dark, atmospheric music, hit their big finale, and left the stage to applause. Then, out of nowhere, the lights came on and *Hit Me Baby One More Time* started playing over the speakers. It was genuinely kind of a funny moment.
Sound engineering on it is top notch as well.
The overlap between my Trip Hop years and my “spending all my money on speakers” years is no coincidence.
Portishead set the hook…massive attack reeled me in
Both awesome
Both from Bristol too
The first time I heard Angel was in school in music class. The teacher put it on at the beginning of the lesson, played it through then went "that has nothing to do with your lesson today I just wanted to hear it on the schools big speakers"
‘’I just wanted to hear it on the big speakers’’ thats love hh
Those were the days. Could teacher's still get away with that today? Never heard this album before and would only know the songs if they charted but I'm going to check it out.
If you’ve seen the Matrix, track 6 (Dissolved Girl) is playing over Neo’s headphones as he is introduced. If you’ve ever seen the intro sequence to House, you’ve heard an instrumental-only version of track 3 (Teardrop) If you’ve seen the episode of the West Wing where Zoey gets kidnapped, track 1 (Angel) is what is playing at the club.
There was a movie back in the 90s called Go with Katie Holmes and Timothy Olyphant that had Angel, as well. In fact, I feel like snippets of this song popped up in various movies and movie trailers throughout the late 90s and 00s.
THIS. This is where I first heard it. I love Go. Soundtrack to that movie is amazing.
I think my favorite use of Angel was in Guy Ritchie's classic Snatch. It plays when Brad Pitt's mom dies in a caravan fire after winning his boxing match.
I was fortunate enough to see them live in Berkeley, CA with DJ Shadow as the opener. Every minute was brilliant.
Wow, that must have been incredible! Endtroducing..... and Mezzanine are kind of a pair in my mind, and are both albums where I don't skip a track.
I saw them in NC in the 90’s and never paid much mind but honestly thought Horace Andy’s singing was a female until I saw the show. Now I’m like sheesh I was dumb (I even knew who he was). But I was honestly shocked at that moment. Love his singing so much.
That's amazing. Love shadow
Mezz is certainly their masterpiece, but the first two albums are great too. Anything they've done w Tracey Thorn, Horace Andy, or Elisabeth Fraser is truly excellent.
Many still consider Blue Lines their masterpiece, but I agree it's Mezzanine 100%
>Many still consider Blue Lines their masterpiece, but I agree it's Mezzanine 100% I'd venture that's largely because Blue Lines has *Unfinished Sympathy,* probably one of the finest tracks on all-time greatest lists.
Blue lines is fantastic. Unfinished Sympathy is such a banger. I remember when it was basically playing 4 times an hour on MTV. It's a timeless song, so good.
I don't know why, I just can't get into Blue Lines. It feels like a band trying to find their thing, and not finding it until Protection.
>I don't know why, I just can't get into Blue Lines. It feels like a band trying to find their thing, and not finding it until Protection. Protection is so godlike It sits perfectly as a cushion.
Have you listened to the dub remix No Protection? I love it as much as the original album!
Nah nah nah, the Massive Attack v Mad Professor version of No protection. My dad and I need out about it every time we talk music.
I saw a literal UFO once while listening to radiation ruling the nation.
Okay but how many edibles did you have?
I didn't have any ... left
it’s not so much about them trying to find their thing as it was them taking [what had already been their thing](https://youtu.be/V_X1Mg0FMJM) and blending it all together a bit more intimately. Blue Lines is a transitional album between their soundsystem days as part of The Wild Bunch crew (of which Tricky and Nellee Hooper were a part) and their days as Massive Attack. as a soundsystem, they performed and deejayed a number of different styles of music (hip-hop, reggae, r&b), and the tunes on Blue Lines showcase this confluence. to take it back to Mezzanine, the influence of their soundsystem days can be heard in Man Next Door, their cover of [a classic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PItLZIU9PkM) by first-generation ska band The Paragons.
This guy Bristols.
musically, Bristol punches way above its weight.
