| Songs of a Dead Dreamer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 2, 1996 | |||
| Genre | Illbient, [1] trip hop [1] | |||
| Length | 73:23 | |||
| Label | Asphodel | |||
| Producer | Paul D. Miller | |||
| DJ Spooky chronology | ||||
| ||||
Songs of a Dead Dreamer is the debut studio album by DJ Spooky. It was released through Asphodel Records on April 2, 1996.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Alternative Press | 4/5 [3] |
| Muzik |  [4] |
| The Village Voice |  [5] |
The New York Times wrote that "the sounds are swathed in reverberation or veiled by distortion; distant rumbles and swooshes compete for the foreground with drumbeats and bass lines, hovering chords and metallic clatter." [6]
In 2015, Fact placed it at number 10 on the "50 Best Trip-Hop Albums of All Time" list. [1]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro" | 1:02 |
| 2. | "The Vengeance of Galaxy 5" | 1:12 |
| 3. | "Phase Interlude" | 3:23 |
| 4. | "Galactic Funk (Tau Ceti Mix)" | 6:48 |
| 5. | "Hologrammic Dub" | 7:05 |
| 6. | "Dance of the Morlocks" | 1:00 |
| 7. | "Juba" | 5:24 |
| 8. | "Thoughts Like Rain" | 5:41 |
| 9. | "Anansi Abstrakt" | 11:35 |
| 10. | "Grapheme" | 10:52 |
| 11. | "Phase Interlude Pt. 2" | 1:06 |
| 12. | "Nihilismus Dub" | 4:13 |
| 13. | "The Terran Invasion of Alpha Centauri Year 2794" | 6:32 |
| 14. | "Time Out of Joint" | 1:06 |
| 15. | "High Density" | 6:31 |
| 16. | "Outtro" | 0:20 |
Credits adapted from liner notes.
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.
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, known professionally as Nas, is an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop, he is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas began his musical career in 1989 under the moniker "Nasty Nas", and recorded demos under the wing of fellow East Coast rapper Large Professor. Nas first guest appeared on his group, Main Source's 1991 song "Live at the Barbeque".
Paul Dennis Miller, known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntablist, record producer, philosopher, and author. He borrowed his stage name from the character The Subliminal Kid in the novel Nova Express by William S. Burroughs. Having studied philosophy and French literature at Bowdoin College, he has become a professor of Music Mediated Art at the European Graduate School and is the executive editor of Origin magazine.
Dummy is the debut studio album by English electronic music band Portishead, released on 22 August 1994 by Go! Beat Records.
Jonathan H. Smith, better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper and record producer. He was instrumental in the commercial breakthrough of the hip hop subgenre crunk in the early 2000s and is often credited as a progenitor of the genre. He was the frontman of the crunk group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, with whom he has released five albums. In addition, Lil Jon served as a producer for most recordings by artists of whom popularized the genre; these include Pitbull, Too Short, E-40, Ludacris, Ciara, and Usher.
Endtroducing..... is the debut studio album by American music producer DJ Shadow, released on September 16, 1996, by Mo' Wax. It is an instrumental hip hop work composed almost entirely of samples from vinyl records. DJ Shadow produced Endtroducing over two years, using an Akai MPC60 sampler and little other equipment. He edited and layered samples to create new tracks of varying moods and tempos.
"California Love" is a song by American rapper 2Pac featuring fellow American rapper-producer Dr. Dre and American singer Roger Troutman of the funk group Zapp. The song was released as 2Pac's comeback single after his release from prison in 1995 and was his first single as the newest artist of Death Row Records. The original version is featured on the UK version of his fourth album, All Eyez on Me (1996), and is one of 2Pac's most widely known and most successful singles. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and also topped the charts of Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden. The song was posthumously nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1997.
Psyence Fiction is the debut studio album by English electronic music act Unkle, released on 24 August 1998 by Mo' Wax. The album was produced by Unkle, at the time consisting of James Lavelle and DJ Shadow. The music on Psyence Fiction was primarily composed by DJ Shadow. Lavelle recruited numerous guest musicians to contribute to the album's recording.
Meiso is the third studio album by Japanese hip hop producer DJ Krush. It was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment.
Ki-Oku is a collaborative studio album by Japanese jazz trumpeter Toshinori Kondo and Japanese hip hop producer DJ Krush. It was released on August 8, 1996 in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment. The album was issued in Europe by the R&S Records imprint Apollo on January 26, 1998, and in the United States by Instinct Records on March 23, 1999.
