artist: Nightmares On Wax country of origin: UK style(s): Trip hop, lounge, soul, funk, psychedelia essential releases: Smokers Delight (1995, Warp) Carboot Soul (1999, Warp)

When hip hop decided to chill out it became trip hop. British DJ and composer George Evelyn aka Nightmares On Wax was one of its earliest exponents and these two albums remain a testament to that sub-genre's enduring qualities despite its fall from fashion in the late 90's. That a Brit was among the first to explore and experiment in this way with essentially an American art form is, in retrospect, not that surprising. Evelyn's pioneering work was typical of the brave new genre-hopping world of UK dance and electronic music in the first half of the 90's, as defined by labels as diverse as Warp, Mo Wax and Emit.

Nightmares On Wax was originally a duo and a very different entity to one most people recognise today. The eclectic and generally uptempo debut A Word Of Science (1991) is essentially a mashed-up club album that gleefully fuses a myriad of then-current rave and dance music sources including Evelyn's first love hip hop. If anything, the album's post-acidhouse free-for-all explains how Evelyn ended up on a bleepy techno label like Warp. The sound of later N.O.W. albums is an exception to most of Warp's futuristic ambient electronica and other techno and electro mutations. Word of Science does display Evelyn's creative sampling and a couple of the more laid back moments hint at the stoned instrumental funk to come, particularly the lush strings of "Nights Interlude" (re-recorded twice on successive albums) sampled from a record by veteran soul producer Quincy Jones.

Four years later the second N.O.W. album appeared, the mostly instrumental Smokers Delight. It's a sunny, laid-back retro samplefest ("more daydreams than nightmares" said one reviewer) that carves a niche quite apart from the similarly pioneering but darker trip hop stylings of the time by Massive Attack and Portishead. Soul and rare groove fans will have fun spotting all the samples; the rest of us can just sink back and enjoy the languid and surreal re-assembling of drum breaks and basslines with snatches of guitar, strings, vocals and spoken word. Alongside releases by UK label Mo Wax and its star signing DJ Shadow, Smokers Delight put stoned hip hop on the map. Despite the dictates of fashion since and heated debates about the trip hop tag, the genre today remains a wonderfully warm, creative and sometimes quirky form of ambience.

With more polished production and a higher melody count, the brilliant Carboot Soul is best N.O.W. album for first-timers. "Nights Interlude" gets its 3rd and best remake in the shape of "Les Nuits" which ditches the original string sample in favour of a specially assembled live orchestra. The result is a sexy, lush, glowing piece of slow-motion instrumental soul. Its simple drum break, electric piano, organ stabs and gorgeous strings coalesce into something so uplifting it gives you goose bumps. "Fire In The Middle" meshes its folksy and paisley-coloured guitars with a funk-rock groove as soft as a feather, and "Ethnic Majority" marries a crisp hip hop break with happy trumpet blasts and an insanely catchy group "do-de-do" singalong. Although a couple of straight soul songs with a female vocalist are more mundane Carboot Soul remains a sweetly stoned masterpiece. Later N.O.W. albums Mind Elevation (2003) and In A Space Outta Sound (2005) suggest the pull of the mainstream, less surreal and more song-dominated and quite honestly better judged as eclectic soul records.

HOME