Iirc, there's more university educated people per capita in Bristol than anywhere else in the UK.
More graffiti too I would bet
And I suspect the amount of party drugs sold is probably on par with London.
Turbo Island representin
Safe from Harm is a goddamn masterpiece.
Blue lines is perfect 🥲
honestly their entire catalog is incredible
Massive Attack and Portishead were revelations.
I went through a period in my early 20's where Massive Attack and UNKLE were 90% of my playlist rotation. Trip Hop was such a "cool as fuck" genre. I'm jealous of anyone who gets to venture down that rabbit hole for the first time.
The Live at Roseland album fundamentally changed me
[The video](https://youtu.be/52bAsZI9xm8) of Roads from this performance made me cry like a baby the first time I saw it. The way you can see Beth Gibbons almost break down after syncing the opening lyric sent me. Beautiful music
I’d also add Bowery Electric. They have two albums I think, and I fucking love them both.
Bowery Electric is a true hidden gem! I was obsessed with them when I was in college in the late 2000's. They have released 3 albums. Self titled, Beat, and Lushlife. Their first album is drony post-rock. The second is post-rock with trip-hop influences. The third is a trip-hop. Edit: Here's [a track](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5kRrLmGJho) from their 2nd album. Highly recommend them to anyone looking for some deep cuts.
without stopping and floating world, amazing tracks. never met anyone who liked this dark monotonous style of music like i do.
And Tricky, I'd say Maxinquaye is on par with Mezzanine.
No love for 100th Window or Heligoland?
Heligoland is fantastic. Ritual Spirit EP is great too... Ok it's all great.
finally, someone with taste 😁! I love 100th Window, changed me at the end of my adolescence..
I’ve been listening to the rest of their discography and the first two albums are pretty amazing as well. Mezzanine though…just hits different man
Check out Portishead next ;)
Portisheads self titled album is my desert island album!
I’m going to date myself here, but in the days of Yahoo Launchcast, I was listening to a trip hop station. A song came on and I instantly recognized it as the song that is playing through Neo’s headphones as he’s sleeping in front of the computer in the first Matrix. I had no idea what the song was but I always wanted to find it, and here it was playing! I immediately checked out the rest of the album and was blown away. I’m so glad you found it. I would suggest checking out Bjork’s album Vespertine for another ethereal, atmospheric album.
Bjorks Post tho
> Bjorks Post [5000%](https://youtu.be/FqfQXJSvbo4)
That scene from the matrix made a huge impression on me too. The matrix in general really captures late 90s big beat / trip hop in a way no other movie did.
It's 1997. A young Stoopid Stoner is working at Camelot Records (now FYE). Every week we got in sample records (cds) to play in the store to promote new releases, some get played (I fucking hate Hole because of how much my manager played it) some doesn't and gets put in a box for us to take from. Now most of these albums are marked so you know who it is. Except this lone orange CD sitting in a plastic sleeve. I wonder what this is I says to my self and ask to take it. Go ahead. I take it home and kinda forget about it till me and a buddy take a road trip up to Orlando to check out Full Sail (rip off btw) we dig checking out new stuff so I pop the CD in. Our minds where blown. We listened to that album on repeate all the way up and all the way back (3 to 4 hour drive each way) it was then and there my love for Trip Hop was discovered. Amazing fucking album.
I am amazed to meet someone in the wild who listened to Yahoo Launchcast! When I got my first laptop in 2004 I discovered Launchcast Plus and immediately went to their trip-hop stations. Prior, I never heard any of that stuff anywhere else sans a fated european trip in 2003, and desparately wanted more. Launch cast was *the* reason I found so many bands I absolutely loved in high school that I would not have found otherwise.
Haha there was just a post this afternoon in the cyberpunk sub of a picture of the scene with neo asleep at his desk and we were saying how we can't see that without also hearing the massive attack track in our head. So of course I had to throw on some headphones and spend the rest of my day at work listening to all of Mezzanine.