Dr. Octagonecologyst is the debut solo studio album by American rapper and Ultramagnetic MCs member Kool Keith, released under the alias Dr. Octagon. Originally titled Dr. Octagon, it was released on May 7, 1996, on Bulk Recordings in the United States and Mo' Wax in the United Kingdom. The album was reissued with a different track listing by DreamWorks Records in 1997 under the title Dr. Octagonecologyst. The album was produced by Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and featured the work of turntablist DJ Qbert. KutMasta Kurt provided additional production work. The artwork for Dr. Octagonecologyst was drawn by Brian "Pushead" Schroeder.
Bass Is Maternal is the debut studio album by Bristolian production duo Smith & Mighty, originally released by More Rockers in 1995. The album was originally recorded in 1989 for ffrr/London Records, who had signed the duo after they had built up underground success in their native city for their innovative Bristol underground scene sound, but the labels deemed the record unsuitable for release. The record explores links between dub music and British rave culture, incorporating styles of rock, reggae and electronic music with an emphasis on dub-style bass. The album title and artwork highlight the perceived association between the exposure of bass and maternity.
"Sour Times" is a song by English trip hop group Portishead, from their debut album, Dummy (1994). It was written by all three members of the band and released as a single by Go! Beat Records in August 1994, accompanied by three bonus tracks: "It's a Fire", "Pedestal", and "Theme from To Kill a Dead Man". It's music video was directed by Alexander Hemming. NME ranked "Sour Times" number 32 in their list of the 50 best songs of 1994. Slant Magazine placed it at number 77 in their ranking of "The 100 Best Singles of the 1990s" in 2011.
Hip-hop, or hip-hop music, also known as rap and formerly as disco rap, is a genre of popular music that originated in the early 1970s from African Americans and Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. Hip-hop music originated as an anti-drug and anti-violence genre consisting of stylized rhythmic music that often accompanies rapping, a rhythmic delivery of poetic speech. In the early 1990s, a professor of African American studies at Temple University said, "Hip hop is something that blacks can unequivocally claim as their own." By the 21st century, the field of rappers had diversified by both race and gender. The music developed as part of the broader hip-hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, breakdancing, and graffiti art. While often used to refer solely to rapping and rap music, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of the culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
"You Don't Love Me " is a song by Jamaican recording artist Dawn Penn, released in February 1994 by Big Beat as the first single from her first studio album, No, No, No (1994). The song's lyrics are credited to Penn, Bo Diddley and Willie Cobbs, and production was handled by Steely & Clevie.
Tim Lee, also known as Tim 'Love' Lee is an English musician, record producer and DJ. He is the founder of Tummy Touch Records. He is most notable as a pioneer of electronic dance music and trip hop, his debut album having been among Fact magazine's 50 best trip hop albums of all time. Since the mid 1990s Lee has released six artist albums, two compilations, twenty seven singles and three commercially available DJ mix albums. He has produced over seventy remixes for other artists. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York City.
This is a discography for electronic and experimental hip hop musician DJ Spooky. It lists studio albums, singles, EPs, collaborations, sideman appearances and albums released under his given name Paul D. Miller.
One is the debut studio album by English experimental electronic producer Req, recorded from September 1995 to 1996 and released on Skint Records in 1997. After releasing several EPs, Req decided to release an album to spread his sound. His conception for One was to create music that hints at a direction without ever arriving at one. Music critics had difficulty defining the album's style, and is seen as a "blunted take" on trip hop with downtempo ambience. The album was well received by critics, who praised its unique sound and production. Today, it is seen as a predecessor to the late 1990s' "intelligent big beat" of fellow Skint artists such as Lo-Fidelity Allstars, and in 2015, Fact named the album the 14th greatest trip hop album of all time.
Ian Cassar, better known as Req, is an English DJ, record producer, and graffiti artist.
Laurent Daumail, better known by his stage name DJ Cam, is a French record producer. Daumail's music is largely rooted in hip hop, combined with elements of jazz, dub, and ambient and composed using samples. Daumail first rose to prominence in the 1990s with records such as Underground Vibes and Underground Live, which have been credited as early examples of trip hop, and he emerged as a leading figure in the decade's "ambient hip-hop" scene. He founded the record label Inflamable. In addition to his own musical output, Daumail has produced several compilations and albums for other artists.
