Donna's Crayons

I've been hopelessly in love with the Queen of Disco since I first discovered Donna Summer's music back in the '70s.  Her disco-era releases remain fundamental to the genre, from the 16 minute "Love To Love You Baby" (which helped popularize the extended mix), the synthesizer-driven "I Feel Love" (which birthed Eurodisco--and still sounds cutting-edge today), to the best of her dance music "concept" albums (Once Upon A Time, a modern retelling of the Cinderella tale, and Bad Girls, which tackles prostitution from the perspective of a streetwalker).  While her releases following the "death of disco" became infrequent and disappointing, her last album, Crayons, made a good case for the immortality of the Queen.  Thanks to PCPL's partnership with Freegal, one can get free and legal downloads of not only the entire album, but also remixed versions and a "bonus" track originally released only on iTunes and the European edition of Crayons.

Back to the 90's with Trip Hop

There are sensations that always seem to evoke certain feelings or memories when you hear them. It is often surprising what you associate with a certain taste, feel, or sound. Recently I heard "In the Waiting Line" by Zero 7 while listening to Pandora Radio and I was sent back to an afternoon in high school, talking about boys and life as I shared a pair of headphones with a friend. 

Afterwards I reflected on how much I still love the mellow beats of performers like Zero 7, a band riding on the tail end of the music genre known as trip-hop. Trip-hop is an electronica off-shoot which tended to feature slow beats, female vocals and was influenced by soul, funk and jazz. One of the most influential trip-hop groups of the 90's would probably be Morcheeba who featured beautiful vocals and creative (sometimes hilarious) lyrics. Other popular trip-hop groups include Badmarsh & Shri, Moloko, Flunk and Supreme Being of Leisure. The influences of trip-hop can also be heard in more contemporary music groups, like Thievery Corporation and the Gorillaz. 

For those interested in this genre, or want to try something new, I compiled a list of albums in our catalog which were a part of the trip-hop movement, or whose music has been influenced by it:

Le voyage dans la lune, by Air
Further, by the Chemical Brothers
We Are the Night, by the Chemical Brothers
Details, by Frou Frou
The Fall, by the Gorillaz
Plastic Beach, by the Gorillaz
Singles Collection, by the Gorillaz
Heligoland, by Massive Attack
Third, by Portishead 
Culture of Fear, by Thievery Corporation
The Garden, by Zero 7
Simple Things, by Zero 7

Trip-hop is also available on Freegal, which can be found by browsing under the genre tab or by searching for specific bands. I was able to locate music by Morcheeba, the Supreme Beings of Leisure, the Chemical Brothers, Thievery Corporation and Zero 7 with the search bar on the Freegal homepage.

Happy listening!