Gloomy dubstep action here from Ducky.  Producing music from the tender age of thirteen, Ducky (aka Morgan Neiman) is set to release her EP, The Whether on Februrary 21st.   This track sound like a missing track from the Sneak Pimps album, Becoming X but with a dubstep twist.

Ducky – Like Rain

What a voice, what a track.  Dark, atmospheric and drums that land like bombs in this Trip Hop-esque track.  O-yeah, and there’s a killer piano riff that floats in and out.

Alex Clare – Caroline

A warm dark place is at the heart of David’s Lyre. Building upon a stellar voice and accentuated with a smattering of industrial sounds and effects is a beautiful piece of dark pop.

David Lyre – Hidden Ground

Website

If you like Gotan Project or the Cafe Del Mar series of chillout music with International flavor, then this track will be a win for you. The track makes use of stems from the soundtrack written and produced by Hans Zimmer from the movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Also features Rodrigo y Gabriela on acoustic guitars. With this mix, The Reverb Junkie made an incredible arrangement and went one step further by writing her song on-top of it. From which I took the track and added all the percussive elements, hence the “Odd Year Edit” on the track name.

Hans Zimmer (ft.The Reverb Junkie) – Angelica [Part of the Plan] (Odd Year Edit)

Hans Zimmer (ft.The Reverb Junkie) – Angelica [Part of the Plan] (Odd Year Edit) by oddyear

Sooooo good to have Lamb back in action again.  It’s been ages, to be exact eight years, since we’ve heard from them and they do not disappoint on their latest effort, entitled, “5” (as in their  fifth studio album).  They still have that deep throbbing bass in their sound, but now it’s topped with bit-crushing drums sounds as opposed to the more traditional drum n bass sounds that adorned their early work.   Vocalist Lou Rhodes sounds as good as always.

Lamb – Another Language

The year was 1997, the station was KCRW in Santa Monica and the DJ was Jason Bentley, from which I was first introduced to Olive. Olive came out of the Trip Hop scene that had launched in the mid 1990s in Bristol, England. I was in love upon first listen and was hungry for anything Trip Hop related. Portishead and Massive Attack were already playing on mix tapes I created and I was in dire need of new material. Olive fit the bill nicely with it’s dark hip hop beats, pulsating bass, and heart wrenched vocals from Ruth-Ann Boyle.

Olive was formed in 1994 and consisted of Ruth-Ann on vocals, Tim Kellet (songwriter and producer) and Robin Taylor-Firth of Nightmares on Wax fame. “You’re Not Alone” went to number one on the UK in 1997.

Rumor has it that Olive is set to release a new album in 2011, only time will tell.

Side note: Olive shot and released three different videos for “You’re Not Alone”.

From wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You’re_Not_Alone_(Olive_song)

Three entirely different music videos were filmed for “You’re Not Alone”. The first video features all three band members Ruth-Ann Boyle, Tim Kellett and Robin Taylor-Firth appearing in spectral forms in a hotel room. The second video is the version which is seen the most and is set in a dark nigh-time setting in France. It features all three band members and includes scenes in a public restroom, and by a road with glowing headlights of cars. A third video (which also includes elements from the second) is a montage of the band members in dark, moody urban settings. This video only features the remaining two band members, Ruth-Ann and Tim

Olive – You’re Not Alone

Dark  and mesmerizing, but propelled by a hypnotic beat and the sultry voice of Hope Sandoval.   From Massive Attack’s 2010 release, “Heligoland” which is set to be released on Feburary 8th.

Massive Attack – Paradise Circus (Ft. Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star)

Background from wiki:

The album release was preceded on October 4, 2009 by an EP, Splitting the Atom. During its gestation, it was often referred to as “LP5″, a reference to it being their fifth studio album (not counting Danny the Dog) or “Weather Underground” (Robert Del Naja’s early working title for the record) in the media.^[3]

Many other artists recorded sessions during the duo’s post-100th Window era but are not featured on the album: Jhelisa (Anderson – also recorded for 100th Window and was not included on that album either), Stephanie Dosen, Yolanda (Quarty of Phantom Limb), Aku and Akwetey Orraca-Tetteh of Dragons of Zynth, Elizabeth Fraser, Dot Allison, Debbie Clare, Mike Patton, Fredo Viola, Beth Orton and Terry Callier. Backing tracks from Grant Marshall‘s side of Massive Attack’s writing are known to have been sent to Alice Russell, Patti Smith and David Bowie during this era but collaboration did not come to fruition, nor did talks with Tom Waits or Tricky, in terms of featuring as guest vocalists on the record. Mos Def and Leslie Feist were also mooted as artists to be recorded, back at the beginning of the era in 2004^[4]. Despite online suggestions to the contrary, no recording sessions with Sia ever took place. Post-punks, Mark Stewart and Keith Levine also came into Del Naja‘s 100 Suns studio in 2009, but it does not appear that they have made any contribution to the album. From the new songs that were played during previous tours many were not included on the record, including songs nicknamed as “All I Want”, “Red Light”, “Kingpin”, “Heartcliff Star”, “Marakesh” (an ’08 track completely different musically from, though lyrically similar to, another song also provisionally entitled “Marakesh” that became Atlas Air), “Marooned” and “Dobro”.