Poster below suggested Portishead. Start with one of the greatest live vocal performances of all time. https://youtu.be/SLrkE6T_m5Y
Yes, it's amazing. Massive Attack absolutely dominated my late 90s/early 00 stoner experience. I also suggest Tricky, Portishead, and Underworld. (once you run out of Massive Attack)
Also, Olive “Extra Virgin” DJ Shadow “Endtroducing..” Morcheeba “Big Calm” Hooverphonic “Blue Wonder Power Milk” Zero 7 “Simple Things”
Every song you mentioned I was introduced to by 94.9 FM here in San Diego during their nightly "Big Sonic Chill" block hosted by Midori. It was *so* good until they were bought out and Midori was terminated. ~~I have an old playlist around here somewhere. I'll make a Spotify version when I have a moment and link it here.~~ Update: [Here is the playlist!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/221aDvW1VhXxnToMdBecwO) It is 266 songs. There are quite a few that I couldn't find on Spotify like Curve's Doppleganger album. I think the [YouTube playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRhoenc8JG0v3hPe3TZsk1mKz-pqMXE8U) is a bit more complete, but I think I lost like... ~60 songs due to copyright and/or privating videos.
I miss 2000s FM94/9. It was all downhill after Mikey Show came on
> Here is the playlist! Made an [Apple Music version](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/big-sonic-chill/pl.u-Ymb0922cxDEAzL) with all the songs that I could find.
[DJ Shadow's Midnight in a Perfect World is just so good](https://youtu.be/KH5He9TW0mE) [And Hooverphonic's 2 Wicky is funkmaxadelic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dppcuKJrqbE)
I worked at the WB at the time, and edited a video pitching Angel to advertisers at the big upfront presentation. They hadn’t shot anything yet, so it was cobbled together from Buffy clips and B-roll from movies. I dropped 2wicky uncut into the music tracks and cut the entire presentation to it.
Ohh yeah Zero 7 is awesome. Blows my mind that Sia's in it.
Whaaaaaaat thanks for sharing this indeed mind blowing fact
And to compliment this list. Nightmare on Wax - In a space outta sound
> Nightmares on Wax Smokers Delight - gorgeous.
Oooo Underworld. I feel that band hasn’t been brought up as much when it comes to 90s nostalgia. Born Slippy is such a fucking great song. We would listen to that as the ecstasy kicked in. Then some Fatboy Slim and Chemical Bros.
Can't bring up Underworld without also mentioning Orbital.
I used to love Halycon and On and On... discovered as a 5 year old because it was the end of at the end of mortal kombat movie and on the soundtrack lol... well still love it.
["I Don't Know You People"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pah8CFje6zA&ab_channel=ZiggyCoco) is my favorite Orbital song.
[Orbital's The Box was revelatory for me, for sure.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qddG0iUSax4&t=96s)
hi there, early Tilda Swinton.
If you love that song, make sure you hear the 28 minute version of it, it was my jam in high school
I still get tracks from the Brown album in my head randomly.
Maybe because time becomes a loop
I listen to Underworld all the time. Have done so since the mid-90s.
Finally saw chemical brothers last year and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Coachella is not my scene, but being able to see chemical brothers, underworld, and a couple other of the electronic greats was very tempting…
Don't forget Sneaker Pimps and Poe. *Edit: Here's a whole bunch more:* Some artists to check out, especially their early work: * Dzihan & Kamien * Everything but the Girl (especially the *Walking Wounded* album, which I think is a classic but often gets overlooked because people just associate EBTG with "Missing") * Hooverphonic (first two albums more than later stuff) * Kruder & Dorfmeister * Lamb (mainly *Lamb* and *Fear of Fours*) * Peace Orchestra * Thievery Corporation * Tosca * Tricky * U.N.K.L.E. * Wax Tailor * Zero 7 Some one-off tracks: * "Angel's Landing (José Padilla Mix)" – Salt Tank * "Autumn Tactics" – Chicane * "Bad Stone" – Crystal Method * "Breathe" – Télépopmusik * "Clubbed to Death" – Rob Dougan * "Colour Me" – Dot Allison * "Days Go By" – Dirty Vegas * "Fading" – Baxter (also "Oh My Love") * "Hayling" – FC Kahuna * "Life in Mono" – Mono * "Lost Vagueness" – Utah Saints * "Milk" – Garbage * "Mindcircus" – Way Out West * "You're Not Alone" – Olive * "The Box Pt. 1 & 2" – Orbital There was something magical in the air at that time.
