I first heard Portishead years ago, but I never knew what type of music it was called. Wikipedia says it’s “trip hop.” Is “trip hop” a type of electronic pop music or are they completely different genres?
Trip hop was hugely popular in the UK during the 1990s, especially around the Bristol area.
It’s a different genre from electronic pop in that trip hop doesn’t always use samples and they sometimes throw in live instruments. Some of trip hop vocals are rapped but they often use sung vocals too.
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Yeah, trip hop was very much of a certain era in the 90’s.
I’d say it exists somewhere in the nebulous region between electronic dance music and hip hop. Sometimes there’s rapping (like in Massive Attack) and sometimes there’s singing. The drum tracks tend to be closer to hip hop break beats than house or techno beats.
More than anything, it’s about evoking a mood. Eerie synths, noir soundtracks, scratchy samples of lonely sounding horns… that sort of thing.
If you like Portishead, you might like Maxinquaye by Tricky,Mezzanine by Massive Attack or Endtroducing by DJ Shadow.
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UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction too! One of the greatest trip hop albums of the 1990s.