Karma ‎– Pad Sounds (1997)

Style: Downtempo
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Groove Attack Productions

Tracklist:
01.   Pad 1
02.   My Resting Place
03.   Relax Yourself
04.   Ghia
05.   Enter The Dragon Pt.1
06.   Enter The Dragon Pt.2
07.   Look Up Dere
08.   Pad 2
09.   Static Travelling
10.   High Priestess ('97 Live Rmx)
11.   Dakini

Credits:
Sleeve – Weusthoff & Rose Communication Bureau
Written-By, Arranged By, Producer, Recorded By – Lars Vegas, Mojo Tom

Pad Sounds fuses the atmosphere of trip-hop with the intensity of drum'n'bass, a hybrid best heard on the group's underground club hit "High Priestess," featured here in a live remix. 

Jason Ankeny / AllMusic

Nightmares On Wax ‎– Smokers Delight (1995)

Style: Trip Hop, Dub, Downtempo
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Warp Records, Rough Trade

Tracklist:
01.   Nights Introlude
02.   Dreddoverboard
03.   Pipes Honour
04.   Me + You
05.   Stars
06.   Wait A Minute
06.   Praying For A Jeepbeat
07.    Groove St.
08.   Time (To Listen)
09.   (Man) Tha Journey
10.   Bless My Soul
11.   Cruise (Don't Stop)
12.   Mission Venice
13.   What I'm Feelin (Good)
14.   Rise
15.   Rise (Reprise)
16.   Gambia Via Vagator Beach

Credits:
Producer, Mixed By, Programmed By, Other (Herbalized By) – E. A. S. E.
Programmed By – Robin Taylor-Firth

Despite the liner notes by Nightmares On Wax aka George Evelyn himself asking that the music found on Smokers Delight should not be considered trip hop, this album is the benchmark - if not the blueprint - for that genre. Mind you, back in 1995 when this stone cold classic was originally released, trip hop music wasn't yet de riguer in cafes, hair salons and hotel lobbies worldwide. Smokers Delight was the second album from Nightmares On Wax, following a more dance floor-oriented debut, Word Of Science. For the follow up though, Evelyn got to experimenting with trip hop - which is essentially hip hop with deeper soul and less rapping. With its rubbery bass lines, low-slung funk, meandering, jazzy guitar patterns and slow-motion chocolate-smothered grooves, Smokers Delight is often described as sophisticated stoner music, but that's merely lazy alliteration. This remains an all-time classic of contemporary instrumental music and an essential album. 

David Carroll / In The Pocket

Cool Breeze ‎– Assimilation (1995)

Style: Dub, Acid Jazz, Downtempo
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Dorado, Jazz Not Jazz Records

Tracklist:
01.   Down By Law
02.   Shalom Salaam Peace
03.   Can't Deal With This
04.   Stranger
05.   Socio Groove
06.   Check It
07.   NB
08.   Charlie Don't Surf
09.   The Sun That Shines Above The Earth
10.   Assimilation .
11.   Dark Soup
12.   Acoustic Blues
13.   "It'll Take More Than That"
14.   She Fell Asleep (Watching Channel Zero)
15.   Tik Tok (Kid Loops Remix)
16.   The Papers
17.   Lo And Slo
18.   Blow Out
19.   All In One

Credits:
Mixed By – Charlie Lexton, Jamie Lexton
Written-By, Producer – Charlie Lexton, Jamie Lexton

I have a habit of listening to genres in the most offbeat way possible. It’s almost like I want to deliberately alienate myself from anyone I might actually relate to (cries into pillow). When I say I like trance, it’s generally about as far removed from what most people would call “trance” as possible, (no bad thing, I’m sure you’ll agree). Likewise, when I claim to enjoy hip-hop, it’s generally stuff with absolutely no rapping or mainstream appeal whatsoever.

Cool Breeze’s album Assimilation is exactly the kind of hip-hop I love, although perhaps “hip-hop” is the wrong word. Acid jazz? Breakbeat funk? Sample collage? Beat making? Whatever. Assimilation may have been released on relatively unknown label Dorado back in 1995, but it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Ninja Tunes and their roster of delectably funky ‘90s jazzy hip-hop acts like DJ Food, The Herbaliser and Coldcut. If that doesn’t immediately give you a picture of how this album sounds then you need to brush up on your music history, maaaan.