Burial has been supplied with Heligoland’s tracks to remix. This connection has been compared to the remix relationship with Mad Professor in the nineties which led to the No Protection album and all of Mezzanine‘s tracks being given dub remix treatment, many (though not all) having been released on the singles from that LP.

The limited edition of Heligoland will include a special 28-page booklet and a bonus disc of other material, which it is thought will include a number of the commissioned remixes. An EP including songs known from previous tours (such as the working-titled “Dobro”) but not included on the album is planned for release in May 2010, according to Robert Del Naja.^[5]

You may recognize her voice from Kleerup’s single “”Longing for Lullabies.”  This single can be found on Titiyo’s 2008 release titled, “Hidden”.   Heartbreaking track with cinematic flare and hints of Trip Hop flavor.

Titiyo – Stumble To Fall

Skye Edwards was the former lead singer for Morcheeba, who released a solo effort in 2006 called, “Mind How You Go”.  Funny enough Jim Noir gave this remix the Morcheeba trip hop treatment to full effect, laid back, smooth and sultry with a dash of 60′s psychedelic.

Skye – What’s Wrong With Me [Jim Noir remix]

[New Album Alert] Skye’s second full length is titled, “Keeping Secret” due out later this year.

Loving this Gorillaz’s esque hip-hop track from Massive Attack’s ep, “Splitting The Atom”, that sounds quite freaky.

Massive Attack – Splitting The Atom (Ft. The 3D, Daddy G, and Horace Andy)

Since I can’t say this any better, so I’ll let wikipedia take it from here:

His song “About Her”, based on “She’s Not There” by The Zombies, rose to prominence when used by director Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill Vol. 2. He was accused of plagiarism for this song in 2005 for allegedly copying the work of a French musician, but was cleared of the charges in November 2005 when the court in Angers, France threw out the case[1]. The song uses Esther Bigeou’s “St. Louis Blues” by repeatedly playing the verse, “My man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea.”

This track is, to me, is very Trip Hop.  Hence my for love it!

Malcolm Mclaren – About Her

And of course the classic Malcome Mclaren track, Buffalo Gals:

This track can be found on their 3rd Studio album, back in  2002.  Have to say, this track always makes it on my compilations cd’s as well as my regular ipod playlist.  The track has a little funk and trip hop soul in there with some modern tones.  Vocalist Chris Corner was rumored to be working on a new Sneaker Pimps album, but most tracks made it to his 2009 album under his moniker of “IAMX”.

Sneaker Pimps – Sick

Going back to the crates on this one, back in 1995 when electronica started to get darker and edgier came along Ruby.   They had a great first outing with their debut release, “Salt Peter”.  Ruby was the partnership of Lesley Rankine and Mark Walk.  Lesley is currently on hiatus in her home country of Scotland, while Mark Walk currently resides in LA and is producing music for TV and Film.  I hope Lesley will return and grace us with her vocals on some much needed new tunes.  I can’t tell you home many times I listened to “Salt Peter” on CD.  Lesley has a certain Growl to her voice that just cuts.

Ruby – Hoops

Ruby – Tiny Meat

This track can be found on Christmas Remixed Vol 2 which was released October 11, 2005.  The basic premise of this collection was to have electronic, hip-hop, dance music producers remix classic Christmas songs.

This track in particular has a trip-hop feel to it and also was recently used in a BMW commercial.

Berlin Symphony Orchestra – Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Red Baron Remix)

Buy Album:Christmas Remixed, Vol. 2

Trip Hop / Dub inspired track from Crustation.

Last.fm Bio

The trio of producers known as Crustation formed by Ian Dark, Stig Manley and Mark Taylerthe are quite connected in the fertile Bristol trip-hop community — they played in bands with Portishead’s Adrian Utley during the 1980s, and regularly hung out with Massive Attack and Smith & Mighty. They debuted in 1994 with two EPs for Cup of Tea Records (also the home of Monk & Canatella, Statik Sound System and Purple Penguin), and released their debut album Bloom in 1998.

Crustation – Purple

Doesn’t this track just throw you back to the days of 90′s Trip Hop. Digging this track with the dissonant piano chords over some rough electronics beats and distortion.

Trip Hop group Milique are from Melbourne, Australia and are made up of James Murfet & Roni Shewan.

Bio from myspace:

milique is james murfet & roni shewan. it’s trip hop, it’s simple; and maybe you can dance to it. expect soothing minimal lows, happy grooves, bass heavy angst and a bit of fun.

james has been hacking around with music and computers since the 90′s. one-time industrial act, james has chilled over the years and now enjoys making downbeat, trip-hop and a bit of minimal/techy stuff. in milique he plays keys and clicks a mouse occasionally. check out his website

roni’s sweet but powerful voice has unpretentiously been rockin’ the melbourne scene in a variety of genres for a number of years. her sincere songwriting and jazz-inclined vocal style soars full flight in milique. check out her myspace.