Fun fact - "Haunted" by Poe is meant to serve as a soundtrack to her brother Mark Danielewski's book "House of Leaves."
Kelli Ali’s solo albums are great too.
Bloodsport is the album I look for in every record store I pass by
[Hell yea](https://youtu.be/2eBZqmL8ehg)
AKA trip hop, for people looking for a genre name.
It’s apparently my favorite genre of music judging by who is included in the comments.
Dubnobasswithmyheadman is one of the best albums of the decade. 'Dirty Epic' is so God damn beautiful.
Tricky is a mastermind! Blowback got me through my tumultuous teen years lol. His work is other worldly
I’m on par with all those. Was going to add Hooverphonic, Sneaker Pimps and Morcheeba to that list. I miss working in a record store and suggesting my favorite music to people and this genre was my jam. Another band a lot if people haven’t heard of and I think they only did one album but start to finish is awesome. Self titled album Baxter (1998 but iTunes shows’73, has song titled Television). I would always sell it to people and told them even though store policy didn’t allow a return I would buy it back from them so I could have my own copy. No one returned it. Edit: apparently they have a couple other albums. Time to go down that rabbit hole.
Also: Thievery Corporation: "Richest Man In Babylon" Bent: "Invisible Pedestrian" Bonobo: "Dial 'M' for Monkey"
Blue Lines, Protection, and 100th Window are all also excellent MA albums worth checking out. If you like sultry, sensual, and a little dark, Portishead’s debut “Dummy” is great (if you’ve never heard it). Ulver have a great (mostly) instrumental Trip Hop album, which has loads of great examples of that “walking through a rainy city centre at 2am” vibe, called “Perdition City”. Ignore the rest of their albums though as they aren’t similar they are (in rough order) Metal, folk, weird ass electronica , goth, and 80s synth pop! And if you like the more hip hop end of Trip Hop then Tricky’s debut, “Maxinquaye” is great. Very dark, very sexy, shares some of the same beats and melodies as MA of which Tricky is also a member.
The idea that anyone alive hasn’t heard “Dummy” just blew my mind. This needs to be fixed immediately.
It does seem unlikely. But then I thought the same thing about Mezzanine!
Dummy to me is a better version of mezzanine because it’s more consistent. Almost 0 skippable tracks on that thing
Portishead is just fucking incredible.
One of the few vinyl albums I specifically sought out. Such a staple of my youth.
> And if you like the more hip hop end of Trip Hop then Tricky’s debut, “Maxinquaye” is great. Very dark, very sexy, shares some of the same beats and melodies as MA of which Tricky is also a member. *Pre-Millennium Tension* is also fantastic.
Pre-Millennium Tension is amazing and chaotic and dark and works as a perfect compliment to Mezzanine. Tricky can be hit-and-miss as a whole but his work with Martina Topley-Bird are generally great.
Yeah I actually found my way to Portishead through Massive Attack and Dummy is a fantastic album as well. The lead singers voice is enchanting. Will check out Perdition City - I’ve heard good things about it
Everything but the Girl scratch a similar itch for me too.
Shit man I haven’t thought about them in ages! Thank you for reminding me they exist!
I'd add to that groups like Hooverphonic, Zero7, Sneaker Pimps, and Faithless.
Tricky's last few albums have been pretty solid too. And while I can understand in the context of recommending trip hop to ignore Ulver's other albums, don't ignore Ulver's other albums (Bergtatt is a fantastic and influential one)!
You sound like you would have been a great friend in the years just after high school when I got into exactly these three albums, haha. Ulver rules, especially Shadows of the Sun.
Listen to the rest of their catalog too. Protection was my turn on in the early 90s as well as Mad Professor vs Massive Attack (no protection). Heligoland and 100th Window are just as amazing.