Fundamentally, there’s not a whole lot to separate Assimilation from the ranks of similar British albums that were released between Paul’s Boutique and Endtroducing, but Cool Breeze is an assuredly talented sampler and beatmaker. His basslines are pleasingly warm and dubby, his tracks laced with cool soul and B-boy swagger, and his humour is sly without being irritating. The album also contains two brilliant standouts. First up is the achingly beautiful Can’t Deal With This, a languid summer groove where Rhodes stabs intertwine perfectly with guitar lacks and a heart-melting vocal performance from Imaani, who apparently went on to be a runner up at Eurovision. Then there’s the Kid Loops remix of Tik Tok (Come On), which emphasises the spacey dub atmospherics of the outrageously funky original while allowing the low-slung dub bassline to continue making love to one of the most infectious jazz flute samples ever uncovered.

The supporting cast of tracks are very strong, including (importantly) the opener and closer, and the only weak spot is the rather bizarre Charlie Don’t Surf, with a somewhat cheesy anti-war stoner vocal. Assimilation may not be remarkably different, but it’s a cut above the crowd in its genre, far better than many of the critically heralded efforts by contemporaries such as Mr Scruff or DJ Vadim, and deserves an honorary status as a forgotten classic. 

Jack / I Am Not A Music Journalist

St Germain ‎– Boulevard (The Complete Series) (1995)

Style: Downtempo, Deep House
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: F Communications, Play It Again  Sam

Tracklist:
1.   Deep In It
2.   Thank U Mum (4 Everything You Did)
3.   Street Scene (4 Shazz)
4.   Easy To Remember
5.   Sentimental Mood
6.   What’s New?
7.   Dub Experience II
8.   Forget It

Credits: Flute – Malik Percussion – Miguel "Punta" Rios Piano – Alexandre Destrez Saxophone – Édouard Labord Trumpet – Pascal Ohse Producer, Mixed By, Written-By – Ludovic Navarre

Picture a world where each and every French dance band was unflinchingly bad; where every Air or Cassius or even Phoenix never existed since every homegrown, starving musician looked to somebody like ATB instead of St. Germain. Luckily, this is but a piece of fiction. Because Ludovic Navarre created such a saintly pseudonym, employing deep house, tittering breaks, and down-tempo attitudes that -- in over-simplistic terms -- virtually invented the entire French house movement that has crossed over more times than a Diana Ross impersonator. The question is, does being first make you any good? Taking cues from acid jazz and its chin-stroking underground, songs like "Deep in It" or "Street Scene (4 Schazz)" seem to shyly respond, "yes." It's only the preponderance of an odd sense of a Frenchman aping American black music that starts to cause the most alarm. The loose jazz excursions such as "Sentimental Mood" carries all the emotional weight of a sewing needle and the choice of blues samples (while being years before Moby even caught onto the idea) feels contrived. The album may exude an atmosphere of a musician discovering a new genre hybridization, it just doesn't quite reach the maturity of a fleshed out idea. A landmark album? Yes. An album that lacks the loveliness of an Air or the inventiveness of an Etienne DeCrecy? Also, yes. Boulevard has been looked upon as the "essential" Revolver or What's Going On or Dig Your Own Hole piece of French house fans' record collections. It's only a small indignity that the music itself rarely reaches such heights of its comparisons.

Dean Carlson / AllMusic

Headz : A Soundtrack Of Experimental Beathead Jams (1994)

Style: Downtempo, Breaks, Trip Hop
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Mo Wax

Tracklist:
1-01.   Patterson - Freedom Now (Meditation)
1-02.   Attica Blues - Contemplating Jazz
1-03.   Awunsound - Symmetrical Jazz
1-04.   Nightmares On Wax - Stars
1-05.   La Funk Mob - Ravers Suck Our Sound
1-06.   M.F. Outa 'National - Miles Out Of Time
1-07.   PM - The Inside
1-08.   Autechre - Lowride
1-09.   Olde Scottish - Wildstyle (The Krush Handshake)
2-01.   DJ Shadow - Lost & Found (S.F.L.)
2-02.   Skull - Destroy All Monsters
2-03.   Deflon Sallahr - ... Don't Fake It
2-04.   RPM - 2000
2-05.   Palmskin Productions - Slipper Suite (I) Jeremy's Velvet Slippers (II)  Moonrakers (III) Unspeakable Acts
2-06.   U.N.K.L.E. - The Time Has Come
2-07.   Howie B. - Head West - Gun Fight At The O.K. Corrall
2-08.   Tranquility Bass - They Came In Peace
2-09.   DJ Shadow - In/Flux (Alternative Interlude '93)

The first double-disc/triple-vinyl installment of the Headz trilogy is easily the least of the batch. Though it features some heavyweights, the compilation suffers from a series of lengthy tracks that are too simplistic for their own good. Monochromatic and sluggish in long stretches to the point of approximating aural wallpaper, no amount of outer stimulation can add life to half of the material. Even an uncharacteristic Autechre track is weak. Nonetheless, decency is offered by the likes of DJ Shadow's U2-sampling "Lost and Found" (also a culprit of unnecessary length), Patterson's "Freedom Now," and DJ Krush's remix of Olde Scottish's "Wildstyle." Other notable appearances include U.N.K.L.E, Palmskin Productions, and Howie B. 

