[Giogio]

Hi,
 
it was loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong ago when I was 18 and in love for this girl who made me listen to this cool music. Dummy, Portishead.
From that moment I have collected all what they did.
And by asking shops "do you have something similar" I got to know Morcheeba, BabyFox, Mono, Czech, Goldfrapp, Lamb, Air, Archive, Hooverphonic, Moloko, and I am now remembering that I have never investigated on Bonobo.
I already knew of course Massive Attack, Bjork, Tricky, Monk & Cannatella.
 
I wonder, is there anything else, old or new, which is worth listening in this kind of sound?

 

[1974]

James Blake! Not exactly like Portishead, but moody and atmospheric, beautiful vocals.

 

[Giogio]

Oh, I have his Limit to your love, I use it to test the sub-bass.
I like the song, I do not know why I did not look for more. Thanks.
 
I am listening to Espers now, not trip hop, mostly a sort of trip folk, or a modern version of what Fairport Convention did once upon a time, but with a dark depressive tone which fits with Portishead.

 

[WraithApe]

I've got a few album suggestions for you (mostly quite old, like me!), not all trip hop, but a similar downtempo vibe:
 
Nearly God - Nearly God
Mujaji - Free Rain
Ronnie & Clyde - In Glorious Black and Blue
A Forest Mighty Black - Mellowdramatic
Fila Brazillia - Luck Be a Weirdo Tonight
Project Pollen - Project Pollen
Rae & Christian - Northern Sulphuric Soul
Nightmares On Wax - Carboot Soul
Baby Mammoth - Swimming
J-Walk - A Night On the Rocks
RJD2 - Dead Ringer
The Cinematic Orchestra - Every Day
Villain Accelerate - Maid of Gold
Aphilas - Instrumentally Ill
Blockhead - Music By Cavelight
Soulsavers - Tough Guys Don't Dance
Deceptikon - Lost Subject
Yppah - You Are Beautiful At All Times
Yppah - They Know What Ghost Know
Bonobo - Black Sands
Tensei - One
Lapalux - While You're Gone
 
The Cup of Tea Records compilations are well worth checking too, especially the second one - full of good stuff like Monk & Canatella and Purple Penguin.

 

[Giogio]

  I've got a few album suggestions for you (mostly quite old, like me!), not all trip hop, but a similar downtempo vibe:

Thanks a lot!
I am not that young either
 
I will check them.
In the while I have found a list here: http://www.last.fm/music/Portishead/+similar
And some stuff in wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trip_hop
 
I have listened something from Sneaker Pimps, sounded like a cheap copy of Morcheeba, very boring and unoriginal.
I will keep searching.
I had forgotten some names in my list: Plaid, Khao, Cibo Matto, and of course, DJ Shadow.
 
Cheers

 

[WraithApe]

Ah, Sneaker Pimps yes. The proverbial one trick pony. I did like 6 Underground back in the day, but that really is it. I was gonna mention Shadow, but figured you'd already know him

; Entroducing... is one of the true classics of the 90s IMO
 
Don't know Khao and Cibo Matto but do know Plaid very well (got all their albums) and it's fair to say you're entering different territory there - i.e. if you like Plaid, then there's Aphex Twin, Clark, Mrs Jynx, Bola, Boards of Canada and many many more! I guess earlier Plaid, like Not For Threes, is more on the downtempo tip (thinking of tracks like Rakimou in particular) but their best albums are Double Figure and Spokes for my money, and those are more straight-up electronica.

 

[tackytiger]

Sounds like you've heard everything I could recommend in terms of trip-hop, I was into virtually everything you and WraithApe mentioned.
 
I think some alt-country female singer-songwriter stuff has a similar vibe. You might like Nina Nastasia (try The Blackened Air) or maybe even Gillian Welch (try Hell Among the Yearlings).
 
Or maybe lo-fi, Cat Power (try Moon Pix).
 
On the brighter side, Emiliana Torrini (try Me and Armini) writes great songs.

 

[TokenGesture]

If you don't know of it already check out a beautiful album Beth did a few years back with one of the guys from Talk Talk - Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out of Season. One of all time favourites.  Quite different to Portishead, but sublime 

 

[WraithApe]

^^ Nice tip, thanks! Never heard of that. Big Talk Talk fan - particularly Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock - and Beth Gibbons of course, so that sounds like a must check!
 