Milique – Blame it on me

Alluring, beautiful, and all the while psychedelic is the best way to describe this track from Blank Blue.  Love the edits and effects used on it.

Bio From artist page:

lvin Estela, aka Nobody, met Niki Randa at Fingerprints, an indie record store in Long Beach, California, where they have worked together since 2001. Estela was mulling over ideas for a sequel to Pacific Drift, his 2003 release on Ubiquity, and realized that the album he wanted to make needed only one vocalist. He had often heard that “Niki can sing!” and eventually would give Randa a CD-R of beats and tracks that he was considering for his new album to see if she was interested in being the one. In December 2006 the first of their collaborations was finished and given the working title “Sonic What?!” Excited with the results, Estela immediately told Randa about the concept for an album which had come to him in a series of nightmares. Shortly after the two ventured to a book store during their lunch break, grabbed a book blindly, opened randomly, and put Randa’s finger to a page which read “Blank Blue.” The god’s had christened their project (it’s both the album’s namesake and the name given to the collaboration between Estela and Randa) and for the next twelve months, Estela and Randa would eat, sleep, drink and smoke Blank Blue.

Blank Blue – In The Swim

Loving this new release from Bitter:Sweet and looking forward to their sophomore effort called, “Drama”. It’s easy to hear why so many music supervisors place Bitter:Sweet music in to TV show’s such as Grey’s Anatomy, Moonlight, and Lipstick Jungle to name a few.

Bio from last.fm:

Bitter:Sweet is an electronic/trip-hop duo with jazz-like qualities from Los Angeles. The band is comprised of Shana Halligan, who provides vocals and lyrics and composes the songs, and Kiran Shahani, who produces and composes the songs. They are often compared to, or appeal to, fans of Zero 7, Morcheeba, Björk, Portishead, Everything But the Girl, and Serge Gainsbourg. Recently, they have been listed on the Top 10 on the iTunes Store electronic chart and have been placed on radio station KCRW’s Top 5 Most Requested CD for the week of March 20, 2006 [1]. Additionally, they have been featured on the soundtrack of The Devil Wears Prada, in Episode 2 (“I Am a Tree”) of Season 3 of Grey’s Anatomy, in the movies Because I Said So and Shoot ‘Em Up, in a Zune advertisement, and also placed on MSN’s list for “Ones to Watch” [2].

The duo was formed when Halligan answered an ad listed on Craig’s List for a singer posted by Shahani, who had previously founded the Supreme Beings of Leisure. Their 11-track debut album, The Mating Game, was released April 4, 2006 under Quango Music Group and has been reviewed and recognized by several magazine publications, such as Urb and People [3] [4] The song was featured on a commercial for the winery, Korbel.

In summer of 2007, Bitter:Sweet released The Remix Game, featuring reworked versions of tracks from The Mating Game by reknown producers such as Thievery Corporation, Fort Knox Five, and Skeewiff. These tracks were previously available only on vinyl, or unreleased.

Bitter:Sweet – Trouble

Mamanet hailing from the Ukrainian is doing some very interesting live instrumentation of Trip Hop.  Love the pizzicato plucking in the start of this track that then leads to full on atmosphere of the Trip Hop underground.

Bio from Last.fm :

A famous Ukrainian live electronics band, formed in Kramatorsk, UA in 2003. It’s a unique and new sound all played live.
There are four guys, four different personalities. When they are together, they become one solid unit.
They find it pretty boring to hold on to one single genre, so no wonder theirs music can go from trip-hop into disco and from drum’n’bass to lounge. Some guys call it live electronics.
“It’s a Ukrainian Red Snapper” – the magazine “SHO” says.
They believe in music and tend to see mystery in casual things, we deal with, everyday.

KI-MONO a new album by Mamanet was recorded and produced at Neo Generation Music by Dmitriy Pereskokov aka Sher, who became famous working with such Ukrainian artists as Oleg Skrypka, Green Grey etc. Sher was also a sound producer on a KI-MONO record.

Mamanet musical project is:
Jaroslav Tsygani,
Michael Lantuh,
Yuri Rozenko,
Eugen Mihailov.

Record label NGMusic.ru

www.mamanet.com.ua
www.myspace.com/mamanetband

Mamanet – Coma

This track has a Saint Germain vibe to it.   Here is a short bio on Parov Stelar from last.fm:

Parov Stelar aka Marcus Füreder lives and works in Linz / Austria. Interesting themes and structures preferably move in the protecting environment of the underground. Right where enough space and stages can be found for growth and development. The freedom of jazz combined with the groove of house and breakbeat describes the character of Parov Stelar. The main theme is clearly defined, high quality music engaged in functionality. Parov’s productions addresses the DJ at the club as well as the listener in his easy chair and – he is spinning his well selected vinyls across the world. Parov Stelar is the head of Etage Noir Recordings.
myspace.com/stelar1

 Wolf Myer Orchestra & Parov Stelar – SoulGate (ft. Lillith)