Andrew Vowles | |
---|---|
Birth name | Andrew Lee Isaac Vowles |
Also known as | Mushroom |
Born | Bristol, England |
Genres | Trip hop, electronic |
Instruments | Drums, percussion, turntables, keyboards |
Years active | 1983–1998, 2023–present |
Andrew Lee Isaac Vowles, also known as Mushroom, is an English musician, known for being a founding member of the trip hop/abstract art collective Massive Attack, along with Robert Del Naja (3D), Adrian Thaws (Tricky) and Grantley Marshall (Daddy G).
Vowles was born in Bristol. [1] Prior to Massive Attack, Vowles, along with Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Nellee Hooper, Adrian Thaws and others were the Wild Bunch crew, named after the western film of the same name by Sam Peckinpah. Several members of the Wild Bunch formed Massive Attack. [2]
Vowles' nickname "Mushroom" comes from the arcade game Centipede . [3] The game was installed at Special K's Cafe, a popular hang-out spot in the mid-1980s for Vowles and his Wild Bunch peers.
Vowles remained a member of Massive Attack until shortly after the release of their third full-length album, Mezzanine , in 1998. [4] [5] Interviews with band members have pointed to differences of opinion in the creative direction the band should go. [6] [7] [8]
Apart from his contributions to Massive Attack, Vowles also appears as a DJ and co-producer on Raw Like Sushi , Neneh Cherry's 1989 debut album. [9]
Trip hop is a musical genre that originated in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound, often incorporating elements of jazz, soul, funk, reggae, dub, R&B, and other forms of electronic music, as well as sampling from movie soundtracks and other eclectic sources.
Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws, better known by his stage name Tricky, is a British record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Bristol, in southwest England, he began his career as an early member of the band Massive Attack, alongside Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall & Andrew Vowles. Through his work with Massive Attack and other artists, Tricky became a major figure in the Bristol underground scene, which gave rise to multiple internationally recognized artists and the music genre of trip hop.
Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall.
Blue Lines is the debut studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 8 April 1991 by Wild Bunch and Virgin Records. The recording was led by members Grantley "Daddy G" Marshall, Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles, with co-production by Jonny Dollar. It also features contributions by singers Shara Nelson and Horace Andy. Generally regarded as the first "trip hop" album, Blue Lines blended elements of hip hop with dub, soul, reggae, and electronic music.
100th Window is the fourth studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 10 February 2003 by Virgin Records. The album was mainly produced by lead member Robert Del Naja, as the group's producer Andrew Vowles departed shortly after the release of their previous album Mezzanine (1998), and Grant Marshall opted out of the production of the album. 100th Window features vocals from regular guest Horace Andy, as well as newcomers Sinéad O'Connor and Damon Albarn. Stylistically, it is the first album by the group to make no use of existing samples, and contains none of the hip hop or jazz fusion styles that the group were initially known for.
Neneh Mariann Karlsson ; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, occasional DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk and post-punk bands in her youth, including the Slits and Rip Rig + Panic.
Robert Del Naja, also known as 3D, is a British artist, musician, singer and songwriter. He emerged as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective the Wild Bunch, and later as a founding member and sole consistent member of the band Massive Attack, with which he is still active. In 2009, he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.
Raw Like Sushi is the debut studio album by Swedish musician Neneh Cherry, released 5 June 1989 by Virgin Records. The album includes the commercially successful single "Buffalo Stance".
Mezzanine is the third studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 20 April 1998 by Circa and Virgin Records. For the album, the group began to explore a darker aesthetic, and focused on a more atmospheric style influenced by British post-punk, industrial music, hip hop and dub music.
"Unfinished Sympathy" is a song by the English trip hop group Massive Attack. It was released on 11 February 1991 under the temporary group name Massive. The song was written by the three band members Robert "3D" Del Naja, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, the song's vocalist Shara Nelson and the group's co-producer Jonathan "Jonny Dollar" Sharp. It was released on 11 February 1991 as the second single from the band's first album, Blue Lines (1991), on the band's Wild Bunch label distributed by Circa Records. The name "Massive" was used to avoid a radio ban, as the track's release coincided with the Gulf War. Produced by Massive Attack and Dollar, the song incorporates various musical elements into its arrangement, including vocal and percussion samples, drum programming and string orchestration by the arranger Wil Malone.
Grantley Evan Marshall, also known by the stage name Daddy G, is a British DJ and a founding member of the band Massive Attack.
The Wild Bunch were an English sound system and loose collective of musicians and DJs based in the St Paul's, Montpelier and Bishopston districts of Bristol, England, named after Sam Peckinpah's 1969 Western film.
"Buffalo Stance" is a song by Swedish singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry, released in November 1988 by Circa and Virgin as the first single from the singer's debut album, Raw Like Sushi (1989). The song peaked at No. 3 on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, and it reached No. 1 in the Netherlands and in Cherry's native Sweden. An early version of the song appeared as the B-side on the 1986 Stock, Aitken, and Waterman-produced single "Looking Good Diving" by duo Morgan-McVey, which was made up of Jamie Morgan and Cherry's future husband Cameron McVey. The song, titled "Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch", was sung by Cherry.
Cameron Andrew McVey is an English singer, songwriter and music producer. He worked with the bands Massive Attack, Portishead, All Saints, Sugababes and his wife Neneh Cherry. He is the father of Marlon Roudette, Tyson, and Mabel.
"Inertia Creeps" is a song by English electronic music band Massive Attack, released on 19 October 1998. It was the fourth and final single released off their third album, Mezzanine (1998). It is the least commercially successful of the four singles released from Mezzanine, charting only on the New Zealand Singles Chart at No. 16, but it has been noted as one of the best singles from the album.
The discography of British trip hop band Massive Attack consists of five studio albums, three compilations, five remix albums, one soundtrack, five EPs, eighteen singles, and twenty-seven music videos. The group was founded in 1988 by musicians Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Grantley "Daddy G" Marshall, and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles in Bristol, England. Prior to this, all four were members of British sound system the Wild Bunch.
"Risingson" is a song by the English trip hop group Massive Attack, released as a single on 7 July 1997 by Virgin Records. It is the first single from their third album, Mezzanine (1998), and the eighth single overall.
"Looking Good Diving" is a 1987 song performed by Morgan-McVey, who were vocalists Jamie Morgan and Cameron McVey. It was their only single. The track was released through Sony Records in 1987, and was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) and mixed by Phil Harding. The track's B-side, "Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch", featured Neneh Cherry on vocals, and was a tribute to the 'buffalo stance', a type of pose.
"Manchild" is a song by Swedish singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry, released in May 1989 by Virgin and Circa as the second single from her debut album, Raw Like Sushi (1989). It was the first song Cherry wrote; she composed it on a Casio keyboard using an auto-chord setting and ended up with seven chords in the verse alone. Neneh's stepfather Don Cherry commented on this positively, comparing it to a jazz song structure. Nellee Hooper created the beat for the song and wrote the rap with Robert Del Naja. Cherry then gave the track to her future husband, Cameron McVey, who helped to shape the song with the parts and "made it make sense".