Thirty Years of Downtempo

hhh · 2020-01-04 00:46:07

A new thread for an old genre. My first taste, maybe, was Chocolate Elvis by Tosca in 1995 on a CD that was part of the "This Is Acid Jazz" compilation series, there were at least ten of them. Here's the Tosca release...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zvhbbc8mTc

-OT edit-I am disturbed by how much that album cover's bust looks like Donald Elvis Trump Presley. I'm minimizing the window, but I cannot unsee.

Last edited by hhh (2020-01-04 00:59:38)

glittersloth · 2020-01-04 03:49:35

Not sure what officially qualifies as downtempo, so don't really know how far back I can dig. To me, it's always meant slow and chilled, in which case a lot of early jazz/funk-fusion or dub reggae easily makes the cut. Or I could be even more loose with the definition and site some Beatles tracks. I dunno, honestly. I don't pigeonhole much these days. Hate pigeons. Filthy buggers.

Edit:
Okay, first downtempo experience was my Secondary 1 (not sure what Grade that equals in the US) chemistry class. Mr. Lee, if I remember right. If Diazepam had a voice, it'd be his. His class content was equally sedative. Especially useful after lunch break.

Last edited by glittersloth (2020-01-04 03:58:34)

hhh · 2020-01-04 05:05:04

@glittergod, I am calling the new Beck album, Hyperspace, downtempo, so make of it what you will. A lounge vibe with a mix of acoustic instruments and massive studio production. To wit, Chemical...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpPD3F0z4VE

hhh · 2020-01-04 05:30:05

What did you call them when I mentioned it? Oh yeah, "Pure lounge!" Boozoo Bajou - Coming Home (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUruI2UdSVg

hhh · 2020-01-04 11:04:32

Good morning!

Tosca - Suzuki In Dub (2002)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMsNYN6J0mw

clusterF · 2020-01-04 12:56:29

Portishead should be in this thread.

Downtempo sort of has varied offshoots to the genre, lo-fi, trip-hop, chill-pop etc etc...

Roads...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQYsGWh_vpE

hhh · 2020-01-06 01:01:11

clusterF wrote:

Portishead should be in this thread.

Done with no hesitation, I have the perfect link. Live at Roseland in NYC, from 1998...

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hsa0u

Best quality available in the Daily Motion player settings is 480p. Choose that one.

hhh · 2020-01-06 02:01:43

^At about 54:45, I don't know what the song is called. That is barely downtempo, that is some sort of emo art piece. The chord progression, melody and production (other parts and mixing) are all insane. The next song is great too, a James Bond vibe. And it gets better after that.

Last edited by hhh (2020-01-06 02:12:11)

hhh · 2020-01-06 02:42:31

Time stamp: 1900 hours. I watched the whole thing. I wasn't bored. Make sure to listen to the End Credits jam, some sweet wickety-wick downtempo.

Off the top of my head, some in-studio and concert performances to knock a few bands off the list.

Thievery Corporation, live on KEXP (2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eK6SYVyZRk

Zero 7 - Live at Glastonbury (2004)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRjGlmLdebM

James Blake live on KEXP (2013, I really like this session. James Blake, 20-something doentempo power trio.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8sm9NftTo0

Massive Attack - Live at Melt Music Festival (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqYA7uJUbqE

-edit- Zero 7 link fixed.

Last edited by hhh (2020-01-06 04:11:48)

cog · 2020-01-06 02:49:14

+1 for the Blake

hhh · 2020-01-06 03:59:01

It's almost eleven at night now, I'm halfway through the Thievery Corporation link after hearing Blake. Amerimacka at about 18:25, excellent dub downtempo.

-edit- Gah! That Zero 7 recording sounds bad tonally (way too bright). Let's go with the studio recordings.

Simple Things (2001, featuring a ton of talent on vocals)...

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ … full+album

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Th … o_7_album)

When It Falls (2004)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUQE3m3 … FD5CEF1163

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_It_Falls

The Garden (2006)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFA07V7 … 152986C5F6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_(Zero_7_album)

hhh · 2020-01-06 05:35:51

I said I was including Beck's Hypersapce. Beck - Uneventful Days, live on Kimmel last week...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M3HW_YfZoI

My favorite song off the album, Chemical. Well well we-well well we-ell. Start it, start it again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpPD3F0z4VE

They say love is a chemical, and a gun to the soul.

Well well we-well well we-ell.

What I really really want to know, is if my mind's in control?

Well well we-well well we-ell.

I'm... so high... in love, it's a chemical.

START IT! START IT AGAIN!!!

hhh · 2020-01-06 06:31:03

Massive Attack - The Spoils (2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r31DFrFs5A

Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded (1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyuRjqux18o

hhh · 2020-01-08 02:57:54

Bonobo - Live on KXEP (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQAFfeQNpGcv

Bonobo - Live on KEXP (2017?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhQitzj0zQ

hhh · 2020-01-08 03:35:17

Wait, what? At the beginning of that second link, a Bonobo Gorillaz remix?

