Trip-Hop Ya Don't Stop.

The other day I was digging around in my near-obsolete CD collection and rediscovered a couple of discs that I hadn't listened to in a while:  Hooverphonic's A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular and Mono's Formica Blues.  When "trip-hop" first emerged back in the mid-90s I jumped on the bandwagon and stayed for quite some time, probably because it was a nice counterpoint to all the rap music -- and smattering of house/trance -- I'd been listening to.

I remember happening upon the Hooverphonic album in one of those listening kiosks in Circuit City (another outdated method of discovering new music) and immediately taking a shine to what the Belgian band had to offer.  It was moody like Massive Attack; not nearly as darkly seductive, but its atmosphere lent itself well to nighttime listening sessions.  "2Wicky" gets noted simply for its use of the near-ubiquitous Isaac Hayes sample lifted from "Walk on By," but I like how they flipped it.  (It's probably safe to say that the use of elements drawn from hip-hop is a main reason why I took a liking to the genre in the first place. -- think Sneaker Pimps' "6 Underground.")  The sound of the album is lush, sophisticated and cohesive.

My introduction to Mono was based on pure visual aesthetics.  I was thumbing through the discs in the "Electronic" section of a record store and the cover art caught my eye.  Remember, this was around the time Cash Money and No Limit Records were spewing out several albums per week, all with the same tired, derivative and overly-blingy album artwork.  The notion that anything resembling fine art being put on the cover was refreshing in itself.  So I bought it, and Formica Blues turned out to be a good investment.  I thought that the music evoked the flavor of the 1960s (rightly, as it turned out; this is before I ever read any reviews or analysis of the music) and this concept of a throwback was very unusual and intriguing to my newly-acclimated appreciation of the style.

Although trip-hop as a genre splintered into several subsets not long after its introduction into the mainstream, there are timeless classics that should continue to be heard, absorbed and loved.  I suggest you check out both albums and see for yourself; they're perfect for multiple listens and essential additions to your collection of electronic music.