I just discovered Heligoland recently and couldn’t stop playing Paradise Circus.
> Paradise Circus absolutely cracking song
ClapClapClap…Clap…Clap
Atlas Air!
Protection is seriously underrated. "Spying glass" is one of the most badass songs of all time
they celebrated 20 years of Mezzanine in 2019. i caught a show in Philly and it was one of the most incredible/thoughtful Audio/video productions i have ever scene. Bonus: i got to see/get Liz Fraser sing her part for ‘Teardrop’, ‘Black Milk’, and others. They also covered Bela Lugosis Dead by Bauhaus and a Sex Pistols song. I’ve seen recordings of the live show on youtube. check ‘em out! *strobe warning!* full show in 4k. https://youtu.be/5B76isuGZPs
That was such an incredible show!! Saw them here in LA. Loved how they covered the songs that they sampled and the imagery that was created for that show has really stuck with me.
At the Hollywood Palladium ! It will never get better than hearing Liz Fraser singing Teardrop live. I took a friend of mine to that show. It was the last concert we attended together. She died a few months later.
One of the most mind blowing concerts I’ve ever been to. It felt like an art exhibit. There have been rumors that Robert Del Naja may be Banksy and who knows, but that show felt like something Banksy would produce. The audience was told to get there on time only for Massive Attack to go on an hour late while we listened to late nineties pop songs. Once the show started we were already in an agitated state and then berated with some of the most intense production I’ve ever experienced. It included mothers crying over their dead children in Afghanistan, footage of the El Paso shooting, bizarre paparazzi scenes of Britney Spears trying to find her cameras memory card while paparazzo just stood around taking pictures, Middle East bombings, video game re-enactments of 9/11, and so on. It was truly a one of kind experience. I’ve seen a lot of incredible shows in my life but nothing quite like that
Angel- Snatch soundtrack. When Brad Pitt’s character is watching his mothers caravan get burned. One of the best uses of music to any scene ever created. I still get chills every time I listen to it.
Dissolved Girl playing in Neo's headphones
The way they matched up the guitar and explosion, top tier
**That's** where I've heard that before! Snatch was such a good movie
Not off Mezzanine, but the Massive Attack song (Safe from Harm) used at the end of The Insider. I get chills from that as well.
CMJ New Music Monthly introduced me to Massive Attack with Safe From Harm, along with so much other great music. Early '90s CMJ NMM and Alternative Press were great rags for expanding the universe of a lonely young man.
Inertia Creeps… is my fave Had some friends get married to “Teardrop”
House fans maybe
Since you brought up House: remember that little theme they would play in between scene transitions? Well it's from this song: https://youtu.be/amApevghpQc I randomly stumbled upon it a few years back without expecting it, and the whole album is really awesome. Definitely has more of a depressing vibe in contrast to the sexiness of Massive Attack.
The Group Four intro is god tier.
Was gonna say the same thing about the Group Four outro. Fantastic song
I was gonna say the same about Group Four, the whole thing. It's my favorite song off the album, totally underrated.
I concur. I love Dissolved Girl
It’s a masterpiece. I was on 2 hits of incredible acid with some friends and we went to a Borders Books & Music store to just put on new music through their headphones and maybe buy some shit. I’ll never forget putting Mezzanine on and as Angel started up looking around at the melting people it was…perfect. Showed it to my one friend who also became obsessed. Bought that album and tripped the rest of the evening to it. This was maybe a week after it released too.
Tripping at Borders Music, I see you
I bloody miss Borders man. They got bought out in my country and got replaced by crappy retail stationary / supply stores. Borders was such a vibe and so cosy.
Even though it was overpriced for cds, I miss Borders. My bro and I would always smoke a joint and look at the music magazines and possibly purchase one or if we had extra cash a cd.
It was awesome listening to the album though before you bought it.
Its one of those things that was great back then that younger generations will never experience. Now there’s leaks and albums just pop up on spotify. I remember listening to Beck Sea Change at CD Exchange and thinking wtf, this sound’s nothing like his other albums, but damn its so good. It was an adventure finding music. Especially hard to find cds. That’s why having gatekeeper friends were cool back then, because they knew the good shit. Now theres not really a need to gatekeep since you have millions of albums to listen to and algorithms that tell you what they think you will like.