Andy Kellman / AllMusic

MC 900 Ft Jesus ‎– Welcome To My Dream (1991)

Style: Leftfield, Jazz-Funk, Downtempo, Poetry
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Nettwerk Europe, Play It Again Sam, SPV

Tracklist:
1  Falling Elevators
2  Killer Inside Me
3  Adventures In Failure
4  The City Sleeps
5  O-Zone
6  Hearing Voices In One's Head
7  Dali's Handgun
8  Dancing Barefoot

Credits: Bass – Steve Dirkx Congas, Percussion – Mike Dillon Design, Photography By – Richard Krall Drums – Al Emert Keyboards, Guitar, Trumpet – Mark Griffin Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – Chris McGuire Turntables – Patrick Rollins Producer – Mark Griffin

The follow-up to Hell With the Lid Off is darker, less cartoonish, and far more influenced by funk and jazz than before (if it weren't for the slightly whiny vocals over top of the opening cut, you might mistake the backing track for something from Miles Davis' fusion period). In a lot of ways, Welcome to My Dream was a precursor to trip-hop, layering hip-hop beats over jazzy breaks and dream-like instrumentation. 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. 

Sean Carruthers / AllMusic

Sandals ‎‎– Rite To Silence (1994)

Style: Trip Hop, Acid Jazz, Downtempo
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Open Toe Records, FFRR

Tracklist:
01.   Feet
02.   Nothing
03.   No Movement
04.   Change
05.   Ardens Bud
06.   We Wanna Live
07.   We Don't Wanna Be The Ones To Take The Blame
08.   Lovewood
09.   Here Comes The Sign
10.   Profound Dub

Credits:
Bass, Vocals – Ian 'Easy' Simmonds
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Wildcat Will Blanchard
Vocals, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Harmonica – John Harris
Vocals, Percussion – Derek Delves
Guitar – Nick Van Gelder
Producer – Leftfield
Producer (Additional Production), Remix – Joe Gibb

The sole full-length album by the London groove collective the Sandals (a second was recorded, but rejected by the record company and unreleased) is, in retrospect, a prescient look at where post-ambient house electronica would go in the mid-'90s. The jazzy grooves, largely courtesy of bassist Ian Simmonds, who would go on to make some sublime solo records under his own name and as Juryman, and percussion-heavy arrangements have an organic quality that had been missing from most of the dance records of the early '90s, and the slow-moving, vaguely druggy rhythms are a clear forerunner to trip-hop. John Harris' flute, sax, and clarinet predominate over the electronics (interestingly, the group didn't have a full-time keyboardist or guitarist; friends like Jamiroquai's Nick Van Gelder and Julian Cope's guitarist Donald Ross Skinner pitched in). Between that and the shuffling, layered percussion, parts of this album sound like Herbie Mann or Rahsaan Roland Kirk's '70s work given a Tricky remix. Though the hit single "Feet" is an obvious highlight, it's tracks like the otherworldly opener "Profound Gas" and the slinky "Lovewood" that really put this album over. The belated U.S. version adds two lengthy remixes of "Feet" that add little to the original's charm. 

Stewart Mason / AllMusic

Jon Hassell & Bluescreen ‎– Dressing For Pleasure (1994)

Style: Breakbeat, Future Jazz, Trip Hop
Format: CD
Label: Warner Bros. Records

Tracklist:
01.  G-Spot
02.  Villa Narco
03.  Kolo X
04.  Personals
05.  Club Zombie
06.  Zeitgeist
07.  Steppin' Thru Time
08.  Destination: Bakiff
09.  Sex Goddess
10.  Buzzworld
11.  The Gods, They Must Be Crazy
12.  Mati
13.  Blue Night

Credits:
Bass – Pete Scaturro
Drums, Percussion – Brain
Guitar – Joe Gore)
Keyboards – Jon Hassell
Sampler, Programmed By – Blk Lion)
Sampler, Synthesizer – Jamie Muhoberac
Trumpet – Jon Hassell
Written-By – Jon Hassell
Producer – Jon Hassell, Pete Scaturro

