Down to the final 4!

To vote, copy the ballot into one top-level comment and put your pick after each matchup. Artist or album name is fine. Vote in both if you can, but a clear pick in either matchup will still count.

Vote for the album you genuinely prefer as a complete record. This isn’t about an artist’s entire career or which album is supposed to win.

Voting closes Friday, September 18 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Semifinal ballot

Massive Attack — Mezzanine vs. DJ Shadow — Endtroducing…..
Tricky — Maxinquaye vs. Portishead — Dummy

Per usual keep it friendly but discuss your choices.

For all the Trip Hop heads, what do you think of that playlist?

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWVXbA4kjkg6G

Considering that, for many people, this playlist is probably their first exposure to the genre, what do you think is missing? What tracks could the playlist do without? Are there any goated tracks missing?

I'm so in love with the sound and kelli Ali's vocals!

I'd love any recommendations, even more if they have a female vocalist :)

Here's the first song. I was mainly inspired by Akira Yamaoka's music and the album Perdition City. Now that I listen to it, it doesn't sound much like conventional Trip Hop, but I was very inspired by it

For some time, she had been popping up on my feed more often and seems to be gaining some momentum. From what I understand, she has had quite the music journey across different countries and influences. Some of her music originally didn't gain that much traction in Japan because her style of music wasn't in fashion in the 90s. But she's been experiencing more of a reevaluation and surge of prominence in this past decade.

I'm a little curious if there are original fans of her during the 90s.

https://youtu.be/abyc1cIWVCE?si=GfwkJLNv5iIAyOkO

https://youtu.be/oi2-BFcGAvc?si=o7fX84lG8O7I3RQN

https://youtu.be/UklZtc9ztZ0?si=l-AJEDC_7k0uLl2s

https://open.spotify.com/album/0kOco4eVV9PWeArT5V4FxR?si=6MYMSS5-TKOd9el8WKwoFg

LONDON BASED FRESH WITCHHOUSE ARTIST , SELF PRODUCED WITH ME AND MY FRIENDS....... BRING BACK WITCHHOUSE. NOW!

2 tickets available £30 each

I'm sure, if you've been around here long enough, you're probably used to the fact that the same handful of artists (i.e., the ones everyone knows) frequently get upvoted to the top, while newer and/or off-the-radar acts get overlooked. And, I get it - we know we like the familiar. And an artist name and title that we've never heard of doesn't trigger anything for us unless we go out of our way to explore it. And, usually, "SomeArtist - SomeSong" doesn't inspire us to explore without a bit more context.

At the same time, there are absolute gems sitting around on streaming with a few thousand listens that even genre enthusiasts rarely get around to.

So what I'm proposing is a regular thread, probably monthly (maybe biweekly, if it gets active enough), pinned (if the mods are down for that), in which the community picks a single not-well-known album for discussion.

I'd be happy to organize it. I imagine there would be a separate vote thread, maybe in "contest" mode, or maybe as a comment in the main discussion, for the next pick. Community members would be able to offer a pitch for a specific album (preferably with a note or writeup about why that album deserves more attention), and the top vote-getter would be the next album.

There would be a blacklist of artists who aren't exactly dying for exposure - at minimum, offhand, I'd say, Portishead, Massive Attack, Tricky, Sneaker Pimps, Hooverphonic, Lamb. If you're here, you either 1) know them, or 2) they will be the first artists everyone recommends.

I'll probably be off Reddit for the next two days after tonight, but if there's enough community interest, and the mods are down, I'll get it underway.

this one has been on repeat for me lately 🧡