>That’s why having gatekeeper friends were cool back then, because they knew the good shit. Didn't have gatekeeper friends but ended up getting into so much good music in the late 90s and very early 00s after finding peoples' collections on small Hotline servers. Back before Napster was a thing, even.
Sea Change is a masterpiece.
I think "tastemaker" is more the word you're looking for, and I'd say the thing that's great about music streaming is everyone gets to be one. I'm constantly sharing music with friends and listening to what they share with me because the investment is all time and not money.
I don’t think I could handle buying anything at Borders on acid.
Eh, you just give the melty man a piece of paper and he gives you some paper and metal back. You just do that while praying that there will be no further questions in my experience.
Lol, I tripped balls at Borders too. The 90’s were fun. I saw Ken Kesey and the magical lsd bus from Electric Koolaid Acid Test/Merry Prankster fame there, *not* on purpose either. I love acid serendipity.
One of the greatest albums ever and very, very damn sexy
Toylike people make me boylike...Toylike people make me boylike...
I thought it was Tory-like people make me borey-like
Naw he's right Toy-like people make me boy-like Toy-like people make me boy-like They're invisible, when the trip it flips They get physical, way below my lips And everything you got hoi-poloi like Now you're lost and you're lethal And now's about the time you gotta leave all These good people, dream on
Agreed but I have to put Portishead - Dummy right up there with it. Same dark roiling vibes with completely different approach. Both defined an era for me.
That's the most "We are going to have sex." record ever.
brb. Putting it on now
If you’re doing Dummy also do the Roseland NYC Live. Just one of the most excellent live performances ever.
I’m not sure why this is, but Dissolved Girl was never listed in the music credits of the first Matrix movie. Took me freaking forever to figure out what song Neo was listening to through his headphones.
If you like that album listen to Tricky's album Maxinequaye. Tricky was originally in massive attack but left them early on (is featured in a few of their tracks) His debut album is the album where the phrase trip hop was first used to describe genre. It's a very sensual album with influence from soul, hip hop and Ethiopian jazz with the majority of the songs around the theme of a couple who are terrible for eachother but amazing in the bedroom, they want to be together but they don't want to be tied down despite emotions being so high between them.... It's honestly phenomenal
The word "immersive" comes to mind. Just absolutely chock full of details without sounding busy. Great album.
Make sure you listen to The Spoils, a Massive Attack single released in 2016 with Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star on vocals. I think it's one of their most beautiful songs. Also, Take It There with Tricky on vocals is amazing. Both have mesmerizing music videos to accompany them.
I'm a stripper and Massive Attack has supplied me with 70% of my performance music, at LEAST. Phenomenal album
Man next door is such an underrated song.
their tribute to [The Paragons](https://youtu.be/PItLZIU9PkM).
It’s a flawless record
Its a good entry point to Trip Hop as a genre. I haven't had the urge to revisit it in a while as I played it to death in highschool but I might after reading this. Portishead's self titled (better than Dummy imo), Sounds of the Satellites by Laika, Maxinquaye by Tricky (who was in Massive Attack early on) and Becomming X by Sneaker Pimps all sit higher in a hypothetical Trip Hop top 5 for me.
I want to make a pilgrimage to bristol because of their 80-90s music scene. I even have a playlist for Bristol musicians. There is a record label called !K7 that used to release dj compilations. One of them is done by Daddy G, who is a founding member of massive attack. It’s amazing.
It is rumored that Banksy is Robert Del Naja from the band. Massive Attack has done some work with my favorite documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv\_S8GdylEA
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Either he is Banksy or a very close friend. Somebody also accidentally referenced Banksy as "Robert" on the Distraction Pieces podcast.
Goldie called Banksy 'Robert' during an interview once.
