10 Perfect Trip-Hop Albums With No Bad Songs

While trip-hop was developing in the UK underground, Damon Albarn was in the limelight, battling for chart supremacy with Oasis. After years of being the focus of tabloid gossip, Albarn became disillusioned with the idea of fronting a pop-rock group.

The rise in reality-TV, and the celeb-culture it generated, inspired Albarn and illustrator, Jamie Hewlett, to create a music project unlike any other. The spotlight was given over to four animated musicians, who served to draw attention away from Albarn. The former king of Brit-pop, traded out jangle-pop for ambient beat-driven music. The focus was on the music rather than the musicians.

The animated quartet, was most notably augmented by Del the Funky Homosapien, on tracks, Clint Eastwood, and, Rock The House. Other notable guests included, cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer. The result was an album of infectiously engaging, downtempo hip hop, laced with plenty of soul.

Although this record didn't harbour as many well known numbers as Demon Days (2005) it was the introduction to one of the more unique musical endeavours of the 2000s.