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Originally Posted by porkchop
Trip Hop was a lot more calmer than I expected. It is somewhat relaxed, which pleased me to an extent. It is certainly one of the more chill genres I have heard under the general electronic area of music. The sounds that Massive Attack and Portishead actually managed to weave surprised me greatly. I came in listening with a some what closed mind, since electronic music isn't usually my thing.
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The moniker of trip hop really comes from the fact that, for the most part, it is grounded in a slower tempo version of a basic hip hop beat, the classic "boom bap" that we've all come to love/hate. That beat when slowed down and paired with a dark, ethereal soundscape tends to produce an almost hypnotic effect, hence trip hop.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Porkchop
I thought the opening to the album however was weak, Angel just didn't jump out at me like an opening track should. I don't know if it was just too relaxed for me or what, but it hurt my head to listen to it. I felt like it should have been swapped with Inertia Creeps. I truly feel that would have been a stronger opening.
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What would
Abbey Road be with out the ominous bassline of
Come Together opening the album? What would Are You Experienced be without the iconic opening guitar riff of
Purple Haze?
Mezzanine has long been established as a quintessential album of the trip hop genre and without the droning bassline of
Angel kicking things off it just wouldn't be the same. Blasphemy.
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Originally Posted by Porkchop
All in all as a first time explorer of this small little speck of the Trip Hop genre, I give Mezzanine a 6.5/10. I would listen to it again if I was in the mood for relaxed electronic music, but I don't quite think it would be something I would reach for in a record collection.
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It's an album that grows on you, and still to this day it's very much an album for a particular mood. It's definitely what I would consider a late-night album, but the fact that you're expanding your horizons and listening to music you wouldn't otherwise gravitate toward is a positive thing.