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For any of you who enjoyed Massive Attack's dubbier stuff, you will probably dig this too. [Another Channel - Let Some](https://youtu.be/nrerDOvYTSY)
Oh yeah, Massive Attack are incredible. Them and Portishead, with a bit of early Tricky thrown in. 90s British trip hop was dooope
I used to make out with girls to Massive Attack, Air, and Portishead ALL THE TIME in my 96 JEEP CHEROKEE in high school lol thanks for the memory…
Becoming X by the Sneaker Pimps, the original edit with the circuit board artwork and not the butchered version that came out the following year with the band on the cover, is also incredible
Post modern sleaze will forever be a favorite
It’s an absolute work of art.
it brings me a lot of joy to know that people are able to freshly experience an album that i've loved for 25 years now. it's a god damn masterpiece. ps: grab burial's untrue while on this mission
wait until u discover portishead - dummy amazing album
Any trip hop, really
It's a masterpiece.
Don’t tell him about No Protection 😀. Mezzanine was a game changer. Also did you know a Massive Attack member is also Banksy? 🏴☠️
A Massive Attack member, as in *the main guy* in Massive Attack lol I actually totally buy it. For me it was Goldie's name drop during that interview.
One of the great sex records of all time
We’re due for a trip-hop resurgence.
Dummy portishead. Mono- life in mono.
Here are some trip hop albums I don’t see mentioned frequently The cardigans - gran tourismo Goldfrapp - goldfrapp Jay jay Johansson - poison Handsome boy modeling school - so how’s your girl Soulstice - illusion Blue foundation - 33 Unkle- psyence fiction
Oh man, go a step further into the darkness with the voice of beth gibbons in Portishead.
If you haven’t yet, listen to the masterpiece that is Loveless by My Bloody Valentine
Also in my top 5 all time!
Mezzanine was my gateway drug to Massive Attack. Somebody on SA recommended it as the best album to have sex on and I had to hear it after reading that. Truth. Since, I've acquired all of their other albums and wish they would come out with some new content. I even bought tickets to see them live in Chicago last year (where I'm from, but not where I live now), but had to bail on that due to work considerations. I'd include Exchange with the first four songs on the album in the best-song-arc competition with the You Never Give Me Your Money song cycle on Abbey Road. Having said that, What Your Soul Sings from 100th Window is my absolute favorite song of theirs. Man, Dolores kills that one.
I'm never not in the mood to listen to this album - has been the case for 20+ years :)
Different album but in the movie high fidelity when John Cusack names his top 5 track one side ones and includes radiation ruling the nation off no protection….i was like ok bold rad choice and not wrong.
Heligoland is a pretty cool album too
The ultimate trip-hop album.
House theme song
Have you seen the video to Teardrop? You see kids back in the day they used to make these things called music videos… ;) So it’s late 90’s. I’m in high school with my own “apartment” in the basement of my mom’s house. I snuck outside to smoke some weed and came back in around 2am. On MTV they had this weird set of shows called Liquid TV and part of it was “weird” music videos you wouldn’t normally see on MTV. I get settled in with a snack all high and that video comes on. Holy shit.
Consider Portishead (Dummy), DJ shadow (Endtroducing) Hooverphonic (first album only)
I want to like it but it's just not appealing to me. What makes it great to you all? Lots of praise in this thread.
I LOVE that album! One of my absolutely favorites from the era.
You might be into trip hop without realizing it
Won't get any argument from me. I couldn't begin to tell you the crazy shit I've lived through with this playing in the background.
I prefer the album "Blue Lines"" but that is largely because I am a big fan of Tricky and he was still in Massive Attack for that one. "Mezzanine" is still a phenomenal album.
100th window is also an intense trip hop album.
They did an anniversary tour for this album a few years back that was pretty cool to see live. They played 90s pop hits in the theatre before and after the show (I was told that it was to set the context for what kind of music was coming out the same year as this album). They finished their whole set of dark, atmospheric music, hit their big finale, and left the stage to applause. Then, out of nowhere, the lights came on and *Hit Me Baby One More Time* started playing over the speakers. It was genuinely kind of a funny moment.
Massive attacks whole catalog is worth a listen.