Two of the most memorable albums from the trip-hop and acid jazz era are by cornettist Graham Haynes (Transition) and trumpeter Ben Neill (Goldbug. Dressing for Pleasure preceeded them both. Usually, an adjective like "suave" doesn't sit easily on an ethnomusicologist whose knack for directness is grounded by his sense of beauty; neither does a label like "acid jazz." But this is Hassell's only album to fit its musical moment, following his appearance on the soundtrack of the crime film Trespass. The feel of a fully committed band is especially amazing -- Hassell and drummer Brain work with an army of bassists (six, including Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and enough programmers (three) to field a dot com startup on a coffee break. Hassell's horn flits through a sexy blend of trip-hop's hard drum programs topped with soft, impassive electronic textures like a bird circling over a crowded intersection. Woodwind player Kenny Garrett and guitarist Gregg Arreguin provide thematic voices, too, but melody is rarely enough in this genre. As always, the real fun lies in how these instruments are broken up by the programmers, led by Jamie Muhoberec, a Hassell associate on Trespass and Fascinoma. Their work helps a trumpet melody, suave enough for Herb Alpert, sound like that artist playing through the blades of an electric fan. The sample of Duke Ellington's "Bakliff," laminated into "Destination: Bakliff"'s rhythms, prefigures the jazz covers on Fascinoma. And when that horn moans from between a camera shutter and Leslie Winn's coo-oohing in the sultry "Sex Goddess." Dressing for Pleasure is all that -- an ethnomusicologist suavely dipping into a trip-hop trust fund. Old Morcheeba fans should duck into pawn shops to hunt for a copy. 

John Young / AllMusic

United Future Organization ‎– United Future Organization (1993)

Style: Fusion, Acid Jazz, Future Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Talkin' Loud, Brownswood Records

Tracklist:
1.   The Sixth Sense
2.   On Est Ensemble Sans Se Parler-L.O.V.E.
3.   Vinyl Junkie
4.   Upa Neguinho
5.   I'll Bet You Thought I'd Never Find You
6.   Poetry And All That Jazz
7.   Be Here Now
8.   My Foolish Dream
9.   Off Road

Credits:
Alto Saxophone – Sanshiro ganization
Co-producer, Programmed By, Keyboards – Ayumi Obinata
Percussion – Genta
Mixed By – Paul Borg
Producer – Aki Onodera
Producer (Production Assistance) – Chiharu Kobayashi, Kaoru Ishikawa, Kiyomi Noguchi
Written-By – United Future Organization
Arranged By, Producer – United Future Organization

For one of the most consistently inventive groups in mix culture, United Future Organization's debut falls way too close to the aural wallpaper zone. The influences -- cool jazz, light funk, and Brazilian percussion -- stand out as separate entities rather than meld together, and the rhythms are usually surprisingly static for a group predicated on making dancefloor denizens move. "The Sixth Sense" and "L.O.V.E" are dragged down by dull drumming before the Brazilian "Upa Neguinho" injects a bit of rhythm life. The songs centered around samples of beat icon Jack Kerouac and vocal jazzhero Jon Hendricks fare well, but elsewhere the repetition too often is just boring rather than pulling you into a groove. Only the Parisian cabaret accordion and Monday Michiru's vocals on "My Foolish Dream" and the breakout finale, "Off Road," really register strongly. United Future Organization is still obviously fitting the pieces of their sonic puzzle together and it shows in the timid, tentative mix as much as the music. From the evidence here, you wouldn't have expected the group to be capable of the quantam leap to No Sound Is Too Taboo -- but United Future Organization did just that. 

Don Snowden / AllMusic

Youssou N'Dour ‎– Eyes Open (1992)

Genre: Pop, Folk, World, & Country
Format: CD, Cass.
Label: Columbia, 40 Acres And A Mule MusicWorks, Sony

Tracklist:
01.   New Africa
02.   Live Television
03.   No More
04.   Country Boy
05.   Hope
06.   Africa Remembers
07.   Couple's Choice
08.   Yo Lé Lé (Fulani Groove)
09.   Survie
10.   Am Am
11.   Marie-Madeleine La Saint-Louisienne
12.   Useless Weapons
13.   The Same
14.   Things Unspoken

Credits: Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Thierno Koite Backing Vocals – Ousseynou Ndiaye Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Co-producer – Habib Faye Djembe, Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Babacar (Mbaye Dieye) Faye Drums – Fallilou (Gallas) Niang Keyboards – Ibrahima Cissé Keyboards, Co-producer – Jean-Philippe Rykiel Lead Guitar – Mamadou (Jimi) Mbaye Rhythm Guitar – Pape Oumar NGom Talking Drum – Assane Thiam Tenor Saxophone – Issa Cissocko Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Leader, Producer – Youssou N'Dour