First I've heard of it, but yes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT1aqS25j5s

Please minimize your browser after starting, it makes it much better.

hhh · 2020-01-09 04:05:59

Boozoo Bajou - Same Sun (live no idea of the year)

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x900qb

Boozoo Bajou - Coming Home (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUruI2UdSVg

Pure lounge.

-edit- Hysterical to me musically, and rampant on mid-eighties to early-nineties CDs, the "analog" scratch track added to the anolog-to-digital final mix.

hhh · 2020-01-09 05:30:52

Bonobo - Migration (full album, 2017)

This is really blurring the lines between downtempo, ambient jazz, electronica...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEVI37XfL8Q

hhh · 2020-01-10 03:29:53

From 2004, The Dzihan & Kamien Orchestra – Live In Vienna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqgwjvPngMg

https://www.discogs.com/The-Dzihan-Kami … ase/321555

-edit- I have to play may fave jam by them, 2005's Where's Johny Sabatino. It saved my ass one drunken night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2s1aO7Tukk

I gotta get out. I'm not staying here.

hhh · 2020-01-10 03:47:44

Repost from the main music thread, but worth it. Zero 7 with Sia and Sophia Barker on vocals performing Destiny in-studio, 2002. Pure lounge, major four-part harmony vocals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBqJ0oCTnag

hhh · 2020-01-10 21:51:31

New-ish Tosca, from 2017. Going Going Going

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG3S0VnlVeo

hhh · 2020-01-11 03:15:08

Old-skool Tosca, and I'm confused by the remix. Some combination of Tosca, Baby Mammoth and Bullitnuts from 1999...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klWAC4_ov9E

https://www.discogs.com/Tosca-The-Choco … ter/517711

hhh · 2020-01-12 00:45:40

Fink - Good Day For Hippos (2000)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJcRzV51naw

It just played on my radio stream, and I thought "I know those samples. Birds of Fire by Mahavishnu Orchestra?"

Nailed it on the first guess, Miles Beyond (1973)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dj9KB8 … aA&index=2

Screw downtempo, we should be listening to fusion. Shame that there are so few good examples of it. Except for all of the great downtempo. And world music. And punk, dancehall, club, rock, electronica, 100 varieties of metal...

hhh · 2020-01-14 04:48:27

Funki Porcini - The Afterlife (1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiWYaUHRii4

Mechanical 4D (it says it was uploaded in 2010. So I'll go with 2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-hFgeP2x0

Scratch track for the win.

-edit- Endless (1999)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYE7a-RDMSA

hhh · 2020-01-14 05:35:08

I have a half-sip of beer left, so nyeah.

Yoshinori Sunahara - 747 dub (1998)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NfhqEwSPSI

That's the coolest jam on the album, but not the most impressive. That cherry gets picked by this jam from the same album. Rhodes Funky Dub. Wait for the Rhodes extended keyboard solo at ~1:11 and on, it's amazing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWp3t9eINyc

hhh · 2020-01-24 02:06:07

A long, physical, abusive day at work. Your bones and brain are tired and stressed. Burnt, fried, crispified... toast.

Crack a beer.

Wax Tailor - How I Feel (2005)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pxnkri6cm0

-edit- Wax Tailor - The Games You Play (2007)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6-pQSWjwqc

Last edited by hhh (2020-01-24 02:13:19)

#1 2020-01-04 00:46:07

Thirty Years of Downtempo

#2 2020-01-04 03:49:35

Re: Thirty Years of Downtempo

#3 2020-01-04 05:05:04

Re: Thirty Years of Downtempo

#4 2020-01-04 05:30:05

Re: Thirty Years of Downtempo

#5 2020-01-04 11:04:32

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#6 2020-01-04 12:56:29

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#7 2020-01-06 01:01:11

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#8 2020-01-06 02:01:43

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#9 2020-01-06 02:42:31

Re: Thirty Years of Downtempo

#10 2020-01-06 02:49:14

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#11 2020-01-06 03:59:01

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#12 2020-01-06 05:35:51

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#13 2020-01-06 06:31:03

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#14 2020-01-08 02:57:54

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#15 2020-01-08 03:35:17

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#16 2020-01-09 04:05:59

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#17 2020-01-09 05:30:52

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#18 2020-01-10 03:29:53

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#19 2020-01-10 03:47:44

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#20 2020-01-10 21:51:31

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#21 2020-01-11 03:15:08

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#22 2020-01-12 00:45:40

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#23 2020-01-14 04:48:27

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#24 2020-01-14 05:35:08

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#25 2020-01-24 02:06:07

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