The talk of 'alt country female singer' got me thinking... Mazzy Star's 'So Tonight That I Might See' could be worth a listen for OP, and possibly P J Harvey's 'To Bring You My Love' as well.

 

[TokenGesture]

Another favourite of mine - Fever Ray by Fever Ray (Karen out of The Knife's solo project).  Again not exactly Portishead but its pitch shifted vocals and atmospheric synths have something in common, maybe.  

 

[proedros]

  ^^ Nice tip, thanks! Never heard of that. Big Talk Talk fan - particularly Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock - and Beth Gibbons of course, so that sounds like a must check!
 
The talk of 'alt country female singer' got me thinking... Mazzy Star's 'So Tonight That I Might See' could be worth a listen for OP, and possibly P J Harvey's 'To Bring You My Love' as well.

 
2 masterpieces, nice to see TT mentioned here

i would also recommend their previous album the colour of spring , more accessible but also a fantastic TT album

 

[Giogio]

Don't know Khao and Cibo Matto

I guess earlier Plaid, like Not For Threes

Yes the one I have is Not for Threes, I have never listened to it much because I have found it boring when I was younger. I am listening to it now and find it very nice. Not Portishead not even closely that intense (but, who on Earth can be intense as Beth?).
There is something in this album that remembers me of IDM things like Telefon Tel Aviv. And the first track has got a touch of things from "One Step Ahead of the Spider" of MC 900 ft Jesus (highly recommended album, although not exactly Trip Hop).
I also like electronica although I do not know much of it. I have a couple of things of Orb and Orbital, and one track (Aurora) of Alex Gopher. Not sure if any of this is electronica though.
About Cibo Matto, they are/were one of a kind and you should definitely listen to their Viva! La Woman. The son of Lennon was there too. Their next album was not so good imo, but I should probably relisten now.
I only know "Crazy Diseased and Barmy" of Khao. It also never really impressed me but I am relistening now and is sounds more interesting than I remembered. They mix a lot of things, including some DruNBass. Which I do not dislike in its more artistic form like Animals On Wheels "Design and Mistakes" (highly recommended atmospheric DrumNBass).
 

I know Cat Power, they are good, but, yeah, not in the direction I wanted to go
 

  If you don't know of it already

Agree. I know it and like it a lot and it is a prove that Beth was the soul of Portishead.
A bit like with Dead Can Dance and the solo works of Lisa Gerrard. Nothig to do with Trip Hop, just to name another example of solo works which show who the boss was.
Btw Dead Can Dance is a band that nobody should ignore
I am listening to Fever Ray, very nice. Although there is a bit too much 80's in it for my tastes. I have somehow always had a sort of allergy to 80's...
Anyway, I must object that the only thing the singer may have in common with (some of) Beth is the high pitch, but there is none of Beth's dramatic visceral intensity. Which is what made me love Portishead.
 

P J Harvey's 'To Bring You My Love' as well.

I found that in my collection of things received by people met during travels. Nice, but also not in the direction I wanted to go with this thread.
 
I had forgotten a few other bands:
UNKLE: their debut album even included DJ Shadow
Statik Sound Orchestra: I only have their "Tempesta" and I like it quite a lot. There is a track which starts and you think "ah, cool, Portishead".
Khoiba: I have a couple of tracks from "Nice Traps" and it sounds like a mix of Moloko and Khao.
Smoke City "Flying Away", more like Morcheeba than like Portishead, but nice.
Shivaree, I only know a few songs of the first two albums, very nice, melodic, similar to Morcheeba and Smoke City.
 
Now while searching in google and wiki for Czech (I love them) and having found nothing at all if not in indipedia.de (after all they are a german band, although the singer is descendent of the Polish modern composer Gorecki), I finally landed in discogs where I was suggested "Peace Orchestra". They are worth listening.
 
