From Ninja Tune golden era comes this album right in mid 90′s that showed a slightly different approach to the trip-hop induced sound. From Jazz to Drum n bass, you have it here all mixed.

“James Bradell‘s second album in Funki Porcini guise is an enjoyable, quirky trip, as moodily atmospheric as it is subtly hilarious”

“Unlike most other trip-hop types who began and ended with Portishead, there’s an actual sense of a different approach here, as the buried snippets of drum’n'bass loops make clear.”

“Distorted, flanged drum hits, sudden stop-starting of the music as a whole, and deep, squelchy basslines decide to make random appearances at many different points.”

The 2nd wave of chicago dance was here in the 90′s… electro-clash to the head, long before this album came out. But there is something about this record that makes me wanna dance. It was 2004 and Felix was still able to mix disco, 80′s italian pop, distorted guitars, and electro beats and do amazing dance tracks. rock on.

“Devin Dazzle & the Neon Fever [...] might actually bring some young dance freaks over to the rock world, since it relies heavily on the jagged guitars, rubbery basslines, and candy-coated choruses of new wave. One thing that has remained constant is Felix‘s predilection for concept records that play out like B-movie soundtracks”

“it’s a fully realized record — it’s of that rare breed in which the least exciting tracks at least help carry the listener along. If label executives of 1982 were brought to the present day, they’d hear at least six singles here. Cap the whole thing off with a finale that would make any Italo-disco producer proud, and you have a third successive Stallings full-length that tickles all the pleasure receptors.”

I am not a BIG fan of crooners but as I say it I also find myself loving some of those voices that sing croonarish. Perry Blake is one of those cases. A troubadour “of delicately crafted etherealism”, Perry makes a melody mellower, touching with delicacy the realms of passion, with a downtempo, melancholic style of his songs and his soft singing voice.

I “met” Perry right from the start,12 years ago, when the self entitled album came out and I bought simply because I loved his voice. The first track just made me think Bristol and the trip-hopish massive attack style made me love it even more. listen.

I have always been a fan of Depeche Mode since at 12yo i listened to their first album. When in 1992 I heard that Alan Wilder had finally made his first solo effort as Recoil I ran out the door and bought the CD.

Bloodline was the result and I liked it from that start. The dark almost sexual eletronic ambience he was able to produce was amazing and the mix bag of styles within made it so enjoyable to hear all the time.

“After officially splitting from Depeche Mode in 1995, longtime member Alan Wilder finally went ahead with his side project Recoil. Wilder started Recoil in 1985, but efforts were halfhearted due to his responsibilities with DM.[...] With Violator the smash hit it was, and Depeche Mode coming off a huge burst in popularity and attention, Alan Wilder‘s solo project was never in a better position to get wider notice for itself in turn. Bloodline didn’t produce an “Enjoy the Silence,” but in many ways, this was and remains Wilder‘s most distinct Recoil album: a sharp combination of his ear for arrangements and notable guest singer turns. Wilder‘s production skills became even more influential with time. Electro-clash was a decade off, but Nine Inch Nails‘ own breakthrough was just around the corner, and the combination of pulsing energy and cold, brutal punch was perfectly evident throughout Bloodline.”

> Faith Healer @myspace

> here i will post Electro Blue .. an amazing tune but nowhere to be found online….

I remember listening to my first Pigeonhed song on the radio back in 2001 and Shawn Smith’s voice blew me away and the funky guitars and trip-jop beats made an incredible odd mix. I rushed to a record store and asked for the “new” CD of Pigeonhed and the guy at the store almost ripped my head off cause the album was from 1997 !!! heheh well I bought it and here it is in my collection and proud of it!

“An unabashedly funky album that uses the pleading and supple voice of Shawn Smith (Brad, Satchel) atop layers of keyboards to strut its slow to midtempo retro vibe. “The Full Sentence” combines drum machines with live drums and percussion, heavy guitar riffs (courtesy of some of Seattle’s finest) and analog synth sounds of every color to anchor this remarkably consistent collection of songs.”

and with LoFidellity Allstars

Simply put, one of the most influential electronic ambient albums of the 90′s. And I say ‘ambient’ because despite the minimal techno beats used, if you listen to it past the beats you really discover the mellody. I played this for hours and hours and still love it when I insert it on the CDplayer drawer… just switch off the lights and turn on the lavalamp and trip.

