Portishead
„Dummy“
Trip-Hop, Downbeat. CD, 1994.

In short: Geoff Barrow from Portishead, near Bristol, was involved in a production with Massive Attack. This led to his idea for the Portishead project in 1991. Beth Gibbons, who sang in bars, and jazz guitarist Adrian Utley joined the project, and their first album, "Dummy," was released in 1994. Portishead innovatively blended hip-hop, dub, soul, jazz, post-rock, and breakbeat to create what became known as trip-hop. The term "trip-hop" wasn't coined by the band, and they didn't identify with it. I would personally call it trip-hop-downbeat-prog. In any case, "Dummy" was named album of the year in 1994. The music thrives on its innovative blend of numerous samples, hip-hop elements, dub, downbeat, jazz, and soul, along with Beth Gibbons' distinctive vocals.

While Blur and Oasis were being hyped for their Brit-pop/rock sound, Portishead were in Bristol, working on what we now call trip-hop. This represented genuine innovation, unlike the music of Blur or Oasis—though that's not meant to diminish those bands in any way. “Dummy” went straight from the clubs of working-class Bristol to Album of the Year 1994 and into MTV’s rotation. Portishead were thus the first band to take the musical style of trip-hop from the scene clubs of Bristol to a global audience. The foundation of their sound was laid with laid-back beats, upon which they layered melancholic and atmospheric sounds. There are relaxed beats, samples, and scratching. And above all, there's the voice of Beth Gibbons.

Entire treatises and epics have been written about Portishead and their album "Dummy", or about songs like "Sour Time", "Glory Box", and "Wandering Star" (no surprise, those are my favorites too). 

Conclusion: Innovative. Cool. Melancholic. An intelligent blend of genres and Beth Gibbons.

11 Songs. Playtime 49:24 Minutes 

Vocals: Beth Gibbons
Guitar: Adrian Utley
DJ: Geoff Barrow

The photos are all from my CD. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.

© 18.10.2025