And given that you guys say there is nothing more, I also want to suggest a few things which are not Trip Hop but could, for one or another reason, please those who like Trip Hop:
Cocorosie: a genial duo of French sisters with an absolutely unique style. Nobody should ignore them. If you like them you should try to find something of a band called Islaja.
Tortoise ("TNT" and "Millions now living will never die")
and Gastr del Sol ("Camoufleur" and "Upgrade & Afterlife")
they are both some kind of alternative and mostly instrumental rock, mostly atmospheric and acoustic, very very interesting listening, a really nice balance of experimental and melodic. I am not able to swallow too experimental things.
Księżyc "Księżyc": also etheric, atmospheric, so interesting..., similar balance of experimental and melodic as the previous two.
Sigur Ros: you all know them I bet my next meal on it.
Azure Ray: a sort of depressive experimental acoustic folk? With a fascinating soft voice with some intensity. I like intensity. And drama.
Cocteau Twins: this is an old classic now I suppose, but, listening to it now I think it may have been inspiration from some of these Morcheeba-like artists... And, nobody should ignore them.
And the ones I have mentioned above, Espers, they are poetic and intense and lyric and atmospheric but also grungy at times and dramatic and a bit acid. I think you all will like them.

 

[WraithApe]

Wow, a lot to talk about there 

 
I think you have to face the fact that there is nothing else quite like Portishead - it's what makes them the special band they are and IMO, the best acts are unique and difficult to find a match to. The closest in sound, at least to Dummy-era Portishead, is obviously their contemporaries from the Bristol scene; Tricky, Massive Attack etc. but you know all of those. In fact, it sounds like you probably have a better handle on trip hop than most people already: other than UNKLE, I don't know any from your first list above!
 
With regards to some of the other stuff you mentioned, yes, of course I know The Orb and Orbital - they are at the more mainstream end of electronica. I don't mean that in a negative way - Orbital's In Sides is a stone cold classic - I just mean that they are some of the better known acts out there and they'll be the bedrock of any serious electronic music collection. Telefon Tel Aviv scored an IDM classic in Fahrenheit Fair Enough - uber-detailed with crisp production - but the rest of their stuff I find too poppy. If you like Plaid's Not For Threes now, I'd definitely recommend checking out Double Figure and Spokes. Their recent album, Reachy Prints, was rather good too.
 
Tortoise - love 'em (especially TNT, which you mentioned), but I'd call it post-rock / avant-garde instrumental, with jazz leanings. Another H-F user alerted me to the fact they have a new album out, The Catrophist - haven't checked it yet though!
 
Cocteau Twins - I can see why you'd give them a mention in the context of this thread but they're quite far removed from trip hop I'd say. My favourite Twins are the early new wave albums like Garlands, but Heaven Or Las Vegas is also pretty special.
 
EDIT: Sorry, I see now you said about your second list, "which are not trip hop"

 

[Giogio]

I think you have to face the fact that there is nothing else quite like Portishead

EDIT: Sorry, I see now you said about your second list, "which are not trip hop"

No prob.
I had faced it then, I just hoped it could have appeared something in the last years.
Anyway you gave me also a whole list of names I had never head before in your first post. Maybe I find something there.
But what I mean when I talk to "similar to portishead" is 2 things: the general trip hop kind of sound in any variation (of course not the SAME sound as Portishead, in fact I hate when somebody copies their Dummy sound like Hooverphonic - 2Wicky, I have hoped they would never ever have success), and the dramatic intensity of her voice.
Of these two things the second is the most important, so I tend to like things like Espers more than Morcheeba. But if I find a similar intensity in a trip hop sound, I am sold.
 
If you like Tortoise you should definitely check Gastr del Sol and the other Polish one.
 
About Telefon Tel Aviv I have songs 1,5 of "Maps of what is effortless" and songs 1,2,6 of the first album. I do not see much difference in poppiness. I suppose I may have deleted the most experimental tracks of the first album back then when I was not ready for that (I am like this. It took me for example 2 years to understand "Moon In June" of Soft Machine. After two years on the shelf I listened it again and I fell in love at the point of searching and collecting everything which Robert Wyatt had made alone - in fact that track was, apparently, made by him alone. The others of the band did not like it and only came to do a couple of things).
They are, also, the only IDM band I know. So, now that I am ready you may suggest me something privately.
 
And, we forgot Propellerheads. Would that be Trip Hop?
I like them a lot (Decksanddrumsandrockandroll) but I always confuse them with Chemical Brothers (no idea why) whom I do not like that much and have nothing to do with Trip Hop, so I always forget mentioning them (and listening to them).
 
EDIT: and we may want to include some of the things Quantic did.