“Lifeforms, a double-disc effort that ranks as one of the best experimental techno releases of the ’90s. If not as immediately memorable on a song per song basis as, say, Aphex Twin‘s Selected Ambient Works collections, as an overall piece, Lifeforms makes for an inventive, fascinating aural experience, as rich and detailed as the Orb‘s best work. Where FSOL differs from that band in particular is the comparative lack of overt humor and less immediate desire to make people groove — this is something to listen to rather than necessarily dance to. In comparison to Accelerator, this is an extremely subtle listen, with rhythms generally buried in the mix, serving the melodies rather than vice versa. In comparison to the upfront breaks and steady house beats just two years previous, here they’re stuttered, echoed, often approaching dub in pace and impact.”

What a mixed bag of tricks this is. Starting by “…taking the name MC 900 Ft. Jesus from an Oral Roberts’ sermon, the Dallas native Mark Griffin began recording in the late ’80s.”

In his records he mixes hip-hop, jazz, funk, ambient, industrial effects and…humour.  And this album it’s his best out of the three he published. For some “The problem is tracks like “Killer Inside Me” and “Adventures in Failure”: the backing tracks are killer and the delivery of the rhymes are top-notch, but they’re ultimately a bit silly, which makes it a bit hard to take the rest of the album seriously. That’s a shame because there are some great tracks here, like “The City Sleeps’” and “Falling Elevators.” As before, DJ Zero scratches with aplomb.”

But I agree when said that “Welcome to My Dream was a precursor to trip-hop, layering hip-hop beats over jazzy breaks and dream-like instrumentation. “  it was 1991 same year Massive Attack published  their debut album called … Blue Lines. 1991 was a pretty good year indeed

and btw… “while the city sleeps” is just one of my favourite songs from the 90′s.

…Adventures in Failure, with a sample from a Stevie Wonder tune

It was 1992 and I heard something like this on a radio show: “…and here is the new album from the inventor of the ‘infinite guitar’, Mr. Michael Brook…”. I instantly stopped all I was doing and said to myself I had to listen to that ‘infinite guitar’. I did. I loved it. I wanted it. I bought Cobalt Blue as soon as it got out (remember this was pre-internet anything let alone pre-downloads).

“Recorded in collaboration with luminaries including Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, Cobalt Blue possesses a depth and complexity which standard ambient recordings lack. Much more than a mere showcase for the technical wizardry of Michael Brook’s signature “infinite guitar” sound, the album absorbs a vast range of influences spanning from Middle Eastern rhythms to spaghetti western soundtracks to forge a series of shimmering dreamscapes as provocative as they are evocative.”

4 years before bittersweet symphony, Verve came out with  their first full length album, during the golden early 90′s indie rock britt years. Regarded by me as one of the best albums coming out of that time, when I first listened to”slide away” (for me their best song ever) I instantly got hooked, . ‘A storm in heaven’ is not as great as ‘slide away’ but that woudl be very hard to acomplish, yet, all in all, is a very trippy strong album that I trully like (also check bands like Ride or Swervedriver).

“the group’s 1993 full-length debut, A Storm in Heaven, was based on buoyant, extended psychedelic passages. Looking back today, it was an interesting and original musical direction, since at the time, angst-ridden Seattle bands (and their many copycats) were all the rage. While a few songs hint at the Verve’s future penchant for composing pop gems (“Make It Till Monday,” “Blue,” “Butterfly”), many of the longer tracks are just as strong, especially the album’s best track, the hauntingly beautiful “Already There.” Also featured was the album-opening space rocker “Star Sail,” the shifting moods of “Slide Away,” the misty “Beautiful Mind,” and the stark closer, “See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time).”

“Unlucky” to have been born in Portugal, TTT is simply my favourtie portuguese band with their three albums released in the 90′s.

Impossible to label the kind of music they produce but almost all of their compositions are amazingly well thought and vary from experimental ambient layerings to simple yet astonishing pop songs.

“Guia Espiritual” is their second album and is for me the best of the  three and a pleasure to listen from top to bottom. It’s so impressive to be able to listen to an album that takes you on a trip with so many different styles.

Never heard of them? listen to them please…